Building Kitchen

jmbfestool said:
Mettes said:
Hey JMB,

Most of the time when building kitchens I order the pieces for the boxes.  Melamine 18mm, white or grey, cut to size, edgebanding 2mm PVC applied.  Most wood suppliers/lumber shops here have a beam saw and a edge bander.  The quality is unbelievable, I get the parts in a couple of days and for the price I can't start cutting it myself.  Melamine is a great material for building cabinets, its cheap, scratch resistant, easy to clean and doesn't need finishing.

Doors I order at a firm that does just that, they make doors for cabinets in MDF and you can choose to let it sprayed or they can vacuum mold a thin plastic around it.  They have a showroom where I can send my customers to choose the model and color.  They give price quotes, so called customer's price, which is about 25% more than what I eventually need to pay, they mark down the choice and I just need to pass along the right dimensions.

This is an example of these doors, if you click on "Country" and then "REALISATIES" you get a feel of what can be achieved.  They don't only have doors but also crownmolding, backsplashes and so forth.

Don't know if you can find something like that in England but it might be worth looking into.

Drawers I also order fit to size at my BLUM importer, they come pre-assembled in cardboard boxes, ready for fitment inside the cabinets in every dimension I want.

What I do, beside sending the bill to customer?

Design of the kitchen, calculate all the dimensions, order everything
I drill the holes for shelving, hinges and drawerslides in the boxes and doors.  Fit everything together, get it all installed including all the kitchen equipment, place the worksurface and clean up.

After 6 months I always call my customers and ask if I can stop by sometime to give the kitchen a quick checkup, no doorhinges that have come loose, drawerfronts that have sagged a bit, things like that.  It's also a chance for me to get user feedback and that is invaluable to building better kitchens, things like: "I would have put this or that somewhere else".  Customers appreciate this and often it also brings in new work, they ask for a dressing or bathroom, things they have been thinking about but didn't quiet get to.  You being there takes them that extra step, often they just ask a quote from you only and you get the job.  Customers that are happy with your work often don't want to risk taking someone else and be disappointed.  For me it's kind of "customer binding".
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Thank You for you advice

Im not sure if I have any company local who can do this for me but im sure their must be some were in the UK.   

I total agree with you about going back to the customers I dont do that but I might start doing it depending on job type. Often I have kitchens which needed fitted as quick as possible with minimal work possible so no coving very basic now that type of job I dont think it requires you to return for a check up lol Mainly renting housing. Not long did a kitchen for a family I gotta go back and do a little door under the stairs ill will ask them and looks at the kitchen fitted.

Cheers

JMB
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not sure where you live but there is hills panels. they have an onlne shop but cant be arsed to find it
 
fillers in corner are corner post and they are so you can open doors and drawers in the corner. Again a well designed and well fitted kitchen will minimise these to the smaller dimention. also if you had a vinyl wrapped door they can be made to any size you want, I'm guessing your pretty new to buying anysort of kitchen stuff
 
Deansocial said:
fillers in corner are corner post and they are so you can open doors and drawers in the corner. Again a well designed and well fitted kitchen will minimise these to the smaller dimention. also if you had a vinyl wrapped door they can be made to any size you want, I'm guessing your pretty new to buying anysort of kitchen stuff
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I always worked for a Company so always just turned up on the job and fitted kitchens if their was a problem I would say and they would turn up with something to solve the problem or what not maybe to the extend I built a wall in front of the wall because the kitchen was foot short when it turned up dont know who messed up their!

but I did build and install wardrobes things like that and as you maybe seen on the forum things like the Library.   My own jobs same situation the clients had already gone to Howdens or BQ (BQ are rubbish dont like them) and bought the kitchen

I have used doors and end panels as fillers. Not sure if that's what you where suggesting but never thought of making my own corner post though.

I had a kitchen with 3 units  corner on the left and right of them 3 units where 52 mm short so I put 26mm fillers between the the units but I could of made two larger corner posts umm didnt think of that dont know if that would of looked right might work if only 10 mm short.

Im not going to use corner post on my kitchen I think! I want draws in the corner set at a 45angle

Your still curious where I live?! Well where do you live lol?!?!?

I live near alton towers

JMB
 
Deansocial said:
jmbfestool said:
2 hr 40 hours from me!
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you must be further away from alton towers than me beacause it takes me an hr to get there
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Sorry I missed this post!

No dont think so  if an hour is less than 10 minutes which is how far i live from Alton towers then yeah you live closer lol [eek]

I live that close I can just see the fireworks display Alton towers has every year.

JMB
 
I've built many custom kitchens as well as worked for custom kitchen builders. Never once did I need to use a filler. The cabinets are just that, custom built for that kitchen.
 
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