Precut kitchen worktop - sizing for ceramic hob

Jimmcd · Post by **Jimmcd** » Sun Mar 21, 2021 4:16 pm

Hi all,
Hope you can help and many thanks for all advice.

I have bought a wickes kitchen complete with oven unit which I am fitting a ceramic hob over the top of. I'm fitting it all myself but have an electrician, plumber and floor fitter who I am paying for on separate days. I'm essentially just updating the existing kitchen - same layout.

I am wanting to buy a solid oak worktop from worktop express - pre cut - but struggling to position the insert for the hob.
Here goes:

The units are 570 deep plus 19 for the door - poss not relevant on oven unit?, but front of oven should be flush with front of doors? The unit goes flush against the back wall with its sides but has a false back. You probably know this :)

Wickes say worktop should be 600mm deep which is 570 + app.20 for door + 10 overhang.

The problem is that the hob is 490 deep internally for the insert/hole but 510 deep externally - hob company say that from the external measurement it needs to be 60 from the wall but this only leaves 30 mm at the front!?
The 30mm that would be left at the front does not seem enough for the the plinth and 10mm overhang.

I think to put the insert 60 mm from the back wall would be better - leaving 40mm at the front. 60 + 490 + 50 = 600 internally but 50 + 510 + 40 externally.

But 50mm at the back from hob to wall. Hob company says this may void insurance but Wickes say that their kitchens are designed to have 600mm worktop.

Either way this is blowing my mind already! I'd rather not spend a fortune on precut worktops for them to be wrong.

Any advice very welcome.

Jim

fin · Post by **fin** » Sun Mar 21, 2021 4:30 pm

nearly every kitchen i fit is a howdens kitchen which have worktops 616mm deep. this is a laminate worktop though.

howdens cabs are 575 deep

i fitted a kitchen for a friend recently supplied by diy kitchens. that had cabinets im sure at 570 deep.... and the worktop was solid iroko from worktop express. they were 620mm i am almost certain.... double check what your looking to get,

also.... why not cut them out on site? it would save a lot of messing about.

make sure you fully treat the worktops all round before fitting them also. ya need to oil all surfaces including cut outs.

Jimmcd · Post by **Jimmcd** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:21 pm

Hi Fin,

Thanks for replying.

The worktop express worktops are 620 but wickes advised me to cut them down to 600, which they will do.
Would you recommend keeping it to 620 with an overhang of 3cm at the front? Or units away from wall at the back?

I was prefering to have it machine cut at the factory to get a clean cut.

Is the 60mm away from wall essential of would 50 be ok?

arco_iris · Post by **arco_iris** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:42 pm

Cutting out on site would be a lot safer, a clean cut (as long as accurate to +2mm) is not important as it will never be seen again. Get yourself a pack of brand new downcutting blades for your jigsaw, or hire one.

Very important to make sure that if the hob is deeper than the worktop, there is sufficient clearance over the top of the oven. The instructions might tell you the depth but that might not include the cover over the electrical connections.

Similarly, the connection at the rear of the oven, they can be a very tight fit in a 570/600 unit - the answer to these points, and your question, is to leave the worktop at 620 and space the units off the wall with a 19mm batten.