D.I.Y. TIPS (kitchen)

1. Assembly of flat pack kitchen units.

Flat pack kitchen units usually delivered in cardboard boxes - each unit in separate box. In the same boxes (sometimes in separate boxes) manufacturer or wholesaler will send you a fixing kit, which will contain accessories, required for fixing. Some of them you will use fully, some - partly, depending on how you wish to use each unit in actual life.

These are: - cam and cam studs, which in pairs intended to fix parts of the unit together; wooden dowel pegs which are to help you put and keep parts in correct position and strengthen joins; special brackets to fix worktop to floor standing units; connection screws which in pairs are to join adjacent units together; decorative caps to cover screws and other fixing heads; dampers or small usually round pads made from soft plastic or rubber to protect surfaces when door or drawer closed; door hinges which usually go into pre-drilled positions in doors (2 for each door) and side walls of the unit; jointing plates for joining of two adjacent worktop parts together; corner braces to fix floor standing units to the kitchen wall; drawer runners in pairs (one part is for fixing on the side of the drawer and another on the side wall of the unit); unit legs (usually 4 for each unit, large corner units have more); sometimes plastic or metal plinth vent. By the way, if you wish, in addition to kitchen units you can order plinth heater, which might warm you up during cold winter times.

Also in the kit will be brackets for fixing wall units, door handles and/or knobs (if applicable), plinth, pelmet and cornice. In any case you'll have some spare accessories after finishing the job.

In each cardboard box manufacturer encloses full instruction for assembling and fixing the unit with fair amount of helpful information and pictures, showing how to actually do the job and use fixing kit. By the way some info could be not so clear to understand, just use common sense.

Also in the kit will be cam and cam studs, which in pairs intend to fix parts of the unit together; wooden dowel pegs which are to help you put and keep parts in correct position and strengthen joins; special brackets to fix worktop to floor standing units; connection screws which in pairs are to join adjacent units together; decorative caps to cover screws and other fixing heads; dampers or small usually round pads made from soft plastic or rubber to protect surfaces when door or drawer closed; door hinges which usually go into pre-drilled positions in doors (2 for each door) and side wall of the unit;

Now, make sure you already prepared the room for your kitchen: it's properly planned, old kitchen units removed, plumbing and electrical part of installation already mended, walls and ceiling levelled, plastered and painted (where needed), you did something about the floor already (or you might wish to do it later on after installation of kitchen units to the walls). And at last, your new kitchen already delivered and is on site.

TOOLS YOU NEED FOR THE JOB:

• - Cordless drill/driver;
• - Philips screwdriver;
• - Flat screwdriver;
• - Hammer;
• - Tape measure;
• - 2 spirit levels - 1 short and 1 long(1000 mm or 1200 mm);
• - G-clamp;
• - Hand saw;
• - Jigsaw;
• - Router;
• - Masking tape.

Firstly you need to assemble each unit one by one, not fixing them together. Usually all holes needed for assembling are pre-drilled by manufacturer, so you could compare the look of each unit parts with the pictures inside the manual instruction though they should be clearly marked any way, mostly it's white circle with the number or a letter of english alphabet. Some people start with fixing legs to the base of the unit, others fix the legs at the end of unit assembling. Honestly speaking it's better to do it at the end or at least before fixing the drawers, otherwise you might accidentally break one of them.

2. Kitchen units fitting (installation) in place.

When you finished assembly of the units, you need to prepare the walls for fixing units.

- Firstly use a tape measure to mark 890-900 mm above the floor level with a pencil or marker. After that draw horizontal line using that mark with the help of the long spirit level across the wall where the floor standing units intend to be.

- Next mark 450-550 mm above that line. Draw another horizontal line where your wall units will be.

- As you already know future positions of your units both floor standing and wall units mark their positions across horizontal lines.

- Get some wooden battens 20x45 mm or 20x50 mm and fix them to the wall with their top edge aligned with the lower guideline, made by you for floor standing units. For that you need to drill battens along the length, every 250-300 mm (though first hole should be not far from the end of the batten). The holes should be about diameter of the screws (3.5 mm or 4 mm). Then put the batten to the wall, where it will be fixed later, mark the points on the wall through the holes you just drilled, put batten aside.

- It's a good idea to make sure there are no live wires and pipes (water or gas) inside the walls in the place where you will be drilling. Otherwise, you'll have an unwanted surprise. And it might be dangerous for your property and/or you. If you could not sort this out using your eyes and common sense, then perhaps you'll need to use some specialist equipment for that, like metal detector, live wire detector, etc. But be careful, these days plastic pipes could be used in plumbing installation, which metal detector will not detect. Any ways, in most cases pipes usually ran in the risers, boxing or visibly clipped to the walls or skirting board with the pipe clips. Nevertheless, sometimes pipes installed in the middle of the wall, that you might find in old installations or installations, made by unskilled plumbers. Same concerns electrical wires. Normally you can sort their ways out looking at the sockets, switches, light fittings etc. In normal cases wires should run from them vertically up or down, sometimes horizontally left or right. So avoid those vertical and horizontal lines. And do not forget about some wicked installations, which could be found inside brickwork (actually, on a surface of brickwork, but covered with the plaster), sometimes they might be run even diagonally.

- Drill the holes in the wall (use appropriate drill bits for the walls, it might be brickwork or concrete, where you need masonry bit (5.5 mm), or it might be partition wall, which you can drill with any kind of drill bit). Now, insert wall plugs after masonry bit (plastic red colour, use hammer if you need it) and use plasterboard fixing kit (metal or plastic self drills with the help of philips screwdriver or hollow wall anchors with the help of setting tool) on the partition wall. Do not forget to drill the holes not more than the length of the screws intended to be used (40-50 mm, mark the drill bit with the insulation tape or small rubber washer).

As you might be aware, not any wall can be used to fit the wall units. All depends on the material used for installing the wall. It certainly should be the wall tough enough to carry the load of the wall unit itself and the kitchen stuff, which will be stored in that unit (just imagine the weight!). Best of all it's concrete or brick wall. Partition wall made of plasterboard on wooden or metal studs is not tough enough. But that's possible to fix, if the wall thick, so the studs used for the skeleton are at least 75x50mm or better 100x50mm. In this case the wall should be prepared same way as in case of wash basin installation: plasterboard on the level of wall units must be replaced with 12 mm marine ply wood and plastered over, painted. After that wall units could be fitted to the wall (straight to ply wood). Tough thick wood screws with big caps could be used or better hollow wall anchors.

After you fixed your wall units you can start set your floor standing units in place. First place them as you want starting with corner unit and carry on to one side and another from that corner unit. You should take into account: the place, where cooker switch is (move it to desirable position before units installation), where your piping is located (hot, cold water and waste for kitchen sink and other appliances, such as washing machine, dryer, dishwasher), maybe you need to move the pipes, adjust them for your new kitchen layout. Again, do it before.

When that sorted, level all units, using unit legs, with the first line on the wall and at the same time use your short level to keep units horizontally right. Last check units with the long level, make some adjustments if needed.

Now, fix corner unit to the wall with the angle brackets from the kit (to wooden batten, unit should be in exact level with it). Then start fixing units to each other and the wall (batten), making final adjustments.

On this stage you can start fixing the doors, handles, drawer runners, setting the drawers in place.

Finally you are ready to fix thKitchen top. Firstly prepare the fixing brackets (white plastic ones usually) for the job, fixing them with the screws to the back sides of the units in level with the top side in the positions, where you will have possibility to screw them to the worktop afterwards.

Normally kitchens could be:

• - galley, when kitchen units are on one or two opposite sides of the room, so you need two straight worktops;
• - "L" shaped, when the kitchen units fixed to two adjacent walls of the room and you need to connect two straight runs to each other, forming "L" shape;
• - "U" shaped, when the kitchen units fixed to three adjacent walls of the room and you need to connect three straight runs to each other, forming "U" shape;
• - sometimes it could be more complicated shape, going out from one of previous three.

Length for straight run should be cut up to size first. It should be exact measurement wall to wall (if it's between two walls, minus 5 mm to allow some space for setting in place) or 15-20 mm more on each side, where not touching the wall. Mark the line with the pen first, then place masking tape making sure marking line is in the middle of that tape. It will prevent unwanted splintering of the surface (especially with the laminate worktop).

You can cut the worktop to size laying it on the assembled units, or you can do it on the saw horses. Just bear in mind, that worktop is long and heavy, don't brake it (put something under the middle for safety) and get some additional hand to carry the worktop. Cut can be done using any sawing tool - hand saw, jig saw, circular saw or router (though you'll need more knowledge and skills to work with router, also - worktop jig and a couple of worktop cutters for router). At the same time do not forget, that with hand saw you cut the worktop straight from the top surface, jig saw and circular saw you should use from bottom surface of worktop (for the fine cut).

After you made a cut, cover the visible end with the worktop end cap. Square edged worktops can be joined without joining strip. Apply wooden glue to the one of joining edges. Then push both parts of worktop together and secure the joint with the fixing plate and screws. For stronger joint you can use 2 or 3 fixing plates. Wipe away excess glue. To join round edges you'll need to use joining strip. Use hack saw (even junior one will do) to cut joining strip to exact size as the width of worktop. Apply some silicone sealant along the edge of one section of worktop. Position the strip on the edge and screw it in place. Apply same silicone sealant along another worktop edge. Butt the sections together and fix them to the floor standing units through the fixing brackets, which you prepared before and using fixing rails on the top side of the units. Wipe any excess sealant away.

Visible ends could be covered by laminate strips, ironed or glued to the end and then (after glue dried out) trimmed by sharp knife. Synthetic stone or solid wood worktops can be fine sanded and last one should be oiled (use oil recommended by manufacturer).

3. FITTING KITCHEN SINK OR HOB INTO THE WORKTOP.

Sinks and hobs mostly need to be recessed into worktop. Many other appliances are freestanding and just slot between the units under worktop (if it's integrated appliance, or between two units and two parts of the worktop if it's not and higher than the worktop). If you chose integrated appliances you should have doors for them like all kitchen units with fixings and handles. Also, you'll need to use special brackets to fix appliance in place after fixing the door and adjusting the legs. And do not forget the water and electrical services if needed.

Fitting a Sink.

Position the sink upside down on the worktop, exactly where it should be, making sure the space in front and in a back is even. Draw a pencil guideline around the sink. Measure the depth of the lip of the sink (10-15 mm) and draw a second pencil line at that distance inside the first. Drill one round hole in each corner using 20 mm flat bit or auger bit inside the inner guideline. Cut around the inside guideline with the jig saw. Use round holes as a starting points. Support the worktop underneath as you cut and make sure there is no obstructions. Check that the sink fits in the hole then cover the cut edges with the preservative primer or PVA. Now fit the tap into existing round hole in the sink and secure it on the underside with the washers and nuts supplied according to manufacturers instruction. Fix the tap hoses. Fit the waste assembly and overflow. Fit a gasket or seal, supplied by manufacturer, where it showed in the instruction (to the underside of the lip of the sink). Fit retaining clips around the edge of the sink. Position the sink in the place and fix it with the clips to the worktop. Connect the tap hoses to the water supply and waste assembly to the waste pipe.

Fitting a hob.

It's very similar to the sink. Gas connections should be made by GasSafe registered contractor. Electrical hob should be connected together with oven via cooker connection unit and 45A cooker switch to the supply cable (6 mm minimum, but it might be 10 mm, this usually stated in the manufacturers instruction and all depend on the full cooker power in kW). Cooker connection unit usually hidden behind the cooker. Cooker switch should be installed on the wall (on the right or left from the hob, not directly behind it) and MUST be readily accessible. Connection of the supply cable to the fuse box or consumer unit must be done by professional electrician.

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