B&Q Kitchen, where do i begin!

smiffyz

I'll try to keep it brief as it's my first post.
After numerous visits to various companies we settled on B&Q's design of our kitchen because although it was a little dearer than others it was exactly as we wanted. Our's is a medium sized kitchen and we wanted to make use of every space we had, but it had to be right in every detail as we were spending a little under 9k.
So after going home with different designs and measuring and marking out we settled on our dream design on 8-8-12.
The planner took our deposit of £50 to enable the surveyor to come out in a few days to see if it was all ok and it would fit, it did, but it took him 3 weeks to arrive but they could still meet the fitting date of 8-10-12
I immediately paid the balance and we agreed that it would be fitted on that day.
A week later, and after my partner had booked annual leave for that week they phoned to say it would be 22-10-12 as the worktops wouldn't be ready until then. I explained about the time booked off work and that i wasn't happy but had to agree to the date as we wanted all the decorating complete in time for Santa.

On Monday 22nd the fitters arrived and began work, by Wednesday they were ready to cut and fit the Granite worktops and do the plumbing. Granite worktops need cooling as they're cut to prevent damage so they used the outside tap in the garden for water, by 5pm they'd finished fitting and plumbing and said we could ring our gas engineer to connect the hob the next day. On Thursday morning i got up at 6am as usual and as the kettle was boiling i went outside to feed my pond fish, I went out to a flooded garden, they'd left the tap on outside and it had had about 19 hrs on full!
On turning it off i noticed it was very hot water, they'd only connected hot to cold and visa versa so our boiler had been working overtime all night!
Trying not to fall out with the fitters i let it be known i was angry and after an apology they went about putting the final touches to the kitchen then left.
The Gas Engineer arrived and immediately told my partner that he couldn't connect the hob as the wall units were to close and it could catch fire and quoted the gas safe regulations.
I got a call at work with the news and phoned the surveyor who said you weren't to believe all these regulations and 5 years ago he was CORGI registered and we should go ahead and connect it and assured me it would be ok.
That was when i blew my top!
I told him if a Gas Safe Engineer showed me in black and white it was dangerous then that was good enough for me and he better sort it straight away.

He rang back with some options.
1. swap the 700mm 5 burner hob for a smaller 600 4 burner to make the gap bigger.
A. No we picked a 5 burner because our existing 4 burner wasnt big enough, out of the question.

2. change the cupboards either side of the hob from 300mm wide to 150mm.
A. and what are we supposed to fit in a 150mm wide cupboard?, out of the question

Then he came out with the statement " well it's your kitchen you'll have to think of something".

Now am i right in thinking that as we have a contract, computer drawing and that it was surveyed on site to make sure everything would fit as we agreed, that they're in breach of contract as we're not now getting the kitchen that we ordered.

If we were told about this at the survey stage we could have designed it differently as cupboard space is important with it not being a large kitchen. And the hob size is one of the reasons we wanted a new kitchen anyway, to give us more room to cook.

Is it unreasonable to demand compensation as short of telling them to take it all out and we'll go elsewhere, we're going to have to settle for something we dont really want (less cupboard space).

They're sending out a different surveyor next week to have a look and i want to be sure of my rights before i confront him.

Thanks (sorry it's a long one)

Geoff

oldskoo1

This is unfortunately a very bad experience of poor fitting, not really B&Q's fault.

To be fair to B&Q, they produce a plan and design with measurements of cupboards and heights but the fitter should know there should be a height gap of at least x.

We recently had a kitchen refurb from B&Q. We also changed our cupboards either side of the hob as we wanted half units so we can store things on top either side of the extractor hood. When the fitter came to size up the job he bought the point up himself about the height distance between the worktop and cupboards that needed to be met to meet regulations. In fact i remember him saying he would refuse to fit it too close to the hob as he would be in trouble himself.

At that point he mentioned regulations had changed in the last 5 years or so. The kitchen we were refurbing was 8 years old and we actually saw evidence or heat damage to the corner of the current cupboard. Luckily we had already decided on half units which were still the same baseline but because they were 10cm thinner at 500mm so further away from hob, they met regulations.

Unfortunately as far as i'm aware if you need smaller than 300mm there is only 150mm.

But the point is, if this is a new kitchen and carcasses the fitters should have fitted the cupboards high enough to meet regulations.

The only option i can see without know your layout is to swap 2 cupboards either side of the cooker. Assuming you have a 50cm and 30cm currently. Maybe swap the 50 for a 40. That will give you the distance needed. But B&Q / fitters should pay for this themselves.

Personally i would go absolutely up the wall if they caused leak like that. Not only does it mean you foot the bill for water and gas you run the risk of causing unsettlement in the foundation. It is probably not enough volume of water to cause buldge subsidence but it would still bother me if it flooded like you said.

That aside you need to get this hob connected and get the mrs happy again. Have a think of what options you have to reduce a cupboard with either side of the 300mm one you already have. Or demand that these fitters fit the cupboards at the correct height.

evokit

oldskoo1 wrote: »

This is unfortunately a very bad experience of poor fitting, not really B&Q's fault.

i fyou took measurements to them and they didnt check then no not there fault.
if they cam to you and measured the yes - have a goo as is there fault - 150 units are good as pullouts round cookers for spices etc littl things for cookinglike oils.
but if thy have said 300 units and surveyed it still saying 300 units then yes there at fault - aint liked you moved the wall between visits is it.

smiffyz

Yes we took the measurements of the kitchen to B&Q and they designed the layout and after 2-3 visits back and forth we finally had a design we were happy with.

They produced a screen print of what it would look like and the Surveyor called to check all the measurements etc and approve it.

The wall units should be a min of 50mm in a vertical line from the edge of the hob and also be 450mm higher than the level of the cast iron burner rings.
The cupboards cant be raised as they line in with the oven housing unit on the adjoining wall and the rest of the cupboards.
If we'd wanted a little spice cupboard we'd have ordered one, we need every space possible, if we'd have known this at planning / survey stage we'd have had the hob on a different wall and designed it differently thats our point.



Thanks

abankerbutnotafatcat

Would it make any difference if the hob was induction rather than gas?

keystone

I don't agree about it not being the fitters problem. They should be aware of regulations and if they notice any part the plan is wrong they should stop, highlight the problem and ask for a resolution. Otherwise they have an unhappy customer or an unhappy supplier.

For me this is down to the company you contracted with 100% which is B&Q. But I suspect in this case OP has to accept a compromise which is a smaller hob and a new worktop at B&Qs expense or smaller wall cabs also at B&Qs expense.

The surveyor's one liner as reported is inexcusable.

Cheers

smiffyz

Yep it's a mess alright, the cupboards as we stand are in line with the edge of the hob and need to be moved 50mm away which due to the size of doors available means they have to go to the next size down which will make them 100mm away, which would be fine except the narrower cupboard at 150mm isn't what we want and wont be much use, if i'd wanted a 150mm cupboard i'd have ordered one!
The extractor above is fine at 750mm higher.
My point is that if i have to settle for the narrower cupboards then it'll cost them a sizable refund for me to accept it, as it isn't what we want but we're going to have to compromise i know that. (short of telling them to take the lot away and we'll go elsewhere).
A smaller hob isnt an option as that's a major factor why we ordered the kitchen in the first place.

I'm fuming too at the attitude of the surveyor saying he would go ahead and connect it, it's not his family at risk should something catch fire!
After lots of measuring and um's and ah's last night with my missus, if they alter the cupboards and offer a 20% refund we'll have to bite the bullet and accept it just to get it finished so we can use it. But i'm not sure they will.
The Gas Fitter also noticed that the gap from the hob to the wall is 30mm and should be 50mm for the regs, but providing i tile the back and not fit the wall panel i've bought it should be ok :mad:.

Does this sound a reasonable compromise?

smiffyz

Kitchen_DesignR wrote: »

If you need the space, you'll keep the wall units and go for a 60cm hob and new worktop ?

No
If i need the space which i do and i need a 70cm hob which i also do, then they'll sort it to my satisfaction or take the lot back and refund me my £8700.
If i ordered a 5 seater car for my and my wife and 3 kids and they sent a 4 seater would it be acceptable?
Didnt think so.

Steve_the_fitter

So you have a 70cm 5 burner gas hob. Can you confirm what the space is between the wall units above it are? What size cooker hood have you got?
Surely they havent designed it with a 600mm space and 600mm extractor?

Steve_the_fitter

Steve_the_fitter wrote: »

So you have a 70cm 5 burner gas hob. Can you confirm what the space is between the wall units above it are? What size cooker hood have you got?
Surely they havent designed it with a 600mm space and 600mm extractor?

Just read one of your above posts. you say the wall cabinets finish in line with the hob below. So you have a 70cm extractor and the wall cabinets butt upto the extractor? If this is the case I cant see a problem.

southcoastrgi

OP can you post a pic of the installation instructions for the hob, showing the pic of the min diamentions drawing & the distances they req & then give us the height you have between the worktop & the bottom of your cupboards/lighting pelmet (whichever is lower), the distance between your two wall cupboards above the hob & the height of the extractor hood/cupboard above the hob.