Non standard kitchen cupboard doors

Snazzy

Hi all,

My kitchen if very 70s and in desperate need of a makeover. I was thinking of gutting it but am having second thoughts as the carcasses are very solid, mostly wood, and it seems a shame to bin them. The other complication is that my kitchen doesn't seem to fit standard units. It's a galley kitchen and the units in B&Q, Wickes etc seem too deep. So, I'm wondering whether I should just get new cupboard doors (along with worktops, flooring, tiles etc). Can any of you recommend somewhere I can get custom made doors?

Thanks

Doozergirl

The general consensus is that just getting doors seems to be nearly as expensive as just buying a new kitchen. I don't think I've seen anyone here that's reported managing to pull off a sensibly priced door refit - certainly the Googling I've done had brought back some really quite shocking prices on doors.

Snazzy

Thanks. My problem is that the whole kitchen seems to be non-standard so I'm not sure I'd get a cheap refit whichever way. The base units I've seen are too deep to fit past the door frames either end of my kitchen and the space left at the back of them for pipework would be wasted because I don't have any on one side of the kitchen. I guess I should just take the measurements into B&Q or similar and see whether they can do anything.

Doozergirl

A fitter will be able to take the back off the cupboards, no problems if they are too big for the space. Unless you're going for a really top spec kitchen, the backs of the units are much thinner than the sides.

Same goes for worktop - they just cut the back to make it fit the space you have.

angelavdavis

Snazzy wrote: »

Thanks. My problem is that the whole kitchen seems to be non-standard so I'm not sure I'd get a cheap refit whichever way. The base units I've seen are too deep to fit past the door frames either end of my kitchen and the space left at the back of them for pipework would be wasted because I don't have any on one side of the kitchen. I guess I should just take the measurements into B&Q or similar and see whether they can do anything.

You don't live in a 1930's semi do you? The reason I ask is that my old kitchen was a galley with restricted depth either side of the doors, and we had the same problem.

As Doozergirl mentions, you can cut down units in depth.

In fact, we didn't need to take off the back panel because, as you have mentioned, the units allow approx 4 inches at the back of them for waste pipes, etc to run which can be cut down to allow for less depth in the unit. You will also need to reduce the depth of the worktop too.

A decent fitter would know this stuff to be honest.

In this same house, we initially couldn't afford to replace the kitchen, so picked up a free old MFI kitchen from Loot and then replaced the doors ourselves with painted MDF. They did us a few years until we could afford to replace the whole kitchen.

Snazzy

Thanks guys. That's very helpful.

Angela - it's not 1930s. It's a 1970s extension. Same problem though!

Snazzy

Thanks guys. That's very helpful.

Angela - it's not 1930s, it's a 1970s extension. Same problem though!

majjie

Reducing the depth of units is no problem, as others have said. Changing the size of the doors is more of a problem.

If you're thinking timber doors, then obviously they're going to be expensive. Somebody's got to buy in the wood, cut it up (five pieces for each door) and make the doors. Even if it's a mechanised process (which would be the case for the doors on all mass produced kitchens) ... they still have to re-programme the machine to make the pieces the size you want them.

Keeping the price down is the whole point of using standard sized doors - they can just churn out the same size pieces all the time. The cheaper the kitchen the fewer sizes they will produce.

You should be able to get made to measure laminate or vinyl doors at a more reasonable price, though. They're widely available to the trade. Try a local kitchen showroom, or one of the on-line replacement door suppliers.

You'll need to specify where you want the hinge holes - or drill them yourself - depending on whether you're going to re-use the existing hinges or use new ones (sited in a different place to the originals).

a_star_3

My recommendation is to keep the carcases, its hard to find good solid carcases for cheap these days and if they are in good condition no reason to waste such quality.

I would change the doors, worktops and flooring, dash of paint and job done.

With the doors try find a local chippie / joiner, even if they are made to measure am sure it will still work out cheaper especially if they are non-standard sizes + you can have them designed as you want.

If you do get say granite worktops what is the depth of your current surface? Standard depth varies between 600-630

Raj

silvercar

We found a local kitchen fitter who was happy to redo doors and worktops at a reasonable price.

Our cupboard height was between that of a normal cupboard and a tall cupboard. The fitters put a pelmet around the cupboards, so when shut the doors completely covered the pelmet and when open the door finished in the same place as the bottom of the cupboard.

Doozergirl

majjie wrote: »

Reducing the depth of units is no problem, as others have said. Changing the size of the doors is more of a problem.

It doesn't matter if they're non-standard size doors if you're buying new. You just redesign with cabinets to fit meaning you shouldn't be out by any more than 10cm and then fill the remaining few centimetres using end panels or plinth turned on end etc.