HELP! Anyone whos had a diy kitchen

[FoxTeaParty]

Im currently trying to buy a kitchen from diy kitchens. I've never brought a kitchen before so this is all new. I think I've got it covered except the end panels. My worktop is laminate so don't need them inbetween every cupboard for support. Do I go for carcass material or door material? I live too far away to go in the showroom unfortunately and I cant get it delivered to my address so only have one shot at ordering! If you have had either please let me know your opinion.

Definitely call the team and have a chat. We've gone for tongue & groove end panels in door colour as they look great with the shaker doors. What style are you having? If it's modern, go for the smooth in door material x

I went for the door material but second the giving them a ring or raising a query if you're not sure! They are incredibly helpful.

You could try ringing them up.

I took a day off work and travelled up to the showroom - I figured it's such an expensive, important purchase that might stay with you for decades that it was worth it. (It was 3 trains and several hours each way but they picked me up from the station at the end. In total I was out of the house from about 6am till 10pm). I'd say that was a day well spent as I went not with what I had planned and they were able to suggest a range of interesting solutions + order some bespoke sizing that you wouldn't even know possible from the website.

Thank you for the advice.
I would love to go to the show room but I live on an island and it would involve either a ferry or plane trip which I cant do at the moment.
Ive picked a grey wooden shaker kitchen so the carcasses are light grey the same as the doors. I think the extra for the door material is probably the way to go at the minute.

We've gone for door material, arriving this week! They are very helpful with any questions over the phone and you can update your order and make any changes after you've completed it for a while.

We went for door material. I didn't phone them but I did ask them loads of questions online and they always came back with really helpful responses.

If you've gone for shaker, I'd definitely go tongue and groove end panels in door material, it really makes it look smart. :)

We went for door material - it makes the finished kitchen look a bit more expensive imo.

If the end panels are going to be visible definetly go with door material.

I’m waiting for mine which is due in 2weeks now and have gone for tongue and groove end panels. Having said that I have an end panel which is between the full height cupboards and normal base units and have that in a smooth door panel as thought tongue and groove there might be a bit much.

As a rule of thumb go for door material. Cover panels are basically used where you will see the sides of the carcus and to provide spacing. You can use plinth as well for spacing. Spacing is needed on corners to enable doors to open, where a cabinet meets a wall, taking care especially with built in fridges. Large cover panels can be cut down to use for wall or base cabinets. The rough edge either sits against the floor or at the top of a wall cabinet out of view.

I have added a photo - black arrows is where you should put them and white arrows is where they have put them for decorative purposes instead of cornice.

Forgot to mention that if you are having a Belfast sink the cabinet that it goes into is reinforced however it is good practice to put cover panels either side of it to further support the worktop.

We used the worktop so had a "wrapped" effect, not the same colours but a bit like this

Door material but only on exposed ends ie at the end of a run of units.

Really appreciate all the advice its really helped.

@butterfly990 im not having wall units but i have got an oven housing unit and 2 tall units, do i need the end panels to put on top of them or is it something else?

The tall units need cover panels only where the sides can be seen. So in the photo I used they only have one on the tall unit next to the window. They don't have one between it and the tall oven unit. They also have one on the tall unit on the left hand side of the photo.

They have used another on top of all of their wall and tall cabinets a cover panel is optional to give the top a neat finish (see white arrows). To save money here you could use plinth on its edge as it is purely decorative.

Cover panels are in the main a decorative feature apart from where you use them for spacing and support. They have chosen to carry the tall unit cover panel down to the floor, if they were short on space they could have finish the panel on top of the worktop.

Ooh butterfly, what have you done?!? I love how the cabinets are framed by the end panels! Can plinth be used (our tall cabinets are the 2300 high)

Plinth can go on the top if you have room between the top of the cabinet and the ceiling but might look neater to slightly indent and completely fill the space between the top of the cabinet and the ceiling.

@butterfly990 have a run of tall units that have end panels each end, it's 3600mm long so I'd need a tall end panel + a bit? Then a built in dresser unit that's 2.6m long so would need one and a bit end panels for that too. Would it look too messy if there are lots of joins?

With your kitchen design watch for symmetry. The eye loves symmetry and order. So if you are talking about a decorative edge on the top of the 3600mm run of tall cabinets I would use 2 lengths of plinth laid flat and have the join in the middle in line with one of the lines from the edge of the cabinet door. See blue lines in picture.

Make sure with your design that you visualise whether sinks, ovens etc are in practical locations. If you imagine yourself doing tasks like tipping out boiling water from your freshly boiled pasta into the sink, how far is the sink from the hob? Taking a burning hot casserole out of the oven and being able to place it down somewhere quickly and safely. The oven in this photo could have been located one cabinet closer to the hob for argument sake.

That's great, thanks Butterfly. I am slightly obsessed with symmetry, so that makes sense to me and will hopefully help in making it look good. I didn't want cornicing but I love it framed simply like that and extra plinth is much cheaper than tall end panels :) thank you for your help