New boiler impossible to hide… aesthetics dilemma

[Grace1972]

Hello lovely people

I’ve just had a new boiler fitted today whilst I was at work. It required a lot of new pipe work and I’ve ended up with this black ugly thing to the right. I would get a cupboard built over it but as you can see, the boiler extends over the edge of the run of worktop/cupboards, so it would be a wall cupboard that hangs off the end. Additionally, the thermostat which will be fitted tomorrow is smaller than the old thermostat so the tiles will have a big hole and look a mess.

I had the kitchen done 4yrs ago. The style is now discontinued. Other than using houseplants and ‘stuff’ to try and mask it I’m at a loss at what to do and think it looks really unsightly. Does anyone have any ideas please as to how to cover this up? 🙏

You could have a plumber move the Magnaclean if you want. It has to go on the return pipe to the boiler but you could change the pipe run. Mine is on top of the boiler which is fairly inconvenient.

I think I'd suggest having a tall cabinet over the whole thing. If you can't get a matching door anywhere I suppose you could paint it like the walls. It has to open or lift off to service the boiler.

Please show us your doors.

I’d just box it in in white if the cupboards are discontinued , or if you search for the cupboards you might find someone selling second hand - I wouldn’t want to see that on display either so white would be back up

Actually can see your doors are cream so I’d get it boxed in raw wood then colour match the cream and paint it

Thank you for your fast replies. Much appreciated. I'm struggling to visualise how a cupboard would work in the space given the fact that the boiler and pipes overhang the counter run.

Here is a pic of the units…

This is why you can’t leave some bloody plumbers unsupervised. What a pain. If the tiles are still available you could box in around the pipes and tile it. This could also be movable for access if necessary. You will prob need a bespoke cabinet built to fit the boiler in.

I agree; will need a bespoke cupboard. I don't know how that will work given that the boiler and pipes are not flush with the existing kitchen units/countertop, so would overhang. It's a mess :(

I don't have any tiles left sadly.

To be fair to the gas engineer; my previous pipes were not suitable and needed to be upgraded. Previous boiler was fitted with the house build in 1999. I do wish I had known that there would be a bigger pipe&gubbins footprint with this one as would have requested that it be moved to the left so that it could be housed in a cupboard. Too late now!

I’d have a narrow floor to ceiling length pull out cupboard built to the right of the boiler to encompass the black bit (and built around the pipe work.

Like this (but not)

www.wickes.co.uk/Orlando-Bright-Skies-Matt-Slab-Pull-Out-Base-Unit---150mm/p/256945

I’d use it to store all manner of things. Herbs, cans, ironing board, whatever.

Then I’d have have a more typical cupboard built over the boiler.

See all those pipes that are now in front of your tiles they could have been hidden behind the plasterboard and the tiles re fitted on top.

Is the worktop still available? Maybe you could ‘ box in’ the boiler by running the work top up the side and fitting a painted mdf door on the front.

Bloody annoying.

This is a cracking idea... however... the boiler itself overhangs the end of the countertop (see first pic), by about 3-4 inches.

I reckon if you got a joiner in they could make it work…

Add another 2 x wine racks to the base. Add a pastry section to your worktop (i.e. a small piece of quartz or marble). Put a double cupboard over the whole of the new boiler and black thing

For the double cupboard, get one that sits on top of the work top. Like a dresser cabinet. It will the disguise all of the pipe work, switches etc

What a shame. It is so very ugly. I'll never ever understand why people put boilers in kitchens. Ours is in our downstairs loo, on the back wall.

I'd get some advice from another plumber.

One of the problems with this is that the boiler overhangs the countertop by 3-4inches so wouldn’t sit on there.

Not ideal but maybe a low hung bespoke wall cupboard built like this. The overhang will annoy me but at least all the gubbins will be hidden.

I'd have a cupboard built that ram down the side of the existing cabinets, in essence extending the run a little bit enough room for another wine rack.

Yes. That would be best.

Oh yes this could work

What is the width of the drawer units? If you can get the colours/style matched, I’d personally replace the drawer units with narrower ones and put in tall larder unit to encase the boiler, gap in tiles and black thing. It means you would lose a bit of worktop space though.

I think would look much better aesthetically. I'll look at replacing the drawers. Budget is a factor though.

I posted before I saw this but this isn’t a bad idea either. You could attach some floating shelves to the end of the kitchen units to even out the width of everything , and with some plants/accessories etc on the top shelf the overhang wouldn’t look out of place

I think I'd go for something completely different as a feature maybe a painted mesh fronted cabinet and just see if you can get a new piece of counter to extend under the cabinet. Leaving it open under the extra counter will give access to the power point.

I know this doesn’t solve your dilemma but that is an appalling job you’ve had done. I would be looking for some money back. My partner fits boilers all the time and these are a couple of his, there is no need for work like yours. Perhaps you could get your guy back and ask him to redo the pipes.