The Home Improvements Thread (2)

[Quey_Quick]

Someone asked for pics of the floating desk that ODE made for me.
The rods holding it up actually fit in the gaps between the drawers. Had it a few years and it still looks like new.

View attachment 826021View attachment 826023

Looks good

 

[WAslayer]

Looks good

Looks fantastic.. it's also fantastically expensive.. that setup there, according to the website, looks to be around 15k..

 

[AlmightyBender]

Someone asked for pics of the floating desk that ODE made for me.
The rods holding it up actually fit in the gaps between the drawers. Had it a few years and it still looks like new.

View attachment 826021View attachment 826023

Now that is great design

 

[xrapidx]

Does anyone know where I can get a quote on replacing kitchen cupboard doors and drawers? The actual cabinet structures are fine - for what they are.

I'm just tired of the shitty push to open crap the builder installed - they're constantly miss-aligned, breaking, etc. So want to replace them with decent soft-close stuff.

 

[ElixirCoder]

Does anyone know where I can get a quote on replacing kitchen cupboard doors and drawers? The actual cabinet structures are fine - for what they are.

I'm just tired of the shitty push to open crap the builder installed - they're constantly miss-aligned, breaking, etc. So want to replace them with decent soft-close stuff.

DIY?

Otherwise any decent cabinet maker should be able to give you a quote.

 

[xrapidx]

DIY?

Otherwise any decent cabinet maker should be able to give you a quote.

WIll need to get someone in - I could DIY it - but, these guys really made a mess installing the current cupboards, so would prefer someone to come in and install.

Was kinda hoping I could find somewhere online for quotes.

 

[ponder]

Looks fantastic.. it's also fantastically expensive.. that setup there, according to the website, looks to be around 15k..

You could probably diy that for <R2k

 

[WAslayer]

You could probably diy that for <R2k

Most definitely.. built a dining server from 21mm pine ply for around 1.2k, which is enough wood for the design there..

 

[WAslayer]

WIll need to get someone in - I could DIY it - but, these guys really made a mess installing the current cupboards, so would prefer someone to come in and install.

Was kinda hoping I could find somewhere online for quotes.

superiorcc.co.za have an online form you can fill in with dimensions, edge type, door style etc, to get a quote..

Honestly though, I went through the exercise of getting quotes from about 5 or 6 kitchen cupboard places and their costs were always double or more than double the cost for D.I.Y..

The existing cupboard doors can't be that bad, that it would be a horrible mission to D.I.Y..?

 

[xrapidx]

superiorcc.co.za have an online form you can fill in with dimensions, edge type, door style etc, to get a quote..

Honestly though, I went through the exercise of getting quotes from about 5 or 6 kitchen cupboard places and their costs were always double or more than double the cost for D.I.Y..

The existing cupboard doors can't be that bad, that it would be a horrible mission to D.I.Y..?

Most of the issues are around alignment - and the cheap fittings used. Some of the sliders were only attached with one screw - in some of the cupboards, they guy probably tried three or four times to get the alignment right, and still got it wrong.

Then - I'm sure its the nature of these push to open sliders, but they don't align properly when the cupboards close, so about 80% of time time the drawers are 5-8mmm out of alignment with the neighbouring cupboard - it drives my OCD insane.

If you look at the 4 drawers - you can see the second one isn't spaced correctly both horizintally, and vertically - how you get that wrong is beyond me, its literlly out on the x,y and z axis.

Ideally I want to replace them with soft-close (with handles, or the notch at the top) - so they rest against the cupboard frame.

 

[WAslayer]

Will update this post in a few minutes from my pc

You will have to make sure that the cupboard carcasses themselves are level, flat and square.. if not, replacing doors and drawer fronts are just going to cost you money for nothing..

If the carcasses are all good, you will be able to D.I.Y no problem..

 

[RandomGeek]

Anybody know if Builders Warehouse is open again, for "non-essential" items? No-one is answering any phones (nothing new that one)

 

[RandomGeek]

Most of the issues are around alignment - and the cheap fittings used. Some of the sliders were only attached with one screw - in some of the cupboards, they guy probably tried three or four times to get the alignment right, and still got it wrong.

Then - I'm sure its the nature of these push to open sliders, but they don't align properly when the cupboards close, so about 80% of time time the drawers are 5-8mmm out of alignment with the neighbouring cupboard - it drives my OCD insane.

If you look at the 4 drawers - you can see the second one isn't spaced correctly both horizintally, and vertically - how you get that wrong is beyond me, its literlly out on the x,y and z axis.

Ideally I want to replace them with soft-close (with handles, or the notch at the top) - so they rest against the cupboard frame.

yeah sloppy workmanship sorry to say

 

[Steamy Tom]

Anybody know if Builders Warehouse is open again, for "non-essential" items? No-one is answering any phones (nothing new that one)

nope, no essential service certificate no service. and also then only essential repair items.

 

[martin]

WIll need to get someone in - I could DIY it - but, these guys really made a mess installing the current cupboards, so would prefer someone to come in and install.

Was kinda hoping I could find somewhere online for quotes.

Really sorry to hear that. This is going to sound like a sales pitch and I apologise in advance.

We recently redid our kitchen (end of January) and made use of KTB Cupboards. I read some reviews on them online and a lot of people commented on how reasonable their quotes were compared to other places. We were on a very tight budget and we have a pretty big kitchen space so our options were limited. My expectations when we ultimately decided to make use of them were pretty low because:

1. Their quotes were indeed very competitive compared to every other Kitchen places we approached so there had to be a catch in my mind.
2. Our kitchen walls and floor are HORRIBLY skew. Enough to make a veteran contractor weep. Now add to this a sloped ceiling and you're in for a really fun time.

To their credit, they didn't go a cent over the quoted price and they gave us some great advice on how to save some costs by altering our kitchen design. We were over the moon with the end result considering how extremely shitty the shell was. Sure, there are some gaps here and there on counter-tops but they're tinier than I expected and there was honestly nothing further they could do to improve on that (I have an idea on how to hide these with aluminum strips).

From past comments, I do realise that you're based in Cape Town but they may have some installers down there.

 

[xrapidx]

Really sorry to hear that. This is going to sound like a sales pitch and I apologise in advance.

We recently redid our kitchen (end of January) and made use of KTB Cupboards. I read some reviews on them online and a lot of people commented on how reasonable their quotes were compared to other places. We were on a very tight budget and we have a pretty big kitchen space so our options were limited. My expectations when we ultimately decided to make use of them were pretty low because:

1. Their quotes were indeed very competitive compared to every other Kitchen places we approached so there had to be a catch in my mind.
2. Our kitchen walls and floor are HORRIBLY skew. Enough to make a veteran contractor weep. Now add to this a sloped ceiling and you're in for a really fun time.

To their credit, they didn't go a cent over the quoted price and they gave us some great advice on how to save some costs by altering our kitchen design. We were over the moon with the end result considering how extremely shitty the shell was. Sure, there are some gaps here and there on counter-tops but they're tinier than I expected and there was honestly nothing further they could do to improve on that (I have an idea on how to hide these with aluminum strips).

From past comments, I do realise that you're based in Cape Town but they may have some installers down there.

Thanks - I'll look into them.

I'm also considering pulling everything and redoing the kitchen with freestanding units myself.

 

[martin]

I'm also considering pulling everything and redoing the kitchen with freestanding units myself.

That may ultimately be your cheapest option and you can then ensure that they look and function exactly the way you want them too.

 

[WAslayer]

Thanks - I'll look into them.

I'm also considering pulling everything and redoing the kitchen with freestanding units myself.

You are spoilt for choice in terms of freestanding carcasses.. there are a number of companies in Cape Town that sell them flat packed.. really quick and easy to build cupboards this way..

The downsides though, are the costs and that they come in fixed dimensions.. you are likely to find that you end up with an odd gap in a few places where a fixed dimension cupboard won't fit and you have to get creative in how to fill it..

 

[rodga]

Most of the issues are around alignment - and the cheap fittings used. Some of the sliders were only attached with one screw - in some of the cupboards, they guy probably tried three or four times to get the alignment right, and still got it wrong.

Then - I'm sure its the nature of these push to open sliders, but they don't align properly when the cupboards close, so about 80% of time time the drawers are 5-8mmm out of alignment with the neighbouring cupboard - it drives my OCD insane.

If you look at the 4 drawers - you can see the second one isn't spaced correctly both horizintally, and vertically - how you get that wrong is beyond me, its literlly out on the x,y and z axis.

Ideally I want to replace them with soft-close (with handles, or the notch at the top) - so they rest against the cupboard frame.

Look at the blum fittings

Furniture fittings by Blum for modern living environments

Hinges, lift systems, drawer runners, box systems, motion technologies by Blum for kitchens and other living spaces

www.blum.com

Maybe you can buy one or two and give the diy route a go, they are expensive though, but probably cheaper than redoing the whole kitchen.

 

[ToxicBunny]

Have a similar problem with the push to open stuff and shyte being out of alignment in my kitchen....

I have ideas on how to fix some of the issues myself, and I did replace all the drawer runners a little while ago to make things work better and its help a bit.

If money was no object I would have gone with Blum fittings but that would have nearly doubled the cost of the kitchen and I couldn't justify that at all.