Kitchen: part 3 - bench seat and more kitchen fitting

We thought a low-level seating area/storage unit would work quite well opposite the kitchen island. The only problem was none of the kitchen suppliers (apart from the very posh and expensive ones) sold those kind of units. So we decided to have a go at making our own. 

We did initially consider building the drawer boxes from scratch and just buying the drawer fronts from our kitchen supplier, but it was much more convenient (and cost-effective) to adapt some ready-made units if possible. Our supplier sold microwave housings in various sizes, so we bought 3 of them to use as the base of our homemade unit.

We were careful to choose drawers that were the right height for comfortable seating and by coincidence, that was exactly the same height as the bottom drawers in the island unit opposite, so it should all match nicely once completed.  

We had specified that the units were to be supplied dry-assembled (i.e., dowelled, but unglued) which would allow us to dismantle them for easier cutting and re-configuring. Unfortunately despite being clearly labelled, someone in the factory still decided to go crazy-ape bonkers with their glue gun and the units were stuck fast, with no chance of prising them apart without damage.

The supplier offered to replace the units or alternatively knock a sum of money off the bill... so naturally we opted for the fat discount and decided to figure out a creative way to work around the issue. In these latter stages of the build when our finances are dwindling, any money we can save is very welcome.

Plan B: Alan managed to cut the side panels off the cabinets using just a handsaw. It was a little more laborious than just running the loose panels under a plunge saw, but was much more accurate than expected. 

After the side panels had been cut from the 3 units, we sanded away any unevenness and adjusted the units for height and level. Once everything was lined up, we joined them together using concealed fixings.

One of the main reasons we had wanted to dismantle the units, was to strengthen them with additional timber bracing, but they had been so strongly assembled (by that demon glue merchant at the factory) that there really was no need.   

Another stroke of luck. The suppliers had mistakenly sent us some small gloss blanking panels (free of charge - yay!). These were factory-finished and painted on all four sides - it seemed a shame not to make use of them, so we adopted them into our design. As ever, Alan planned how it would all fit together before we started, using a scale 3d drawing made in Google Sketchup. 


 


The supports for the 'columns' on either side were made of scrap timber, using the small gloss panels as a kind of jig to gauge the size, so we would get a perfect fit when it was all assembled.

The 'columns' should help give the ends of the seating area a chunkier feel and also create a clean edge for the 'stainless steel' kickboard to fit within.

We wanted the homemade unit to match the factory-made cabinets that we had already installed. The drawers were the same design and height, but to tie-in with the other units, we also fitted the decorative end panels to either end of the unit. Because the unit is relatively low, we were able to make these mini end-panels out of off-cuts from the bigger ones we'd used elsewhere.

Cutting the end panel for the top was not going to be easy. We only had one large sheet and any mistakes would be expensive, so it was important to get it right first time. Gulp!

The top was cut from a large decorative panel, usually used for finishing the ends of full-height kitchen units. As before, we found the neatest way to trim this glossy coating without chipping, was to cut it slightly over-sized using the plunge saw (on rails), then sand down to match the contours of the wall.

Before fitting the top, we attached the final side panel. The top panel was then secured to the unit invisibly using short screws added from the carcass below.

We were quite pleased with the end result; a kind of kitchen bench seat, with tons of storage and soft-closing drawers, made for less than the cost of one of our basic kitchen drawer units.

Naturally, the site inspector made sure that the work had been completed to his satisfaction.

As with the shed, drawing a 3d plan beforehand certainly made it much easier to work out how everything would fit together.

During the 1st fix electrics, we had installed aerial/CAT5 and power sockets up on the wall in preparation for a kitchen TV, though couldn't afford to buy one yet. So when Alan's mum told us that her elderly neighbour's old TV might be going spare, we were interested... though we were rather surprised when we later discovered it was a Bang & Olufsen! Although it was quite an old TV, the design and sound quality were much better than anything we could (ever) afford so we gratefully accepted the offer.

Unfortunately the TV didn't come with a wall-mounting bracket and as with anything Bang & Olufsen, these fittings cost an absolute fortune. Luckily a dealer on Ebay accepted our (very) speculative offer for one he'd been trying to sell for a while.

In preparation for fitting a heavy TV, we'd installed thick wooden supports prior to boarding the walls. Luckily we'd also kept detailed photographs with measurements so we knew exactly where the supports and studs were positioned.

Once we worked out exactly where the wooden supports were, it was easy to screw the wall-bracket firmly in position...

 

... allowing the TV to hang neatly and securely in place.

Having rigged up central libraries on our computer network for sharing music, films and TV shows around the house, it seemed a pity that the old Bang & Olufsen wasn't internet-enabled like modern TVs. To get around this issue, Alan made a mini-media PC out of a Raspberry Pi (a micro-sized, customizable computer). 

The Raspberry Pi can be connected to our network wirelessly but we preferred to use an ethernet cable for better transfer rates. It was then connected to the TV via a standard HDMI cable. 

Even in its natty case, there was enough room to fit the tiny Raspberry Pi behind the TV without compromising its flat-to-the-wall fitting.

A 'dumb' TV cheaply transformed into a Smart one; we now had access to the internet, as well as our central film and music libraries on the kitchen TV.

Back to the kitchen fitting and the next job was to install decorative end panels for the kitchen island. 

Building our kitchen on a tight budget meant we didn't have the luxury of buying custom-sized end panels. Our supplier only made a very limited range of panels anyway, so we would have to make the end out of two panels.  

Once the two end panels had been cut to size and any bare MDF waterproofed, we clamped them in position and carefully fixed them to the carcass using screws from the inside of the units. 

The joint between the two end panels would have to be concealed later, possibly with a strip of brushed stainless steel to match the rest of the kitchen.

The 'oven' side of the island was slightly more difficult because there was no carcass to which we could fit the end panels.  

The wooden plinth we'd made to support the oven doubled up as a support for the bottom of the end panel too. Once that had been lined up and secured, the top half was braced in position using timber supports. 

It was fiddly, but eventually we got the end panels lined up properly and the oven back in place.

Once the decorative end panels were in place, it allowed us to fit the stainless steel kickboards to the island, which made the whole thing look a little more finished.

The kitchen was gradually taking shape. We just needed to replace our temporary OSB worktops with something a little more appropriate.

Next door in the utility room, there was a very important job that needed our attention; the site inspector had demanded his own private entrance...

... which meant Alan had to cut a hole in the aluminium door panel.





We invested in a good quality, site-inspector-flap to minimise any potential draughts or water leaks.





We also completed the fitting of the kitchen units in the utility room, adding the decorative end panels and kickboards.

In the past we'd had bad experiences with built-in appliances, so went for freestanding appliances throughout the new kitchen. 

While finishing off the utility room, we had another visit from the large group of deer that live in the woods nearby.

They sometimes come right up to the house.

More deer gathering outside the kitchen window - it's quite surreal watching them while washing up!

After all our hard work, it was nice to see that someone enjoyed the new kitchen bench seat...

... apparently it's even comfortable when you're upside-down.

Once the site inspector had finished his power-nap, we could tackle the final job on the bench seat - fitting a mini-uplight.

We had originally planned to have a wall light in this corner, but re-routed the wiring some time ago to allow a dimmable uplight instead. This should add some variety to the kitchen lighting options.

We drilled a hole in the bench and retrieved the wiring that we'd left coiled below.

Alan fitted the LED mini-uplight. It's tiltable so the light can also be angled in any direction. 

Ta-da! The uplight in action.

Kitchen: part 2 - fitting

Since the floor tiling had been finished throughout the ground floor, we could get on with fitting the kitchen. Our cabinets would be book-ended with a number of decorative panels that sit directly on the tiled floor, so in order to get these fitted perfectly, the flooring had to be in place.

Another advantage of waiting until the tiling had been done, was that we could adjust the height of the kitchen units so that that kickboards would fit snugly underneath without any need to trim them down in height. (The kickboards were a hollow 'stainless steel' effect, so unlike their solid wood counterparts, it did not look like cutting them down lengthways would be either easy or neat).

We adjusted the legs of the kitchen island until the kickboard could fit underneath, then levelled everything off and made sure all the cabinets lined up.

Once we were satisfied with the height of the units, we could join all the cabinets together. We removed the drawers in order to use concealed fixings inside the cabinets. The two rows of units were also bolted together using a variety of brackets and battens that ran along the backs of the cabinets.

After several months cooking with only a halogen oven, it was exciting to take delivery of our new kitchen oven. The smooth, glossy floor tiles make it so easy to move heavy objects - just drop it on a dustsheet and drag it into place.  

(Note the new doormat fitted in the mat-well behind).

Fitting the oven was not going to be straightforward (of course...) It's not possible to fit a double oven directly underneath an induction hob - the manufacturers just don't allow the room, so our oven was going to be located on one side of the island.

Usually the oven would sit on steel supports attached to kitchen cabinets on either side. But since our oven would be located in the corner of the island, with no cabinet next to it, it could only be supported on one side. Not being kitchen fitters, we had to figure out our own solution and the best idea was to build a wooden plinth that could act as both a raised base for the oven, and also give us something to attach the decorative end panels to. 

We raided the scrap wood pile (yet again) and built a simple frame using studwork timber held together with hefty coach bolts.

We tailored the frame to the same height as the kickboards, so the oven should line up perfectly with the rest of the drawer units.

Then we lifted the oven into position. The wooden plinth shouldn't be a safety issue as these ovens have barely any heat coming out the bottom, however we used the steel supports screwed underneath as an additional precaution. We'll tackle the end panels for the island a bit later...

Once the island had been raised up and screwed firmly together, the line of cabinets opposite were next.

Decorative end panels are always stupidly over-priced, so in order to save money we cut them in half wherever possible. The dishwasher had end panels running either side of it, but only the front face of the end panels would ever be visible, so it was much more cost effective to use one panel cut in two. It also gave us a bit of extra room to try and fit the rather unwieldy hoses behind.

After the end panels were screwed in place, we could refit the dishwasher. It was a tight squeeze so we were very glad we tiled under all the appliances, as having a 'step' to negotiate would have made fitting extremely awkward. (N.B. It will eventually be plugged in via the fused spur below the worktop).

 

With the end panels and dishwasher installed, the rest of the units could be lined up, joined together and screwed to the wall.

We were also going to use a full-size decorative end panel to finish off the line of cabinets... 

... but first we thought it best to paint the kitchen walls. This would save having to paint edges where the end panels meet the walls. 

As ever, we used Little Greene's intelligent matt (washable) and since we were getting so much sky reflected off the floor tiles, it seemed rather appropriate to use a shade of blue called 'Gentle Sky'.  





After two coats of paint, we were ready to resume work on the kitchen. The end panels come over-sized so that they can be trimmed down to suit requirements. First step was to cut them to the correct height (making allowance for any 'slope' in the tiled floor) and then clamp them in place. 

The front face of the panel has to be perfectly vertical to match the rest of the cabinets. Once it had been clamped into position, we could work out exactly how much needed to be cut off the back of the panel to ensure a perfect fit against the wall.

Walls are never straight so usually kitchen fitters would scribe their cutting line (i.e., use a compass/dividers to follow the uneven contours of the wall and mark a line that corresponds to that). Since we'd used a 'dry' walling system with no plaster, our walls were very flat and even, so we didn't need to scribe, though would still need to cut at a slight angle to compensate for the wall being slightly off vertical.        

Having established exactly how much to cut from the panel, the next problem was how to get a nice clean cut in the gloss-coated finish. Using any kind of conventional saw would leave the edge looking chipped and ragged. Looking online, there were a plethora of contrasting opinions on this matter, so once again the only way to really be sure was to experiment for ourselves.

We tested out various methods on some off-cuts - masking tapes, clamping wood to the panel, router, etc. The cleanest cut seemed to come from using a very fine tooth blade in the plunge saw, but even that sometimes left tiny chips. In the end, the best solution was to use the plunge saw to cut the panel to within 1-2mm of our line...   

... then 'fine-tune' the edge using a power sander. A bit time-consuming, but this method removed all the 'micro-chips' in the gloss coating and made it possible to follow the exact contours of the wall.

Trimming the panels to size exposed the MDF core. This material does not react well to dampness (swells up and falls apart) so it was important to seal these cut joints before fitting. Two coats of waterproof wood glue worked well as a quick-drying sealant and would prevent any concerns about water penetrating the MDF once it's sitting on the tiles (for example, when mopping the floor or after accidental spillages).    

Thankfully after all that work, it was a perfect fit. We clamped it in place and secured it invisibly using short screws drilled in from the inside of the cabinet.

To finish off, we cut the kickboard to the right length and installed it under the cabinets. 

Same process on the small bin cupboard. First we adjusted the height to match the other kitchen units and secured it firmly to the wall with L-brackets.

We fitted (half) an end panel to the wall side...

... and a full-size end panel (painstakingly cut down, sanded and sealed) to the other side

Next we installed the 'stainless steel' kickboard and adjusted the door so that the gaps were even on both sides.

All it needs now is a worktop...

... but at least we had somewhere to chuck all our rubbish.

The next job was working out exactly where we wanted the induction hob. Being amateur kitchen fitters, we weren't quite sure of its ideal position, so we experimented with a cardboard template to see what felt right.

After extensive research with our cardboard hob (using pretend pots and pans) we ascertained that the ideal distance from the counter edge to the hob is this.

Although a bit short, this sheet of OSB (leftover from the attic room flooring) would work as a temporary worktop. We cut out a rectangle for the hob to match the template. The depth of the induction hob meant that sections of the cabinet underneath would also need to be trimmed away.

With the hob cutout prepared and the oven also in place, it was time to call in our friendly neighbourhood electricians, the two Aarons, to wire up the appliances. The electricians have been happy to sign off on most of our DIY electrical installations, but cookers and other high current appliances would need to be installed by them.

Power for the island came from a hefty cable installed in the floor during the 1st fix installation. It seemed like a lifetime ago... (and the kitchen has changed a bit since then).

Once the electricians had done their bit, we had a working hob and oven. We fitted a couple of OSB off-cuts to extend the temporary worktop and at last we had a usable cooking area.

Once we knock down the old house (situated right outside the full-length windows) we will have much more light coming into the kitchen, but even so, there is so much light bouncing off the floor tiles (also reflecting up onto the ceiling)

The island still needed its decorative end panels and kickboards, but we wouldn't be fitting them until a bit later (see the next thrilling instalment of this blog...) 

Kitchen slowly taking shape.