Cavendish Equipment stainless steel kitchen

[Netcam]

We are in the very disruptive process of taking out our kitchen units after having a heat pump installed and our boiler/gas meter removed. We are currently managing with our camping double induction hob and little combi microwave/oven. At least we have the sink for now, although at some point that will have to come out and then we'll probably get some basic temporary portable sink unit.

I can see why people get a company to do the whole thing for them! But we don't have that kind of budget for what we want.

We have been researching options for replacements. The option that appeals most is getting Stainless Steel units and worktops from Cavendish Equipment in Waltham Cross. https://www.stainlesssteelkitchenshop.co.uk/

We haven't been to the showroom yet as it's a bit of a drive and only open weekdays so would have to take a day off work, but hope to plan an a visit.

We just wondered if anyone else on here has used them and what experiences they have with them.

We are currently removing our 14 year old Howdens kitchen (installed as new build).

We really don't want to go with laminated mfc/mdf again. It delaminated in lots of areas such as around the sink base unit and oven. Some of the doors also degraded massively from water dripping and the heat from the oven, with the foil peeling off and bulging mdf in places. And the laminate chipboard worktops had various chips in.

We are hoping to get something that will be durable. DS are both at uni now so we can live in the mess for now. And no more little kids with sticky fingerprints.

We are trying to do it semi DIY but with some help, so we can stick to a reasonable budget. An electrician is coming to do some wiring for us. But we are removing old units and tiles, filling holes, painting etc ourselves at weekends. We're keeping our existing ceramic tiled floor since it covers the whole ground floor or our 3 storey terraced house.

It looks like Cavendish will template and then we could pay them to come and just install the units and worktops. Then we can finish everything off ourselves. As we both work full time all these weekend DIY feels a bit much already!

Then we can sort out plumbing/sink DIY and get Electrician back to install oven/hob.

It would be great if we could at least get units and appliances in by Xmas, even if we haven't quite finished everything. Not really decided about tiling, also like the idea of glass splashbacks. But that would probably be the last thing to do.

We have also been looking at MPM engineering who seem to offer similar, if anyone has experience of them.

We are thinking of going with plywood units from here https://cnccreations.co.uk/product-category/birch-plywood-kitchen-cabinets/ but installing them ourselves. But we wonder if they would also degrade in damp / heat near oven/hob/sink.

This did make us consider a combination of stainless steel base units and plywood wall units. But that just seems like so much hassle as we'd probably have to install them after the base units were done to make sure the extractor hood lines up with the hob and we wouldn't want to damage the new base units and worktops in the process.

So we are now thinking we might just prefer all stainless steel and get Cavendish to template and install them.

We like the look of these glass and stainless steel wall units and base units with handles like the picture attached.

We would paint (green) to add colour and add tiles or glass splashbacks to brighten it up too. We have an oak table and chairs that we would keep whoch we hope would make it less clinical looking overall. The only appliances we need to replace are oven, hob and extractor fan, the rest and freestanding and we will keep.

Any experiences or recommendations would be welcome.

We recently did a kitchen renovation. I went for stainless steel work surfaces and splash back with MDF otherwise. I absolutely love it but I think all stainless steel would be very hard work. It will show every splash and scratch. I don’t mind the scratches. I regard it as patina. I think it would drive me mad on units though.
When I asked here there was a lot of negative feedback on the stainless steel and the points were valid, they’re just not things that bother me.
According to our kitchen guy the MDF now is completely different to what it was before
(ignore the cat!)

Our neighbours had a wood kitchen with stainless steel work surface installed in 1970, apparently the husband was a design conscious engineer. In the 90s it looked awful but now it looks great. Maybe what we like has changed.

Beautiful kitchen, I love the yellow. What is the black worktop material? And where did you get units from? I need inspiration for other options to consider.

Interesting, thanks.

The black is granite. We didn’t change that. It’s been there for 25 years now; since we did the original kitchen 😲.
We had it custom made. He reused a lot of the original cabinet carcasses and replaced the doors and put in sliding baskets instead of shelves. Because it reused a lot of materials it only cost £3000. He painted the units off site with a colour that we chose.

Amazing it looks so good after that long. What are the carcasses made from?

Our 14 year old Howdens ones installed by the builders were not in the best state which is one reason we've taken them out. And nothing was installed in a way that made it possible to just replace parts of it or we would have considered it.

We want to do things in a more modular way so that there would be potential to replace worktops, for example, without having to pull everything out.

The top cabinets were a nightmare, we had our boiler taken out and there are loads of pipes sticking out everywhere and broken tiles around it. The only way we were able to get that wall unit out was by removing all other wall units, which could only be done by dismantling each one separately until we could reach it in the corner and that pretty much destroyed them. Everything was stuck together with really strong glue that just tore things apart when we tried to remove anything.

I don't think I'd want all stainless steel @Netcam, partly because it's too clinical for my sensibilities, but mainly because of it showing every mark/scratch.

Otoh, I really like your kitchen @Twodogsonthecouch - particularly the way you've combined different materials and repurposed where possible!

With regards to the longevity of cabinetry/carcases - we just removed some in-frame (although I doubt the term was in use back then!) 1965 kitchen drawer units etc from our cottage and plan to reuse them in our relocated kitchen. They are solidly built out of ply (carcase) and beech (drawer fronts) and I imagine, with careful handling, will last a further 60 years!

Whereas, in 2018 we bought a house with ikea wooden cabinet fronts/mdf carcases that the previous owners had fitted in 2007 (the date was on them). They were badly disintegrated and had to go straight in the bin.

Thanks, that's really interesting to hear. I think you are probably right about the stainless steel, maybe we should go with mainly plywood units instead, which was our other option.

I just think for the sink unit and area around the sink stainless steel might be better. The mdf/mfc unit and doors under the sink is disintegrating from various drips and minor leaks we've had under there over the years and just from water dripping off the edge of the worktop onto the door. I worry that plywood might not do too well in that situation either.

I used MPM in my last house to make a worktop that needed replacing round a sink. All I had to do was send off the old damaged worktop by DHL and MPM templated it. I got someone to fit it and it was perfect. It looked excellent and was very reassuring to have in the sink area.

I personally think to have the units in stainless steel too would be too clinical.

Plywood units would be expensive though lovely! Why not just the doors? In this house I went with Plykea who create plywood doors for IKEA kitchens. I love them!

Thanks for compliments. I really love it and love that we kept as much as possible of the old kitchen. We didn’t change the peninsula unit other than to replace the doors and one of the cupboards internally with drawers. That was a cherry veneer with granite. We painted it.
Our old carcasses were MDF, 25 years old and fine. No idea why they held up so well. Maybe no water damage.
The doors had got very shabby though. And I really really wanted pull out units rather than shelves. I think you could do a lot with a mix of materials

The old kitchen. You can see how shabby the doors were.

Better photos of the new one with some of the old fittings painted and some replacement doors. It’s easier to see the stainless steel here too

Have you thought about concrete worktops as an alternative to steel? My partner made them for his own kitchen (a bit of trial & error was involved and some swearing) & after being a bit dubious before they were done I have had to eat my words- they look great, are really easy to clean, and you could drop a brick on them without damage. With a wood table they give a really good mix between ‘brutal’ modern & natural aesthetics.

I don’t know if kitchen companies do them but you could maybe find a local builder who would. You can also add different colours to the mix - you don’t have to have grey.

I agree with @FutureMarchionessOfVidal I think concrete is a really cool material.

Thanks for all of your advice. It has been complex to plan as the existing ceramic tiled kitchen floor only goes up to the end of the units and some end panels have a cutout in the floor tiles quite far out. We considered having those parts under the old units retiled but can't find a match. These ceramic tiles cover our whole ground floor (kitchen diner, hall and downstairs toilet) and would cost a fortune to replace and be very disruptive. So we have decided we need to pretty much stick to the existing layout.

There is also a fridge on the right at the end and a dishwasher and washing machine on the left. The existing worktop doesn't fit the dishwasher and washing machine properly as it is not deep enough so part of our plan is for a deeper worktop there. But we can't make it deeper where the sink is or I won't be able to reach the window behind it to open it (I'm 5'3).

On top of that the room is not straight and the corner not a right angle. Trying to find a reasonable corner solution tor an 86.5 degree angle has not been easy. The units we took out were a bit of a bodge together of bits by the builders to fit in the space. It was not a shape that would have allowed for any regular corner unit interior fittings. The area at the back was inaccessible and became a dumping ground for things we never used. We don't want that again, but also need to cover the gap in the floor tiles where the old units were. The place where we are hoping to get plywood units from say they can make a corner unit to fit.

On the right there is a dining table but no wall space for units there due to radiator.

We don't want to move the outlet for the extractor fan/plumbing/electric sockets or the cost will mount up. We are already paying an electrician to install a new cable from the fusebox for the oven/hob as previous oven was plug in and hob was gas.

So this is what we currently have as a plan. It might change a bit but this is pretty much what it probably needs to be.

I think we have come up with a couple of options:

1. Order all of these units in plywood. In the mean time sort out patching up/skimming walls, electrician for cooker/hob electrics, painting, all at weekends. There is a 6 to 8 week wait between order and delivery. Fit units at weekends. Then measure or have templating done and install worktops, probably stainless steel. Then get oven/hob/extractor and get Electrician to install those. We imagine this will take us to about January or February. Then we'll still need to tile/add splashbacks. We will need some kind of temporary sink unit in the mean time after we take the rest out to plaster/paint etc. This is probably the cheapest option.

1. Order stainless steel sink unit and a different type of corner unit (rectangular, not L shaped, as the stainless steel companies won't do those for 86.5 degree angle). Have that plus a 400mm base unit to fill the same corner space. Get that at the same time as stainless steel worktops and built in splashbacks including at ends, just for that section. I like the idea of this as a food prep /washing up area that we can splash about in. We could probably get that in about a month and then would have a food prep/sink area sooner rather than living with a temporary sink for months, including over Christmas when both DS will be home from uni. Then when the plywood units arrive we can install them and then get similar laminate and ply worktops for them afterwards. We have agreed we could live with that more easily until February. I would probably prefer this more modular layout, but it will be more expensive as the stainless steel base units cost more than the plywood ones. We are also concerned that joining the 2 might be difficult, especially if we can't get exactly the same thickness for each type. And we won't end up with such a good corner storage solution. We can't just get the sink base unit in stainless steel as we can't install it until we have the corner in place or it might not fit perfectly.

We don't have the budget to pay a company to do this for us in a short time frame and we really don't want MDF/MFC. Budget is around £12000, but that includes a new Miele oven, hob and cooker hood for £2000, which we think is worth paying for. So really it's about £10000, although we might be able to stretch to £12000 excluding those appliances.