DIY Kitchen Refurbishment Project, Part 2

The kitchen has made such great progress since my last DIY Kitchen Refurbishment post!
We now have the new kitchen in place, which took around 5-6 days to fully install. With an extra 2-3 days to tile and grout.
This process was over the course of a few weeks because we are doing everything ourselves, with some help from others.
(This was one way to how we saved money.)

DIY Kitchen Refurbishment on a Budget

As I mentioned in my previous post ‘Kitchen Refurbishment, Part 1′  we wanted to create this kitchen on a budget, because this is our first home. Not with an intention to be our ‘Forever Home’.
Therefore everything we we bought from the Kitchen, was individually outsourced to keep costs low.
(Companies we sourced from can be found at the bottom of this post)
Even though it did keep our costs down, we did encounter a few issues, that meant our schedule we had for getting the kitchen fitted set back.

The issues;

One thing we learnt was; if you are outsourcing the cupboard and drawer carcass’ and the kitchen doors from different companies, the cupboard carcass company won’t drill holes where your door hinges need to be installed. Unless you ask!
This means the kitchen fitter has to do everything manually, adding more time (and potentially cost) to the day.



Another issue we encountered was the new oven. This happened to be larger than the one we had before depth wise. And for good reason!
A lot of new ovens have everything built inside the oven to cool it down etc, (it’s all a bit too technical for me!).
However because of this, the gas pipe we had running behind the previous oven, had to then be re-routed.
Again, this delayed us (along with cost us). Because we had to get a plumbing specialist in to make sure everything was installed properly. As well as effectively.


We also had issues installing our kitchen tap, purely based on the style we went for, and the type of sink we went for! But I love them both.
We still have issues. We’ve since found out the tap itself has a manufacture fault causing a slow drip to constantly flow out of it. Meaning we can’t keep anything in that particular kitchen cupboard because it soaks everything over time.
The manufacturers have been fantastic however, and sent over a new replacement tap straight away.
….This is next to be replaced and fixed into place.
Little issues like this were a huge learning curve for us!
But I wouldn’t have done it any other way!
I have still learnt so much from this DIY Kitchen Refurbishment. And will take these problems we have faced on board for our next kitchen project.

On A Positive Note;

Issues aside. The great thing about being able to source everything for your DIY Kitchen Refurbishment yourself, is you can tailor make how you want everything to be. Whilst still keeping to a lower end budget.

• We were able to get cupboards that fit right up to our ceiling, to maximise the storage in the kitchen. Plus make the kitchen look more spacious.
• Sourced out a splash back for the hob area, which was made to measure to fit exactly where we wanted it to go.
• Scoured the internet to find door and drawer handles to find the perfect ones, and keeping to a low budget.
• Able to find the right kitchen tiles and counter for us, without having to be stuck to one manufacturing company’s design.

There are a few finishing touches we still have to do in the kitchen. However, we are pretty much complete for the working side of the kitchen.
Next up is our Dining Area refurbishment, which is within our kitchen.


Kitchen Companies we used for our DIY Kitchen Refurbishment;

• B&Q – kitchen cupboards, drawers, faux marble work top, tiles and grey grout
• AO – oven, hob, extractor fan and mircowave
• Tap Warehouse – granite kitchen sink, drainer and kitchen tap
• Locks Online Ltd – copper door/drawer handles
• Kitchen Door Workshop – Cupboard and Drawer doors (front panels)
• Coloured Glass – Copper Splashback