The Steptoe Solution
My kitchen is coming on, albeit slowly because of Infuriating IKEA.
These pictures show the current state.
I’m building up to the big finish, where the side by the window gets ripped out and replaced by new units.
Will we find some more of Jerry’s Wonderful Wiring.
Jerry’s Wonderful Wiring
Or even worse, as there is plumbing and water involved.
So I can’t guarantee that, we’ll be able to plan how long the shut-down of my water and washing-up facilities will be.
On the other side of the kitchen, a wall had to be rebuilt, so I suspect that getting the wiring and the plumbing correct to accept the new units will probably take a couple of days.
I haven’t got another big sink upstairs, but I do have a very small one in my bedroom, where I could wash plates and put them in the shower to dry.
As to washing saucepans and other larger utensils, it will be a Steptoe Solution, as used by Harold to wash his clothes, when he had a bath.
A Small Cooking Spoon I Can Hang Up
There are two types,. of designers in the world; those like Kenneth Grange, who will never accept second best and then their are all the others.
I strive for perfection and only accept second best, when the best is impossible.
These pictures show my quest for a small cooking spoon that I can hang above my cooker. Where else is there to put the tools, you use to actually cook the food as opposed to prepare it.
My mother had a small wooden spoon, that was always used to stir beans or in a small milk saucepan.
I have been looking for one for myself for about ten years now and I’ve never found one, quite small enough.
I did find the red spoon, shown in the first picture, in John Lewis and I use it a lot. A small one like it, in blue, would be ideal, as it fits the IKEA hooks above my cooker.
So I decided to make it possible to hang the smallest wooden spoon, I’ve got alongside.
I just drilled a hole in it, with my trusty pocket drill and attached a cable clip.
It seems to work.
A Shelf Above My Cooker
The two IKEA wall cabinets either side of my cooker hood have lights underneath. To connect the lights, I needed to run a cable across. So to solve two problems in one go, I decided that a shelf above the cooker between the units would work.
I could have used wood and painted it to match the black-brown colour of the units. but as the house has lots of exposed steel beams, I thought I’d experiment with a steel beam powder coated to patch the IKEA cabinets.
It was made for me by Anglia Fabrication and Design in Newmarket. It cost me about a hundred pounds and I could have had it in any RAL colour.
I think it works. As the pictures show, I don’t think, I’ve got the layout of the tools right yet.
My Hungarian handyman and myself mounted the steel beam on the wall using some impressive Rigifix dry wall fixings.
Rigifix Dry Wall Fixings
Note that we used a brass bolt with the fixing, which is rated at over a hundred kiolgrams.
The only problem was Jerry’s brickwork, which produced a wall as flat as the Pennines.
Behind Jerry’s Cabinets
My kitchen was horrendous as the pictures in My Crap Steel Kitchen Cabinets show.
Today, Laszlo, the builder and myself removed some of them and took a look behind.
To make matters worse, we were unable to get the marble slab worktop down the stairs, so it is now lying on the living room floor.
Neither of us were amused.
Especially Laszlo, who cut himself on the steel doors.
The marble slab will be fre to anyone who wants it! But you fix your own hernias!
Fixing The Shortened Grundtal Rail To The Wall
When I improvised the utensil rack, I wasn’t sure how to fit the cut end to the brick wall.
These pictures show how I did it.
Note that the single bracket now holding the rail can support the weight, unless I put too much in the pot, so all the dowel does is locate the rail in the correct position.
Improvising A Utensil Rack
I use a set of utensils from Joseph Joseph which sit on a carousel. The trouble is they take up space in my small kitchen, so I thought I might put them on the side of one of my new wall cabinets above the cooker. In the end I took an IKEA Grundtal rail, but as it was too long, I shortened it and supported it from one end.
Obviously the end on the brick wall will have to be fixed and tomorrow, I’ll be going to a well-known DIY store to get the bits to create the fitting.
A Rack For Le Creuset Dishes
I have a selection of smaller Le Creuset dishes; in both 1.1 an 0.6 litre sizes.
They have a problem in that they don’t stack well. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, one pole fell onto one of the 1.1 litre dishes and reduced it to several smaller pieces.
I then found this Variera pot lid organiser in IKEA at just £5. Which is less than a replacement dish!
It certainly did the job, even if they are not pot lids.
The New Wall Cabinets In My Kitchen
This morning the Hungarian Handymen put the wall cabinets and my new cooker hood on the walls.
There is still a bit to do, but it has certainly released some more space. I also now have wall cupboards that don’t constantly take lumps out of me, like the steel ones did.
My New Cooker Hood Has Arrived
My cooker hood arrived around seven this evening in the most inappropriate and large packaging.
Let’s hope it fits to the wall!
I Thought Couriers Like This Had Reformed
I knew that today, I would be getting my new cooker hood delivered. The delivery company confirmed yesterday that it would be coming today and that they would tell me today, in what four hour slot it would come.
The message yesterday was just an automated voice one, with no instructions on where to phone, text or e-mail if there was any problems.
This morning, I got the delivery slot as any time between 15:00 and 19:00. This is very inconvenient as I have an important appointment, I booked some time ago, at 18:00.
It doesn’t matter to me, if I don’t get the hood delivered today, as it won’t be installed until next week or even the week after.
I have no means to contact the couriers to say this time is inconvenient.
Also judging by this courier company’s attitude of we deliver it when we decide and don’t tell you who we are and how to contact us, I suspect it would be a difficult process to get the item redelivered.
So it is wait here until it is delivered and hope that it turns up.
Incidntally, I actually ordered the hood from the John Lewis web site, so for a start they will be getting a complaint to say the least.
But I did think that couriers with these sort of attitudes had reformed.
The Anonymous Widower 