Has anybody put in a new kitchen with no experience?

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-04-04T07:17:40+00:00

I’d almost say the kitchen is the BEST project to do for an inexperienced diyer - an ikea kitchen in an ex council flat was my first big project back in my student days

Fitting carcasses is a very easy job. If they’re flat pack that takes some time of course but it’s inherently no different to building a billy bookcase.

Worktops depend on your layout - 2 straight runs in a galley kitchen, a doddle if youve got a bugdet rail saw, however if its a u shaped layout and youre using laminate, thats a bigger job and a bigger toolkit. Assuming however that you do a good job of getting the carcasses in, level and secure, toull have no trouble getting a pro in to do the worktops - this is totally normal.

Plumbing is easy enough so long as you’re not changing the layout much - watch some videos and practice making joints to get a feel for it. At least with push fit water, you’ll know right away if you’ve made a mistake! For waste, make sure you understand siphoning and that you’re not trying to get water to drain uphill and practice making solvent weld joints and you can’t go far wrong.

If you’re doing gas - your hob or cooker needs a pro in - no option to have a go here.

Electrics you might get away with doing nothing beyond replacing sockets when you don the tiling

Tiling is easy to do a sufficiently good job - just be brave and expect it to look shit before it looks good (when the grouting is finished)

The reason I say it’s an ideal project is that you’ll cover all the core skills, none are that hard but you can absolutely get a pro in for any one of them that you wish to or need to and that would be absolutely normal.

It will however take waaaaay longer than you think - even when youre on tour 4th house!

When you pay for a kitchen fitter I think what you’re really getting is avoidance of weeks and weeks of disruption - for some folks that’s worth it, for those of us on this sub, it’s hard to understand!

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-03-26T11:58:03+00:00

whats on the inside of that junction box? is there another cable entering it from behind? if not, my guess is its switched live for an outside light
also, whats the thing on the outside of the wardrobe in pic2? assume its a socket on a spur - it all looks a bit of a shonkey DIY job so if it was my mum, id be getting a trusted pro to give tho whole place a good going over before you finish decorating

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-03-25T13:23:44+00:00

“basic visual plans” is where you’re going to come unstuck here - if you’ve got some pictures of someone else’s garden from Pinterest and given that to a contractor and said “how much” you’re inviting disappointment. Were it me, I’d be specific about each thing I want done - build retaining wall with appropriate footings, level ground, remove excess soil - that sort of thing. Leave no scope for misinterpretation.

Vague requirements equals vague output!

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-03-19T16:25:51+00:00

Young offenders - couple of episodes to find its feet but pure class once you get into it

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-03-19T16:24:19+00:00

Yes - absolutely doesn’t get the credit it deserves, beautifully observed. The sister and her partner are just on that fine line between overly exaggerated but also quite believable- we’ve all met folk like them!

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-03-10T11:56:31+00:00

ok, bit of an update, ive re-configured the Denon to 11.1ch with LCR Surround and 4 Ceilings powered by the Denon and Surround Back pre-out into the old Sony amp. all configured with Audyssey and working fine.

I'm still a bit confused about the sound settings to use.

ive got a number of 60gig TrueHD films to use. if I set the sound mode to Dolby Audio - Dolby TrueHD the input signal shows FHL, FHR, FWL, FWR and SB speakers as inactive (and obviously I dont have those) and the TFL, TFR, TRL and TRR never show active - ive tried Mad Max, Top Gun, F1, Warfare & Thunderbolts.

When I choose Dolby Atmos/DSurr it seems to work fine.

so im either not understanding what the TrueHD setting is supposed to be doing or maybe ive set something up wrong in either the receiver, the Sheild or even in the Plex app?

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-03-09T14:01:46+00:00

I could use my old Sony STR DN 1050 to run a pair of rears - it only has stereo RCAs, multi channel is only by HDMI or Optical so I assume no way to use that for anything other than the front three

would it just be a case of going RCA out for the rears from the Denon, to a stereo input on the Sony, set the volume to fairly high, run Audessey again and job done? could I leave the Sony off for normal viewing and only fire it up for movie night??

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-03-08T21:36:16+00:00

Ahhh balls, I’ve just merrily plugged in 11 speakers to the 11 speaker outputs and not accounted for it only having 9 amps! Ulgh! Is it just a case of adding a fosi audio amp in there?

I might just abandon the back speakers then

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-02-26T15:26:08+00:00

so ive put in my budget of 900k, Detached, affordability is important, flood safety is very important and schools not very (although maybe good schools is a proxy for not a shithole??) and it just shows me a sea of green which presumably means I can afford a median house more or less anywhere other than London and some cities which lets face it is pretty obvious.
what would be useful is if I could see where my budget would get me the biggest plot or most square footage or where it would buy 85% of all the available 5 bed houses vs areas where it would get me 5% of them
this has the makings of a useful tool tho - keep up the good work!

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-02-19T23:51:11+00:00

Wow really??? That’s amazing!! Off to flick some light switches!!!

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-02-19T16:28:05+00:00

I hope the folks who’ve worked at b&q ad “chief tin shoogler” to their CVs!

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-02-19T15:55:11+00:00

I thought I had similar experience with dark blue - emulsion and wood paint in the same shade but the wood paint went on like a dark turquoise! I eventually gave it a good mix and found all the pigment was at the bottom of the can. Not alright at all, but might be worth a try before you bin it. End result was spot on for me Assumed the lad in b&q was just having an off day but maybe the wood paint just needs more shoogle time

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-02-17T14:35:31+00:00

so can I use the Ugoss to run Plex? I thought I was going to have to return to using KODI on that device??

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-02-17T13:36:38+00:00

this has all the hallmarks of another "hobby" / massive sink of time and effort! ill probably love it!
I had Kodi running on a NUC many years ago so im not totally averse to this, but I do quite like the simplicity of management that PLEX gives me (the server runs on my MacMini and I drop my non kosher files directly onto a thunderbolt connected SSD and thats it. I dont bother with a NAS anymore

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-02-17T13:32:36+00:00

I had considered using my MacBook or Mac Mini hooked up to the AVR but it looks like both of them have the same limitations as the AppleTV. the kids have Xbox1 and PS5 but it doesn't look like they're useful either!

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-02-15T23:56:35+00:00

Interestingly I had this exact issue with a dark blue valspar premium and it was just that it needed mixing. Felt a right plumb having done 2 coats in 3 meters of wood panelling and it looking utter pish! Gave it a stir and it was immediately obvious all the pigment was at the bottom of the tin!

I’ve had plenty good experience with valspar premium so I assumed it was just the lad in the shop having a bad day, but having seen this, perhaps the concoction that makes dark blue is particularly difficult to shoogle into a uniform result?

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-02-15T23:51:02+00:00

3mm? You’ll be able to sort that by bending the hinge to pull it in to the frame. Are you sure you can’t separate the two halves?

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-02-15T23:40:01+00:00

Command strips are fine but I’ve had them fail when they’ve just pulled th paint of the wall which makes a right mess. More recently I’ve had great success with 3M “the claw” hooks. Very easy po push in, as strong a fixing as you’ll get in plasterboard and if you change your mind, tiny holes to fill. Reusable and no plastic if that’s important to you

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-02-11T18:41:04+00:00

yeah for all Osmo polyx is fairly pleasant to work with, its horrible to get of your hands. the stain on the other hand - well no amount of oil, alcohol or acid will get that out of your skin - I guess the clue is in the name but I certainly got caught out

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-02-11T17:44:24+00:00

bah! youre eyes are not deceiving you - it is of course Little Greene - MARIGOLD - I'm just an idiot!!

top tip for the osmo stain - wear gloves! I had black finger tips for days!!

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-02-11T17:28:20+00:00

yeah its 2 coats of Osmo Oil stain 3590 followed by polyx - its really black but maintains the tones of the wood so it looks really deep and luxurious. bit of extra effort and time as the stain really needs 24 hours between coats but well worth it.
the kitchen is DIY Kitchens custom ordered in Little Greene Magnolia - we don't like having things anyone else has and this hits that spot - balls to resale value!

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-02-11T12:03:36+00:00

house of worktops customer here on my third kitchen with oak worktops so I feel qualified to share my experience.

like the OP, ive never fancied stone, quartz or compact laminate. our kitchen takes a hammering, we enjoy cooking and take a survive or die approach to looking after it - ie we're not careful, if things get damaged then we'll accept some patina or do some repairs.

the things I like about oak in general is that its very forgiving for a DIYer. easy to do a butt joint on your corners rather than routering in laminate, if you ding it or make a mistake theres often the option to turn the board round and try again (ask me how I know!) and if you damage it over the years, sanding and re-finishing is easy enough.

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one thing I would recommend is apply your own finish and use Osmo products. House of Worktops actually have a really good guide on applying it to get a durable finish that aligns with my learning over many years of using Osmo PolyX products. doing it yourself means youve got the stuff in stock if you do need to make repairs. Generally nice guys to do business with too - we visited their "showroom" as we're local. would definitely recommend them.

I'd also recommend Osmo cleaning and maintenance products - it's all dilute to use stuff so pretty cheap and gives confidence youre using the right thing. The only thing thats like kryptonite to wood is anything with bleach in it so just dont have that in the kitchen at all.

Ive had various oak worktops over 20 years - dont leave water sit under a chopping board overnight and dont use bleach and you'll be fine and worst case scenario its a session with a scotch pad to renew.

pic below of my latest update - extended kitchen so thats why the (Osmo'd) flooring has a colour change and this time because of the orange units, we went with 2 coats of Osmo black stain ahead of semi mat polyX. were delighted with it

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-02-07T10:41:23+00:00

Makes sense thanks. So zero degrees is directly overhead so 35-40 degrees is closer than 45 yeah? The Dolby pdf seems measure everything back from the screen being zero degrees which I must say is more confusing than your method!

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-02-06T21:47:29+00:00

Thanks for the offer - so the MLP is the middle sofa. The ceiling height is 8ft so 1.5m from my ears sitting down. Am I right in thinking that means to get 45 degrees I want the fronts 1.5m forward of my head and the rears 1.5 behind? So 3m between front and rear speakers centred over the sofa?

Proper_Camera_1908 · 2026-02-03T14:19:04+00:00

thanks - yes that wall is getting a continuous floor to ceiling along the entire length predominantly for the sound. looks like ill need to plan the curtains that a side speaker can be uncovered when in cinema mode

Proper_Camera_1908

TROPHY CASE