Need a bit of advice from a kitchen fitter

[gary01773]

Hi is there any kitchen fitter on here that could give me a second option of work that I have had done by a kitchen company. Thanks

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

There's plenty on here will give their advice/opinion, post some photos, plenty of them, some from afar some close up .....

 

[gary01773]

thanks a lot will do its not a lot its just a couple of little bits that have annoyed us that I feel he has cut corners but would like an opinion of another fitter
thanks again.

 

[gary01773]

I do not want to question the fitters workmanship but there has been a few issues through the fit and the last kitchen there was no screws in the cabinets I just feel he has cut corners all through the fit. It has been fitted by a kitchen company but the whole fitting subbed out. thank for any opinions

 

[blup]

Not a professional fitter, but where is the space to screw down and up in the second and fifth pics? Screw caps would be appropriate though. The butted upstand looks smarter than a mitred joint IMO which would be difficult to get just right even for a pro. The faulty soft close drawer is a self evident snag. Pic 2 I can't make out, is it a routered joint?, if so the blade was maybe a little blunt, but hardly noticeable.

If you're looking for compensation, good luck!

Blup

 

[gary01773]

Thanks for the reply it is not about compensation it's about paying good money for a fitted kitchen and getting it done correctly, I just want the kitchen fitted professionally and too a standard I expected thanks again for the reply

 

[^woody^]

I'm not sure how you expect anyone to screw the screws from the top or the bottom, so they are OK and just need capping

The drawer is self evident if it is a faulty runner, but the fitter should sort it out with a new runner regardless

The panel joint is a bit crap and should have at least been filled with some grey filler to mask it.

The upstand is crap, but it may be crap by design. What does the manufacturers fitting guidance say about it? If this was a premium fit, then I'd expect it to be mitred and glued.

 

[foxhole]

Terrible jointing, looks like he used a blunt spoon to cut it . Upper and lower trim can be glued and/or fixed with hidden brackets.
Poorly fitted draws can bind but impossible to tell what’s wrong from a photo.

 

[^woody^]

Upper and lower trim can be glued and/or fixed with hidden brackets.

If the supplier supplied glue or hidden brackets .

Have you ever fitted cornice from any of the standard suppliers with glue or hidden fixings, for instance?

 

[Deleted member 174758]

1. Should this have been mitred? A bit of a difficult call. Were the upstand solid wood, then absolutely, bit as it is edged and end lipped MDF in practical terms I think he has given you a more durable option than a mitred joint. Had it been me I'd have pointed out to the customer that a mitred joint in MF-MDF will always have a sharp edge on it and be far more prone to chipping over time (sanding it to remove the arris leaves a white line in the corner). But I would at least have given the customer the option of choosing which they preferred. Agree that the upstand joints could have been neater. I also tend to silicone the worktop to upstand and upstand to wall joints as part of the install

2. Should these be screwed from the top? Ideally, no. Any screws from the top will need to have shorter screws and so will be a poorer fix. Screwing them from the top should not have presented problems to a kitchen fitter - tools like drills with right angle chuck adaptors should be in evey fitter's kit these days - but the fix would not have been as good. As others have said, though, he should have at least covered the screws with FastCap or Quikcap covers (small self adhesive melamine discs) to hide them. There are clip systems available to install cornices which are invisible but these are relatively unknown in the UK - e.g. Gratverbinder by Knapp Verbinder (Austria)

3. Is this good enough? Frankly, NO!

4. Drawer will not soft close, he says it is faulty runners? A slightly tricky one. As he hasn't supplied the kitchen you are actually asking him to spend his time to fix someone else's problem. Under the circumstsnces I think he should have suggested that you get him a new drawer/runners and that he would fit it/them. That is just good customer relations

5. Should these gave been screwed from underneath? I don't think so. But they could have been hidden better by the judicious application of some (well masked) white spray paint

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Have you ever fitted cornice from any of the standard suppliers with glue or hidden fixings, for instance?

It can be done, but it is a lot slower and more fiddly. I generally wouldn't do this on most jobs

 

[gary01773]

1. Should this have been mitred? A bit of a difficult call. Were the upstand solid wood, then absolutely, bit as it is edged and end lipped MDF in practical terms I think he has given you a more durable option than a mitred joint. Had it been me I'd have pointed out to the customer that a mitred joint in MF-MDF will always have a sharp edge on it and be far more prone to chipping over time (sanding it to remove the arris leaves s white line in the corner). But I would at least have given the customer the option of choosing which they preferred. Agree that the upstand joints could have been neater. I also tend to silicone the worktop to upstand and upstand to wall joints as part of the install

2. Should these be screwed from the top? Ideally, no. Any screws from the top will need to have shorter screws and so will be a poorer fix. Screwing them from the top should not have presented problems to a kitchen fitter - tools like drills with right angle chuck adaptors should be in evey fitter's kit these days - but the fix would not have been as good. As others have said, though, he should have at least covered the screws with FastCap or Quikcap covers (small self adhesive melamine discs) to hide them. There are clip systems available to install cornices which are invisible but these are relatively unknown in the UK - e.g. Gratverbinder by Knapp Verbinder (Austria)

3. Is this good enough? Frankly, NO!

4. Drawer will not soft close, he says it is faulty runners? A slightly tricky one. As he hasn't supplied the kitchen you are actually asking him to spend his time to fix someone else's problem. Under the circumstsnces I think he should have suggested that you get him a new drawer/runners and that he would fit it/them. That is just good customer relations

5. Should these gave been screwed from underneath? I don't think so. But they could have been hidden better by the judicious aplication of some (well masked) white spray paint

 

[Deleted member 174758]

???

 

[^woody^]

It can be done, but it is a lot slower and more fiddly. I generally wouldn't do this on most jobs

Yes it can be, but in the context of the OP's situation it looks like a relatively standard kitchen, standard cornice which the fitter would fit in a standard way using the screws and fittings supplied in the box and as detailed in the suppliers fitting guide ... which in 99.9% of the time will be like it has been done. I doubt the fitter has priced for messing about, but for just fitting it like normal.

The plinth is a bit curious as its not on plinth locks/clips.

So the OP can't expect anything better than what the manufacturer specifies using the fixings that are supplied

 

[gary01773]

I'm not sure how you expect anyone to screw the screws from the top or the bottom, so they are OK and just need capping

The drawer is self evident if it is a faulty runner, but the fitter should sort it out with a new runner regardless

The panel joint is a bit crap and should have at least been filled with some grey filler to mask it.

The upstand is crap, but it may be crap by design. What does the manufacturers fitting guidance say about it? If this was a premium fit, then I'd expect it to be mitred and glued.

Thanks a lot woody but I thought it it was the correct way there were no screws on the old kitchen it was screwed from top and bottom, I did google it before I but the post just to see the correct way to do it and both wren and Wickes do the screwing from top and bottom

and the Wickes one is is at around 2 minutes in. Thanks a lot for the input this is exactly what I wanted different opinions