How hard is fitting your own kitchen?

weelizzie_2

Just wondered if anyone has experiencing fitting their own kitchens and if they'd recommend it (I'm surprised I can't find anyone asking this elsewhere!).

My bf and I are fairly good at DIY and want to save money on a new kitchen. It wouldn't have any especially complicated bits (no gas and bf is an electrical engineer), and we can get advice from friends in the know (unfortunately only by phone though).

If you're *very* careful with measurements before you get started, can it really be that complicated?

Any advice much appreciated!

martinthebandit

weelizzie wrote: »

Just wondered if anyone has experiencing fitting their own kitchens and if they'd recommend it (I'm surprised I can't find anyone asking this elsewhere!).

My bf and I are fairly good at DIY and want to save money on a new kitchen. It wouldn't have any especially complicated bits (no gas and bf is an electrical engineer), and we can get advice from friends in the know (unfortunately only by phone though).

If you're *very* careful with measurements before you get started, can it really be that complicated?

Any advice much appreciated!

It is fairly straight forward if you take your time and do the preparation properly. The main problem that I encountered is that the kitchen is out of action while you do it.

capeverde

Its really straightforward, the two points I would make is firstly re the gas that you would obviously need this installing by a certified engineer and secondly about the worktops. For a proper finish you need a jig and router to cut out for a flush 90 deg join. You can hire these jigs, or you can get metal joiners, but tbf these look a bit rubbish. These are the only sticking points, the rest is really straight forward.

cddc

capeverde wrote: »

Its really straightforward, the two points I would make is firstly re the gas that you would obviously need this installing by a certified engineer and secondly about the worktops. For a proper finish you need a jig and router to cut out for a flush 90 deg join. You can hire these jigs, or you can get metal joiners, but tbf these look a bit rubbish. These are the only sticking points, the rest is really straight forward.

Spot on advice there. Gas, electrics and worktop joins are the ony really tough bits. Take your time on the finishing touches such as Cornice and Pelmet. A good mitre saw can work wonders with this.

MaggieBaking

My brother is fairly competent at DIY and managed to fit his (large) utility room with cabinets from Wickes although there was no gas to worry about. He is also a newly trained electrician and willing to try his hand at all sorts of DIY.

Sorry I can't give any practical advice but I just thought I would pitch in and say that some people do it by themselves

Leif

In my case I needed electrical points moving up the wall, new points and feeds putting in for the appliances and pelmet lights, replastering the walls, a gas line moving and a new boiler fitting on the wall. The kitchen was fitted professionally. You might need some electrical work doing.

I know quite a few people who fitted their own kitchens. They claim to have done a good job, and I suspect that if the kitchen room is essentially ready i.e. electrics and plastering are okay, then it might not be too difficult. One colleague said he fitted the worktops and be bought a router to do the cutting.

The chap who fitted my kitchen did a beautiful job, flawless. He erected a huge rig in the sitting room, which I think was a circular saw. He also had lots of boxes of tools, numerous Bosch drills, and other stuff, for fitting door handles, cutting filler panels and so on.

Smick100

Lidl have a mitre saw on at present.

We have just installed an Ikea kitchen ourselves.

My key advice is

Plan what order you will do each job.
Take out the old kitchen and draw on the walls with a marker, noting the position of each cupboard, appliance, power point.
Make sure you have the right tools for everything .
If something seems a litle odd or you have a small doubt then stop work and check again and again until you are happy.

STOCKWIRE

capeverde wrote: »

Its really straightforward, the two points I would make is firstly re the gas that you would obviously need this installing by a certified engineer and secondly about the worktops. For a proper finish you need a jig and router to cut out for a flush 90 deg join. You can hire these jigs, or you can get metal joiners, but tbf these look a bit rubbish. These are the only sticking points, the rest is really straight forward.

Agreed, but I got a carpenter to butt & scribe the work tops. Cost less than £100. and cheaper than replacing a wrongly routered length !

real1314

I did mine a few years back (pre Part P Electrics regs) - all the units (Ikea) were very straightforward, a few moves of sockets, fairly easy. Got next door to confirm the electical work was up to standard (trained spark).

Did a few bits of plumbing work, re-routing pipes for sink / dishwasher - fairly easy with decent push-fit stuff.

I did get plasterers in, gas fitter to do the cooker and I had the worktop cut and joint prepared to order. (Measure once, twice, three times, then get someone else to do the same before ordering).
:cool:

becs

We did our ikea kitchen ourself and are very pleased with the result. Everyone says i looks really good although i would say i notice little things that we wouldn't have had with a professional fitter. The one thing i would say is be prepared for there not to be level floors or straight walls! We did a straight un of units and worktop at one end of the kithen and because we wanted an extra deep worktop we built a false wall to put the units against and this was by far the easiest run to do as the false wall was straigt.

thedeester1

Some good points above.

Heres one though that most amatures forget. Most walls are not level. get a straight edge allong the wall. find the High spots and knock them out so the largest gap is a tile thickness. This is important in older houses otherwise you put you units up to the wall and find an inch gap in places.

Its hard to fill an inch gap with tiles and grout but very easy to cover up where you knocked the plaster back to get the worktops upto the wall.