Pete arrived this morning with the good news that he should be able to get a bespoke splashback made to fit the cooker hood curve. Last night Tina had designed her alternative splashback using tiles, which would have been a compromise and not what we both really wanted. Good start to the day then.
Pete said the main aim for the morning was to finish off the main part of the kitchen, which included fitting the induction hob, the cooker hood and adding all the top and bottom pelmets and adjusting all the cupboard doors to fit. They also added the breakfast bar and end panels.
I meanwhile took Rio out for a long walk to try to tire him out, which seemed to do the trick for a short while. Unfortunately the peace and quiet didn’t last long and he had to be bribed with a bone to stop him from barking. It does seem that Rio also suffers from separation issue as when he is left alone whilst I speak to the fitters, he gets upset and barks. I think he’s just nosey and wants to be involved in all that’s going on.
I continued to supply Pete and Adam with copious cups of coffee, which seemed to go down well (I think keeping your builders sweet in this way must help to ensure they are happy in the work). Every so often they disappeared back to their van for a quick smoke break, which gave me the opportunity to have a look at progress and take some photos. I’m not sure what the thought of the client being on site, it must be a bit awkward at times.
At midday the water was turned off and the remaining old kitchen unit was removed, allowing them to get started on the other side of the room. Luckily I had taken a couple of pans worth of water to top up the kettle. By three o clock the water was back on. The other side was pretty much finished, with the ends of the worktops sealed with edging strip.
Then Pete raised the first major problem of the install. It seems when Magnet originally measured the walls they must have got something wrong as one of the wall cupboards ordered was too big to fit in the gap. This meant that the larger cupboard would have to be swapped out with a smaller version. The other impact of the mistake was that there would no longer be a gap for the towel rails, which would have used up the space between the fr fridge and washing machine. Oh well, Pete did warn us that it is rare that a kitchen is installed without one or two issues. Pete rang Magnet office who confirmed they could get a replacement unit delivered on Friday along with the replacement door for the one that was damaged. Pete then said he was booked on another job on Friday so perhaps could come over Saturday morning, although he didn’t seem too keen as the plasterer, Gary would also be here.
Meanwhile Adam had wired up the induction hob and showed me that it worked OK, although we didn’t actually put a pan on it. They then called it a day and left shortly after 4pm.
It wasn’t until I discussed the days events with Tina and the issue around the wrong cupboard that Tina stated that we should insist that Pete comes back and fit it and the door on Saturday. One for tomorrow I guess.
Alarm bells also started to ring yesterday when I was chatting to the electrician about the fact that an additional feed had not been installed for the induction hob, just the breaker value increased. I was concerned that the power consumption of the cooker and induction hob at full power, along with the microwave oven could trip the breaker. I checked the manufacturers ratings guide and confirmed that the hob and induction really should be supplied on a separate feed as the total power consumption exceeds the 40A rated breaker (for the technical readers the total current draw from the three appliances could be 57 Amps). In theory if Tina was using all four hob positions plus both ovens (quite easily done when cooking a Sunday lunch or Xmas dinner) then the limit of the breaker would be exceeded. The electrician did confirm that the breaker was sufficient to protect the cabling but it won’t be great if the oven/hob keeps tripping out regularly. In order to get a new feed from the consumer unit the bedroom carpet would need lifting, which I guess is why it wasn’t done in the first place? Another conversation with Pete in the morning to highlight my concerns.
So the end of phase 2 is getting closer (with a couple of outstanding issues to resolve), but hopefully tomorrow we should have a fully functional kitchen, albeit without floor tiles or plastered walls. Then on to phase 3 (walls plastered and floors tiled) which once complete will mean we can paint the walls and fit the lighting, install the TV and add the furniture, with only the splashback outstanding.
