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Frequently Asked Questions....
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This page shows you over 50 of the most commonly asked questions from our customers (and the answers!). Click on a tab below.
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- General FAQ
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Are your cabinets painted?
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No, we supply them unfinished so that you can paint, wax, oil, stain or varnish them. For the best paint finish kitchens should always be painted after installation. You will find that all the top kitchen makers like Smallbone and Mark Wilkinson do this. Be wary of any company who sells pre painted kitchens, you cannot see what they have covered up, and you will probably have to repaint after installation anyway where cabinets have been joined for example, and you may find it hard to match the paint colour as paint is made in batches. Also be aware of anyone who paints the insides of the cabinets, especially the drawers, as they will become scratched very quickly. Many of our customers paint their own kitchen, but local painters are always available if you need someone else to do it for you.
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What are your cabinets made of?
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Either from solid wood, or a mix of solid wood and real wood veneer. You can see the various specifications on our Downloads page.
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Do you install the kitchen?
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No, we are supply only. Some customers save money by installing the kitchen themselves as the cabinets are supplied fully built with doors, drawers, and all internals like bins fully installed. In addition our cabinet sides are finished so you don’t need separate and expensive end panels. Depending on where you live we may be able to suggest a fitter, but if not, you will be able to find fitters locally. Nearly all fitters are self employed even those who work for companies like John Lewis and B&Q, and some won’t be registered for VAT and so could work out cheaper.
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Are your cabinets supplied flat-pack?
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No, they are supplied fully built
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Do you have a showroom?
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Yes, we have 2 showrooms. Please see our contact us page for details.
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Do you provide a design service?
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We can help you with your design in an number of ways. Please see our Designing Your Kitchen page.
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Are your cabinets made to measure?
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Yes we have over 200 different cabinets and you can have most of them in any height, width and depth
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Do you deliver?
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Yes, we deliver to the whole of the mainland UK. See our Delivery FAQ for more details.
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What is an in-frame kitchen?
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All of our kitchens are "in-frame", that is the doors and drawers sit in a frame on the front of the cabinet. The other type is the overlay kitchen, where the doors and drawer fronts sit directly on the front of the carcass, and there is no frame. Overlay tends to be a cheaper method of construction.
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Can I have a cutlery insert in a drawer?
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Yes, subject to our min and max dimension limits.
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What door catch options do you offer?
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We offer 2 door catch options:
1. Magnetic
2. Roller.
You can see pictures on our Door Style page.
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Can I box in my boiler?
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Yes, but the best solution depends on the location of your boiler. We can provide a door in a front frame, so that you can cover the front of the boiler, from a wall to another cupboard, or between 2 cupboards. we can supply a door in a front frame together with 1 or 2 cupboard sides to go around your boiler. The top and bottom of the cupboard are not usually supplied because of the need for ventilation.
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What plinth styles do you offer?
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We offer 4 plinth styles, Planted, Framed, Framed 2, and Recessed.You can see pictures on our Door Styles page.
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How can I make my cabinets fit against uneven walls?
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We can extend a side or both sides, so that you can scribe the back edge of the sides to the contour of the wall
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How are your doors made?
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Our doors are 5 piece doors made in the traditional way using mortise and tenon joints. Our
doors are also 25mm thick, compared to the usual 18mm, this helps prevent them warping.
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What cornice styles do you offer?
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We offer 4 cornice styles: Curved, Traditional, Flat and Double Flat. You can see pictures on our Door Styles page.
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What drawer styles do you offer?
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We offer 3 drawer styles, 1, 2 and 3. You can see pictures on our door styles page.
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What hinge options do you offer?
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All of our hinges are top quality solid brass butt hinges in a choice of 3 finishes:
1. Chrome plated
2. Brass
3. Antique Brass
You can see pictures on our Door Styles page.
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What door styles do you offer?
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We have 4 door styles, A, B, C and D. You can see pictures on our Door Styles page.
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- Design
- Quotes
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I have a plan from another kitchen company, can you use it to quote?
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Yes, please use any of these to send it to us:
email: sales@handmadekitchens-direct.co.uk
post: Handmade Kitchens of Christchurch Ltd
6 and 7 Fountain Way Christchurch
Dorset
BH23 1QN
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- Payments
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When do I have to pay?
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A �350 deposit secures your manufacturing and delivery slot. An additional �650 12 weeks before delivery at the start of the design process and the final balance in cleared funds 4 weeks before delivery.
The deposit can be paid by cheque, credit card, debit card or bank transfer.
No delivery will be made without cleared funds.
Please note that to protect our employees we do not accept cash in the showrooms.
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Do you accept American Express?
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We no longer take American Express.
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- Base Cabinets
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Do your drawers have runners?
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Yes, in common with some very expensive kitchen companies we use top quality soft close runners. The runners have soft close as standard, and are hidden under the drawer with a quick release mechanism for removing the drawer for cleaning. They also have a massive 40kg weight limit. Finally, the runners are easy to adjust if necessary during installation.
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Do your base cabinets have adjustable feet?
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Yes.
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Do your base cabinets have a service recess at the back?
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Yes, normally 50mm, but as your cabinets are made to measure you can have any service recess you need (min 20mm), and the service recess can vary from cabinet to cabinet.
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What height are your base cabinets?
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Our standard is 870mm, and we recommend that you keep to this as far as possible to prevent potential problems with appliance sizes and property resale. We can do some base cabinets at any height between 400mm and 900mm for occasions where different heights cannot be avoided.
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What depth are your base cabinets?
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Standard is 600mm, but as your cabinets are made to measure you can have any depth within our min and max limits..
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Can you accommodate cut outs for pillars/pipes/etc?
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Yes, just let us have the dimensions of the cut out required.
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Do your base cabinets come with a shelf?
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Yes, most base cabinets with doors come with 1 shelf and adjustable shelf holes
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What height is a Planted plinth?
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110mm
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How are your drawers made?
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Our drawers are made of 6 separate pieces. 4 pieces make up the drawer box, these are made of solid wood, and the drawer box is made by using traditional dovetail joints.
The drawers are mounted on top quality soft close runners, and these runners are hidden underneath the drawer. The runners have quick release clips so the drawer can be removed for cleaning etc. They have a massive 40kg weight limit. The drawer runners come with soft close as standard.
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- Wall Cupboards
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Do your cupboards have a recess underneath for lighting?
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Yes, there is a 20mm recess underneath for lighting. We can also supply separate 40mm light pelmet if needed.
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Do your spice drawers have runners?
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No.
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What height are your wall cupboards?
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Any height you need. As a guide, small cupboards are 575mm, medium height cupboards are 720mm, and big cupboards are 900mm
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Why do your cupboards have a 20mm recess at the back?
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So that the edges can be scribed to an uneven wall.
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What depth are your wall cupboards?
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Our standard is 350mm, but as you cupboards are made to measure, you can have any depth you need.
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- Appliances
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How does your door fit onto my dishwasher door?
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Your dishwasher will come with a fixing kit.
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Do you make a housing for an integrated dishwasher?
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Your integrated dishwasher will sit on the floor and so doesn’t need a housing, however we make a door with its own cabinet front frame to fix to the dishwasher so that it matches the rest of the kitchen.
Door in Frame
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Can you build around my US style fridge freezer?
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Yes. Please see our gallery for some examples.
For the sides you have a choice of tall end panels (PP022) at 40mm wide, tall posts (PP015/16/17) at
90mm wide, or tall larders with either chrome pull out mechanisms or adjustable shelves.
The narrowest pull-out larder is 400mm wide.
Another alternative is a single column width wine rack.
To go between whatever you choose for the sides, and above the fridge freezer, you can choose a fridge top box (WALL007).
Alternatively, you can have a wine rack (WALL010), or an open shelf unit (WALL015).
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Can I put a fridge freezer against a wall?
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Be careful that you leave enough space to open the door fully as the US style fridge freezer
doors can be quite thick, and if you don't leave enough room to open the door fully you may
not be able to remove shelves and drawers for cleaning, etc.
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Can you make a housing for an integrated fridge freezer?
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Yes. We can make a housing for any make and model of integrated fridge freezer.
The minimum height for a fridge freezer housing is 2005mm including plinth and cornice. You can have it higher if you have the ceiling height to stand it up. We make use of the extra height by putting a shelf above the fridge freezer (behind our top door.)
You will need to allow 680mm width, even if your model is narrower.
The item code is COOL001.
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Can you "hide" a freestanding microwave?
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Yes. We can make a larder top without a base (LARDTOP003, LARDTOP008, LARDTOP014) so that when you open
the doors the microwave is sitting on the worktop ready to be used, but you can close the
larder doors when its not in use. You need to check your Microwaves instructions regarding air circulation, etc
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Can you make an oven housing?
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Yes, you can have a single oven under the worktop, this is an OVEN001.
For a double oven under the worktop, you don't need a housing as the larger ones sit on the floor, and the smaller ones sit on brackets attached to the cabinet each side.
You can also have mid height oven housings for a single built in oven, a microwave, coffee machine or steam oven.
We can supply tall oven housings for just about any combination of oven, microwave, coffee machine, etc.
The oven housings can be supplied at 680mm wide. This will fit all standard integrated appliances and allow for our 40mm frame each side.
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Can I have my microwave in a wall unit?
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Yes, if its an integrated microwave built specifically to go into a wall cupboard. They tend to be less deep so that they fit into a standard 300mm deep kitchen wall unit. This makes them smaller overall, and mostly, fairly basic.
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Can my tall oven housing go right up to the ceiling?
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No, because you won't be able to stand the cabinet up in the kitchen. (the diagonal measurement as you stand it up corner to
corner is more than the actual height).
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Can I have a mid-height oven cabinet?
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You can have a mid height oven housings for a single built in oven, a microwave, coffee machine or steam oven.
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- Delivery
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How much does delivery cost?
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Delivery is usually by our own truck, with our own 2 man delivery team. We offer a choice of 2 types of delivery:
Yellow Delivery Areas:
Standard Delivery. This is 525 pounds to yellow areas of the map. For other destinations a quote will be provided. You will be given an approx date when we confirm the order. To enable us to charge these low amounts we need to deliver 2 or 3 kitchens at a time. Because we are combining 2 or 3 deliveries you cannot choose the day or time of delivery. If you need this facility please see our enhanced delivery below. If your kitchen needs to be delivered on its own because of site access restrictions, (ie; our usual truck is too big to get to your property to unload) you will be charged as per the enhanced delivery service below.
Enhanced Delivery. This is 650 pounds to the yellow areas of the map. For other destinations a quote will be provided. You will be given an approx date when we confirm the order. We will then call you before delivery to agree a date and an am/pm slot. This option gives you more flexibility to decide the delivery date and an AM/PM time slot (subject to availability).
Red Delivery Areas:
Extended Delivery Area. We have fewer deliveries to these areas, and so usually cannot combine deliveries. This means we will will quote you for delivery based on your distance from our Workshop.
Scotland:
For England and Wales we usually use our own delivery vans and drivers. We have fewer orders from Scotland which means we cannot combine them to keep costs down. We used to use a freight company for Scotland deliveries but they can no longer offer the service.
We are seeking an alternative delivery company but unfortunately until we find one we are unable to offer deliveries to Scotland.
Unfortunately, we are also unable to offer collection from our workshop,
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Do you deliver to my area?
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Please see delivery area map above.
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Will I have to help unload?
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No, we always have our own experienced 2 man delivery team.
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Will your truck get down my narrow lane?
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As a guide, our normal delivery truck is a large luton van size, if you need a smaller truck/van, then our enhanced delivery terms will apply.
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Do you deliver to my second floor flat?
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Due to insurance restrictions we are only able to deliver to the ground floor.
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Handmade Kitchens of Christchurch Ltd, 91 Bargates, Christchurch, Dorset. BH23 1QQ, Tel: 01202 475515
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