# WIP Kitchen worktops and cabinets - lots of doors



## morfa (25 Jan 2014)

One of the major reasons for me starting to do woodworking was to work on the various parts of the house that needed woodworking doing. The biggest part was the kitchen. So after a while, I've got the tools, some vague skills and now the wood needed. There's several main parts to this job.

1 - Build a kitchen worktop, unit and install the sink & get a dishwasher plumbed in.

2 - Worktop and cabinet next to the cooker, including tiling and fitting a cooker hood in the chimney

3 - Small cabinet (not a modern style cabinet)

other stuff inc table and welsh dresser (which aren't in scope for this WIP).

I've got a bunch of pics from todays work, which I'll post up tomorrow along with whatever I get to do tomorrow.


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## mseries (26 Jan 2014)

morfa":573dlk27 said:


> One of the major reasons for me starting to do woodworking was to work on the various parts of the house that needed woodworking doing. The biggest part was the kitchen. So after a while, I've got the tools, some vague skills and now the wood needed. There's several main parts to this job.
> 
> 1 - Build a kitchen worktop, unit and install the sink & get a dishwasher plumbed in.
> 
> ...



Please do, I will be interested in your welsh dresser WIP too


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## Grahamshed (26 Jan 2014)

Looking forward to seeing them. That was why I got into woodwork when I retired. So much to do still.


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## Baldhead (26 Jan 2014)

We all love WIP stuff.

The first (and last) kitchen I fitted was in 2006 in our daughters flat, a narrow galley style, so narrow that I had to buy flat pack units and cut the backs off. I never occurred to me at the time that by making the units narrower I would have to make the worktop narrower, this inturn meant I couldn't fit a standard size sink.

I bought the units and worktops from Screwfix, I also joined their community (another name for forum) where I was given a lot of excellent advice from kitchen fitters and plumbers.

Re the sink, one person suggested using a sink that is designed for caravans, now that I thought was thinking 'outside of the box', I would never have thought of that , so may be worth checking out their community.

Baldhead


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## carlb40 (26 Jan 2014)

Looking on with eagerness.


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## paulking (26 Jan 2014)

Cant wait to your pics!!


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## morfa (27 Jan 2014)

One thing that I didn't mention in the previous post, I'm the cook in the house. The wife doesn't come in the kitchen. So basically I'm out to please myself with this.

So firstly here's a few pictures of the mess that I'm trying to sort out. 

Below is the kitchen fireplace. I've got to, put a extractor fan up in the chimney (goes straight outside), tile the back, put in two Iroko worktops either side of the cooker and sort out some kind of (small) cabinet/shelves for the sides. Probably for pan / dryingup cloth storage. 

Also I need to tidy up the brick arch. Not sure what to do with that, suggestions?







Now the main sink area. This is a bit less work. I've got to build the sycamore worktop. Bern has made me an excellent sink cabinet. Then I've got to fit the worktop and get the plumber in to plumb everything up. I don't do plumbing.






Now for the wood. This is the sycamore for the worktop laid out roughly how it needs to go. The main run is 205cms by 72cms. The wood is about 3" thick (ish). But I've got the other bit there for the window area. The orange tape measure is the length it needs to be. The paper in the middle is the location of the sink. The paper at the end furthest from teh camera is what will be hidden by a shelf. The other tape is the max width needed (100cm) for the window sill. It's staggered, cause that bit of wood is just for the window sill. The random bit of wood is the width of the window sill.






Here's the rest of the wood. Iroko for the fireplace worktops. Sweet chestnut for a cabinet.






That's it for now. I'll post the weekends work up soon.


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## carlb40 (27 Jan 2014)

Can't quite make out the arch. Has it been recently pointed/ built? A bit of diluted brick acid should clean it up nicely. I think i have some but not sure i would risk posting it. 

If i was closer i would pop over and plumb the sink in for you. It isn't that hard.


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## morfa (27 Jan 2014)

Carl - it's as old as the house, so 1904. Pointing wise it's ok. But the bricks are old and not in the absolute best condition. Would the acid weaken them?

My plumber is going to do it along with fitting the new waste (there will be a dishwasher going under there as well) and the boiler service. Also he's got to remove a sink in the utility room. He's also said he'll help with getting the worktop on as well. He's a nice guy and we get on well. So it's going to be handy to have him there.


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## carlb40 (27 Jan 2014)

The acid should be fine, it is often used to clean the salts and compo off bricks from messy brickies LOL.

You could try warm water and a brass scrubbing brush to clean the brick up a bit. Or just leave it as patina.


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## Berncarpenter (27 Jan 2014)

Glad you are pleased with the cabinet and a big thank you for taking a look at my laptop .I have plenty of those old black and red floor tiles if you would like some for in front of the cooker ? Good luck with the build and if you need a hand dont hesitate to call.
Cheers Bern.


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## morfa (2 Feb 2014)

Big update time now. This is all the work from last weekend and the work from this weekend. Which isn't all that much really, but it's steady progress. Firstly a shot of the cabinet that Bern made. It's made out of really nice plywood.






New toy from America. Specifically from http://www.secondchancesawworks.com, it's a Disston Jackson Carcass saw from around 1890. Filed crosscut and it's very good.






I've never really clicked with the no 5 1/2. However I gave it another go and it's working really well on the iroko. I was just doing the first smoothing with the no 4. But switched to the 5 and it's way better. The doorpost makes a good plane stop. I've not sorted out all the dog holes and the proper stop. 






All cut up and ready to be jointed / glued up.






Gluing up. Nice and neat as always.






I'll save you all the other pictures, till both the worktops are finished. But they're ok, however I could have done the jointing better. So I spent today making sure the other work top is perfect. I'm not very good at the jointing so I ended up taking about 5mm off both pieces of wood. Took an hour. For one joint. So tomorrow evening I'll hopefully get another joint done. 

The underside of the arch. This is why I need to tidy up the arch. The old mortar keeps on falling off the underside of the arch and that's what the main problem is. I was planning to re-mortar it and paint it.


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## carlb40 (2 Feb 2014)

Ooooh i see Bern has used birch ply for your cabinet. =D> 

Liking that saw  well done.

For jointing, if you have a router and a straight edge? That could be an option for you. 

I would scrape off the loose mortar, carefully apply neat pva to the parts you want to repoint. Let it dry then repoint.


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## morfa (2 Feb 2014)

I'm happy to spend the time learning how to do it with a hand plane. I don't do power tools really (expensive, scary, noisy and take up loads of space). Much prefer hand tools. Takes longer and is harder to do, but that's fine with me.


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## carlb40 (2 Feb 2014)

That's cool. 

I'm trying to use more hand tools too. :shock:


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## morfa (9 Feb 2014)

Been working on this during the week. All pretty dull to be honest. However the iroko worktops are nearly finished. Which is good as the dust is horrible and the tearout is horrific. I'm not very happy with them, but the wife (bless her) said that they're really good. So here they are:






I decided that it would be a good idea to make a template out of MDF. Which I really think is a good idea. So here's the template on top of the sink. 






Here's the template on top of part of the syamore:






The other part of the sycamore roughly cut ready to be shaped so it can fit in the window space.






I'm beginning to think that this is a lot harder that I'd originally thought. Which isn't surprising as I'm very good at biting off more than I can chew. I think with the benefit of hindsight, I should have bought more thinner boards, i.e. several 20-30 cm boards and not one 50cm and one 20 cm board. It would be much easier with boards that aren't as wide.


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## carlb40 (9 Feb 2014)

Hmmmm i was expecting a slightly thicker worktop than that :mrgreen:


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## morfa (9 Feb 2014)

I measured them and they're a little over 2 inches thick. So not as thick as I'd said previously I think.


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## carlb40 (9 Feb 2014)

morfa":1s6c8i2x said:


> I measured them and they're a little over 2 inches thick. So not as thick as I'd said previously I think.


It's ok, when i commented only the mdf template on the sink base had loaded .


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## morfa (12 Feb 2014)

I've got a few large knots in the wood, that will need to be filled somehow. Any suggestions as to the best way for doing that?

I've found a wax filler by a company called Liberon, which looks like it might be good. I see a few folk suggesting clear epoxy/resin, is that basically the two part glue that you can get?


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## carlb40 (12 Feb 2014)

Epoxy would be my first choice. I think the wax fillers are for smaller holes such as nail holes etc? If you had a router i would have suggested something like a butterfly/ oval patch in timber. 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Butte ... 0&bih=1078


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## n0legs (12 Feb 2014)

Try these people http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Quantum-Suppli ... 7675.l2563

They are really helpful and have many options. I believe they have dyes to tint the colour a little if you want to try and hide the resin a little.


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## flat n smooth (13 Feb 2014)

Hi Morfa
did you buy the timber locally?
Im just up the road from you and have been looking for a local supply
if you need to go down the machine route I have a few in my garage/workshop u would be welcome to come and use
Karl


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## morfa (13 Feb 2014)

flat n smooth":2rae45xl said:


> Hi Morfa
> did you buy the timber locally?
> Im just up the road from you and have been looking for a local supply
> if you need to go down the machine route I have a few in my garage/workshop u would be welcome to come and use
> Karl



I bought the sycamore from a place near Usk - http://www.wentwoodtimbercentre.co.uk/

Normally I buy timber from Nottage Timber in Pyle - they're really good - http://www.nottagejoinery.co.uk/

Thanks for the offer on the machines. I'm sure I'll be ok with getting it stuck together, I was just having a bit of a moment when I got all the wood up on to the workbench and went 'b*****dy h*** this is going to be harder than I thought.


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## morfa (16 Feb 2014)

Ok, the main two pieces are jointed together. They're now being glued up and all the clamps are on. I probably should take a picture of that and post it. But it's just two big bits of wood stuck together. Again not perfectly flat, but the joint is ok and it shouldn't take too much planing to get it sorted out.

I've removed the bow from the (cup?) from the cooker worktops. Both cooker worktops have also been sanded. The abranet has worked excellently and they're both super smooth. Not perfectly flat, but very smooth.

Also the Osmo Top Oil (Natural) has arrived and it's been tested on the end of the worktop. It's not yellowed it at all and you can barely tell it's on. A slight darkening and that's it. I'll post some before and after pics of the top oil.


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## Berncarpenter (16 Feb 2014)

Good to hear your making some progress but you know we all love photos ,get em on  

Cheers Bern.


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## morfa (16 Feb 2014)

Ok, Bern, as you commanded here are some pics. This is the main run in the glue-up:







The top oil test patch. If you can actually spot it, well done. I only know where it is cause I put it on.






The cooker worktop after sanding. Amazingly smooth.






Happy now? :lol:   :wink:  

Generally I'm really working well with the no 5 1/2. I'm also thinking of getting a scrub plane and a no 7 now.


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## Berncarpenter (16 Feb 2014)

Well done =D> =D> =D> got a No 7 and No8 here if you want to give them a test drive before you decide to buy .

Cheers Bern


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## n0legs (16 Feb 2014)

That's a lovely looking lump of wood. Niccccccce !!


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## morfa (19 Feb 2014)

Last two nights of an hour or so's work each night have made a reasonable amount of progress.

Not sure it's worth posting a pic, but here we go anyway.






Dunno if it's obvious compared to the previous pics, but it's a lot flatter than it was. Still got a few more hours to get it to an ok state however.


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## AndyT (19 Feb 2014)

This is a nice looking job... but to give you something else to worry about...

In your picture with the MDF template in place (I agree it's worthwhile making that template) it looks like there is just enough space to get your hand on the handle on the window.

With the 2" thick wood, will there still be enough space?


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## morfa (19 Feb 2014)

AndyT":ritjupe0 said:


> This is a nice looking job... but to give you something else to worry about...
> 
> In your picture with the MDF template in place (I agree it's worthwhile making that template) it looks like there is just enough space to get your hand on the handle on the window.
> 
> With the 2" thick wood, will there still be enough space?



Nice looking? You're too kind. At the moment I'd settle for 'doesn't look like a 5 year old did it'.

Unfortunately the template can't go where it needs to go (about two inches lower) cause the current sink and taps are in the way. Hence the hole in the template for the taps. The sink also has an annoying back which sticks up quite a bit. I guess it was supposed to back up to a wall, but it never did.

Actually the main issue is leaning over the worktop (90 cms at that point) to reach the handle. But I can do it just about ok and the wife never comes in the kitchen.


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## morfa (3 Mar 2014)

Ok, so I've gotten the top pretty flat. It's not perfect, but I suspect that if I spend any longer on it, it'll get worse.

I've spent a bit of time on the underneath, just to get it roughly there. I suspect that I should spend a bit more time on making sure that it's totally flat on the underside, but as I'll probably make a mistake on getting the supports on the wall, which will render time making the bottom flat pointless. i.e. they won't be flat so I'll have to shim/adjust it anyway.

However I now have a dilemma which I knew was coming, but I'm still not sure how to fix it. Well two actually.

Number one is a question of fitting. At the moment, it's just a long rectangle, which can be easily slid into the alcove. I have also cut the piece of wood for the windowsill part of the worktop. Once that goes on I don't know how I can get it in. As the worktop is the full width of the alcove, it's not possible to put it in at an angle and then slide it across. Also once the piece for the windowsill is on you can't slide it in straight. Again due to all the bits that stick out, I can't put it in on it's side and then let it go flat. If you're still with me, then suggestions on a post card?

Number two is should I bother putting a piece of wood across the grain on the end? Sort of like you see on a lot of chopping boards etc. I've got enough wood to do it. I'm not going for any kind of look, but I'm wondering if it'll last longer that way.

Also chamfering the edges, worth doing? How much should I do it by? Any specific tool? Or just a no 4?

The epoxy has arrived, so i'm off to do that now.


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## carlb40 (3 Mar 2014)

How much access underneath do you have where you need to join the small piece to the main section? Is there enough room to place the short piece in first then fit the main section? Then clamp them up from underneath with worktop bolts?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-x-KITCHEN-U ... 2c763857fc

Can be done with hand tools it will just take longer. 

The breadboard edge is usually there to stop the tops from cupping along the width, so it will depend on whether or not you timber is at risk of cupping?

I would chamfer the edges, it doesn't need much at all. It is just there for added protection to soften the edges to help stop them getting chipped so easily. Or if on a painted surface to help the paint stick as paint doesn't stick to a sharp edge.
Any plane can be used, i normally either use my block plane or even just a piece of sand paper just to knock the sharp edge off.


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## morfa (3 Mar 2014)

Ok, the expoying is done. It's horrible stuff. Sadly two of the three cracks go all the way through the worktop, so it's been challenging to get them to stay filled. I'll post some pics tomorrow. Hopefully it won't look too awful, but I'm not happy with it.


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## carlb40 (3 Mar 2014)

morfa":sua0c1i8 said:


> Ok, the expoying is done. It's horrible stuff. Sadly two of the three cracks go all the way through the worktop, so it's been challenging to get them to stay filled. I'll post some pics tomorrow. Hopefully it won't look too awful, but I'm not happy with it.


Didn't realise some of the cracks went right through or i would have offered more advice on filling them. Too late now sorry  But a tip for filling cracks that go all the way through is to pour the epoxy on the crack, use a vacuum from the other side to pull the epoxy through. When done, tape the underneath side to stop it escaping further.


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## morfa (4 Mar 2014)

carlb40":3fxcho1w said:


> morfa":3fxcho1w said:
> 
> 
> > Ok, the expoying is done. It's horrible stuff. Sadly two of the three cracks go all the way through the worktop, so it's been challenging to get them to stay filled. I'll post some pics tomorrow. Hopefully it won't look too awful, but I'm not happy with it.
> ...



Neither did I till I filled up a crack and then it all disappeared. I then looked underneath and was not best pleased to see that some of it was on the floor.

This morning the epoxy still isn't dry. Which I was surprised by as it's had 11 hours now.


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## Racers (4 Mar 2014)

I used Wilcos epoxy for filling pippy oak it did take some time to harden fully, Araldite stained with ground instant coffee set as I was mixing it!

Pete


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## morfa (4 Mar 2014)

Racers":hs44bdmp said:


> I used Wilcos epoxy for filling pippy oak it did take some time to harden fully, Araldite stained with ground instant coffee set as I was mixing it!
> 
> Pete



I probably should have just used Araldite really. But I bought the stuff off ebay as linked higher up the thread. There's a lot of it and it was a good price, but it's slow to set it seems. I used a mix of 50ml to 2ml, which sounds about right.


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## morfa (4 Mar 2014)

When I got home the epoxy was dry, finally. I cut and scraped off the worst of the epoxy. It actually looks ok once that's done. So despite the stink and the faff, I'm actually happy with the end result. Of the three cracks, one didn't work, so I'm doing that again.











I then got mr rippy out and cut window sill piece to width.






Carl - i like the look of those bolts. I can adjust them laterally as well, so it doesn't all have to be perfect. There will be just about enough space to get behind there. Doubt it'll be pleasant to do, but it's all (just) accessible. Surely it's as simple as marking it out and then drilling a few holes?


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## carlb40 (4 Mar 2014)

morfa":jp6p8s4b said:


> When I got home the epoxy was dry, finally. I cut and scraped off the worst of the epoxy. It actually looks ok once that's done. So despite the stink and the faff, I'm actually happy with the end result. Of the three cracks, one didn't work, so I'm doing that again.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You can get different bolts, some now just use an allen key for tightening them up which is a lot easier. Normally you would use a worktop jig and a router. 

Such as this
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j& ... 7517976873 

Which gives you this result

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j& ... 7517976873

But a suitable drill bit and a saw / chisels should get the same result. A practice run might be worth it though. 

Found the bolts. 

http://www.axminster.co.uk/zipbolt-worktop-connectors


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## morfa (6 Mar 2014)

After what seems like ages of shaping and chopping, the windowsill piece finally (nearly) fits. It's not quite perfect. But it was a long day at work and then I've spent the past hour in the kitchen planing a tidge, lifting it up and testing etc etc. Quite tiring.

I suspect I should have scribed it, but I'm not sure how you do that. Oh well. Here is a pic:


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## carlb40 (7 Mar 2014)

That looks good to me, it is coming along nicely.


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## morfa (15 Mar 2014)

Made a fair bit of progress. List of stuff done and stuff still to go.

1 - trim to length - DONE
2 - cut notch for pipes - DONE
3 - fit windowsill piece - DONE
4 - fit supports for worktop - DONE
5 - ensure windowsill piece fits to main worktop
6 - cut holes for connector bolts
7 - sand and oil worktop
8 - cut hole for sink
9 - make final radius cut to end
10 - connect it all together & fit it to wall

The work top overall now:






The supports before attaching to wall:






Attached to the wall.


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## carlb40 (16 Mar 2014)

Coming along nicely


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## Berncarpenter (16 Mar 2014)

Hi Morfa
I think i would make a template of the opening using some thin stuff like door stop . Easy to work around the existing sink unit and if you take your time and get it bang on you should be able to cut the top right first time . This will save you alot of work lifting the top in and out of the opening trimming a smidge of hear and there and if you are getting a plumber in you dont want to pay him to hang about while you do this.Have a look over on The Wood Haven for my Template Tip.Great job so far looking good.

Cheers Bern


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## morfa (16 Mar 2014)

Berncarpenter":2042spaw said:


> Hi Morfa
> I think i would make a template of the opening using some thin stuff like door stop . Easy to work around the existing sink unit and if you take your time and get it bang on you should be able to cut the top right first time . This will save you alot of work lifting the top in and out of the opening trimming a smidge of hear and there and if you are getting a plumber in you dont want to pay him to hang about while you do this.Have a look over on The Wood Haven for my Template Tip.Great job so far looking good.
> 
> Cheers Bern



Bern - I was planning on making a template for the sink. As I don't need all the mdf I used for the worktop template, I was just planning on using that. I'll have a look at your tip, thanks for that. Also I'm going to have to cut a hole in the back and side of your cabinet for the wastes. So I need to make the measurements for them.

Thankfully the plumber is a good mate. He's also got some other work to do. So I'm going to get him to disconnect the old sink, so I can start fitting the worktop. He's then got to service the boiler, remove the sink in the utility room and add an external tap. So hopefully when it comes to connect it all up, i should be ready to roll.


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## Berncarpenter (16 Mar 2014)

Glad to hear you got a good plan of attack . One little luxury for me was a outside HOT tap highly recommend .

Cheers Bern


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## morfa (16 Mar 2014)

Berncarpenter":xnlpizpr said:


> One little luxury for me was a outside HOT tap highly recommend .



I could do it. The pipes run close enough for it to be possible. But why? Handwashing? That's the only thing I can think of.


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## kostello (16 Mar 2014)

I think if you had a long haired dog it would be useful


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## Berncarpenter (16 Mar 2014)

I suffer from white finger and am a bit of a wus ,cant handle cold hands .Also i can't get a decent size bucket under the kitchen tap.Got lots of windows and a couple of vehicles to wash But no long haired dogs . Only a long haired dragon and she uses the shower .

Cheers Bern


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## morfa (16 Mar 2014)

So that's the windowsill butting up against the main worktop done. Point no 5. I then did a bit more smoothing with the no 4 to tidy things up. Then the first pass of sanding before realising that I needed to do the connector holes.

So then the connector holes. It wasn't hard to do. Bit of careful measuring. I drilled out the hole for the connectors, I used a 25mm bit. I enlarged the sides with a chisel and then drilled out a hole for the bolt part. I then chiseled out the top of the hole. All fits ok. All line up ok. I just checked them. They need a bit more chiseling out, but it's too late to be bashing things around. Hopefully there's enough lateral movement in the whole system that it can accommodate things being a few mm out.


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## carlb40 (16 Mar 2014)

Very nice. Make sure on the one set of holes you leave yourself enough space to get a spanner in and be able to turn it. 
Also when fitting the bolts i tape the one in to stop it dropping as you tighten the bolts.


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## morfa (16 Mar 2014)

carlb40":2ul3s15k said:


> Very nice. Make sure on the one set of holes you leave yourself enough space to get a spanner in and be able to turn it.
> Also when fitting the bolts i tape the one in to stop it dropping as you tighten the bolts.



I have these swanky ones with plastic holders to keep the bolts in. Hadn't thought about the space for the spanner. Ought to have got one of those hex key ones like you suggested.


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## Berncarpenter (16 Mar 2014)

Looking good , those ratchet spanners are great for this job and in Halfords you can buy just the 10mm one on its own. The last time i went in there just for one socket i came away with a gazebo and a screw box , best take the wife with you then you wont spend too much .

Cheers Bern


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## morfa (18 Mar 2014)

Ratchet spanner bought. Will have to enlarge the holes slightly to make sure it'll fit. 

I looked at Bern's template idea and I'm well annoyed, that's exactly what I needed for the windowsill. Oh well. Not sure how you could adapt it for the sink however. Unless you made the template around the outside of the sink bowl. I think that would work.

As for the fitting. Should I cut the hole for the worktop and the hole for the waste in the cabinet first? Or should I fit the worktop in place and then cut the sink hole once it's all in place?

So basically:

Fit worktop
Cut hole for sink
Fit sink

Or

Cut hole for sink
Fit worktop
Fit sink

Also can anyone recommend a kitchen cabinet foot supplier? Not many places seem to sell them. Screwfix do a pack of 40, but that seems like overkill...


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## Berncarpenter (18 Mar 2014)

morfa":b2m6304l said:


> Ratchet spanner bought. Will have to enlarge the holes slightly to make sure it'll fit.
> 
> I looked at Bern's template idea and I'm well annoyed, that's exactly what I needed for the windowsill. Oh well. Not sure how you could adapt it for the sink however. Unless you made the template around the outside of the sink bowl. I think that would work.
> 
> ...



The way i would do it is get the cabinet in the right position with the pipework coming through , then trim the worktop to size and rest in place. Place your sink upside down on the top where it needs to be and stand back take a look . Make sure the sink bowl will drop into the cab and not hit any of the sides. Draw around the sink come in about 10mm for the cut line . Before cutting out check that the tap pipes are going to come into the cab and not drop down behind the back panel . Cut the hole for the sink you may need to cut one or both of the cab rails for the bowl . Once this is done i usually get the worktop on trestles and fit the sink this is easier than trying to do it in place. Now for the tricky bit jointing the tops together ? you may be able to do this on your tressles and then lift it into place. Hope this makes sense.

Cheers Bern


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## owen (18 Mar 2014)

Ironmongery direct sell cabinet legs.


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## morfa (18 Mar 2014)

The tap pipes will come in through the cab, I'm pretty sure. The tap is part of the sink unit. So the pipes will, I think, come into the cab. I could be wrong about that however. I hope they do.

Ok Bern, so this sounds like a plan of action:

1 - Put the cab in place (inc cutting holes for waste and tap pipes)
2 - Put the worktop in place (inc put the windowsill piece in)
3 - Trim the end
4 - Mark and cut the hole for the sink bowl (inc cuts in cab if needed)
5 - Fit the sink & taps
6 - Joint the top (I could do this earlier tho?) - as it'll be a pain to remove everything if it's not right.

I just need to cut a hole for the sink bowl and the taps right?

I don't think I'll need to bother much with trestles. The supports that I've made, allow for me to raise and lower the height of the worktop. So I might not need them. Dunno. I do have one trestle and a workmate, so I can use them if needed. I'll probably ask you about this when I pick up the router anyways. 

I'll be honest, I can't really see that fitting the sink without the cab is going to be possible, as I don't see how I could get the cab back in.


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## carlb40 (18 Mar 2014)

If you can wait i might have a set of 4 legs knocking about i can post out to you? I can have a look tomorrow after work.


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## morfa (18 Mar 2014)

carlb40":105yda4z said:


> If you can wait i might have a set of 4 legs knocking about i can post out to you? I can have a look tomorrow after work.



I've just ordered a few packs, I've got a bunch more cabs to do. So would need more than 4. Thanks for the offer tho.


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## morfa (20 Mar 2014)

As the missus has laid down a decree that this must be finished soon, I might have slipped and bought a swanky power tool.

We are pleased to inform you that Order has been despatched.

Despatched Items	
SCHEPPL551RAIL48	SCHEPPACH PL55 (CS55) 240V PLUNGE SAW & 1.4m TRACK & SPARE BLADE

Ok it's a cheap Festool track saw knock-off. But it has positive reviews on the interwebs. I've also got a pocket hole thingamabob on the way. I think you can all see where this is going...


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## carlb40 (20 Mar 2014)

OMG :shock: 


I can see it now Thread started by Morfa - What planer/ thicknesser, tablesaw do i need? :mrgreen: LOL


Well done on the toys.


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## morfa (24 Mar 2014)

I have jointed the main top to the windowsill piece. It was a right pain to do, even with full access to the underneath. I had to remove it, plane it, put it back together quite a few times. As the bolts were pulling the bottom together more than they were the top, the top ended up with a gap in it. Even tho it was fairly well jointed. So I had to do it better and deepen the bolt holes a lot. It's not perfect still, but it's a lot better than it was. 

Then on to the sanding and I have put two coats of oil on the botton and two coats of oil on the top. One or two more coats on the top to go. It looks really nice with the oil on. Very happy so far. Assuming it all fits together ok.


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## morfa (28 Mar 2014)

Big day today.

Before:







All out:






Cutting the worktop for the sink:






Nearly there:






Cut the cab so it fits underneath as well. Pretty solid days work. Used the plunge saw to start the cuts. Which worked ok, but a couple of parts of the top are slightly thicker than 55mm. Sink fitted fine first time round. But it did take quite a while to do. Spent a lot of time trying to get the whole thing level. Not helped by the floor being very uneven.

I've also made a start on some quick and dirty cabs and a couple of worktops. I'll sort pics out for them later.


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## Berncarpenter (28 Mar 2014)

Well done Morfa thats looks great  

Cheers Bern


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## morfa (31 Mar 2014)

Bern - I couldn't have done it without your help, both on here and the loan of tools. And obviously building the cabinet. Carl also deserves a lot of thanks.

It was bl***y hard work I have to say all in. Longish day on Thursday. The plumber said he'd be able to come on Thursday, but then got stuck at a job. So said he'd come on Friday. Then worked 0700 to 2100 on Friday. The plumber got stuck and didn't arrive on Friday either. So Saturday morning hove round and he arrived. Good thing really as I wasn't ready on Friday. 

I knocked up another cabinet last night, so that's three done. I've made a good start on the worktop, just a bit more planing on that to go. I'll put up some pics of that lot later on.

Sadly none of it is very level and the windowsill joint isn't very good either. This also means that the sink doesn't sit fully flush with the worktop. It's good at the front and on the right side. But as the worktop dips away at the left side, the back left corner of the kitchen is a good 6mm above the worktop surface. 

So I could either:

1 - Make a groove for the left of the sink to sit in, so that the gap on the other side is smaller (I tried some shims to raise the other side, to even it out, but that doesn't really make much difference).

2 - Seal it up as the gap is at the back and once it's all done, I won't be able to easily see it. No one will notice it ever.

3 - Remove it all, flatten the worktop (properly this time!) and put it all back in.

All are options, the sink wouldn't be hard to remove as the plumbers have put valves in so I can shut it all off if I need to. It's not yet sealed so that's definitely an option. I'll probably go with option 2.


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## billybuntus (31 Mar 2014)

Nice progress (hammer) 

May I suggest jointing your worktop to the cill so it's flush and watertight.

I have a similar setup and when I replace the kitchen I'll be fitting one piece worktop as water is penetrating the joint and its a problem.

Just my 2p.


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## morfa (1 Apr 2014)

All sealed up now. Went for option one in the end. I can always remove it all and fix it up anyway. Probably won't tho, just adding it to a long list of wonky DIY things in the house.o

Here's a pic of the cabinets that I knocked up the other day. 18mm MDF with a nice Oak veneer. Held together with pocket holes. I've got a couple of bits of oak and I'm planing them up, to make a nice worktop. Hopefully this one will go better than the last one. Fingers crossed.

Billy - It's jointed up ok, it's more that there's a slight different with the height of the worktops.


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## Berncarpenter (1 Apr 2014)

This has been quite an ambitious job for you to attempt .Not easy to accomplish but fair ply you have pulled it off well done =D> =D> =D> 

Cheers Bern


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## morfa (23 Sep 2014)

So I'm starting on the doors now. With that in mind I need to be able to do mortise and tenon joints properly. So I've taken the one orrible piece of wood and used it to do some practice on.

Here's the off cuts:






This one came out ok:






A couple more hours of this and i reckon I'll be able to start making a proper attempt at a face frame and then at a door. Also I really need to get a proper tenon saw. You can do the cheeks with a dovetail saw, but it's not that great.


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## morfa (5 Oct 2014)

I think in the end i did about 8 test joints. Towards the end they came out quite well. So I've moved on to the face frames proper. In the section under the sink, I've done one and a half of the frames. I've just got to do the top of the second frame. Then figure out how I'll be arranging the door to go in front of the dishwasher. But I suspect I'll make the doors next.


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## morfa (6 Oct 2014)

So here are a few quick photos of what I did the other day. Not everything, but close enough. One of the finished tenons. There is a selection of the tools that I used in the back ground to make it with. The paring chisel is made by Wilco Flier, who posts on here from time to time. It's lovely. The saw is a sash saw which I got from the bay of e, its a late 1800s American make, with a new blade. Cuts wonderfully. I've also gone back to Japanese saws for the general tenon ripping. That's a dozuki from workshopheaven. Comes with a spare blade at the moment, so that's an excellent offer well worth taking up. Sorry for the flash stuffing it all up.






And here is the first face frame completed and in place. It's actually pretty square. Which is a bit of a shocker really.






I hope to finish the second half this evening, it's just doing two tenons. Then I'll start on marking up the door. Fingers crossed it'll be done over the next few weeks.


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## morfa (1 Nov 2014)

Woo and yay, I've managed to make a door. Wasn't too bad, took an afternoon, not counting the fact that the wood was already cut and planed.






The plough plane was excellent. Never used one before but it worked wonderfully. The panel wasn't quite to the right size, but it's close enough. I need to trim it a bit more however. Otherwise it went fairly smoothly. Few tweaks before it all went in, but it fits well and I'm now wondering if I actually want to bother with painting it all. As it looks nice as it is really.


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## Berncarpenter (1 Nov 2014)

Well done Morfa good to see your making some progress, now you got the first one done and dusted you should fly the rest =D> =D> =D> 

Cheers Bern


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## morfa (15 Dec 2014)

While I wouldn't say I'm flying, I've got the other face frame done now. I'm also about half way through the second (of four) door. With a bit of luck I'll be painting it all at the weekend.


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## morfa (20 Dec 2014)

Four doors done. Both face frames done. I've done two extra cabinets to go next to the cooker today. So it's getting closer to being done. Here's a few pics.

The cooker with worktops on top.






The track saw in action.






Doors, doors and more doors.


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## morfa (13 Jan 2015)

I could almost be accused of having nearly finished this job. Finally. Here's a few photos:

The cabinet under the sink:






The other line of 3 cabinets, still only made one of the drawers, as I ran out of wood.






Cabinets next to the cooker with worktops on them:


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## morfa (15 Jan 2015)

While the kitchen isn't quite finished yet, it's moving along nicely and I'm certainly well over half way. In fact I'd probably go as far to say that the end is in sight. So I thought I'd talk a bit about how long things have taken me, what's been the hardest thing and what's not been so bad. The initial plan was as follows:

1 - Build a kitchen worktop, unit and install the sink & get a dishwasher plumbed in. - all done (well I'm building a small end unit, but the rest of it is done)

2 - Worktop and cabinet next to the cooker, including tiling and fitting a cooker hood in the chimney - the woodworking in the alcove is done.

3 - Small cabinet (not a modern style cabinet) - shelved for now...

As always the plan didn't survive contact with the enemy. #3 was dropped totally in favour of 'speeding things up' by making a few cabinets out of sheet goods, but with wooden fronts and a wooden worktop. I actually think that if I'd stuck with #3 I'd be totally finished by now. But there we go. Building the cabinets, once I'd bought a decent tracksaw was really quite quick. I'd say I can do a cabinet, out of birch ply in about 2 hours now, nothing fancy, just pocket hole joinery, but they're really sturdy and I'm happy with the results. I've built 5 cabinets now and I did three in one day and two in another day. Those were fairly lazy days as well. 

The worktops have not been quick at all. I think that each worktop has probably taken me about a month in elapsed time and about 7 days of work. Easily. I'm quite happy with the worktop by the sink. It's not perfectly flat, but it's really nice and thick and looks great. The oak worktop was a bit of a bust, as I bought two bits of wood which were quite different thicknesses. Which wasn't ideal. But it's turned out ok, it looks good and cost me £80 which is way cheaper than anything I could have bought. The Osmo top oil has been great and the small tin I bought has lasted for ages. While it has been lots of hard work planing the worktops by hand, I've learnt a lot about planing in the hours I've spent working on them. So it's been time well spent and they have come out ok, especially as I was a beginner when I started. Still am really.

The doors have ended up being a bit of a compromise. I had intended to make them fully out of poplar, but in the end I bought some birch ply to form the middle piece. I'm glad I did as it took long enough to build the doors as it was. Once the wood was planed and cut to size, it was probably a whole day for the first door. Then about 3 hours per door after that. I probably spent a weekend and a week of evenings getting all the wood the right dimensions for the doors. The face frames took a similar amount of time really. A week or so of dimensioning and then making. So the bit I thought would be the hardest, i.e. the jointing and putting together was a small part of the larger job which was planing the wood to the right size, cutting it all to length and the like.

Painting it all has taken a real age as well. 3/4 under/primer coats then 3 or so top coats of gloss. I've not been able to paint everything at once either, leaving me with what's felt like endless weeks of painting. I really hate painting now. No more painted stuff for me, that's for sure.

Fitting the worktop and the sink took me about 3 days or so. Might have been 4. They were long, long days. It's hard work this fitting malarky, especially if you're a soft office worker. So far I've probably spent about 4 elapsed months of working hard on the kitchen. So that's Feb/Mar of 2014 and Dec/Jan of 2015. That's working pretty much all weekend long most weekends and pretty much every evening.

Still to go:

- Tile the alcove
- Build a thin cabinet to go under the end of the sink
- Build a set of shelves to go in the sink alcove
- Install ducting to extract the cooker steam etc outside.

So would I recommend you build your own kitchen? As I know it's something many of us think of doing. Well at the moment, heck no! But I've been slogging at it for months, living in mess and generally taking ages to do a job that doesn't live up to the unrealistically high standards that I've set myself. But generally it's actually been good fun. I've learnt a lot, got a nice looking kitchen which is probably cheaper (just from a materials cost point of view) than buying a cheap Ikea kitchen. If you have a lot of time, or a big workshop where you can store the kitchen before the fit, then I'd say it's probably not that bad.


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## siggy_7 (19 Jan 2015)

Looking really good, I find it very uplifting when the end is in sight! I'm just about to embark on a kitchen from scratch myself. Your review of the experience is very honest and adds some realism to expectations of what the experience will be like for me, so thank you. Ultimately whilst these big jobs do sometimes take the fun out of DIY a bit for me at the time of doing them, being able to look back at the work once it's finished and providing years of satisfying service is worth it for me. I hope you find the same.


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## morfa (14 Aug 2016)

I've done quite a lot more on this to the point where you could almost consider it finished. If you squint that is. Stuff that's been finished:

1 - All the drawers
2 - Tiling, fitting the cabs and installing the ducting in the cooker alcove
3 - Re-tiling part of the floor
4 - Making a shelf and plate rack for the other alcove
5 - A couple of pine shelf units

Still to do:

1 - Small cab for under the sink
2 - Splashback tiling
3 - Painting the above pine shelf units

It's been like that for at least a year or so now. It was all mostly done by christmas last year. So here's a few photos:

The cooker alcove after the floor had been retiled but before the back had been done:







Two shots of the fully tiled and finished alcove. I had a socket moved so that the plug from the extractor fan was in the side of the alcove. I could have moved the socket so that it was totally hidden, but the chimney is a manky place and I was worried that it would get covered in rubbish and damaged. I spent a lot of time removing as much of the chimney liner as possible so that there's less chance of buildup. The extractor fan is held in by some studwork and then there's a piece of aquapanel (concrete tile board) around the rest of it. Higher up the chimney I made a baffle to stop stuff from coming further down the chimney. I plan on removing the aquapanel every year or two to check on the state of the chimney to make sure there's no excess grease build up. But the ducting vents into the utility room at the moment, so I'm fairly happy that won't be an issue.











Speaking of the ducting here is a shot of it. Nothing fancy, just 6" round ducting. But it will vent externally, so I'm happy I've done it.






Then in the alcove where the sink is there's a cabinet which has a plate rack in it. The cabinet is sweet chestnut and it's finished with Osmo oil. The sweet chestnut was a pain to work, very prone to little chips on the corners and ends. But it looks ok. The lack of doors on the bottom is down to the preference of my wife. It's not her kitchen, but she said I didn't need to bother, so I didn't. Less work for me. It's also very convenient.

My awful attempt at dovetailing. Thankfully it's at the top of the cabinets where you can't see it. The rest is just dados/rebates. The doors have euro hinges on them, they don't really fit how I wanted them to, but due to the positioning of the pipe cover on the left, I didn't have much choice.






The partly finished cabinet in place.






At night with my wife's collection of Orchids in the window.






The full thing completed:






Finally, some general shots of the finished areas. This is the main run of two cupboards and one drawer unit. As you can see the drawers don't line up at all. Which is a pity, but I'd never made any before, so it's not the end of the world. Also they're pretty stiff, so I might need to fettle them again.






The 'upper' view of the main run of cupboard with the unpainted pine units. They also need some kind of 'cornice' put on. I either have to make that or buy that. It'll probably be the latter.






All in I'm fairly happy with how it's turned out. Hopefully it'll all be finished, finished for this coming Christmas.


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