The fukker could've avoided that big fill panel at the end.
With end panels they make a lot of money when in fact you only need half of them if they're not fully exposed.
My kitchen refit.
- Thread starter Mottie
- Start date
With end panels they make a lot of money when in fact you only need half of them if they're not fully exposed.
I remembered from when I bought a kitchen years ago, also from Magnet (Magnet and Southern actually), the salesman told me that. They also sold dummy slithers of end panel for in between cabinets. There was no discussion about end panels etc this time just that they would include all that I needed. They were not itemised on the invoice, just labelled as 'accessories' or something. We changed our mind as I was assembling it and decided on a flyover shelf but I needed to buy a tall unit end panel to cut it out of so I cut some more panels out of that. I have 4 base end panels, two wall end panels, a 600 appliance door and three boxes labelled ‘appliance unit rails' or something like that. They will be credited against the tall end panel, an oak peg board for the crockery drawer and under sink waste bins.
Bill for the end panel, bin and peg board came to £326 and I got £332 credit for the returned items so I’m up £6.
We have one nifty general waste bin under the sink, where, as you open the door, it raises the lid, and reveals the bin. So it's a one-handed operation. The bin itself, takes those small carrier bags, as bin liners.
Recyclables, eventually, go in a second bin, in the utility room - eventually, because often they end up on the end of the worktop, nearest the utility room door, whilst waiting to be moved
Some months ago, I added some clever swinging shelves, to the useless corner cupboard, under the worktop. Two shelves like a clever half moon shape, suspended on a vertical pole. You just give the shelf a tug, and out it comes giving full access to everything stored on it. That replaced a fixed shelf, that was impossible to access anything in the back corner, without pulling out everything ahead of it.
Another schoolboy f'cking error today. Fitting my £126 tall unit end panel. The doors on the larder unit didn’t come quite to the top despite being in maximum upwards adjustment. I lined up the end panel and marked it at the top. Managed to cut a nice straight line for once. Then I wondered about the doors being too low so I adjusted the two end feet on the cabinet up just a gnats to push that hinged side up. Perfect but….the end panel is now a couple of mm too short! Hopefully it won’t be noticed when the cornice is fitted but again, I could punch myself in the head! I’m never fitting another kitchen again after this.
Just a matter of taste I suppose. I liked the old one at first but I like the new one better now. After 25 years I suppose it was due for a change.
The new one's much more modern, not necessarily everyone's cup of tea but certainly a big improvement.
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Got a few more bits done in the kitchen today. Drilled some extra holes in one of the base units to move the shelf up one inch. That allowed me to fit my breadmaker in the cupboard. Fitted the end panel to the larder unit. The straight edge of the panel really showed the wall and my builder mate called in on his way past so he taped the panel and plastered up to it to get rid of the gaps. He blamed the last person that plastered the wall. I said "it was you that did it". He laughed and said he knew that! He came out with his usual saying "It looked alright from my house!” While he was here, I got him to cut/mitre the cornicing for the units. He glued the corners and I fitted them up. He didn’t have his circular saw on board so he's coming back either tomorrow or next week to cut a hole in the flyover for the extractor chimney to go through. I don’t trust myself not to fùck it up and if I do, I’ll have to buy another side panel at £126 to cut it out of. He said he's going to take down the wall unit end panels and cut them straight for me while he's here too - they both went up a little in the middle so the flyover is siting high and 'rocking' - I thought I’d done my straightest cut to date on those panels! 
My mate popped in again today and brought his track saw. First thing he did was have me remove the end panels (fortunately I had cut them slightly too high in the middle) so he just trimmed them down with a different saw. He then cut the perfect hole in my flyover for the extractor chimney to go through. He called me a **** and said I should have got him round from the start. Again, he wouldn’t take any money from me. I’ll make it up to him when his car and van need sorting out. I unwrapped the replacement extractor chimney and FFS, it was worse than the one they changed it for! Had a crease at eye level this time. Gotta get onto them again tomorrow.
Todays effort will be just in time for her to snag when she gets home from Spain tonight.
Right, I’ve got three hours to tidy the place up!
Todays effort will be just in time for her to snag when she gets home from Spain tonight.
Right, I’ve got three hours to tidy the place up!
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I sent an email last night with a photo of the damage and I received an apology this morning and they said they would be sending another one but this time they would be delivering it themselves instead of trusting to a courier. Once they had said that, I had a go at pulling out the crease - and it worked! They are only a small company and have given excellent service so far so I got straight back on to them and told them I’d sorted it and no need to send another - bonus for me was that I wouldn’t have to remove cornicing and flyover to fit it. They immediately sent a thank you email and refunded £15 to my card for my efforts which was a nice gesture. Full marks to Luxair hoods and I’d definitely recommend them.
Anyway, kitchen is basically all done apart from choosing paint (when Mrs Mottie decides on a colour), blinds, shelving and accessories. Thank **** for that!
looks great
After a month or so of use, a couple of observations.
Two ovens: Apart from the fact that we’ve only used the bottom oven once so far (always use the smaller top one), Mrs Mottie pointed out that (a) I paid extra for the 'slide and hide' oven door and then (b) Because there was nowhere to place the tray when basting roast potatoes or meat or whatever, I then paid extra for some special slide out tray runners! I didn't think of that..
Two ovens: Apart from the fact that we’ve only used the bottom oven once so far (always use the smaller top one), Mrs Mottie pointed out that (a) I paid extra for the 'slide and hide' oven door and then (b) Because there was nowhere to place the tray when basting roast potatoes or meat or whatever, I then paid extra for some special slide out tray runners! I didn't think of that..