On Thursday, 13 February 2020 15:32:30 UTC, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
My kitchen is in need of a bit of a refresh. Not a total re-fit, though.

I built it all myself when money was tight. And ready made units cost more
(pro rata) than today.

All the floor units are basically one, made from approx 30mm square
section timber with mortice and tenon joints. 'Legs' which run from floor
to worktop one piece and a door's width apart. The whole lot firmly fixed
to brick walls. Tops are blockboard and tiled.

Most of the timber came for free as scrap lengths from the company I
worked for.

Doors and drawer fronts were bought ready made - and have been changed
recently, so still OK.

All the carcasing? is immensely strong and rigid compared to the usual
chipboard, and I don't intend changing it.

But I'd like new worktops. Possibly something like Corian? I realise this
is likely a totally pro job. Is it strong enough to sit on top of the
carcasing or does it need additional support like ply or whatever under
it? And what would be a very rough cost for about 9 metres total (three
walls with a peninsula unit, so 3 mitre or whatever joins. And a cutout
for a sink and hob. A rough guess would be fine, as I've zero idea of the
cost.

Other thing is the cooker hood which is ancient. It extracts to the
outside via a vent behind it. Still works fine - just old looking. Most of
the 'pretty' ones I see now seem to have a chimney. Can those be vented
anywhere up that chimney - or only at the top? I don't mind moving the
hole in the outside wall if needed. But the closer it is to the hood
itself the better.

Last thing. The entire kitchen is tiled, and I don't want to change them.
Obviously some will need replacing where the new hood goes in, and round
the new worktops. I do have some spares - but will have lots from the old
worktops. However I used some type of semi-flexible waterproof mortar bed
to stick them to the blockboard, which has survived very well indeed. I
think the small (2x2") very strong tiles will come off the wood intact -
but how about removing the mortar from them?

I've had waterproof stuff soften mostly from a night spent under water - it just didn't soften as much as cheaper stuff.


NT