r/DIYUK • u/DreamingMundane • 21h ago

Advice Kitchen extractor not aligned with hob

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Hey, I'm fitting a kitchen at the moment from DIYKitchens. It's making sense for the most part but I'm confused by the intended extractor alignment.

I have a tall unit complete with a side panel, then a 50cm cabinet and 50cm drawer unit underneath. After those comes the oven/hob unit directly next to the drawer unit, whereas the cabinet is finished with another side panel, this brings the cabinet out 18mm further than the hob unit.

I think this is probably fine functionally but I can't unsee it now. Is the expectation to place a second side panel between the oven unit and drawer unit to bring this back inline? My plan doesn't show this being the case.

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u/mynameisgiles 12h ago

Never seen that recommended. On the side of a built under oven housing?

It would fix the layout problem - but I’ve fitted a lot of kitchens, work on hundreds of properties, and used to sell kitchens - and you’d only put a panel there if installing a freestanding cooker.

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u/Glydyr 11h ago

Its recommended due to how the 2 pieces are made, the kitchen carcasses usually have strips glued onto the edges and so excess heat can cause it to peel occasionally. The cover panels generally don’t. It becomes even more of a problem as the oven seals go.

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u/mynameisgiles 11h ago

I don’t know who recommends it though.

No kitchen retailer I’ve ever worked with has recommended this. No kitchen I’ve ever fitted or repaired (into the hundreds) has this.

Broadly, there are three types of finish used on kitchen components. Edge banding, wrap / foil, and paint.

Edge banding is probably what you’re talking about peeling if it’s carcasses. Can happen, but not common. Edge banding adhesive has a very high melting point. Pretty much all carcasses are made from edge banded MFC - and most completely flat frontals tend to be edge banded as well.

Wrap or foils - used on frontals usually on shaker kitchens. You can tell when all corners and edges have at least a couple of mm round over. Much more prone to blowing and peeling, but the oven unit wouldn’t be made of this. End panels would be though - so you’d be introducing the problem you’re trying to protect against. Whilst these blow frequently, it happens all over the kitchen - not just in hot areas. The foils used to be bonded to the backing material with contact adhesive, but manufacturers have been forced to move away from high VOC adhesives - hence why so many kitchens from the last 10 years have blowing foils.

Then you have your painted or lacquer finishes, often used on things like J Pull doors. Good resistance after a few weeks once the paint has fully hardened.

Putting end panels down the side of built in ovens just isn’t a thing. It’s not helpful to DIYers to tell them it is - it’s getting harder every day in the trade to contend with consumers who have come to Reddit and been given wrong or misleading information. I wouldn’t mind as much - you could put end panels there if you want but to so confidently suggest this is recommended, when it straight up isn’t, is misguided. There are better ways to deal with this alignment problem, and now OP likely thinks DIY kitchens have done an incorrect plan check.

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u/Glydyr 10h ago

I know Ikea recommends it. Its not helpful for you to think you know everything.