Kitchen Progress - Quartz worktops installed

The quartz 'Silestone - Lyra' has been installed and has really completed the look of our kitchen.

It's finally getting there and we're looking forward to the final touches being finished to complete our long awaited new kitchen!!

Under mount sink with drainer grooves and quartz windowsill.

Large central island with hob cut out.

Outer side of island has an extra shallow depth unit for extra storage.

Kitchen island with hole cut out for the pop up sockets & USB connection.

The centre island with quartz worktop overhang on the outer side & end which will be the seating area.

Quartz worktop with under mount sink and drainer grooves.

There are quartz up stands and windowsill.

Drop down end panels in quartz have been installed on the end of the

island & units.

The 'Lamon's corner unit pullout mechanism is very impressive..

The drop down ceiling edges have been made, ready to be plastered

and finished.

The electricians will be in on Monday to finish off the electrical's & lighting.

The NEFF Induction Hob has now been installed & connected into the

kitchen island.

It looks great and we were able to cook in our new kitchen for the

first time last night!! #exciting

Our bad experience with AO.com (Appliances Online)..

We purchased the kitchen extractor from http://ao.com/ (Appliances Online).

This was our first time ordering from this online company and although they advertise great service & delivery  'Brilliant every click of the way' unfortunately our experience did not live up to the hype.

Quote from AO.com website:

Brilliant every
click of the way

From the moment you first visit us and for as long as we're in touch, we'll make sure your experience is as good as it gets. We'll always give you the info, tools and user reviews that explain why people come back

We took delivery of 5 extractors!! Each extractor was either damaged / delivered unprotected in the carton or on one occasion the incorrect product arrived.

The first extractor was delivered in a damaged box & missing part of its protective packaging, exposing marks and scratches on the stainless steel.

See photos below:

After calling customer services to inform them that we had received a damaged product, they arranged a replacement extractor to be sent out immediately.

The 2nd delivery arrived, but the replacement arrived only to find it was the incorrect product.

After another phone call to customer services, they scheduled a 3rd delivery to deliver the replacement extractor.

Again the 3rd extractor delivered was damaged, broken polystyrene in the box, plastic protective coating peeled away from the product exposing badly marked stainless steel.

Yet again another phone call to customer services.

This time I insisted on speaking to a manager, he apologised profusely, promised the 4th extractor to be delivered would be checked in the warehouse.

He assured me this time it would be perfect, he would monitor it himself & check there was no problems.

So I waited on yet another Saturday morning for the 4th extractor to arrive in perfect condition.

Unfortunately upon opening the box, there was disappointment.

AGAIN the protective plastic film to protect the stainless steel was removed and the stainless steel was badly scratched & marked!!

Here are some more photos to show the state of the box it arrived in & damage to the product:

Protective coating has been pulled away

& the stainless steel is badly marked & scratched

I called the manager immediately to advise that the product was damaged.

His response was that all they could now do was to issue me with a refund!?

Considering I had designed my entire kitchen around this extractor this was not an option!!

I insisted that someone take responsibility for this order and follow it through from start to finish and actually do what they said they would and open the box & check the product in the warehouse before sending.

Such a simple request & something I would've thought to be standard!!

I was promised again that this would be done!!

Therefore I waited for my 5th delivery to arrive.

The delivery guys arrived, before they even brought the box up to my front door, I opened the box to check all was ok.

To my utter frustration & extreme disappointment, another DAMAGED extractor was sitting on my doorstep!!

Seriously this was now beyond a joke, I had wasted so much, time, money & energy on phone calls, waiting for deliveries and the extractor was now delaying my builders finishing our kitchen!!

Knowing that http://ao.com/ was clearly unable to control this situation I decided to purchase the product as 'graded' item at a reduced price.

I had to settle for a damaged item, I was left with no other choice as our builders couldn't be delayed any longer.

Unfortunately our experience with AO.com was NOT...

'Brilliant in every click of the way'!!

This was our very first purchase with http://ao.com/ & unfortunately I think it will be our last, we'll be heading to their competitors for all future purchases.

#johnlewis #currys

Kitchen Progress - Kitchen Units - Day Three of installation

DAY THREE OF KITCHEN FITTING:

The doors have been fitted to most of the units.

Units have been leveled, mechanisms tested and final checks have been done in preparation for the arrival of the Quartz worktop next week!!

Metal brackets have been added to the back of the island units.

This is to create more support for the worktop because we are having an overhang where there is no units underneath to support the worktop.

We were advised by our quartz supplier to add these as a precaution because we have a weak point and the quartz could potentially crack.

There is only 3-4cm of quartz between the hob cut out and the edge of the back of the unit, therefore the overhang needed more support.

The electricians were back in all day on Saturday, they have connected most of the appliances and the safety switches are easily accessible within one of the empty units - as below.

Our builder has re-plastered the wall and re-painted after the light switches had to be re-positioned due to being too high.

The left hand side wall has been painted.

We choose a very soft light grey which looks lovely, it works perfectly with the white units.

Wall Paint Colour:

Crown 'Soft Steel' for Kitchens & Bathrooms

Looking forward to the worktop being delivered... We are nearly finished!!