Flatpak Kitchens - experiences?

Originally Posted by dazzler

HI

Okay, I searched, and I found but not what I want . (lots of discussion about GOING to do it but zilcho on actually DOING it)

Any experiences, good or bad, with installing a flat pak kitchen like the ones from bunnings and ikea etc

cheers

dazzler

If you are looking to install already assembled kitchen this may help
http://www.armstrongcabinets.com.au/installation.htm

http://www.flatpax.com.au/
http://www.kitezi.com.au/

Just finished a kitchen install, all worked well. Just measure your minimum distances and check your walls are level.

If i had my time again I would probably get the kitchen made by some one like kit-ezy and install it myself. (they will make it to your kitchen size)

Also I'd probably get the benchtop made somewhere to fit exact, instead of going for the bunnies top and installing myself. The joins are good but I would prefer a top without joins.

PS change out the door hinge screws for stronger ones, the supplied handles will hold them there just until someone hangs off it.

Originally Posted by dazzler

Any experiences, good or bad, with installing a flat pak kitchen like the ones from bunnings and ikea etc - dazzler

More than I care to think about.

My advice, as objective as is possible, echo that of Bloss and Bricks; try and find someone local-ish who will make one to order that meets your exact requirements.

Might not be quite as cheap as the Bunnings jobs - but on the other hand they won't be quite as cheap as the Bunnings jobs.

The other major advantage to dealing with someone local is that they will be there to refer back to if you have any problems or need to make some alterations and/or additions.

With a made to measure kitchen, once you've got the cabinets assembled the installation is the easy bit.
Custom made also often means a greater choice of finishes and quality hardware - these are the things that will be more noticeable in a couple of years time.

Cheers,

Earl

Thanks all

Got a couple of kitchen people coming around during the week for qoutes. I am inclined to do as much myself being into woodwork and all plus tradies are incredibly slow down this way.

Will see how the qoutes go!

Originally Posted by dazzler

.......... plus tradies are incredibly slow down this way................

I thought that applied to pretty much the entire population down there.

Mick

Originally Posted by journeyman Mick

I thought that applied to pretty much the entire population down there.

Mick

Oh god thats good

Originally Posted by Bloss

Great looking job 'bricks' Love that stove - 'now that's a stove!'

Fit's 3 good size roasts in it, 1m wide!!

3 shelves and a spinning thing like a spit.

Yes the kitchen is from flatpax, supplied from a bunnies store.

The stove is a LINEA, don't know the model.

They are a boutique brand, made in aus. Sold through trade plumbing and commercial catering stores.

IMHO the LINEA products were overpriced, but I had a very good deal from the suppliers so cost me alot less.

Hi Bricks

How much were the cabinets and benchtop only, excluding white goods etc?

Just the cabinets?

Originally Posted by autogenous

Hi Bricks

How much were the cabinets and benchtop only, excluding white goods etc?

Just the cabinets?

$2800, was the price for all of the cabnetry, however I bought all of them in november 2007. Price may be a bit more if you go now?

If you go on the Flatpax website you can select and re-select your kitchen and it will give you the current quote no-matter where you buy them.

I also saved money on joinery buy having a freestanding stove and dishwasher, built-in appliances usually cost a bit less (bout $100) but the joinery you need costs heaps.

$2800, was the price for all of the cabnetry, however I bought all of them in november 2007. Price may be a bit more if you go now?

If you go on the Flatpax website you can select and re-select your kitchen and it will give you the current quote no-matter where you buy them.

I also saved money on joinery buy having a freestanding stove and dishwasher, built-in appliances usually cost a bit less (bout $100) but the joinery you need costs heaps.

Cheers Bricks.
No probably not. The falling AUD is pushing prices up which assists the trade deficit rather than putting interest rates up to slow down imports.
Mind you it could be worth looking at a local cabinet maker now that the economy has levelled off a bit. Even if you just get him to set it up for the install.

14 or so years ago we installed a DIY kitchen, very easy job once we relised the room was not square, ie: the 90 degree corners of the room are far from 90 degrees, so the benchtop would not fit correctly (ok, was the first thing we tackled, had no idea that a square room would not actually be square!)

This is a quite common scenario. In the past and in the present. Back in my bricklaying days the cabinet maker would come to do an onsite check or (C.O.S) prior to making the kitchen notable for one builder.

A square house effects a lot of following trades. Roof carpenter, Cabinet maker, Tiler, etc

In the real world building houses is not precision machinery. While its nice to get the square right which can take an hour or more if materials are in the road which is common some make little to no effort.

Some of the higher spec builders in the upper market actually have a surveyor place many of the points for walls to ensure the house is in the right spot and square especially on projects where the building is close to boundarys, parapets etc.

Some projects now its stick the digital drawing in the total station and it provide all the points of the building.

It all makes for a nice fitting benchtop

I believe that you mised my point Auto...

The saving on an appliance $100, is offeset by the fact that you need to buy a joinery cabinet for it to be installed into (at least $300)

The saving on an appliance $100, is offeset by the fact that you need to buy a joinery cabinet for it to be installed into (at least $300)

Gees Im crap at writing sometimes I scan but dont read the whole thread. I did however get your point. A standalone is cheaper or enables to buy higher quality as it doesn't require the particular cabinet components for that m2. It also allows for discrepancies in the room size that may not suit modular sizing.

Apparently some builders designed their whole houses in 600mm to 300mm increments.
It saves on materials. Most materials come in those dimensions so less waste.
Timber, carpet, tiles suit 600mm increments.
It also allows for modular rooms so you can copy and paste a whole different say, bathroom, or kitchen in the existing house to suit the client.

610 is 2 feet? It is also 2.5 bricks with joints.

When computer aided drafting started to gain support builders had what are know as blocks which can be whole kitchens, bathrooms drawn in common formats in the numbers of hundreds.
Owners pick their kitchen they like and it is rotated and dropped into place as the owner likes.

I see marine ply is still imperial Bloss?

Bricks were converted from imperial to metric hence in Australia the 86mm gauge with an 85 drop to make the 600mm to 7 courses in height.

So while we are in the metric system we still have imperial in the background to some extent. Even metric modular bricks are 300 nominal.

Inches, yuk!

Hi Dazz, hows things/
I did mine using a combination of mostly flat packs by Lamikits - good quality and standard sizes - (forget Ikea they'e Euro dimensions) and some non standard corner units, fridge unit and wine rack made by my local cabinet maker.

I got the benchtop slabs and draw fronts and some cupboard doors manufactured in Tassie and sent up. All was good - very happy, the flat packs were easy. Sorry the photos aren't much chop.

Wow that looks good. Would you mind pm me the name of the company.

cheers

On its way. BTW the bench tops cost me about 30% less(including freight to Sydney) than the best quote I'd got for laminex!

I had to cut and poly them myself though, which was OK.

I'm mounting an IKEA one at the moment, will post pix soon in another thread. Experience has been good so far, with a couple of exceptions. By now I have a few tips for anyone else who plans to do this themselves (maybe we can get a sticky for a thread called something like: Tips for mounting flatpack kitchens?):

1. IKEA's design software is good but look out for walls that aren't straight, floors that aren't flat, angles that aren't square, etc, when measuring, so the room measurements you put into the software are correct.

2. Make sure the benchtops chosen by the software are long enough for the runs you want to cover, including overhangs! Otherwise you have to choose longer ones yourself.

3. Check that you have chosen the correct cabinets for where you will mount the sink, cooktops etc. Remember there has to be space for utilities (sewer, water, gas, electricity)

4. Double-check that the person in store that enters your order has entered all the correct interior stuff for your cupboards (drawers, rails, handles, feet, etc). This will save you a lot of time and trips later.

5. Take the correct items from the shelves and make sure your cashier zaps ALL the barcodes individually so you get charged the correct amount.

6. You may want to bring an additional empty trolley to the cashier so you can transfer your items from one to the other as you get them "zapped" by the barcode reader as you will have a huge number of items to handle.

7. Bring an extra trolley driver/helper as an entire kitchen includes a massive number of boxes. We could have used an extra helper for our kit and we only had 13-14 cabinets.

8. Before you cut the benchtop for cooktops, sink, etc, measure 10 times, cut once. Remember that the bowls have to clear the cabinet walls underneath.

9. When doing the cutout for the sink; get good quality, long blades for your jigsaw. also mark where your cabinet walls are so you don't cut into them by mistake (if you do the cutting in-place). Then remove the benchtop and do the additional 5mm cutout from the front and back supports (so the sink brackets have something to hook onto). Check that the sink fits into the hole and adjust it as needed, remember that the brackets stick out a couple of millimetres outside the rail where they attach. Put the sink upside down on the floor, apply the water-proofing sticky stuff that came with the sink around the edges of it, mount the brackets on the sink, lower your benchtop (upside down) onto the sink and tighten all the brackets. Lift it into place on top of your cabinets and fasten the benchtop with the screws that came with the cabinets.

Enjoy!

I didn't buy any of their appliances but everything has fitted perfectly so far. The only things I had to exchange was a hinge that had gotten mashed in transport (before I got it) and a benchtop that was 30mm too short (see item #2 on my previous list).

All my drawers and doors now have dampers on them and only two cabinets plus one benchtop remain to be installed. Then it's on to skirting, kickboards, trim, cover panels, door handles, benchtop lighting, tiling splashbacks, etc. Phew.

Ours cost around 3500 from IKEA and we did the installation ourselves. That includes 13 cabinets (two full-height ones), doors, BLUM hinges/dampeners (everything is soft-closing), drawers, corner cabinet carousel, sink, mixer, benchtops, lighting, etc.
Glass splashbacks are nice but expensive as long as you don't need to repair/replace/add anything where they are fitted. For example: If the area is tiled you can knock out one tile (with a bit of skill with a hole saw or angle grinder you can even do it in place), fit a new tile with a hole cut for a new electrical outlet and install the outlet. If you were to do the same to a glass splashback it probably means removing one pane (difficult to do and keep it intact), getting the hole made, re-painting the glass (if backing was damaged during removal which is likely. The accurate colour may also be hard to replicate), then re-installing it.

All up, if you think it's worth the price and can live with the consequences when doing repairs/replacements/additions, go for it!

Originally Posted by N0mad

If you were to do the same to a glass splashback it probably means removing one pane (difficult to do and keep it intact), getting the hole made, re-painting the glass (if backing was damaged during removal which is likely. The accurate colour may also be hard to replicate), then re-installing it.

Glass splashbacks are usually 6mm tempered and they cannot be cut after they have been tempered. They will implode into a million honeycomb pieces (like a car windscreen) if you try.

Wow, that's even harder than I thought it would be then.
Though that wouldn't exactly be like a car windscreen (as they are laminated), more like a side window I would think?

John's right - once tempered they can't be cut.

Always a good idea to get it right first time ... or even better, pay someone else to take the risk.

Originally Posted by barney118

I think it has changed now they come in adjustable height and kickboards clip on is this right?

Yeah.

Originally Posted by barney118

Is it worth buying blank sheets and cut and screw vs the flatpack option?

If you've got the time, then definitely. You can save a lot of material if it's built in place as well.
With my kitchen I plastered all the walls and painted them. Then after installing kickboards nice and level, I attached white painted 2 X 1 to the walls for the shelf and benchtop. Then I installed the bottom shelf at full width, and the middle shelf 50mm narrower as is often the case with mid shelves. Then I installed 100mm wide melamine uprights, notched 50mm for the middle shelf, with a 40 X 19 notch at the top to support a 2 X 1 on edge under the bench. I put these in wherever I needed to hinge a door. Then I installed a benchtop in place using merbau floorboards, and made doors out of HMR MDF, and gave them pencil round edges. I edged the shelving with iron on edging. I got all my hinges and runners from old cupboards at council disposal collections, but you can get them quite cheap if you know where to shop. I got nice big stainless bow handles off Ebay @ $1.50 each. A stainless, fan forced digital oven from Ebay cost me $340, but I splurged out a bit more on a black glass cooktop to match the splashbacks (you can get stainless cooktops for about $250). I got my local glazer to supply 6mm tempered glass splashbacks, and I painted them myself with a couple of $1.99 spray cans. I had a nice double bowl sink from a demo I did a long time ago, but you can get them with a flickmixer for a couple of hundred. I bought a new flickmixer for about $40 from Ebay because the old one was stuffed, and I'd have to spend a C note for a new cartridge. Crazy that you can buy a whole tap for less than half that.
I'm working on a new bathroom at the moment, and as soon as the floor is down I'll use it as a spray booth to spray my kitchen doors (I have a compressor and spray gun), then I'll post some pictures of the finished product. It looks great so far, and it's cost me bugger all.

The kickboards, and bottom shelf supports are glued and skew nailed from inside where it's not seen. I used a bit of PVA, and nailed the shelves down with small fixing nails, underneath where the uprights would be installed, and across the back against the wall. The heads are very small, and the only ones that are seen are at the back of the cupboard, but I still put a small dob of white gappo over them as well. For end panels, I used 30mm chipboard screws, and white plastic phillips insert screw caps to cover them up. The uprights, are glued and skew nailed before the edge strip goes on covering up the nails.

For my floorboard benchtop, after fixing battens down, I glued and secret nailed them, as well as screwing up into them, through the batten from underneath, as well as painting some polly on the tongue before installing the next, so they're well and truly stuck together, and stuck down. There's a double thickness at the edge so it looks 38mm thick.

As I said, if you paint your walls first and build it in place you save a lot of material. From an 8' X 4' sheet of melamine, you cut a 600mm bottom shelf, and a 550mm mid shelf, then you have a 50mm strip left over to batten the wall for the shelf. From a sheet of MDF, you can get all the doors, and the kickboard. I sprayed my kickboards gloss black with some cheap spray cans. So for $100 or so, you have nearly all the material for a cupboard carcass 2400mm long with four, five, or six doors, depending on how wide you want them. You don't need backing or end panels, except around your drawer unit. Of course where a cupboard ends, and it's not against a wall, I just install two uprights, one at the front and one at the back, and screw my feature end panel on, through the uprights from inside.

Edit; Actually, my bottom shelf is only 550mm wide, and my mid shelf is 500mm.

550mm + 20mm (18mm door thickness + clearance) + 30mm benchtop overhang = 600mm wide benchtops. The shelf off-cut would be 150mm wide, perhaps less the thickness of a sawcut. There's even more material left over for wall battens, or uprights, or kickboards. Just be careful if installing a dishwasher. Some of them are a full 600mm deep. so I'd make the cupboards + doors 600mm and the benchtops 630mm so the dishwasher doesn't stick out from the doors.