First attempt at building kitchen units and doors.

Joined
4 Feb 2007
Messages
429
Reaction score
1
Location
Denbighshire
Country
United Kingdom
Last year, the mother in law was in a distraught state. She'd been ripped off by a dodgy roofer (some obscure relative) who left her with a leaking roof over her lean-to kitchen for 4 years. Water had got in and run down the walls, rotting the old kitchen carcasses. She'd tried the insurance company, but they wouldn't do anything as they had already paid the roofer to do the original job on the roof. Being family, she didn't want to take roofer to court so just resigned her self to 'putting up with it' as he wouldn't come back to fix the work.

Anyway. In steps I, Master Bodger, extraordinaire. Sort out the leaky roof with a roll of flashing and a swift squirt of expandy foam. Not a brilliant job but it stopped the leaks! Replaced the soggy ceiling and stripped off mouldy tiles that had roots growing behind them! :eek: The more work I did, the more crap i discovered and the more ****ed off with Buffalo bill, the roofer.

After the first 3 months or so of the roof leaking, the whole family noticed they had developed breathing problems (asthma etc..). As i ripped out the tiles and ceiling, I discovered a shed load of mould. Coincidence? :confused:

As her son's fiancee was expecting a kid, she asked me to find out how much it would be to replace the rotten carcasses and put the whole mess right so as to prevent the wee bairn from getting ill. After a bit of research, (B&Q, Howdens etc..) i came up with an estimate (without fitting or appliances) of around £850. She said she could only find £500 at the most and went away a glum plum. :(

Anyhoo, veeeery long story short, I decided to have a bash at building the units and doors myself. Have done a couple of joinery projects before with limited success so I thought I could handle making what is basically a bunch of open topped and fronted boxes. Easy...

MIL had liked the look of some units she'd seen in Ikea and asked if I could copy them. 'Suuure' said I. 'Eeeeasy!'

Trawled around the building merchants and timber yard to try and find materials that would do the job without breaking the budget. Opted for 12mm ply from TravisPerkins for the sides and backs and 2x3 cls from B&Q for the main frame. Decided to make the doors from 90x18mm smooth planed planking and 90x7mm T&G. Handles were made from 40x40mm smooth planned from B&Q using a woefully underpowered router and various bits. Varnished the whole shebang with oodles of B&Q interior wood gloss.


So, spent £300ish altogether on the wood + £10 on hinges from eBay. Worktops were from TP and cost £25 each. Built-in oven & hob were a gift from her mother and came from Argos and cost around £170 for the two (decided against making them out of wood... :LOL: ). Took about 4 months of most weekends and 2 hours most evenings after work. Much longer than I'd anticpated but there you go! :rolleyes:


Soooo, a few rough bits but whadaya think? For a first time effort?

sink3.jpg

sink1.jpg

hob1.jpg

cooker2.jpg

cooker1.jpg

cup1.jpg

Doors are straight - wierd camera angle! Note the roots behind the tiles!
wt1.jpg


PS; the tilling was my own work. Was posted on here a few month back.
 
Sponsored Links
The corner in the last pic - is that staying as is? It looks a bit awkward.
 
Sponsored Links
brilliant job bet your pleased :D :D

now personal taste here and not a critisism in any way :D ;)

in the drawer fronts i personaly would have either fitted the txg horizontaly

made the fronts timbers from 1" smaller sections to give a bit more room for the txg

or larger sections and no txg

might also be worth quite soon installing some protection along the side and back of the cooker before the heat and grease gets to it stainless steel or simmilar would look good

but hey thats just personal preference and no way detracting from a brilliant job :D :D ;)
 
wanabe,

I'm currently doing our bedroom and we were thinking of a full length walk in wardrobe,

If your passing sunny blackburn one day soon, how you fancy knocking a few bits of wood together for us :D
 
Crafty said:
The corner in the last pic - is that staying as is? It looks a bit awkward.

It is a bit on the awkward side. I'm thinking of either extending the 2 shelves out to meet the tall unit so as to make an L shaped base unit or just making a narrow set of shelves to fit in the gap. The open end of that base unit is only used for storing pots and pans that only come out at xmas, so it can get away with being a bit of a fiddle! :confused:

I will be putting some sort of covering on the side of the oven housing. MIL's dithering between stainless steel or some opaque, coloured perspex she's seen. Not sure how perspex would cope with the heat from the hob tho? :confused:

Thanks for the support, fellers. really appreciated! :D
 
Perspex No!. Too plasticky ;)

Get some tempered (toughened) glass made to size and paint the back with oil based paint before sticking to the side of the cupboard. There's a Pilkington plant in Denbighshire I believe.
 
Hey chippie, you must be so proud of yourself. I think they look great.

We left IKEA after spending about £800 and when you put the plywood boxes together you do wonder if it's value for money. Can't wait till ours is finished - it goes on and on doesn't it.

KW
 
wanabechippie2 said:
After the first 3 months or so of the roof leaking, the whole family noticed they had developed breathing problems (asthma etc..). As i ripped out the tiles and ceiling, I discovered a shed load of mould. Coincidence? :confused:

Not at all, its well known that some kinds of mould can cause respiratory problems

EDIT: forgot to add, not really to my taste, but no one can deny you have talent :)
 
First of all,does the M.I.L. like it cos thats all that matters.
Second, WELL DONE.the job's a good-un. ;)
 

DIYnot Local

Staff member

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.


Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

 
Sponsored Links
Back
Top