Kitchen Fitters in Bournemouth

The work

What fitting a kitchen involves, from strip-out to the last plinth

Survey and measure. We measure every wall at worktop height and near the floor, because few walls in an older house are square, and note where the soil stack, water main, consumer unit and gas meter are, and whether an extractor can reach an outside wall.

Strip-out. The old units, worktops and tiles come out, the water is capped, and the waste leaves with us. If a skip has to stand on the road, the skip firm needs a licence from BCP Council under section 139 of the Highways Act 1980, so it is booked for a set date.

Walls, ceiling and floor. With the room empty we check the walls for true and the floor for level. Blown plaster is cut back and patched or the wall is re-skimmed, and the ceiling is made good where the old lights came down. A floor that is further out than the unit legs can take up gets levelled first.

First fix. Water and waste pipes move while the walls are open, and the electrician runs new points and circuits at the same stage. Then the walls are plastered and left to dry.

Units. Base units go in first, set level off a datum line, then the wall units and the tall housings for an oven or fridge-freezer. End panels, fillers and scribing close the gaps to uneven walls, and the plinths, cornice and pelmet finish the lines.

Worktops. Laminate is cut on site and joined with a mason's mitre or a butt joint, sealed against water. Solid wood is oiled on every face, underneath and round the sink cut-out too, before it goes down. Quartz, granite and solid surface tops are templated and fitted by the worktop firm once the base units are fixed.

Sink and appliances. Sink, tap, waste and trap, then the integrated appliances: dishwasher, fridge-freezer, oven, hob, and the extractor hood with its ducting. Bournemouth Water describes most of its supply as moderately hard, so set the dishwasher softener before the first wash, and fit the maker's scale filter to a boiling-water or filter tap from day one.

Tiling and finishing. Upstands or a splashback, wall tiles, then the floor. Tiles can run under the units; a floating floor goes down afterwards, up to the plinths, so it can move. Last come under-cabinet lights, handles, and adjusting every door so the gaps run even.

What we would talk you out of. A new kitchen laid on a floor that needs levelling first. A sink moved to the far side of the room, a long way from the soil stack, where the waste has to fall the whole distance and may not. A hood on a long duct with several bends, which is noisy and moves very little air. Better to change the plan on paper.

The law on gas and electrics

Gas, electrics and extraction: what the rules say

A gas hob or cooker must be connected, or disconnected, by an engineer on the Gas Safe Register. That is the law, for a like-for-like hob swap as much as a new gas run.

New electrical circuits in a kitchen, such as a dedicated circuit for an oven or an induction hob, are notifiable under Approved Document P of the Building Regulations. The electrician either self-certifies the work through a competent person scheme or it is notified to building control. Either way, you should be handed an electrical installation certificate and proof of sign-off.

Where extraction is being fitted or changed, Approved Document F sets what a kitchen extractor has to achieve. A hood ducted to an outside wall takes steam and cooking smells out of the house. A recirculating hood only filters the air and puts it back into the room.

Your quote states how the gas and the electrics on your job are arranged and who signs each one off, and the certificates are yours to keep. A listed building needs listed building consent for alterations: BCP Council's listed building pages show how to check.

How we work

How a kitchen fit runs with us

You have one person to ring from the first visit to the last snag. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.

• A free written quote, itemised: strip-out and disposal, first fix, making good, units, worktops, tiling and flooring each on their own line, and anything provisional marked as provisional.
• If the old kitchen comes out and there is something behind it, such as rotten boards or a leak that has been running under the units, that part stops. We photograph it, price it, and it goes ahead only when you say so.
• Dust sheets on the route through the house, doors closed off while plaster is sanded, and the room swept at the end of every day.
• The old units, worktops and waste leave with us.
• Nothing left unsafe overnight: water capped or valved off, no loose cable, tools off the floor.
• A snagging walk round with you before we call it finished.

Before it gets worse

Water under the old sink right now

A kitchen fit is never an emergency, but a leak under the old sink is. Turn the isolation valve on the pipe under the sink, a small screw slot, a quarter turn so it sits across the pipe. If there is none, or it does not stop the water, turn off the stopcock, which is often under the kitchen sink or where the main comes in. Dry out the base of the unit, because chipboard swells and does not go back.

Then ring 07435 839745. The first visit looks at what the water has done to the floor and wall behind, and if the kitchen is being replaced anyway, that is priced into the new fit. Scheduled work Mon to Fri, 8am to 6pm. Something urgent? Ring, and if we miss you we call back.

Flats in Bournemouth

Fitting a kitchen in a Bournemouth flat

About half the homes in central Bournemouth are flats, and a flat changes the job before anyone picks up a tool. Check your lease first. Most need written consent from the freeholder or the managing agent for alterations, and many set working hours and rules for the communal hall and lift. Get consent before you order anything.

Then measure the route in. A full-length worktop or a tall oven housing may not fit in the lift or round a tight landing. Laminate can be jointed to suit the stairs. A stone top is templated in the flat and carried in by the fabricator, so tell them it is an upstairs flat when you order. There is rarely a drive for a skip, so the waste goes out by van, and we protect the communal hall and stairs. Find your own stopcock before strip-out day, too: in a flat, water that gets away runs straight into the ceiling below.