For years now I have been dissatisfied with our gas cooker:
- Its difficult to keep clean with so many twiddly bits
- It looks ugly
- The oven is too low and as a result is extremely difficult to use and clean
Really we wanted to replace it with an eye level oven and one of those electric hobs that visibly consist of only a simple glass sheet; originally ‘ceramic’, but now induction.
The problem being the combination of separate oven & hob would not just fit in the space left by the oven; a major reorganisation of the kitchen layout was required. However, although quite old, the rest of the kitchen was quite serviceable so we were reluctant to have a completely new kitchen installed.
This status quo existed for many years, with the gas cooker getting more and more decrepit, knobs falling off and some of the rings no longer lighting with the electric ignition system. Eventually, a few weeks ago we decided enough was enough and something had to be done do we re-assessed the situation. If we couldn’t afford a complete kitchen, was there some way we could make some small adjustments to accommodate the new appliances?
After several attempts at reorganising the layout we came up with a cunning plan that replaced the existing cooker with a new cupboard to accommodate the new hob, and by moving the fridge/freezer we could squeeze in a new tall unit to house the oven. A few more tweaks added a new set of drawers with worktop adjacent to the hob. We couldn’t match the existing unit doors and drawers so we decided on something completely different.
We approached a local kitchen dealer who was quite helpful at first, but quickly handed us on to a colleague who seemed less keen, and was so slow responding that we eventually gave up and decided to do it ourselves. We measured up and ordered the units on-line from a firm recommended by a friend of my wife’s, and waited. We decided to go for ready made units, not flat-pack as we thought they would be sturdier, more square and quicker to install.
Delivery was a bit fraught. The original delivery was a seven day window which as the time approached was reduced to two days notice within that week. However delivery could be any time from 0800-22.00 on either of those days; not really very convenient. It ended up as 20.30 on the second day. The delivery driver and assistant were very friendly and helpful, putting everything roughly in place – it all went smoothly. Although it was almost 21.00 when they left they had two more deliveries to make.
Early the next day we began unwrapping the units and roughly positioning them to check we had got everything right. All was well and by lunchtime the units were in place and we started installing them properly. This stage went a lot quicker than anticipated and by the end of the day all was finished except the worktops and kick-boards.
Cutting the the worktop was and anxious time as I could not afford to get it wrong – measure, check, measure, mark, check, check again before cutting. The rigour paid off, with no errors, they all fitted perfectly. However cutting the whole for the hob was not so straight forward. Despite the care I took, the cut was not at a right-angle to the surface so one side was larger and offset from the other and at first sight appeared to large, but fortunately it was just within the allowed tolerance. From then on it was all down hill. The oven slotted in the cabinet OK; the doors and drawers were levelled and adjusted – time for a celebration. Now we just had to wait for the electrician to come and connect up the oven and hob.
As this all coincided with some friends coming to stay for a few days the anxiety level was high. For the first few days we had no cooking facilities so salad was the only thing on the menu, but one day we had a take-away curry.