New Kitchen (lots of images)

[blu3tang]

the kitchen project

KiTchen project started on the 28th of july 2007
As you can see here is pictures of the old kitchen.

The room is north facing , and their is only 1 small window.

We knew we wanted to get more light by knocking the wall down between the dining room and kitchen, thought its a supporting wall


view from the dining room looking against the supporting wall..

Supports where put in to hold the floor above while the wall was knocked down.

Walls where tracked and the kitchen was just about a kitchen!

Steal beam was put in, and in the background you can see the tracking on the wall for HDMI/video cables for tv. (what a mess the tracking device does!!)
HDMI cables are used for the computer, computer has a hdmi connection , and its split into 2, one going to living room tv and one to the above tv. Keyboard and mouse are bluetooth. so if
i want to surf on the internet, i can just go into the kitchen with keyboard and mouse and work away (another benefit of hdmi is one cable that sends down video and sound, so sound plays from computer to tv speakers)

Above took about 3 evenings to do everything


Eventaully the kitchen was moved under the stairs in the hall way!

Between 6th -10th august, electrician was in a few nights a week fixing, (it didnt help we where getting a new split load cosumer unit in, and there was fautlt with our electrics



gu10 spot lights put into kitchen and dining room.

It was to awakward for the electrician to come from the floor above.
so holes where punched and cables fed across.

13th and 14th august
Next job was the plasterer's job to do his job

Steal Beam covered in plaster board, and painted and lights installed.

Next the painters turn.
He had to wait as long as possible for the plaster/skimmed walls to dry , deadline was the 27th (day kitchen fitters to come to install)
24th and it was done.

25th i hung the tv on the wall

27th kitchen fitters at last!
At last! for nearly a month, we have been eating/breathing dust!

1st day

took approx 3 days to fit, and then they had to take templates for the granite (which took another 10 days)
big fridge install

oven installed

Hob and oven view

view of sink and dining room

Sink wth engravement

The black radiator(TM)!

The mrs works for vauxhall dealership, the radiator was purchased as a white radiator from screw fix, we got it professsionally sprayed black (backed in the oven)

The exact colour is a vauxhall metallic black colour.
heres a zoom in on the metallic black

Sink with engravement

The final view so far! (just need door put on to utility room , skirting round other door , and splash back to be fitted.

 

[JohnD]

what happened to the dog?

 

[blu3tang]

oh charlie, hes still here!

Lucy as well.

 

[dave.m]

Very impressed, Nick.
Does 'her-in-doors' think it was worth the muck and dust in her breakfast for a couple of months?
dave

 

[blu3tang]

she did, she knew there would be a mess, and we did try as much as possible put up plastic sheeting to cover doors etc.. but still dust and dirt got everywhere..

The tracking defn was the worst, when i was tracking she went out shopping!

By the time she came back the dust had settled... if anything the 2 dogs where more of a nightmare, they wanted to come in and see what was happening (they would happily sit beside you as your working away!)

But all in all she knew that the end result would be great, and she knew when it was all going to happen (ie not drag on and on) the deadline was for the kitchen installers to do their work.


There was no major upsets with anything, a few hairy moments when i thought a 6mm cable will do the hob and oven (it was only when i queried it again and again with the kitchen people getting specs of the oven did we realise , ****e it i will need to run in another cable!


Still both of us are well impressed with the end result

 

[JohnD]

you let the woman go out?

you should have made her do the heavy work.

I like to see a woman working hard.

 

[Steve]

Forgive me if you already mentioned, where was the kitchen from?

I'd have concerns about the TV above the radiator, I'd have probably replaced the radiator with a matching one from the kitchen.

And the radiator next to the back door - how does the adjacent cupboard open? If I had a cupboard like that, I'd have a tall wire rack pull-out jobbie, just for the show-off value , but I'd at least make sure I could open the door all the way.

When your halogen lamps start blowing, replace them with energy saving CFLs. Brighten up the very dark room!

Other than that, very nice!

 

[blu3tang]

you let the woman go out?

you should have made her do the heavy work.
I like to see a woman working hard.

Couldnt really! shes pregnant!

Forgive me if you already mentioned, where was the kitchen from?

A local provider (im in northern ireland) called woodwise in portadown.

I'd have concerns about the TV above the radiator, I'd have probably replaced the radiator with a matching one from the kitchen.

i know what you mean!
Though if we got a nice black radiator, i think it would look too big (so we would have to get a smaller one , though that entails moving pipes , which would mean ripping up the solid oak flooring (which im really lothed to do!)(Oak flooring was ripped up 3 years ago , due to the DH installing it doing it badly and wrongly, and then new oak was put down by a joiner who does it day in day out (used the floating method)

As for heat on to the tv, the radiator has a thermostat, and it was actually off for ages (the tall one in the kitchen heats up easily the room). We are just after getting the wall insulated and we are finding that with the heating on 2 hours a night(6.30pm-8.30pm), the temp when heating is on , sits at 24-26c, and then next morning its still 21c.

how does the adjacent cupboard open? If I had a cupboard like that, I'd have a tall wire rack pull-out jobbie, just for the show-off value , but I'd at least make sure I could open the door all the way.

The cupboard is a strange cupboard! behind the cupboard is a big pipe coming from the bathroom, so the cuboard is only about 45cm in depth, so a pull out jobbie would be great, it wouldnt work, the only thing we have to do is on the handle put a rubber bit on top so that when it opens , the handle doesnt hit the radiator, (we are careful when opening up the cupboard)

When your halogen lamps start blowing, replace them with energy saving CFLs. Brighten up the very dark room!

Have though those cfls in the hall wall and upstairs (approx 10 of them) they are not bad, they are not as bright as the halogens, and im finding that they dont last as long as the halogens (every time a cfl goes out i think feck another £5!!)

Other than that, very nice!

thank you very much!

 

[Steve]

Odd that you say the CFLs dont last long. I have a feeling the location may impact them - they are designed for long periods on, and depending how you use the hallway you may only use them for very short periods. We have them in the bathroom, and they get left on all night (the bathroom light always has been). Cant go wrong with 27 watts instead of 150!

 

[blu3tang]

Odd that you say the CFLs dont last long. I have a feeling the location may impact them - they are designed for long periods on, and depending how you use the hallway you may only use them for very short periods. We have them in the bathroom, and they get left on all night (the bathroom light always has been). Cant go wrong with 27 watts instead of 150!

then ideally they would need to be in the kitchen than in the hall way, probably where im going wrong. The ones in the hall way really only get used if we are hoovering or going up the stairs at night, thats it!

the ones in the kitchen would be on for around about 1-2hours a night...

 

[madsey]

I love your fridge,do you mind me asking how much and where
did you buy it from??

Thanks,madsey.

p.s. nice kitchen.

 

[blu3tang]

I love your fridge,do you mind me asking how much and where
did you buy it from??

Thanks,madsey.

p.s. nice kitchen.

Its an "Amana" make (not sure of model will update this message later on with it), they are expensive in the uk (£2k+) but the one we got was a shop demo (never been swithed one, and had all the plastic still inside it) we got it for £1100. Its a true american fridge (made in chicago), we where warned about the stainless steel finish , as in you will be constantly cleaning it. You can see in the pics the hand marks on the fridge, to clean it baby oil was mentioned (though i believe in the industry there is a better cleaner, that doesnt attract dirt and dust). But with above picture it was only put in, after a few weeks so far there hasnt been much cleaning with it (maybe once a week/fortnight)

 

[gcol]

Looks real nice Nick.
Have just about finished our new kitchen - just waiting for the tiles to turn up then I can slap them on. We went for a number of stainless appliances and were a little worried about keeping them clean. You can get what's called an "E-cloth" from B&Q - they cost about £8 for a pack. You get one for stainless and one for glass. The missus is very impressed - might be worth having a look. Cheers.

 

[sunama]

Obviously your new kitchen is better, but I think that your old kitchen wasnt bad in the first place.

It certainly shows that you have spent plenty of money on it.

I especially like the pic of the steel beam. I find it amazing that a few bricks can take the weight of an entire load-bearing wall that has been knocked down.

I think though, you shouldn't have positioned your tv screen above the radiator, but like you said, the screen had to go there and relocating that raditor wouldve involved a lot of work.

A question about the paint used to on the radiator: can it handle the heat; have you had any problems so far with the paint reacting adversely to the heat?

 

[Steve]

A question about the paint used to on the radiator: can it handle the heat; have you had any problems so far with the paint reacting adversely to the heat?

On a hot sunny day, go outside and touch your car. Then think again about that question