Conquer Club

I've been busy recently ripping out my old kitchen and replacing with a new one.

if anyone is interested I've taken photos as the work progressed (but no photos of the old shitty kitchen or when i really first started ripping it out.)

if i get enough positive response, i'll post the photos as the work progressed.

I want more than 1 vote.

I want lots of votes. this place should be run as a democracy. I hope to lead by example

I meant that I wanted to vote for more than 1 option. All 3, ideally.

Well you can whistle.
I'm not going to get Julie to take a photo of me, with my hands glued to the worktop, with my nuts getting roasted - just for your entertainment

Don't forget to be g'ing to f'ing y'self.

Well I voted GFYS cause I love you so much

And the "Get drunk in...." and "Have a heart attack in...." options werent available.....I want PIX!!!!!!!!!!!

Pedronicus wrote:Well you can whistle.
I'm not going to get Julie to take a photo of me, with my hands glued to the worktop, with my nuts getting roasted - just for your entertainment

Hey why wasn't that in the choice up on the board??? I would have voted for that!

I voted to see your kitchen, Ped.

Kitchen renovation tip #1: Leave enough room between the counter and cupboards above for a nice tall coffee maker that grinds the beans so you don't have to re-gift it after your uncle generously sends you one.

Hmmm... do you need a nice tall coffee machine for your new kitchen???

Excellent point! And awesome to see you posting boss-man ;o)

What aboot that big ol Poutine-Maker.....dunchya need room for that too?

See ya Lack!

KoolBak wrote:What aboot that big ol Poutine-Maker

I tried to bring a poutine machine to market a few years back. I called it the Widow-Maker.

lol....was the name choice due to the ensuing clogged arteries or the fact that it would occasionally backfire, sending waves of scalding gravy and bullet-like chunks of curd flying in every direction?

lol....I would like to see a pic of THAT too!

KoolBak wrote:lol....was the name choice due to the ensuing clogged arteries or the fact that it would occasionally backfire, sending waves of scalding gravy and bullet-like chunks of curd flying in every direction?

Intended as the former, turned out as the latter.

Hint #1 If you are buying ready-made cabinets, make sure you have room for your pots and pans, especially any bigger ones.

Hint #2 - Blenders and mixers are nice if you ever intend to cook or have anyone cook for you.

#3 make sure you can OPEN your refridgerator door.

#4. There is NO SUCH thing as too many cabinets.

#5 no matter how tempting it is to locate it elsewhere, put your dishwasher next to your sink... you really do need to run the water to get it hot first, even for the nicer dishwashers unless you want to wait at least an hour extra.

i voted see, but the option for have a "large Vodka and Orange in" was not an option . neither was have sex (not with Pedro or his missus).

Stage 1.


I only started taking photos once the last of the units were left (Sink unit) - i got stuck at this point because I can't do plumbing - and needed to get a plumber in to disconnect my tap and discuss about plumbing in a washing machine at a later date.

(If you look closely - you can spot on the one remaining worktop to the left of the sink, that even in this shit state of a kitchen, it was a working kitchen. we have some chopped up peppers and chicken, the hob is red and ready to receive some curry ingredients.)

Stage 2


After getting the last units out, i dicovered that the render below the sink unit had sagged and protruded further into the room that i had measured. the tight fitting run of cabinets wouldn't fit. I had to smash out the lower render, re render and plaster over.

Stage 3


The old floor was really uneven and the floorboards were damaged with water that had gotten through the tiles over the years. So I ripped it up and tried to level it up with packers and planing down the higher joists.

Stage 5


New floor down.

Stage 6


This is where the plumber was round again to plumb in the washing machine.

stage 7



all base units constructed and installed up to sink unit.

stage 8



Routering worktops. the joke of this part of the installation is that i didn't own a router (or could i borrow) that accepted 12.7mm [1/2"] straight bits. I had two corners to cut in.

It ended up costing me £89 for the jig (the black thing that is just some 13mm thick bit of wood with some weird shapes cut in it) and £49 for the router. £11 for the router bit. That ended up being about £75 per corner of the worktop. sigh

It was the most nerve wracking part of my work in the kitchen to date. One mistake and a worktop would be ruined.

Stage 9



A bit of a late realisation that i needed to wire in a spur to power the extractor hood. This was without doubt the most time consuming and swear filled part of the job. This took over 3 hours of wriggling under a couple of base units (Size to underside of units where I am is 7 1/2" or 190mm if you are from the rest of the world)

(PLEASE GO AND GET A TAPE MEASURE TO REALISE JUST HOW SMALL THE ABOVE DIMENSION IS TO WORK WITHIN)

I was wearing a head torch that never seemed to be pointing in the right direction and required me to get from under the units to re position before starting again.

stage 10



Worktops installed and holes routered out for hob and sink. At this point my kitchen floor was looking like a butchers shop circa 1964. A bit of blood, but loads of sawdust. I only live in a 1 bedroom flat with no garden. I had to build this kitchen is a quickly reuding in size room. it became very difficult to do anything.

stage 11



the other side of the kitchen with worktops cut in.