HELP! Oven not sitting flush with kitchen cabinets (with photos)

[jellybean30]

I'm having a new kitchen fitted - IKEA cabinets, custom fronts, freestanding oven, IKEA stone worktop. The problem is that the front of the oven does not sit flush with the cabinet fronts. It's about 4cm back, which looks dreadful. IKEA is not sure they can fit a stone worktop strip in the back.

Oven is Stoves Richmond. It's 60cm deep. Cabinets are 60cm deep, plus 2cm suspension rail, plus Naked Doors front. Hence the 4cm difference.

Is this not a common problem? Can anyone help?

Does the oven rest against the wall? Ours is further forward so there is a gap behind the oven.

Who measured? Surely this was all taken into account in the original design? What do the fitters suggest?

The stove needs bringing forward and the gap left at the back filled in.

Thanks all - what do you suggest filling the back with?

Ikea says it's not supposed to sit flush, which is obviously not true. The kitchen planner says the worktop people probably won't be able to make a strip of worktop that thin, but we'll see.

The builders say they could fill it with a piece of wood or metal at the back. But that doesn't sound great. What do fitters normally put in that gap?

" The kitchen planner says the worktop people probably won't be able to make a strip of worktop that thin, but we'll see. "

the kitchen planner has never heard of a "saw"

though worktop might not be the best material.

I's probably go for an L-shaped aluminium or stainless strip, flat side upward, to stop anything falling down behind the cooker.

It needs to come forward. Don’t you need room behind it for tiles/up stand/backsplash/whatever you call it when it’s an oven not a sink!!

It needs to be pulled forward. Then something done to fill the gap at the back,

Ours is pulled forward and we have a gap at the back of the oven. Sometimes things fall down there.

Sorry to give you another dilemma but I think there’s supposed to be a gap between the oven and the cabinets either side. I’m sure ours had to be 10mm at the very minimum

I have IKEA cabinets and had this problem. They are deeper than most. My kitchen fitters fashioned a chrome shelf to sit behind the cooker. It looks great and also handy when cooking to prop bottles, spices etc. It's about 5cm deep. I have no idea now if they made it or bought it. I think they bought it but it was for another purpose.

More stainless steel than chrome actually 🤷‍♀️. It matches the hood 😂

Ikea says it's not supposed to sit flush, which is obviously not true. The kitchen planner says the worktop people probably won't be able to make a strip of worktop that thin, but we'll see.

What did it look like on the plans? Of course a piece of worktop can be cut in a strip, they’re being ridiculous.

Yes we had same issue in a previous house with IKEA units - fitter made a little shelf to go along the back of the range cooker.

Thanks everyone, and very honoured to see Pigletjohn comment.
@Callmejudith the units either side should touch the oven. That part is correct at least!

Our latest thinking is to try and get a strip of worktop cut to size (4cm x 90cm) but if they won't do it then a piece of black metal to match the oven. I can't have a gap at the back - think of all the food that'll fall in and get smelly!

I like the shelf idea! Thank you for the photo PP

I would be careful check the manufactures documents to see if wood product (which can slow burn) is durable enough. How much insulation is in the back of the oven to prevent heat transmission?

You're right, no wood. I meant metal. Wood is not safe, though at least it's an induction cooker and not gas.

Could you use a length of this aluminium angle bar with the shorter section face fixed behind the tiling?
www.screwfix.ie/p/rothley-aluminium-angle-1000-x-36-x-20mm/923JP?gclid=Cj0KCQiAnaeNBhCUARIsABEee8UkN0H7wGguh8SKOI8vKkteVQqWrixM26okMlxI4y6bK1Qig8MGW3gaAvRuEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

There is also stainless available, I suggest contacting a local stainless steel fabrication shop if you require a custom size.
Should be an inexpensive fix to fill the gap.

Other options could be to get the off cuts from the sink or worktop ends to fill out the gap.

It's because the ikea cabinets are deeper than usual. A previous cooker I had, had an upstand at the back that could be fitted vertically or horizontally to fill a gap like this. I think it was a Britannia? But I'm not sure. But we did need 1cm each side too for the air requirements. Have a look at your coolers instructions ( online if you can't find the paper ones ) there might be a solution and you will see the air required gap.

If there's a gap I'd put a metal strip at the back, however I'm like the poster who asked; won't the gap be filled with tiling or some other splash back? If you've got painted wall behind your cooker it's going to get stained v quickly.

It's a 4cm gap - are some posters saying this should be tiled? There will be tiles for 75cm up from the worktop along the entire length of the kitchen.

If it was me, I'd have a 600mm strip of 50mm brushed stainless angle screwed to the wall, flat side up, so it was just above the cooker to prevent anything falling down the back.

I bet the kitchen fitters have seen this before and will have a solution in mind

But in a couple of weeks nobody will notice the difference in the cooker depth.

We had that for ages after installing IKEA kitchen and freestanding cooker. One winter we got mice on the worktop and I was convinced they were climbing up the back of the cooker (as well as feasting on anything that fell down behind it). I cut a bit off an old aluminium shower rail we had lying around and laid it over the gap - no more mice on the worktops, no more food fell down, and nobody else ever noticed it wasn’t part of the cooker as both were silver.