www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

This is a kitchen that I recently installed from the Symphony kitchens linear form matt concrete range.

This is a handless kitchen, so horizontal and vertical trims are installed so that no handles are needed on any of the units.

You can’t buy the kitchen directly from Symphony, this one was bought via Howarth timber at Blackburn and was designed by Kirsty, who did a great job

This is the before picture, basically the room is just empty and at this point there is no electricity installed in the property, which made it difficult to do some jobs. I also started this job in February of 2021, at that point I could only get the van about 80 yards away, which meant carrying the tools over some difficult ground.
I also had to carry the integrated dishwasher from the van to the property on my own, which I do not recommend other people do. Then when it got to about 2pm, I had to rely on my Dewalt cordless tripod light, which I have to say is superb, video review here-

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/video ... 67f8f.html

I’d just like to point out that I’m not a kitchen fitter and have not installed a kitchen for a few years. The last kitchen I installed was for the girlfriend’s dad, which I installed as a favour. This kitchen threw up a few problems, which added weeks onto the job (luckily this job was for the girlfriend, so I’m not being paid for it, or the additional hassle).

I have to say that if I was in this kind of business and the girlfriend was a customer, I would not have done this job, as it was major hassle from start to finish. I had to adjust the kitchen cabinet heights a few times, as she kept changing her mind over the type of flooring. The plinths are aluminium, so obviously I did not want to be cutting them down. I also cut and installed the tall end panels and base panels the correct height for the floor, so when the customer keeps changing their mind, it tends to drive you nuts!

Luckily all of the units came pre-built, although I built a unit for the utility room a few days back and it was relatively easy. There were several problems along the way, mostly due to electrical outlets not being drawn on the plan (I blame the girlfriend), which meant some units had to be swapped around, one unit was also damaged, as the back panel was broken- but this was replaced FOC.

I did not do any of the plumbing or electrics in the kitchen, as that was organised by the builder, although I did make the cut outs for the sink and hob in the worktops. I basically installed the kitchen according to the plan that I was given, the instructions by symphony kitchens were also brilliant and easy to follow. Originally the kitchen island was planned to go this way-
then the girlfriend and her friend went over and decided that the island was the wrong way, this meant that the whole island was picked up/dragged through a full 360 degrees several times until she decided to have it the way it currently is. I was really annoyed at this point, as it took 3-4 people to lift it and rotate it, and I had not constructed the damn thing to be picked up and moved!


The kitchen is almost finished now, we are just waiting for the electrician to install the extractor (in the electriq box), although I might install that and get him the wire it up. I then just need to adjust a few cabinet doors and do a bit of sealing and it’s finished. I’m now busy installing the utility room, which is much smaller!
The base unit doors need adjusting on these, but that's a quick job


I’ve now got a few hundred hours of video footage to edit in to videos, this is going to take ages, as I could not talk during filming, due to the background noise of building machinery outside!



On a side note, I also tried to get over to do this job at weekends when there was nobody else there. My girlfriend insists on playing the radio at high volume, even if she is at the other end of the house! One day there were two brickies with a radio on about 10 feet away from me, then the girlfriend was at the other end of the house (both radios were playing the same crap channel), but there was a split-second time delay between the two radios. I was in the middle of them both and it was really doing my head in, it was like being mentally tortured! Anyway, I packed up my tools and got out of there after a few hours and returned a few days later when it was quiet.

I have to say that all the tradesmen that did the plastering, joinery, electrics and plumbing were all brilliant

Nice. Are the worktops 22mm laminate. I used them in mine but I did fancy the compact solid laminate which fin has fitted a few times

oz0707 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 11:38 am Nice. Are the worktops 22mm laminate. I used them in mine but I did fancy the compact solid laminate which fin has fitted a few times

Thanks, yes

To be honest it would have looked much better with some solid surface worktops, but I think it added over £5k to the price of the kitchen.

I was worried about needing special tct bits but I think fin just used normal blades and bits?

oz0707 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 3:32 pm I was worried about needing special tct bits but I think fin just used normal blades and bits?

I’m not sure what fin uses!

I did all straight cuts for the worktops and tall end panels using an evolution corded track saw, I had to buy the 2.8m track, which was difficult to find in stock at many places, so I bought it direct from evolution. I bought a special TCT blade, in fact I bought two of these, one for the circular saw and one for my sliding mitre saw- https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/372789655469

I had to cut the worktops and end panels in several passes, so the first cut was 1mm deep, then I’d set the blade to 5mm, then to 10mm, then 15mm, then all the way through (depths of cut are approximate). Although this was time consuming, the cut was absolutely perfect, with zero chipping of the surface.

To cut out for the sink and hob, I used a Starrett dual cut jigsaw blade, which was slow going, but worked well- https://www.starrett.co.uk/products/pta ... /bu2dcs-2/


As there was no corner joint for two adjoining worktops, I did not need to use a router to do a mason’s mitre etc. I’m sure fin has done this hundreds of times and will know the best router bits for that job.


There is a video review of the 2.8 metre evolution track here- It’s not been made public yet-



One a side note, one of the walls was a mile out (quite badly bowed, but not noticeable), I scribed a line on the worktop and could not use the track saw, so had to cut it with the circular saw freehand. The first two passes were fine, but at one point I missed the cut line, but luckily the upstand and splashback covered the small cutting error.

I should also point out that I started cutting the panels, worktops and Multipanels (for the bathrooms) using my cordless Dewalt circular saw and a straight edge, but the dust was absolutely horrendous. A guy on Facebook was even kind enough to send me out a 3D printed adaptor, which enabled me to attach the vacuum to the saw, but even then, the dust was horrendous!

If anyone needs a dust adaptor, this should help- https://www.facebook.com/CustomVacAdaptersUK