Kitchen ripped out/ new kitchen support thread

[Elsanore]

Work here starts on Monday. We are trying to empty the kitchen today and set up make shift kitchen in living room for next few weeks.

Got to go away overnight tonight for a wedding do, with dc, and DH and I both have work to do for our jobs sometime this weekend.

DH grumpily moving stuff around and getting very frustrated already. He has been very effective though and he's the main cook in the house and very good at this kind of thing.

First thing that was supposed to happen.. skip was meant to be here today for noon but it didn't come. Give me strength.

A thread for anyone going through the same, anyone with advice or anyone who wants to hear about my chaos life for the next few weeks.

So far this week nothing happened on Monday, 2 builders came of Tuesday- one did a smelly shit in the loo then they both left to get supplies and didn't come back. Today 2 have worked about 4 hours each.

I saw a tiny holiday cottage on Airbnb on a farm in the countryside in between dc school and DH workplace (I WFH)... contacted the owner and made a cheeky offer and I've rented that for a week for us to live in next week.

At least that means we can skip being here for week 4 of filth and no facilities..

Hope everyone else is going well!

Oh @Elsanore that’s a pain! We’re on week 2 and seem to be further ahead than you! Electrics are well on their way to being done, kitchen and utility have been plasterboarded and the plasterer is coming tomorrow. Kitchen/utility cabinets on course for delivery at the start of next week and hopefully well on their way to being in by the end of the week. We’ve struck gold with our builders though, we had to wait a long time for a slot in their diary but they’ve worked like absolute Trojans for a week and a half-absolutely delighted with them…although dust sandwiches are going to get old very soon!

@JudgeRindersMinder Excellent! Go builders! 💪🏼

Every time they do anything here it reveals more jobs.. like the plastering was done then had to be done again with 2 more layers cos the wall so wobbly! Or, knock back to brick on the chimney breast and there's some bizarre chimney- within- a chimney thing to also knock out, and all the pointing falls off 😩😂

It's ended up being a good thing the kitchen units not delivered till 10 Oct, the way everything else is going!

Can I join? We are planning a new kitchen alongside some other work. Project should start soon and we're hoping we'll be able to be in by Christmas.

Hi @RidingMyBike

When you say "hope to be in" do you mean you won't be living in the house during the work?

If so I am jealous!!

Hi @Elsanore yes, we're a work relocation last year - so sold our house 200 miles away and moved into rented in New City. Earlier this year we bought a house that needs a lot doing to it so we're doing all of it [well, as much as we can afford] whilst still in rented. Our outgoings at the moment are hideous - rent and mortgage, 2x council tax, 2x utilities - but hopefully it'll be worth it.

We did have a new kitchen at our old house whilst we were living there and that was fairly grim. It was meant to be 2 weeks and ended up being 6!

@RidingMyBike

The expense must be eye watering, but the only way I am ever doing up a house again is if we can live elsewhere while it's done!

We are about to enter week 4 of job that was supposed to be 3 weeks. And no end in sight.

Hope yours goes well, it will be so worth and and at least you're not living in it!

I feel your pain. We’ve just completed week 7 and we’re almost there. One door isn’t self closing and there’s a small length of upstand that needs replacing but that’s coming next Friday. I had hoped it would all be done by end of September but sadly not quite. Plasterer was awful, came back to sort the mess he’d created but still did a poor job so another plasterer sorted and invoiced the kitchen company.

i really wanted to move out but fitters had daily questions and issues so no way could we leave them to it. It’s been utterly draining.

We used some plywood and had our old sink fitted for a makeshift kitchen. Keep out essentials and expect mess! Slow cooker at the ready

We may have light at the end of the tunnel! As the worktop supply issue crawls on we've decided to put laminate on as a medium term fix and just get it done, with a view to replacing it within a couple of years.
So, laminate (incl sink hob and tap) fitted next week, flooring the week after.
Then we can think about getting the furniture out of storage.

It's looking like we'll have a kitchen and living room by Halloween!!

I have a functioning kitchen sink and tap 🎉🎉🎉😁

Lol haven’t had a kitchen for a year. DW you get used to it. Wondering whether I even need one now 🤣

Airbnb we moved into for the week had no hot water and we moved back out.

We delayed the work ourselves by last min change of mind about tiles.

The builder came to fit the lights but brought the wrong ones so the only work that's happened this week is the old laminate floor got pulled up.

Now the tiler has covid.

😩🤪😩😂

I'm happy for @JudgeRindersMinder and @ODFOx with light at the end of the tunnel!

New kitchen delivery day (supposedly).

After a month of work, there's still no lights in, plaster not fully whitewashed, no tiles in and no floor down. So basically the shell of the room is not ready to start to put the new kitchen in.

I will be so pissed off if the new stuff just sits there while they drag out prepping the room. They've had a fucking month!!!!

i.HAVE. A. KITCHEN!! I also have a utility!!

It went in last week like an absolute dream! The builders were really impressed at how well engineered it is. I’ve been enjoying this week moving things from one cupboard to another trying to work out homes for everything 😂.

Theres still a bit of work to be done in the house but it’s all on time and there have been no unwelcome surprises. Very happy bunny here 😁

I have worktop!

The quartz itself was bowed so rather than faff around any more we bought laminate. Unsurprisingly with my luck the fitter was all booked up so the builder recommended someone else. It's taken a few hours but it is OK now. It isn't what we wanted but I'm going to just get it done and usable for now and then replace the worktops in a couple of years time when it won't hold our entire house to ransom!
Hopefully by the time I get home tonight there will be a tap and hob.
It's all so out is sync now that the flooring will go down before the painting is done, but at this point any movement forward is positive!
Flooring, decorating, doors, architraves and skirting, some radiators over the next fortnight then we can start getting furniture and kitchenware out of storage!

Congrats @JudgeRindersMinder !! And others with good progress!

Ours goes painfully slowly. I ended up driving out and buying tiles myself on Monday after 2 fails by the builder's tile suppliers.

Some more of this week's highlights include builders forgetting their key, breaking something, one has covid, plus other calamities. I drove into the neighbours' bins because parked in a weird place due to upheaval. And childminder on holiday so more extra rushing around.

Still need walls painting, skirting boards putting in, floor finishing, grouting, lights and extractor. Units etc a week overdue. No one has mentioned the quartz worktop lord knows what's happening with that.

Aaaaaargh

Nasty shocks and extreme worry going on here. Not sure if anyone will see this but they might, and might have some good ideas for me.

6 weeks in and quite a bit of work has happened, but slowly. Room is pretty much now a shell waiting for the new kitchen to be delivered. That delivery not happened for 2 weeks past latest due date.

Builders have given every excuse under the sun. The latest this week are a frozen bank account, being rushed into hospital, being in court for family court case.

I can't believe it but I found our builder on a name and shame conman site when digging around Google. Horrifying!

Thankfully we have only paid so far what I consider pretty much reasonable for the work that's been done. So if we never see them again we haven't been ripped off a lot of money. But we have an empty shell of a room, no appliances (except cooker I bought separately being delivered today). Has the kitchen even been ordered from the supplier?? WTF!!

Eek! I hope he comes good Elsanore!
Here things are progressing slightly slower than planned (albeit much as expected based on experience over the last 6 months.
The smaller, twisty, fiddly bit of the flooring got done first, so the kitchen diner and living areas aren't done yet.
FX for the floors to be completed by Monday: half term mini break planned !!

I have a very odd question if I may ? did any of you take out the old kitchen yourself ?

i’m just wondering with the sink and the Earth thing underneath it whether that needs to be done by an electrician or a plumber on the other side of the kitchen where it was just units I’ve literally just pulled it all off and out. Thank you

My kitchen rip out starts Monday. It's only a small kitchen but we're also having some work done to make a proper dining room, utility cupboard and study. Only part of one wall to knock down so no steels required. Builder says 4 weeks but I don't believe that at all! I hope you have good news next week @Elsanore

We are 2 weeks in with no kitchen. This week since Monday has been zero progress since the plastering has been done. So we have flooring in, first fix electrics and plastered walls. We are painting the kitchen this weekend and the kitchen got delivered Thursday night and is now filling every room downstairs! I was hoping it would be finished in a week after being painted but I think that's optimistic now. It's a teeny tiny kitchen, so I really hope it doesn't take another 2 weeks.

@Jessiesthedog

I took out 80% of my old kitchen myself with my dad. We basically just left the cooker and extractor and the sink / boiler unit. I left them for the kitchen fitter to do. We also took up all the flooring apart from that under the units we left.

Bonus was I could get rid of most of it in advance. I freecycled kitchen units and worktops.

Charity place collected dishwasher and I sold washing machine.

It meant i managed a whole new (large) kitchen refit with no skip - I did about 4 trips to local dump in my hatchback with the laminate and random bits. The cardboard packaging (loads of it) just got picked up by bin men on recycling day.

Meant I saved money and also made my life easier re parking as nothing blocking my drive.

What do you do about clothes washing whilst waiting for the new kitchen to be fitted?