# Kitchen units



## Joshjosh (27 Jan 2020)

Hi 
I'm building a kitchen for myself this year
I'm using b/BB birch ply for the units and wondered what people's thoughts were on what finish to use for the inside? Biggest concern is durability but would also like a natural looking finish, also anyone with experience building higher end kitchens what do you sit your units on, I'm not keen on the plastic feet and wondered if on higher end kitchens you do something different? I could just sit it all on a plinth but think it may make it difficult to remove a unit at a later date if there are any issues it the unit is tight between the plinth and worktop, any input would be great especially from any kitchen makers. 
I currently work as a site joiner but would like to transition into this sort of work so I'm using my kitchen as a trial run
Cheers Josh


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## Geoff_S (27 Jan 2020)

Just wondering why you don’t like plastic feet?


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## Distinterior (27 Jan 2020)

Unless you are planning on only fitting kitchen base units on laser leveled floors ...? 

If not, then you will be glad of the adjustability and weight carrying capacity of a decent sized plastic foot such as this...


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## Joshjosh (27 Jan 2020)

I could easily level a plinth up on a wonky floor but my concern would be needing to remove a unit at a later date. I find the plastic feet flimsy and cheap feeling, granted once the unit is in place that doesn't matter I just wondered if higher end kitchens used a different method


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## Distinterior (27 Jan 2020)

On the rare occasions, over the past 37 years, that I have needed to remove an existing base cabinet, the easiest method has been to remove the plinth, remove the cabinet to cabinet fixings, lower all the legs by about 5mm on the cabinet in question and just slide the cabinet out....Sorted!

Edit.
The legs and leg boss that I posted a picture of above, are rigid. You would have to be extremely heavy handed to snap one or pull the boss off the bottom of a cabinet!


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## doctor Bob (27 Jan 2020)

Just use better plastic legs. Your imagining cheap crappy ones.
I can drag units around on a concrete floor confident they are not going to break.


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## Joshjosh (27 Jan 2020)

Ok cheers plastic adjustables it is
Any thoughts on a finish for the internals?


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## harryc (27 Jan 2020)

If you don’t like plastic legs just use adjustable furniture levellers.


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## kevinlightfoot (28 Jan 2020)

I don't like the way the plinths fit to the plastic legs,flimsy little snap on clips,the plinths are not very solid,I tend to fix a batten to the underside of the cabinet and to the floor to stop them from kicking in,the plinth can be screwed from inside the cabinet,one advantage with the plastic legs is that if you get a leak they hold everything except the plinths above the water.


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## peter-harrison (28 Jan 2020)

I don't like the plastic ones- I've had too many of them break or pull out on Howdens kitchen units.
I use these, fitted to a 25mm MDF block. I use quite a low plinth height (about 80mm usually), and the kickers are just screwed to the blocks- the overhang hides the screws. The nice thing about them is that you can adjust the height from inside the cabinet which is much more civilised.
https://www.hafele.co.uk/en/product/adj ... 1&PDP=true


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## Mrs C (28 Jan 2020)

Joshjosh":2nch6gue said:


> Ok cheers plastic adjustables it is
> Any thoughts on a finish for the internals?



Peter Millard has advised Junckers in the past.


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## memzey (29 Jan 2020)

Mrs C":1xy96eai said:


> Joshjosh":1xy96eai said:
> 
> 
> > Ok cheers plastic adjustables it is
> ...


Couldn’t you leave Brexit out of this?


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## Farmer Giles (30 Jan 2020)

I weld up 25mm box section and fit adjustable feet to them. I then get the frame the right distance from the wall level the frame up, drop the cabinets on and job done. Here's one after welding and painting but before fitting the feet. The feet just knock into the legs. The plinth screws to the box section so no poxy clips. I put the screws up high so you can't see them unless your lying on the floor.


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## Geoff_S (31 Jan 2020)

Farmer Giles":37wev1s3 said:


> I weld up 25mm box section and fit adjustable feet to them. I then get the frame the right distance from the wall level the frame up, drop the cabinets on and job done. Here's one after welding and painting but before fitting the feet. The feet just knock into the legs. The plinth screws to the box section so no poxy clips. I put the screws up high so you can't see them unless your lying on the floor.
> 
> View attachment 20191125



Crikey, you could put an engine and 4 wheels on that :shock:


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## Farmer Giles (31 Jan 2020)

Geoff_S":321i6qes said:


> Crikey, you could put an engine and 4 wheels on that :shock:



I may well do that when the missus goes away, nothing like renovating old cars and bikes in the kitchen when it's cold outside 

I wouldn't like to have my kitchen island or peninsular teetering on those plastic monstrosities. It only takes me an hour or so to make the frame, job done, fit and forget. However it if it was for somebody else......


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## Distinterior (31 Jan 2020)

Metal frame...??

Hell,...I've been doing it wrong for 37 years then!  

Seriously though, I have never known of a cabinet collapsing under the weight of a kitchen unit with 30mm thick Granite fitted to the top.
The decent quality plastic legs are designed specifically to do the job and spread the load.....Why would you not use them and go to the trouble of making a Metal Frame....? The carrying capacity of the leg & leg boss that I posted a picture of earlier in this thread, .....is 500kg EACH.....What are you planning on putting in/on your 4 legged kitchen cabinet that is approaching 2 metric tons....??

As for screwing the Plinths through their high gloss or matt lacquered pre finished face into the metal frame....tucked away out of sight?....
....I can imagine what my Clients would say about that and I cant post it up here...!!**@@[email protected]@!!!!!

No disrespect intended Farmer Giles.....But, what you are advocating,.... Its madness!


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## Farmer Giles (31 Jan 2020)

Distinterior":2z39p1j4 said:


> Metal frame...??
> 
> Hell,...I've been doing it wrong for 37 years then!
> 
> ...



I'm not a kitchen fitter, so this is our kitchen so I have erm, maybe slightly over-engineered it a tad. But I have lots of 25mm box, a welder and like the idea of levelling up a whole run of cabinets and dropping them on. Also means I don't have to buy any plastic legs, I'm a Yorkshireman, buying anything is a problem, buying plastic even more so 

Here's some of the old kitchen with those poxy plastic legs, it was the cheapest B&Q special we could find as we were skint, that was back in around 2002, and we though we would wait until the kids stopped driving their bikes through the house before replacing it. I had to bolt doors on as the chipboard collapsed.






Here's the new base with the adjustable feet on






And then the wife had the fantastic idea of putting drawers in the plinth :roll: so here's the base with drawers in. I welded the runners to the frame and made some birch ply drawers






Level it up and drop the birch play cabs on






add the plinths, walnut veneered birch ply






one draw front opens two drawers, it looked better that way






Since then I have built and fitted all the units for the other side of the kitchen and the peninsular in the same way and I'm on the last stretch of fitting the face frame, all in quarter sawn oak.

Here's a bit I have completed, the end of the wall cabinets where there's loads of cabling hidden. The slots are for phones and has a charging cable per slot. The black panel is a touch screen with a raspberry pi computer and amp attached behind it, this means we have internet radio, spotify and control the heating system, or browse the internet etc. The transformer for the LEDs is behind here too,






I think that is enough thread hijacking for now  Next step is hideously expensive new worktops, for a Yorkshireman it will be like losing a limb!

Cheers
Andy


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