How hard is fitting your own kitchen?

tpt

have a look at diy-kitchens.com. i've used them 4 times now. their units come rigid, with the doors and drawers all fitted, so as long as you measure up really well you can just push them back, level them up and screw them to each other. i saved a fortune (magnet quoted us 10.5k) we spent £3300.

seen a few other recommendations on here for them too.

and buy your tiles online too (hint hint :-))

worktops and fitting the dishwasher door where the only bit i struggled on, but i eventually decided to have granite tops so they all got fitted by the company that supplied them.

Buy a decent electric drill\driver too.

craigsville_2

Im a property developer and have seen loads of "profesionally" fit kitchens, some good, some bad but to be honest the ones ive fit myself have all been good and im no pro. A kitchen is basically a load of boxes that are bolted together, nothing hard about that. The main thing when you do it yourself is that you will take the time to do the finishing like filling mitre edges so they are seamless and adjusting doors spot on, this is what seems to be missing from a lot of pro jobs. I think if you are patient and can do a bit of DIY then give it a go. the only drawback i can see is that when you do it yourself you know every slight imperfection that you wouldnt spot when someone else fitted it!

keystone

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!

Its easy but it will take you a long time. When you pay a professional to do a job you pay him for having the experience, the knowledge and the correct tools to do it. You have to weigh up the cost to you in your time (say at your usual hourly earning rate at work to DIY it seeing as you will be on a learning cliff then compare that with the cost of getting it professionally installed.

Oh and b/f being an electrical engineer is irrelevant. That doesn't qualify him to do the electrical work. Get a proper sparks in to do that part.

Cheers

keystone

capeverde wrote: »

firstly re the gas that you would obviously need this installing by a certified engineer

Errm OP said NO GAS.

Cheers

keystone

cddc wrote: »

Spot on advice there. Gas.....

OP said no gas or didn't you read his post. Are you sure you should be selling kitchens?

Cheers

keystone

tpt wrote: »

(hint hint :-))

Stop it!

Cheers

Ebe_Scrooge

I'd agree with what others have said - perfectly do-able if you take your time. Remember the old maxim - "measure twice, cut once". I've fitted 3 kitchens in my time, it takes time but they ended up looking great. In my experience, walls are never perfectly flat, corners are not exactly 90 degrees and floors are not perfectly level ! You can deal with all these things as long as you're prepared for it. The floor not being level is the worst one - it can be difficult to determine this beforehand, but if it's the tiniest fraction out, you'll notice it when you've got a run of units or worktop that's several feet long !

Smick100

Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »

I'd agree with what others have said - perfectly do-able if you take your time. Remember the old maxim - "measure twice, cut once". I've fitted 3 kitchens in my time, it takes time but they ended up looking great. In my experience, walls are never perfectly flat, corners are not exactly 90 degrees and floors are not perfectly level ! You can deal with all these things as long as you're prepared for it. The floor not being level is the worst one - it can be difficult to determine this beforehand, but if it's the tiniest fraction out, you'll notice it when you've got a run of units or worktop that's several feet long !

If you are getting an Ikea kitchen, the kitchen units have adjustable feet which will go some way to addressing this problem. And then there is a kickboard at the bottom to hide them.

A spirit level and lots of bending down and turning little black knobs will do the trick.

irnbru_2

weelizzie wrote: »

Any advice much appreciated!

If wall units have adjustable wall brackets, buy full-length hanger rails. Notch behind the cabinets to accomodate the rail. Saves having to faff about hanging individual wall units.

Don't notch any visable end panels!

tpt

keystone - so we meet again mr bond :rotfl:

did put a smile on my face!