This was a terrific little job that PJB Building were called back to complete for a customer we had previously worked for. It comprised a ground floor room that was hardly wide enough to swing your arms around, measuring just 3.6 meters in length x 1.8 meters in width it presented us with the challenge of getting everything in and still be able to move around within the small space.
The customer had requested two rows of units, one either side of the kitchen with a small selection of bespoke and bought wall units to one side above the worktop.
In all PJB Building fitted, two sets of drawer units, one 1000mm traditional base and one double oven housing to the right hand side, and two 1000mm sets of wall units cut down and redesigned with adjustable legs, to the left side additionally, a 1000mm wall unit was cut down and inserted into a simple bespoke unit designed to incorporate the microwave, above the two wood block effect worktops.
In theory laying out and planning the position of the units on paper was the easy bit, now we hit the hidden challenges that the room offered us.
In essence the area for the new kitchen was only created 25 years ago compared to the house being at least 100 years old. Back then the room was no more than an outside toilet that was extended to fit a small kitchen for a growing family, knowing that, we were expecting to encounter some problems.
However, the staff of PJB Building carefully set loose on the removal of the kitchen units, tiles, flooring, plumbing and electrics, and by the end of day the room had been striped back to bare walls.
Modern Kitchen - More room please
This exposed the room and all its defects for us to see, as it happened the end kitchen walls had been built squarely, however the parallel gap between the walls narrowed more than 60mm and there was a large curve in the center of each wall where the old toilet joined the new extension making the room look partially concave as you stood and looked down its length from the doorway, additionally there was an obvious wedge shaped down the length of both the long walls, and to top it all off, the long walls were also out of plumb by approximately 20 -35mm from top to bottom. All in all, a bit of a nightmare for someone looking to build a kitchen in this space.
However, and like every challenge we encounter we came up with a plan to putthings right.
We decided to dot and dab new 12.5mm gybroc on the walls to level everything up to a point that you could no longer tell that the room still had some minor
discrepancies. We also utilised the gap behind the gyproc to run the new utilities.
As soon as the ceiling and walls were re-plastered throughout, we sanded everything down, cleaned the walls, windows and painted the walls with a mist coat and a base coat of Dulux kitchen paint.
The old tiles from the floor were
removed and the original timbers treated with a wood preservative where required. Then the whole floor was overplayed a new floating 22mm T&G moisture resistant flooring, to make it flat and suitable to sit the new units on.
Now we have a room that has been fully prepared to except a kitchen. A far cry from two days previous as you can see from the images.
It seemed to take no time at all to put the base, wall and cooker units in we even managed to fit the two wood block worktops as well as cut the sink into position.
The following day saw the installation of the double over, the sink, the washing machine and the hob, as well as the bespoke construction of the end panels, plinths and microwave unit.
Just a little bit of carpentry for the upstands left and then it was on to the home straight to complete the decorating, the whole room was given two final coats of paint, cleaned from top to bottom and finished off to perfection. As you can see
it initially looked to be a small job but with so many things to do it was quite a challenge, but as usual we loved it and so did the customer, this is what they
wrote as part of their Buy with Confidence review…
“The level of service was excellent, from the minute details to the overall work. The kitchen which they did brought it from a sad looking kitchen to a modern
light and super kitchen. New units, flooring, lighting, and plumbing all done with great care”.
