Kitchen Fitting in Stopsley, Luton

Stopsley has a lot of 1950s and 1960s family houses, and most of them are on their second or third kitchen by now. The walls and floors in those houses are rarely square or level, and a new kitchen fitted without allowing for that is the one where the doors never line up and the worktop joints open within a year.

Fitting starts with a level line around the room. Every base unit is set to that line on its adjustable legs, so the worktop sits flat regardless of how the floor slopes. Wall units are hung on rails fixed into solid wall rather than just plasterboard, because a full wall cabinet of plates is heavier than most people realise.

Flat-pack units are built accurately and squared before they go in. A carcass that is a few millimetres out of square shows as a door that sits proud or a gap that is wider at the top than the bottom, and in a Stopsley kitchen with a long run of units that shows along the whole wall.

Doors and drawers are adjusted once everything is in, so the gaps are even and the doors close without drifting. Plinths, end panels, cornice and pelmet are cut to fit rather than left with gaps at the ends.

Appliances are fitted and connected where the work is within a kitchen fitter's scope, and gas connections are left to a Gas Safe engineer, which is the law. Electrical work beyond a simple plug-in appliance is done by a qualified electrician.

The old kitchen is taken out and disposed of first, and the room is left clean with the new kitchen ready to use. Doors that no longer close square, a worktop lifting at a joint, or water marks under the sink are worth looking at before a new kitchen goes in.