Fitting a kitchen myself?

[curium]

We're looking into getting a new kitchen. I've never had a new kitchen before so I'm not familiar with the process.

What I'm really after is advice on how much of it I could do myself. I'm fairly competent. With help from DIY books and this forum I was able to completely gut our bathroom, tile it and fit new bath/shower/sink/toilet.

I know I could do the tiling of wall & floor (less sure about achieving a flawless finish with lino if we went that route).

I would definitely get a carpenter to finish the worktop joins and cutting hole for the sink.

I just want some advice or a guide as to what else is involved so I can judge how much of this I'm likely to be able to complete myself.

Cheers!

 

[EFCLee1]

This is an awesome thread, I too have plans to build my own kitchen this year but have the arduous task of moving my kitchen doorway

Honestly curium, sinks nowadays must come with a template to trace onto a worktop then simply drill pilot then jigsaw the rest. cant say its easy but something I would have no problem tackling

As for the rest of the kitchen am curious too as to what I would need to leave to the pros

 

[tommyl18]

If you get the units that are already made up as carcasses then all you need to do is put the legs and doors on

Make sure the floor is pretty level and the room is pretty square before you start makes life a lot easier when it comes to fitting the units and worktops

Put all units in place to start with to make sure they all fit and then get all the base units level ensuring that your side panels and kick boards fit

 

[^woody^]

You can do it all yourself, it really is basic and easy.

The planning is the main bit, so that you get the right layout, and appropriate size and number of units so that things "fit in" and look like they have been planned not thrown together

Think about the number of sockets and spurs you need (and fit a few more) and their location - including cables and spurs for fans and lights. If you are having tiles, set the sockets out to avoid small tile cuts and set the wall units out to work rows of tiles above the worktop.

Plan for access to services behind or under units

That's it really

 

[gregers]

i allways start from a corner return.

oh also measure out for all the units so you know it will fit.

 

[joinerjohn]

Great advice from Gregers. Always start from a corner. If your kitchen has been designed for you, then hopefully , it will all fit nicely.
Make sure your units are all plumb and level, checking each one before fixing together.

 

[big-all]

just keep in mind it can take 3 or 4 weeks off time off if you do it full time but don't plan properly and need trades in

it can also take months off disruption iff you are doing it as and when

remember whilst you have time to do it the kids need fed the clothes need washing the kids need running about and the shopping needs to be done

 

[noseall]

A kitchen fitter will have stuff in his van that a diy'er will not.

This means that if you happen to break or lose or be without a simple piece of kitchen hardware, it may mean hours of trudging for you, rather than a one minute jaunt to the van for a pro.

As stated it will just take a lot longer for a diyer.

Another thing to consider is that a kitchen is a 'finishing' product, meaning all the doors, worktops, blank ends, fillet strips etc are all on show and easily damaged.

I am a competent builder and have some experience of kitchen fitting.

I did not £ven consid£r for a mom£nt fitting my own kitch£n. Too much to lose financially. However, i did all the prep which made the fit a doddle i.e. fitting 18mm ply to (stud) walls, tiling the floor complete, plastering, plumbing etc.

Even simple things like fitting all the plumbing stuff and electrics into and behind the adjacent unit to the dishwasher (because some dishwashers will not push all the way back if there is any interference at the rear) was a priceless tip from my fitter.

 

[gregers]

oh and another thing to bear in mind,
asthetics of a finished product,if you have to install any filler pannels
do your best to put them in behind you as you enter the kitchen,try to hide problems like this rather then having the problem SHOUTING at you from direct eyesight.it will BUG you otherwise

 

[ivixor]

If you've done a bathroom, a kitchen wont be too much trouble. Just remember measure twice (or thrice) and cut (or drill) once!

Cutting the hole for the sink is a doddle - just mark out, and jigsaw away.

As for mitreing the corners - I avoided that by getting solid wood worktops which are butted up to each other so no need. The extra cost of the solid wood is somewhat cancelled out by not needing a joiner, plus they look nicer.

 

[spacey3]

I'm just doing my brothers kitchen in his place, the best thing to do if you have no idea is to get a couple of places to quote and do the plans for you - they are free of course

Then take the ideas and search around - I know peoples perception of kitchens is always different so personally I would not recommend anything that wasn't a rigid carcass, also the nice touches that people forget about. Watch out for colour coded carcasses, this is where the outer of the carcass is wrapped in the same colour as the door so you will not see those nasty white areas when the doors are closed.

Make sure they are at least 18mm glued and dowelled carcasses.

What the mechanisms, ask what they are made from - a good reasonable manufacturer to use is BLUM. These make all the difference between something that will last and something that wont.

If you order something from a manufacturer such as Alno (or most German companies) then you will end up with a completed unit delivered including the door - the only thing you have to put on is the handle, all wire work is already fitted and balanced at the factory. So on your part it saves you a lot of time, rather than paying for someone to assemble flat-packed which doesn't have the strength.

 

[curium]

I'm just doing my brothers kitchen in his place, the best thing to do if you have no idea is to get a couple of places to quote and do the plans for you - they are free of course

Then take the ideas and search around - I know peoples perception of kitchens is always different so personally I would not recommend anything that wasn't a rigid carcass, also the nice touches that people forget about. Watch out for colour coded carcasses, this is where the outer of the carcass is wrapped in the same colour as the door so you will not see those nasty white areas when the doors are closed.

Make sure they are at least 18mm glued and dowelled carcasses.

What the mechanisms, ask what they are made from - a good reasonable manufacturer to use is BLUM. These make all the difference between something that will last and something that wont.

If you order something from a manufacturer such as Alno (or most German companies) then you will end up with a completed unit delivered including the door - the only thing you have to put on is the handle, all wire work is already fitted and balanced at the factory. So on your part it saves you a lot of time, rather than paying for someone to assemble flat-packed which doesn't have the strength.

These sorts of tips are useful as I have ZERO idea as to what I should expect for my money. i.e. what are the characteristics of a quality kitchen?

My current plan is to walk around places like Homebase, B&Q, Ikea, Möben, Wickes, etc, to get a feel for what's on offer and the prices.

I appreciate any advice on any part of the process.

Many thanks!

 

[spacey3]

All those places you mention will give you a kitchen, but I would recommend you also look at a German Kitchen to see the difference in quality - take a look at Alno, RWK, Poggenpohl. There are a couple of places which get carcasses made in the UK, doors from Italy (as Italians know design) and fittings/wirework form Germany.

Best place to have a look is somewhere like John Lewis, they stock Alno gives you an idea of the difference.

I am not sure exactly where you are in the country to be able to help any further.

 

[spacey3]

Oh and one other thing which I forgot - if you go to these places you mention you will only obtain one size of kitchen unit, depth and hight usually.

If you look at http://www.alno.co.uk/static/online_journal/flash.html#/114/ it will explain the differences in height and depth available.

Good luck

 

[vv2806]

I am going to fit a kitchen myself soon, this topic is very useful. About the design - yes, go to the sheds and other places that have kitchens on display, decide what style you want and then go again to the places that offer free design. You will probably find that some of the so called designers are useless but if you are persistent and with a bit of luck eventually will meet a real pro.

In my case one of the designers (a useless one) couldn't find a way to fill a gap in the row of cabinets and suggested that I find a carpenter to make something (open shelves) there. While the brilliant designer from another place not only made a great design but took me around the showroom to demonstrate different options about little details and persuaded me that there are better and cheaper solutions to some of the things I wanted.