A new kitchen

This weeks project was a new kitchen installation. My Client wanted a new kitchen installed into a rental unit , and being a busy executive, he said to me , " Just do it!" Having a free reign over design, placement and color was great! The unit is a one bedroom open plan living area, so the kitchen had to suit the  contemporary minimalist style. The space has an unusually high 2,6m stud, and great natural lighting. One wall shares services with a bathroom behind, so I decided to start on this wall with a laundry/pantry area, as the extra stud height gave me a larger area for storage space. Also, the water supply was already there. One issue that came up was the state of the old piping. Black Buteline is now outdated, and prone to pinhole leaks after time, so I took the opportunity to upgrade this to the latest standard. The pic below shows the dry wall lining removed than the new piping and a waste line for the washing machine in place.

I needed to build a recessed services box to house the hot and cold supply taps, and create an access point for the washing machine waste too. Building this into the wall saved space as it allows the cabinets and washing machine to be fitted flush with the wall, and in a shared living area, taps sticking out of the wall are not acceptable! ( Even if they are in a cupboard...)  In the picture below, the taps are not fitted yet and the outlet has not been finished. This is so that we can place the final position of these when the cabinets are installed to give the best position for screwing on the washing machine's pipes, so that they are not awkward to connect...the cabinet will have a small square cut out of the back panel to display the taps and outlet point, and thus hide the grey pipes. 

Now the dry wall lining is replaced and painted, a hole for the stove's extractor fan and sink waste is cut. The power and water supply for the sink is in place. We are ready to install the cabinets.

Because the kitchen space has a services panel bringing the top floor's services in, it creates an awkward detail in the corner to have to work around. I originally wanted to use a kit set kitchen, but the cost of getting a cut down cabinet and  bench top made by the same kit set supplier to cater for this issue was too expensive. It was actually cheaper to shop around and get a local joiner to custom build the kitchen! So don't be lured into thinking that Placemakers, Bunnings or Mitre 10 always have the best deals. In my opinion this kitchen far exceeds the quality of the kit set version. It also came with soft close doors, and the bench top was supplied in one piece, so no ugly join! Because of the extra stud height, the joiner supplied a panel to close the gap between the top of the laundry cabinet and the ceiling. A small detail but something that makes this kitchen look like a much more expensive model. You don't get any of these extras with a kit set! ( and cheaper remember!)

So this is how the cabinets look installed. The result is a naturally lit, spacious, clean and modern look! There is heaps of floor space to accommodate an island or dining table if desired. There are 4 deep drawers and 2 utensil drawers. The fridge is located in the laundry unit beside the washing machine which is behind the closed door. ( see pic below) Note the oven utensil drawer below the oven, another feature seldom found on kit set kitchens. The storage cabinet on the left of the fridge has a pressure opening door, so no handle to damage the wall it opens on to.

My client was very satisfied with the finished result, and has peace of mind that he has also upgraded the plumbing in this unit for very little cost. Since the bathroom shares the same plumbing as the kitchen, he has effectively replumbed the bathroom at no cost! - Job done!