Step By Step Guide To Planning Your Dream DIY Kitchen and Measuring For Replacement Cupboards

Feb. 16, 2012 - PRLog -- Although many will admit to harbouring a reservation or two about tackling their own DIY, in reality there just three very simple stages to kitchen planning meaning it’s easy to get stuck in and give your home a fresh new look on a small budget with replacement kitchen doors and even a whole new DIY kitchen.
The first and most important step is to carefully measure your room and draw a plan on a sheet of paper, writing down the wall lengths as you go.
The second step is to mark in the doorways, windows, radiators, any odd wall shapes and where your sink outlet is positioned.
The third stage is to enter the information into our simple to use I-Design kitchen planner system.  
At this point it’s over to us to put forward a kitchen design with 3D images.  If you indicate what style and colour of DIY kitchen doors and drawers you require from our downloadable brochure, we can send include these in the design we send back to you to give you a clear idea of what the finished room will look like. This also means we can give a cost for your new designer kitchen.  
Measuring up your kitchen
It’s better to measure up in millimetres as all of our made to measure DIY kitchen units are built and designed in millimetres. Take your time on this stage as it is most important to get the final kitchen design right. Show precise positions of the windows, doors, radiators, gas boilers and supply pipes in your drawing.
There are four basic types of kitchen design
•   L Shaped
•   U Shaped
•   Galley
•   Straight Run
And are all based on the working triangle

1.   Food storage and preparation
2.   Cooking and serving up
3.   Washing and cleaning

A few tips

You must allow yourself ample storage, whether you’re buying a whole new designer kitchen or simply freshening up an old space with replacement kitchen doors. You’ll almost always need more than you think. If you’re going to have a new kitchen, we’d recommend you let us do the kitchen design. If we do suggest too many units, our specialist tool makes it easy to re-design and take a few away until you’re comfortable with the finished look.
A door must never be in a position adjacent to the cooking area where there could be the danger of the person doing the cooking accidentally turning around with a hot pan and coming into contact with someone entering the room.
Don’t position cupboards above hobs or cookers and don’t position a hob or freestanding cooker at the end of a run of base units, in a corner or next to the sink. Allow yourself 400mm either side of the cooker. Don’t position a cooker next to a fridge or freezer.  
When positioning tall kitchen units try to position them at the end of the base unit run and remember the light switches are around the room entrance point. It is normal to house the oven /hob in a 600mm unit so always leave a minimum of 400mm each site of the hob for placing hot items when coming out of the oven or off the hob, and don’t position the hob too close to the sink unit for obvious safety reasons. Don’t position a hob under a window and don’t have any electrical points above a hob.
Try to position the washing machine or waste disposal unit next to or close to the kitchen sink unit as this will make the plumbing simpler i.e. getting hot and cold water to the machine and getting waste water away. And remember to plan what side you want your sink drainer (left or right).
Finally finishing touches…
Remember to add all the worktops, decorative end panels end wings also cornices, pelmets and plinths. After all it’s the finishing touches that will make it your dream kitchen.    
For more information and to browse the range visit www.kitchensdiy.com  or www.kitchendoorsdiy.com