Anyone getting a new kitchen fitted at the moment?

[Howmanysleepsnow]

I feel like I need a support thread! This is waaaay more stressful than expected. We were told to expect a week: units out Monday, floor down Tuesday, radiator moved Wednesday morning and electrics done that afternoon, units in Thursday and Friday. The radiator took all of Wednesday and Thursday. The joiner quit as the units were being delivered on Thursday. New one couldn’t start until Friday. One week in and all we have is a floor, a radiator and some wires hanging out of walls.
We’ve stupidly packed away everything except cups and kettle, and are living off prepackaged food and takeaway. I’m craving vegetables! There’s stuff stored in all but one room, which is ridiculously cramped, especially because dh is reeeaaaalllly stressed by all of it!
Can anyone see a light at the end of the tunnel?

@ TiddleTaddleTat

Thanks ☺️ Generally I’m happy with it.

I got the kitchen through Magnet.

@MaisyMary77 it looks lovely! Fabulous new roof - well worth having the other one fall in! 😀

@bigbluebus - any chance the original fitter is still working? Or at least recommending another fitter?!

@itwaseverthus poor you 🌷 but you’re giving me nightmares 😱

@Howmanysleepsnow if you’ve got suitable tools then give it a go!

As for payment - are you chasing the first one for your money back?

Thus one said to pay what you thought - so do that! Only pay fir what’s actually been achieved. I feel sorry for the guy as he must be in a bad way, but you need to be careful not to over pay.

I think it’s worth paying for the worktops to be fitted properly as the joins aren’t easy if you haven’t done it before. And it’s an important part of the look/job.

Spookily He is still working but he's so damned busy it is just hard to get any committment from him. Good tradesmen around here have more work than they need and they don't even advertise - not even names on their vans!

@bigbluebus. I’d book him for his next available time and work around that. Trust me he’ll be worth waiting for compared to using an unknown

He quoted £500. Damaged £150 of kitchen. Admitted he’d not done worktops before: paying someone else £400 for them now. Was going to tile: paying someone £90 for that now. So it’s a negative balance, but he worked 7 days (fed him takeaway throughout). No idea what to pay now. Any suggestions?
DH and I have been working on the kitchen for 3 hours now and done what would’ve taken him 2.5 days....

I wouldn't pay him a penny to be honest. He's left you in the lurch and damaged your property. It could cost more than that to re-order the damaged kitchen goods with delivery costs. I had to replace a massive end panel my fitter damaged and it cost £40 on top of the £100 for delivery. Then there is the cost of getting a new fitter, who won't fancy fixing up a botched job and may charge accordingly.

I would write him a note pretty much saying that. As nicely as possible & wishing him well.

I know he’s let you down badly & cost you money, but his mental health does seem a bit fragile right now so I’d be very nice about it, but don’t pay him.

Great that you and DH are getting it done! Hope you can get loads done tomorrow (today)

Oh my, wish I'd found this thread sooner.

Our project started in the summer and we are very near completion - however as fab as the kitchen looks from afar, up close I hate it 😭😭 now I've cleaned it free from dust etc we think there is a manufacturing defect on most of the doors as there is a white patch in the same place on about 80% of the doors. I was in bed with a headache most of yesterday having a complete meltdown over it and I can't stop crying

@jokerreturns that’s terrible! Can you get them to replace the doors? I know I’ve taken back a couple of doors that were damaged (and an appliance) with no problem, it’s just a shame they’re already up.
My DH and DF have now nearly finished fitting ours. Turns out our fitter wasn’t great... drawer runners were in the wrong position (the drawer he quit mid-install), an appliance tower was upside down, some stuff not fixed to the wall in the middle of a run, plumbing not right... the list goes on, but they’ve fixed it and additionally fitted in a day what would’ve taken him 4 or 5.
His tools are still here, and no word from him.
Joiner tomorrow, then just need a gas fitter and a new tiler...

@howmanysleeps

It’s great your DF & DH have almost finished!

Definitely don’t pay him. He’s caused more work than he’s done! As I said, I’d just write him a kindly worded letter to that effect or talk to him when he comes for his tools. You might need to pack them up and put them in the garage for a bit, he sounds like he’s having a break down.

@jokerreturns 😳that’s awful. Definitely get the doors replaced. Any fuss about it, take to Twitter. Do you think you’d like it if the doors were ok? I’m terrified I’m not going to like mine. I had issues with the bathroom fitter and it’s not as good as it could have been so
I’m a bit on edge about it.

Can I ask where you got your kitchen from?

I’d feel bad not paying him though, especially if he’s actually having a breakdown rather than just over stretching himself/ taking on jobs beyond his abilities. Was thinking £100. DH thinks nothing...

Meet in the middle then if you must. This is business, not a favour. He failed to do what he was contracted to do. There should be no consolation prize.

As I have fitted a kitchen and utility in our house in France (all B& Q, sooo much cheaper and better than French stuff, ) and am now finishing one in the UK, (Wickes - we planned to get them to fit it but when they came round to estimate it it was obvious they were a bunch of expensive prats so we decided to do it ourselves,) here are a few tips if you want toDo It Yourself, minimise disruption and still eat and wash sensibly.
If you have a utility, keep it as it is until you have fitted the kitchen, if you can, extend the wire to the oven and park it on top of a worktop there.
In the kitchen disconnect a worktop and its units from a wall and pull it into the centre of the kitchen to use as an island while you fit the kitchen around it., preferably the worktop with the hob in. You can then park the oven on top of one end of it.
If you are going to be fitting units and worktop to a hitherto empty wall, do this first as then you can use that as soon as it is up.
Use the internet to check on things like wiring regs if you are at all unsure.
Get all your units to exactly the height you want them and absolutely level before calling in the guys to fit the worktops, if you are not doing this yourself.
Before ordering units, make sure you measure the gaps between walls not just corner to corner but also at the point that the worktops will stick out to. You may find the walls are not parallel and units will have to be modified to fit.
Keep the protective covering on all doors, drawer fronts and deco panels until the last minute.
When the kitchen is delivered, make sure you know exactly what is in each box and write clearly on it what it is, the codes they use can be very confusing and you can spend ages looking for what appears to be a missing bit.
Be very sure to work out where the sink is going and how the fitting clips will fit, especially if the worktop is not a very thick one. You need to be able to get to the clips from underneath once the sink is in place to fit them properly. This is something a lot of kitchen fitters take a short cut on.
Wherever you cut a hole in an ordinary melamine worktop, paint around the cut out where the chipboard or whatever is bare with some ordinary white wood primer to help keep the damp out so the top layer doesn't lift, i.e. especially around the cut-out for the sink.
Designate a storage area for the stuff and store it in there in reverse order to the one in which it will be fitted. The garage is the obvious place, as long as it isn't damp.
Buy the right tool to hack the old tiles off the wall, if properly used, it will only take the top layer off the plasterboard off with the tiles and the plasterboard can be treated and sealed and retiled onto without having to be replaced. There will be a bit of filling to do but it shouldn't be much. Such as this, www.buybrandtools.com/acatalog/Hand-Tile-Chisel.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhozNp9295QIVRLTtCh3XqQ1_EAQYAyABEgIb9_D_BwE
And if you get stuck, walk away and have a cup of tea or coffee.
Also "measure twice, cut once".

@Howmanysleepsnow. Yes, I understand. He sounds like he’s having a breakdown to me. Maybe see how things go when he comes to collect his tools and if you can afford £100 have it on hand in cash, but you honestly don’t need to pay him anything - he’s cost you money and massively inconvenienced you.

Plumbing and electrical fitted. Floor up here and most of the adhesive up too but I had to go out and they’ve gone without pulling up the all the adhesive. We’ll be tight for height as we’ve got underfloor heating going on too tomorrow so I need to have a forthright convo tomorrow about why they haven’t pulled it all up. Fun times...

Getting floor adhesive off a concrete floor is an absolute nightmare, frighteningly but unbelievably efficiently, the best way to do it is to attack it with a sharp spade! Just keep at it as horizontally as you can. Picking at it with a scraper will take days, I know cos I've tried all ways!

We now have a sink, tap, worktops and an island. Hob nearly in, gas fitter returning today. Have found a replacement tiler who should be able to do this week. Need to paint still (decorator was a no show 3 times and couldn’t wait). The fitter turned up yesterday and followed the worktop fitters in! He was picking up his tools from the hall but walked into the kitchen and tried to take photos of “his work” to post.

Oven, job and fridge / freezer should all be connected tomorrow here so will have a choice of what to cook 👩‍🍳

Still trying to get a date for kitchen co to come down and look - did offer this week but the only day they can do I've a meeting I can't rearrange so looks like we will have to wait until next week ... it's more the stress of having to rearrange work so I can wfh not only for the meeting but also as and when they need to replace everything, just want everyone out of the house tbh

Ok, I'm seriously impressed with our builders. They've finished!! 18 days to strip & completely refit kitchen AND bathroom inc new electrics. I'm so happy!! Hope everyone else gets finished soon

@GrandmaSharksDentures I’m impressed too! Do you have pictures?

What did you say to him OP? I seriously hope you didn't let him take pictures?

but walked into the kitchen and tried to take photos of “his work” to post

Cheeky fucker, hope you told him not to and if he posts them you’ll go all over SM with the drama & credit yourselves with fitting it.

Definitely do not pay him.

Yep we are having a new kitchen fitted, it's been 2 weeks now and it's total carnage quite honestly!! I hope within another 10 days or so we'll be there. Really hard to keep life going with 2 small kids around it all. I'm just slow cooking everything and eating a lot of microwave rice!! "it will be worth it!"

@Parkmama well done for keeping a slow cooker and microwave. I honestly believed it when they said it’d only be 4 days when a kitchen... microwave got skipped in favour of the new one. God, I regret that!

*without, not when!