Shoka's Kitchen Project - ShokaLady's Version

The "Chez Shoka" kitchen upgrade project

With added comments by ShokaLady

Artex and kitchens do not mix. The kitchen at "Chez Shoka" was a hang over from the previous occupier. It was an odd mix, very good quality units, nice hardwood doors and abysmal kitchen fitting. With tiled worktops, grouted with ordinary grout. (Disgustingly uncleanable) And Artex. On the walls. Yuck! And the ceiling. Yuck again! However, other parts of the house were even more offensive, The living room, the bathroom, the bedrooms, the loft, the computer room....and the kitchen got put back. And put back. And back. Then the wiring developed a fault. A more serious fault than the ongoing regular stuff? Friendly electrician found the fault quite quickly, but the fault raised concern. Deep joy. Said electrician undertook to replace the aging electrical distribution board. And check the wiring. Not good. Something was very amiss in the wiring to the kitchen. Really??? Eventually and reluctantly the kitchen was rewired. I went to visit my son for a few days. Artex in kitchens is bad enough, but Artex with replastered electrical ducts is worse. At least it got some of the revolting Artex off the walls! Something had to be done. Tried hacking off the Artex. Plaster behind was rubbish. Bit the bullet.

The house used to have an open passage at the rear that led to a "coal hole" and the back door proper. Since the area has been a smokeless zone for decades coal holes are no longer a useful feature, and previous owners had added a new door to close off the passage. Initially the coal hole had become a broom cupboard, and when Shoka moved in a double decker washing machine and drier cupboard. After removing previous owner's gardening equipment, painting it out and adding electrical wiring, plumbing and a shelf. The original back door had been removed (We removed it, and its door frame) so that there was effectively a small annexe to the kitchen. The plan had always been to take out the stub of wall that separated off this annexe and include the resulting space in the kitchen. The latest electrical problems and consequent trashing of the existing kitchen finally raised the motivation to carry out the plan. hooray!

Electrical installation by an electrical engineer. Making safe the gas piping and installing the gas hob, CORGI certified gas fitter. Boarding out and plastering the walls and ceiling by a plastering firm. The rest, including stripping the plaster, removing the ceiling, knocking out the wall, casting the floor slab, tiling, plumbing, flooring, worktops, decorating, carpentry and adapting and fitting the kitchen units, Shoka and SO.

Stage	Picture 1	Picture 2	Picture 3
Before we start (After the re-wiring had been done.)
Stripping the original units (We discovered that the Artex had been put on after the cupboards had been fitted.)
Tear out the false half wall behind the sink (We finally get to see the whole mess behind the sink walls...shudder..)
Off with the plaster (After barricading the doors with towels and plastic in an effort to prevent some of the dust reaching the rest of the house.)
Remove the redundant wiring and the unused but still pressurised gas pipes lost in the plaster and the long disconnected back boiler piping (It is amazing how much wire and how many pipes one can get out of one wall!)
Bring down the ceiling (As well as all the cobwebs and other rubbish that came into sight with the removal of the ceiling and plaster.)
Knock out the redundant doorway, cut off the non load bearing stub wall and make good Before and after (Anyone want a skipload of bricks?)
Make good where the redundant piping and conduit has been ripped out of the walls (Shoka is lurking in the hall amongst the piles of tools)
New window, with proper lintel under the outside wall leaf Before and after (At last - a window I will be able to open, I couldn't reach the handles on the old one.)
Boarding out and the new ceiling (We had a couple of days rest while the workmen were doing this, as there wasn't anything we could do except to keep the coffee coming.)
Revised and rebuilt service duct (The plasterers didn't like the way we had made it originally.)
Plaster out (Lovely ~ a pink room! Better than the grey boards though. )
Seal the floor Note slab cast to level floor with form for the mat well still in place (This was a sticky and smelly job, and very hard to do.)
Paint through (We're getting really good with the paint rollers by now!)
Lay porcelain tile floor (I wish I'd swept the rubbish out of the doormat-well before I took the picture!)
Skirting boards fitted, kitchen units go in (Skirting boards fitted and painted, as well as architraves fitted and painted, and then the units start to go in, reducing the pile of units stacked in the living room!)
Building the gas water cooker supply service duct. Chopping the vent for the extractor hood (Also, drawing a template for the extractor hood on the front of the duct cover, from instructions that may as well have been written in Chinese for a non-Chinese reading person.)
Routing the worktops (Shoka does like getting the most out of his new tools.)
Trial fit of the worktops (One of the trial fits.)
Sealing and final preparation of the worktops (If any water finds its way into that worktop, it will deserve a medal!)
Worktops fitted, tiling the spashback and the service duct (We have a usable sink after six weeks of washing up in a bowl in the bath.)
Installing the extractor hood, and testing it (It worked.)
Cooker, hob and sink functional (We're getting there now.)
Wall cupboards installed (More space to pile tools.)
Doors on and levelled (We can hide the tools!)
Usable if not quite finished (The tools have all been removed to the hall. Ready to fill up with kitchen stuff, which has been stashed all around the house, in the dining room, the living room, the hall, the stairs, and the spare bedroom!)