Part-fitting and sprucing up a kitchen

Wee-Bee

We are hoping to have a new kitchen and are trying to keep costs to a minimum. We were thinking of keeping the old carcasses and replacing the fronts, work surface and sink (cupboards are fine on the inside and in general are well placed) but are hitting a few problems as our old gas cooker is fitted awkwardly in a corner with dead-space behind it. You seem like a bunch of people in the know so I was wondering if I can pick your brains with 3 questions:

• Is it possible to re-fit one side of a kitchen and keep old carcasses on the other but replace their fronts (and end panels)?

• Is it possible to have a build in gas hob across a corner with a cupboard underneath it? (This cupboard would allow access to the water stop-tap which is currently located behind the stand-alone cooker)

• Is it possible to fit a new electric cooker beneath cupboards that are already there? Will this require ripping off tiles to fit an electric point? (There is a plug socket above the suggested location of the new oven. We would rather not remove any of the tiles if possible)

Thanks!!

ormus

yes
yes
yes
why not take the opportunity to move the stopcock to a more suitable location?

Wee-Bee

Thank you ormus! We may re-fit the stop-tap but I'm hoping we'd be able to reach it through the back of this new corner cupboard- whilst still not ideal it's a big step forward from behind a cooker!

In terms of ripping of the tiles to fit a new electric oven, this will be done on the side of the kitchen which we'll be having completely re-fitted. The oven would go below worktop height and there are no tiles there. I'm hoping we could leave the old tiles which are from work-top height and fit the new electrical points from the floor up, therefore not affecting the tiles. I'd much rather avoid re-tiling... but I know this is quite a real possibility :-(

butdoineedit?

If it's any help i have an electric cooker point just above the skirting board & have been told it's fine, the cooker is wired directly into it.
This might prevent you having to remove the tiles?

27col

I was re-washering a kitchen tap in a local house, I could not turn off the water. I finally discovered that the internal isolator was in the kitchen , recessed into the wall behind the cooker. When I finally managed to move the cooker, the isolator was completely immobile. I had to turn off the water from the street and fit a new isolator under the kitchen sink. Utter madness on the part of the original plumber. It turned out that all the houses in the road had the same ridiculous arrangement. The whole point of an isolator is so that you can turn off the water in an emergency. This does not include having to move the cooker, in my estimation.

ormus

indeed. but some other cases are just the opposite.
my DD house has the stopcock right by the front door. inches from the door frame and about knee high.
great place for an emergency. but it looks pathetic.

ormus

a bit like this one!

27col

Interesting positioning. I assume that it was for the convenience of the installer rather than the householder.