[Closed] New Kitchen - installation Quotes

What works are you having done. Without more detail then the bringing down of ceilings to facilitate installation of a new kitchen seems rather extreme. Also, bringing ceilings down is a minging job.

I take you you have an upstairs? If so then just lift floorboards and access from above.

My guess would be that you need enough holes in the ceiling that patching it would take longer than a full new ceiling.

If you have enough room, fitting a new false ceiling will probably be cheaper, plus you can get rid of the silly gap at the top of the units.

Removing the whole ceiling seems extreme. Ask them why? If there's lots of lights to fit that requires holes drilling in joists for cables and/or an extractor conduit needs to be added I can sort of see the point. Lot of extra cost in reboarding and skimming though.

If it does need doing and you need to save some money then do it yourself, same for pulling existing units out.

Do all those quoting believe that they're quoting for the same job?

Only asking as titling the post "New Kitchen - Installation Quotes" and then mentioning "complete ceiling taken down to facilitate the rewire and refurbishment" feel at 'odds' with each other.

plus you can get rid of the silly gap at the top of the units.

That's one way to make a large room feel small and clostrophobic. - well it is when your tall. If your a short arse it might not have the same effect.

We had a full rewire as part of kitchen refurb and extension and when I looked at the roof afterwards we went to buildbase bought 10 sheets of plaster board and a heap of Battons. Cross battoned and sheeted the roof. Took us a morning. Lost next to no space but was no danger I was removing the old roof. What a mess and disposing of plasterboards a pain in the hoop these days unless you have enough to bring in a dedicated skip

Are you having recessed lighting where there isn’t any now? The holes let the noise through and our kids, bedrooms above, nagged constantly to keep it down. Apparently they are not now the must-have lighting solution. Other surface mounted things are coming back into fashion and they only need a couple of cables thru the ceiling.

Thanks - the job is to fit a new kitchen and knock one supporting wall through. As part of the works they will re wire and fit led down lights which don’t exist today; they will also need to move the electric consumer unit a few metres.

All have been given the same brief; I just found it odd that one contractor was insisting the electricians need the ceiling removing - just seems like a lot of unnecessary effort and mess.

If there is a wall coming out replacement ceilings may be a good idea as the two existing ceilings may not be the same height.

Good point although the rsj will not be hidden right up in the ceiling so the two ceilings will be separated by the boxed in rsj

It sounds to me like the tail wagging the dog. The kitchen fitters are letting their electricians dictate the method of working. Give the electrician the option to have a clear ceiling void Vs have to feed cables through / too particular holes and it’s easy to guess which they will choose on the basis that it’s not at their cost.

When we had our extension and kitchen refit done the electrician who was employed by the builder left his own little path of destruction in his wake. For instance after over enthusiastically putting a hole right through a partition wall when fitting a new spur his comment to me was “well John (the Builder) will just have to sort it”. It was sorted so not an issue for me but demonstrated the way the working relationship worked.

You don't actually say what age the property is or what present kitchen ceiling make-up is, lathe and plaster or plasterboard and skim.
If the former then rewiring the kitchen ceiling lights by cutting either large holes or strips across the joists and then under boarding and skimming has the advantage of being a little quicker and less messy than removing the existing ceiling however the new ceiling may not be as flat as you would probably like.
If its a plasterboard ceiling then I agree with the electrician, whip it down and start again, easier to wire, gives you the option of installing a bit of sound insulation while the ceiling is down, and allows the new downlights to sit better as most are designed for fitting on a single skin ceiling.
Personally, either way, I would have the lot down and start again.

Any half decent electrician can do the work required in the ceiling without taking it down.

You can easily cut access panels in the ceiling then replace them and skim the ceiling.

Pointless paying for the ceiling to be taken down then put up again and the cost of the plasterboard.

If there is a wall coming out replacement ceilings may be a good idea as the two existing ceilings may not be the same height

This makes no difference to the height if the ceiling and there wil very likely be a beam between the two ceilings to act as a visual break.

Thanks - it was built in the 90s and made out of plasterboard.

The responses have been helpful.

If so then just lift floorboards and access from above.

Unless the flooring is large chipboard sheet with tongue & groove like ours - it is a f%&*@$g pain.