About >> Kitchen Restoration and Installation of new kitchen units by Pompey Dream Homes

DIY Projects – Our Kitchen

Well the kitchen was a disaster and one of our highest priorities for restoration. We needed to have a modern, clean environment for preparing, storing and cooking food with modern appliances. The only good things about the original kitchen was, I suppose, the sink, the floor and a fairly good functional oven supplied via a Gas Bottle connected from the rear garden. Everything else had to go and or be replaced and re-worked to complete the desired effect. I wanted a functional kitchen with modern shaker style kitchen units, re-tiled walls, and completely rewired with enough sockets to deal with any modern appliance.

Before starting the kitchen I decided to have a Seret registered electrician come round. To inspect the electrics.

Note - See below to understand why you should always use a Seret registered Tradesman:

Link to find legally registered French Tradesmen in your area

During previous visits I had a few sockets overheat and burnout and wanted to understand why this had happened. I knew that the wiring was of an old standard and probably dated back to the 60s. I understood that the house would probably need a complete re-wire and it came as no shock when the electrician confirmed this. We discussed the house rewire, costing and location for sockets within the kitchen. We agreed that to reduce the cost I would chase out the walls for the cable runs (Kitchen) prior to having the whole house re-wired. The re-wire eventually came out at £3500 which was cheap I thought so I agreed to proceed.

I have good friends and after a little persuasion had two agree to come over for five days to assist with restoration. My wife and I picked out a kitchen from MFI and with the units and friends loaded, set off for France.

Day 1

We began by clearing the kitchen of all the old furniture, fixtures and fittings apart from the sink, which was heavily plumbed in and too much hassle to move. We pulled down the chipboard ceiling and had the kitchen gutted after the 1st day.

Day 2

Began chasing out the walls using a combination of wall grinder, Hammer and Bolster a messy business with dust and rubble everywhere. All cable runs were completed by midday. My mate Jumbo, being a DIY genius was tasked with building and getting the units up for the kitchen. The kitchen was too small for all three of us to work so my second mate Bill began painting the exterior walls of the house. I supervised and moved between assisting both whenever required.

At the end of the five days much progress had been made. The kitchen units and work surfaces where in place. Jumbo had plumbed in a new washing machine, the outlet and water supply. Bill had painted all exterior walls. I had assisted and moved between jobs then started on the interior walls raking out between the granite, pugging and finishing up. We had a great time, joking and messing around. It was hard days graft but again it was fun taking mates to assist I thought and I knew I would do the same again.

I returned on two other occasions to tile the whole kitchen, completed the ceiling, plastering, painting and fit spot lighting. It is now mostly finished and I am pleased with the end result.