The dog

 

I haven't got one....

(A dog,that is..)

 

I have the other side of the coin - I have a hairy one (dog that is), but I've not finished planning the new kitchen. 6x7m to play with, but I haven't decided what I want in it.

 

Canopy came from here: http://www.justfans.co.uk/box-remote...box-p-115.html

Can't reccomend it....nothing wrong with the hood itself, just I ended having three of the things delivered before getting one undamaged...two sent direct from the wholesaler. Its made in Italy (as most extractor hoods are) and the packaging is crap the canopy moves round inside the box, If its on a pallet its probably ok. But once off the pallet and into the back of a APC delivery van, well, it doesn't fare so well.

After the second one came damaged I was almost ready to call in dent-devils to fix it to save sending it back

The canopy is coupled to a 6" accoustic box fan in the crawl space above. Along with a secondary 6" box fan that extracts through five 4" grilles in the ceiling. Both are about 600m3/hr each extracting outside so should do the job.

I like stir-fry, flash frying, and griddling my steaks on cast iron. So have filled the entire place with smoke before now (fans are not plumbed in yet).

Anyhoo, cheers for the compliments. I love open plan kitchen/diners, so loving everything I've seen in this thread so far. These projects aren't for the faint hearted, its stressed me to breaking point on a few occasions....and its still not finished.

Keeping the floor clean? erm.....still experimenting. Currently using a microfibre mop (same stuff as those wash mits for cars). Tempted to try some Quick Detailer to shine them up. Yeah I should point out I tend to use automotive cleaners/waxes for household stuff...I've waxed the window frames and used Autoglym glass polish...idea being if it makes the car nice and shiny, its worth a try

 

Sorry, my fault, I misunderstood what you meant by canopy. I thought you meant something to protect the external motors from the worst of the weather.

Have you done anything along those lines?

 

I love that church style window Ali, very impressive .

 

Ali, your house looks luverrly, your new kitchen looks a part , so does your Yorkie dog. I bet he yaps, yaps and yaps all day long, though. Very cute and cuddly nonetheless.

 

I'm not even religious LOL. Still lots and lots of work to be done to the rest of the house to bring it out of the 1990's.

Rolly's a pedigree mongrel Bit of Jack Russell in him, so he's a nippy little bugger - Teeth like "Alien".

Dingdongler: re: Canopies, nope sorry. I'm only aware of is the mushroom-style cowls for exterior roof fans. But these are usually part of the fan unit itself. I did see the Elica extractor has a wall mounted exterior motor which has some sort of cover, as does Meile, but it wasn't very clear in the brochures.

 

Good old Howdens as a comparison. We had our builder's carpenter fit it and the work tops came from Worktop-Express. A couple of hinges aside (covered under snags), we're very happy with it. We used our own choice appliances. We were initially put off by negative reviews but the reality is this is what the budget allowed for and we have a couple of depots locally should anything go wrong. Sure, it's a "safe" looking kitchen but it fits in with the house. Anything modern would quickly look out of place.







We've still got some plate racks to have built and installed but it's pretty much there as we want it.

 

good stuff everyone, keep them coming

Davej, is that in the loft? - I like the no wall units look

and actually I really like wooden work tops, my wife wants quarts granite or stainless steel

 

I'd avoid stainless steel. Though it gives a nice 'industrial' look it scratches very very easily. Unless you feel that the scratches actually add to that certain 'look' of course.

 

WOW! Loving the beams and the table top. And the cupboards and the floor, of course.

 

I agree. IMO that stainless steel industrial look may make a big kitchen look like a higher education school / college kitchen where dinner lady cooks for school children and where young ones do their catering nvqs. It may look okay in a domestic kitchen, I don't know.

 

Forgot to say, I love the carpet as well. I have a similar carpet in my daughter's bedroom.

 

yep, we know about the scratches,


my father in law had a stainless steel kitchen in his house in London





that doesn't bother me too much - I just think it looks too clinical though, although his did suit his house (still looks pretty good, as that photo was taken by the agents the other day - and the kitchen was 9 or 10 years old)

but our basic design requirements are no (or very few wall units) and horizontal lines where possible

 

It does look clinical. My eyes were more registering it as a grey stone surface and less as the stainless steel one. That's because it's a picture. In reality, I'd love to operate some brains on that surface; mainly from Scoobynet.

On serious note, your FIL's kitchen is beautiful, but I'd think again whether to have stainless tops or what. Up to you and Mrs. Hodgy.

 

Yeah man. Upside down house. We figured all of the nicer day-to-day features are upstairs and we wanted bedrooms cooler for sleeping so did it this way. We have a balcony off the kitchen which views out over a paddock to the front. The architect had planned for one to connect the living room to it as well, but listed building inspector said "Er No!" So that was that. We vaulted the living room ceiling but went for a false height in the kitchen to keep spotlights fixed in a downward direction. The only thing we are going to do is fit racks either side of the window for plates, cook books, etc. There are only two of us plus the dog. In reality we don't need this much space but it is handy for guests/family and not tripping over my clutter!

Kitchen including appliances (but excluding floor as that was quoted throughout the house) was £13k(ish) I think. It's the typical melamine stuff you find on all stuff in that price range but we're very pleased with the result.

 

It's more of a case of walls being a feature in this place than beams. If I develop a fear of trees and wood I'm stuffed

That table came from Manchester. We priced up an Oak one in Gloucestershire (tried to keep local) and we had a few places quoting £2k inc VAt for the same thing, irrespective of Pine or Oak. We ended up getting that one for £625 delivered cash. It's a Pine base (stained/aged/faux old look) and a reclaimed Oak top. We're borrowing chairs at the moment and rugs as we're now on fumes after the build. We've always been in rented and never owned before so all this new furnishing everything has come as a bit of a shock to the system. Definitely made us more aware of budgeting and prioritising funds.

 

I think the stainless steel worktop and the overall style of that kitchen looks great. The only thing that I don't like is that ridiculous tap . The extractor fan is also a bit marmite but overall it's my sort of style.

 

The gap between the rear of the garage and your extension just looks wrong and appears to be wasting space, also if the garage and extension are on your ( new ) boundary line how will you access it ?

You need to modify the ground floor plan to remove the "dead" ground.

All IMO of course...

 

Ah, that bit.
It's so small as to not be worth incorporating it as it'd make the roof too difficult to construct.
It would also have made the study an awkward shape, and nothing of note to be gained.

All I'd considered doing with it (eventually) is to put a door from the back of the garage and possibly use it as log storage.

 

Ok, good luck with the build

 

Everything is better in Manchester

So my own open plan project is nearing completion and I was thinking of posting some pics, but I realise I can't compete with the CRTYs in this thread so I had best leave it.

The only two things in my defence is that I am doing mine to sell the house and I have done it nearly all myself rather than employ tradesmen except where I had to by law.

Another two weeks and after 16 weeks of work in total it should be finally finished! I'm tired LOL!

 

The best thing in Manchester is the road leading away from it.

 

Yep as it takes all the visitors from London back to the sh1thole and away from us

 

And I only had to do that lot pictured because the wooden conservatory was rotten, leaking like a sieve and had wood ants in the window sills. I could cut corners do the basics or get it done on the cheap. The alternative is another cheap conservatory (erm, no). Or build (bodge) on to the existing footprint like this dog's dinner not far from me:

https://www.scoobynet.com/picture.ph...ictureid=27651

I couldn't live with the shame though even if I plan to sell up and move on.

No property exists round here which meets my needs. So I'm still hunting for my plot of land. One day...one day...and when that day comes, I'll get gas-safe and DISQ qualified myself.

 

LOL , isn't that how it always starts?

When I bought my current house in 1989 it had a frigging round window between the lounge and the kitchen. I decided to remove it...... fast forward 6 years and I had built an 8m x 8m extension, two porches, a utility room, a double garage, a chimney and a veranda roof.... oh and I got rid of the round window

Now another 20 years on and I have taken apart half of what I did first time round and gone open plan... including moving the kitchen from one side of the house to the other LOL!

 

I'd much have preferred doing a lot of this myself tbh. There was a lot of typical British planning involved and by that I mean meetings about meetings and endless intervention from Daddy-In Law as he funded a huge chunk of it. Sold a piece of my soul for this bad boy. On balance, it's well worth it, but my cabin in the woods dream will be all my own doing! I'm more than happy to stand by my own **** ups, especially when it is me I am answering to.

For most folks, LED lighting is normal, it took many Dragons Den-style pitches to compromise on GU10 fittings with LED bulbs. CAT5e points were another.....I've gladly been proved right with rural broadband speeds. It's a generational thing I know, but wow he takes some selling to man!

Thankfully my own age group pals are taking first steps to paying a bank rather than a landlord for housing, so skills are getting honed there. Whilst I'll never make a living from it, I'll always have a crack at something. It's just way more satisfying when your own handy work goes into something. My own one was way beyond me though save for plasterboarding/painting tbh. One day......

 

Why are you worried about competing, and why do you want to compete and defend yourself, anyway?
If you post your 'house in re-making' pics, I'm sure your efforts on your house will be appreciated by other DIY enthusiasts here.
Also, I'll do that gesture virtually for the pics you post, I promise.

 

I'd like to see it Chris.

Always good to collate ideas from other places and people.