Before and After #43 - Kitchen Update

Saturday, 2 September 2017

Now that the troublesome rangehood is installed I can finally post photos of the finished kitchen.  The rest of it was finished about 4 weeks ago so it has actually been in use for a while now!

Just as a recap, our old kitchen was essentially sound, but in need of an update. So my plan was to keep the below-bench carcasses, replace the bench top, oven tower, overhead cupboards, and also to install a new unit surrounding the fridge. 

Aside from the range hood (which came out of its box looking like it had fallen off the production line and rolled down a long set of concrete steps) everything went smoothly.

The most nerve-wracking part was the installation of the bench top. Unlike more modern base cabinets which have legs that can be individually adjusted, the existing cabinets are built on wooden plinths, This means they are a lot stronger, but a lot less adjustable.  There was a 2mm fall along the long length of the bench area which is apparently a big deal when it comes to stone.  The other complication was the fact that I was keeping the glass splash back - so they had to slide in the bench top underneath the glass (rather than drop it down from above).  Knowing this would be tricky we (me and Ezikit) ordered a bench top that was 3mm thinner than the old laminexr top, just to allow a bit of wiggle room, but it was still going to be a challenge.  There was about a week between the finishing of the building and the installation of the bench during which I fretted constantly about it not being able to be installed, and worried about having to cancel the other trades who were dependant the bench top already being installed.

Much to my relief, the installation team of 3 guys were all really nice and appeared to be completely competent. After much huffing and grumbling about the situation when they arrived (they hadn’t really been briefed by Ezikit before they came),  they went off to get the extra batons and packers that would be required and ended up doing what seemed like a solid job.  It took about 3 hours al ltogether, during which time I sat nervously on the couch. 

The next day the cooktop got connected which left just the plumbing of the kitchen sink which took another few days before I could get anyone in to do it.

All in all it took 13 days from the day I started demolition until the day it was finished (aside from the range hood).  This included 3.5 days of building & installation,  3 visits by the electrician, 1 visit from a plumber. 1023 visits to Bunnings and Mitre 10.   

 And the costs? Well the appliances were about $4000 (double oven, sink, range hood, induction cooktop).  The ceasarstone bench top was $4200 including installation.  The new overhead cupboards, drawers, oven tower and fronts for all the old cupboards were $6000.  I spent an extra $200 on ceiling and wall paint, plus extra money on replacing the daggy kitchen and outdoor lights since the electrician was around anyway installing powerpoint and moving light switches for the kitchen. In fact it was great to get a whole lot of other electrical stuff fixed up during this process. Until now the pantry light hadn’t worked for years, the kids new ikea lights have finally been installed, and some other broken switches have been replaced. All the stuff you live with because it’s such a hassle and expense to get someone around.

Anyway - by the time we’ve paid the electrician, plumber and builder’s bills which are still to arrive, we’ll be at around 18k I think.  Whilst we’d originally planned that I’d be back at work and earning money before we started this project it turned out that I really needed to be around for the entirety of the 2 weeks to wait for tradesmen and supervise the building.  If I hadn’t been thereI would have arrived home to see the cupboards installed at the wrong height, handles put in where we didn’t want them, and all sorts of other little issues would have been harder to resolve. It’s lucky that both the builder and bench installers had a good relationship with Eikit as we needed extra pieces of the woodwork to be made on the fly, and the installers needed to borrow some of their specialised tools for the installation.  Needless to say  I would have been absolutely stuffed if I’d tried to the installation imyself. 

My favourite parts of the new kitchen are the charging station, which is tidily hidden away into a little alcove next to the fridge:

and the 'secret' cupboard which stores all the extra stuff we need for family dinner every fortnight, which previously had no-where to go apart from the games room or in very high cupboards I couldn't reach.

Also i'm really happy with the hardwood cladding I did around the side of the bench. I wanted to add something to the design to make it look slightly different to a regular kit-kitchen.  And it was fun to do it myself (with my new nail gun!)

I really love the induction cooktop - it's so fast! and I really like the top oven - it's great for cooking smallish items and it preheats really fast. I'm still coming to terms with the larger bottom oven - mostly it's been fine but I managed to cook a burnt-on-top yet dry yet undercooked lemon and poppyseed cake in it last week  - so clearly more practise is required!

With the rangehood finally arrving yesterday I was able to cover the hole left by the old rangehood with the acrylic sheet I had custom cut for me.   It's a bit odd, but a much better solution than buying and installing a whole new piece of glass.

So all up it was a good experience. I'm so glad we've done it.  I'd like to update the stools in the not-to-distant future - I've got my eye on a nice set, but for the now old ikea ones will have to do!