Kitchen spruce up!
Discussion
I thought I'd share the progress of our kitchen work, since I'm in a bit of a lull at the moment until the weekend when I plan to finish it all off.
We moved into our new home mid February, thinking we'd wait a while before doing anything major. These are the photos from the agent, before we moved in:
Without wanting to be rude to the previous owners, for us the kitchen felt like something out of an 80's mental asylum (hey, look at that, I don't care about being rude after all). First up though we needed a new oven, fridge and dishwasher because they had all been built in and so left behind in our last house - naturally the wife wanted a big american style fridge and as as the gap for the oven was only 500 wide I had to break out the jigsaw... And since the saw was out, we might as well have a 900 wide cooker as well!
Next thing I know we've decided on a full kitchen spruce up, but trying to keep our eyes on the budget. So suddenly I've finished laying a slate floor (bought on offer from Tile Giant):
Bought a wet table saw which was a massive waste of money because an angle grinder is much faster and easier to use. Never mind!
Next up doors from B&Q in the half price sale, and handles and worktops from Ikea. The sink from Villeroy and Bosch seems a nice bit of kit but I haven't tried to fit it yet... So this is where we are up to so far, I've done most of the work myself with a decent bit of help from my stepdad who is a retired furniture maker and knows his way around power tools more than I could ever dream of.
I think we've broken the back of it, just got to finish up the worktops and do a crap load of tiling and choose a new back door. After that I think I'll focus on smaller jobs for a while! Thanks for looking.
We moved into our new home mid February, thinking we'd wait a while before doing anything major. These are the photos from the agent, before we moved in:
Without wanting to be rude to the previous owners, for us the kitchen felt like something out of an 80's mental asylum (hey, look at that, I don't care about being rude after all). First up though we needed a new oven, fridge and dishwasher because they had all been built in and so left behind in our last house - naturally the wife wanted a big american style fridge and as as the gap for the oven was only 500 wide I had to break out the jigsaw... And since the saw was out, we might as well have a 900 wide cooker as well!
Next thing I know we've decided on a full kitchen spruce up, but trying to keep our eyes on the budget. So suddenly I've finished laying a slate floor (bought on offer from Tile Giant):
Bought a wet table saw which was a massive waste of money because an angle grinder is much faster and easier to use. Never mind!
Next up doors from B&Q in the half price sale, and handles and worktops from Ikea. The sink from Villeroy and Bosch seems a nice bit of kit but I haven't tried to fit it yet... So this is where we are up to so far, I've done most of the work myself with a decent bit of help from my stepdad who is a retired furniture maker and knows his way around power tools more than I could ever dream of.
I think we've broken the back of it, just got to finish up the worktops and do a crap load of tiling and choose a new back door. After that I think I'll focus on smaller jobs for a while! Thanks for looking.
Edited by _dobbo_ on Monday 8th March 19:39
I'm in the middle of a complete kitchen strip out including knocking a wall down through to the dinning room, so I feel your pain. 
That looks a nice job you've done there, I particularly like the tiles as well (too late as I ordered ours this lunchtime...more travertine as we couldn't find a slate we liked. Ours was much worse than yours when we moved in and a minor revamp lasted us over five years, so I reckon you'll be good for much longer.
That looks a nice job you've done there, I particularly like the tiles as well (too late as I ordered ours this lunchtime...more travertine as we couldn't find a slate we liked. Ours was much worse than yours when we moved in and a minor revamp lasted us over five years, so I reckon you'll be good for much longer.Cheers chaps - my DIY was limited to drilling holes and putting up shelves with a bit of painting thrown in so I initially thought I'd bitten off more than I could chew.
Like most things though taking time and care and being methodical means pretty much any job can be achieved at home - although I left the electrical wiring to a professional!
Like most things though taking time and care and being methodical means pretty much any job can be achieved at home - although I left the electrical wiring to a professional!
Cheers BR!
Think I paid all in about £20 per sq. metre including adhesive and grout. I couldn't get over how expensive the adhesive was though - I spent well over £100 on bloody glue! I still need to finish up grouting then seal it, but that isn't a lot of work compared to laying it all in the first place.
The floor will take an absolute beating in a way that ceramic tiles or laminate or even real wood could not. If you take a chunk out of a slate all that is left is more slate, and it hardly shows at all.
OldSkoolRS said:
more travertine as we couldn't find a slate we liked.
We spent a long, long, long time in various tile shops, debating throwing out the budget and choosing some really nice travertine tiles. In the end I had to work hard to convince SWMBO that the slate would not be too dark with the units, tiles and paint to lift it. Think I paid all in about £20 per sq. metre including adhesive and grout. I couldn't get over how expensive the adhesive was though - I spent well over £100 on bloody glue! I still need to finish up grouting then seal it, but that isn't a lot of work compared to laying it all in the first place.
The floor will take an absolute beating in a way that ceramic tiles or laminate or even real wood could not. If you take a chunk out of a slate all that is left is more slate, and it hardly shows at all.
_dobbo_ said:
We spent a long, long, long time in various tile shops, debating throwing out the budget and choosing some really nice travertine tiles. In the end I had to work hard to convince SWMBO that the slate would not be too dark with the units, tiles and paint to lift it.
Think I paid all in about £20 per sq. metre including adhesive and grout. I couldn't get over how expensive the adhesive was though - I spent well over £100 on bloody glue! I still need to finish up grouting then seal it, but that isn't a lot of work compared to laying it all in the first place.
The floor will take an absolute beating in a way that ceramic tiles or laminate or even real wood could not. If you take a chunk out of a slate all that is left is more slate, and it hardly shows at all.
Yes I can't get over the price of the adhesive either...at least we found a local place that does big 600 x 400 tiles for £26 per sq metre. Also I had some of the sealant and adhesive left over from the bathroom job I did a while ago, so that helped the costs. The only thing is I have to collect them from the shop and they weigh about 800kgs, so I'll need a couple of trips (at least it's a company car Think I paid all in about £20 per sq. metre including adhesive and grout. I couldn't get over how expensive the adhesive was though - I spent well over £100 on bloody glue! I still need to finish up grouting then seal it, but that isn't a lot of work compared to laying it all in the first place.
The floor will take an absolute beating in a way that ceramic tiles or laminate or even real wood could not. If you take a chunk out of a slate all that is left is more slate, and it hardly shows at all.
).PS. Not sure about slate, but with travertine I was told to seal it once before laying them and again before grouting otherwise the grout or adhesive can stain the tiles and the sealant will then seal the staining in.
Stevenj214 said:
_dobbo_ said:
W66OCH said:
Good work 
Whats with the green slate tho?
The slate colours are all over the place, green, red, orange, yellow, it's actually what finally sold us on those tiles because a sold mass of grey/black might have been too much.Whats with the green slate tho?
OldSkoolRS said:
The only thing is I have to collect them from the shop and they weigh about 800kgs, so I'll need a couple of trips (at least it's a company car ).
PS. Not sure about slate, but with travertine I was told to seal it once before laying them and again before grouting otherwise the grout or adhesive can stain the tiles and the sealant will then seal the staining in.
You're not wrong about the weight, I thought my rear suspension was going to break! As for sealing before grouting, I didn't bother and it seems to be OK, where I've splodged grout around it scrapes off without leaving any stains or marks (thank god)! ).PS. Not sure about slate, but with travertine I was told to seal it once before laying them and again before grouting otherwise the grout or adhesive can stain the tiles and the sealant will then seal the staining in.
As always these things take twice as long as you think, but a bit of flexible hose and a couple of very hot jigsaw blades later and the last stretch of worktop and new sink are fitted, plumbed in and working nicely!
The tiling starts today, and ends at some point in the future after about 300 tiles...
The tiling starts today, and ends at some point in the future after about 300 tiles...
Edited by _dobbo_ on Sunday 14th March 08:49
Are they? Open with your left leaving your right free to grab what you need, this seems correct to me.
Anyway, I can't claim to have chosen how they opened, I just replaced the existing doors with new ones, didn't give it any thought just moved the hinges and otherwise left them as they were!
Anyway, I can't claim to have chosen how they opened, I just replaced the existing doors with new ones, didn't give it any thought just moved the hinges and otherwise left them as they were!
Good luck with the tiling...I started my floor today and my knees are wrecked already (must be getting old ). At least I'm not tiling any walls, just an upstand in granite to match the worktop, looking good so far, but I'm starting to wish I hadn't started this year (or next ). I'd never given it any though regarding the handles on the doors for left or right handed people...I guess that's another thing I've overlooked (amongst others no doubt).
). At least I'm not tiling any walls, just an upstand in granite to match the worktop, looking good so far, but I'm starting to wish I hadn't started this year (or next ). I'd never given it any though regarding the handles on the doors for left or right handed people...I guess that's another thing I've overlooked (amongst others no doubt).The tiling isn't too bad, it's a bit boring but once you get into I find I can switch off a bit.
Bloke in the tile shop reckoned this would be OK:
After throwing the fifth tile away due to wonky cuts, I got this which is infinitely superior:
Carbide jigsaw blade for the fiddly bits and away you go!
1 box down, 5 more to go! The grout is a bit of a b
d to work with, seems to go off very quickly so I'm having to mix up really small batches every time.
Bloke in the tile shop reckoned this would be OK:
After throwing the fifth tile away due to wonky cuts, I got this which is infinitely superior:
Carbide jigsaw blade for the fiddly bits and away you go!
1 box down, 5 more to go! The grout is a bit of a b
d to work with, seems to go off very quickly so I'm having to mix up really small batches every time.Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff