Your DIY Kitchens Order, Fitted in Aberdare

Those terraces were built stepping along the valley side, so a fall across the kitchen floor is normal rather than a fault. Rigid units handle it well because each base is levelled individually on its legs and packed where needed, then the plinth is scribed down to follow the floor so the gap never shows. What the fall does affect is the worktop, since a laminate joint gives away a run that has not been set properly, and that is the argument for a proper survey rather than a hopeful order. Where the fall is severe we will tell you whether the floor is better levelled first, because that is cheaper before the units go in than after.

The other Aberdare feature is what is hiding in the kitchen wall. Around Trecynon and Gadlys it is common to find a bricked up chimney breast or a redundant back boiler recess, and an online plan will simply run units straight across it. Squared off and boarded it becomes a continuous run, opened out properly it can take a range cooker if the structure and the flue allow. Either way it changes the order, usually by a unit size and a couple of panels, so it is worth settling before you pay. We tell you what the room needs and you place the order in your own name, since we are fit only and never sell you the kitchen.

Delivery is one big drop, and a lot of Aberdare terraces have rear lane access which is usually the better route for getting pre built carcasses in without dragging them past the front room. What we check at the survey is whether the lane is passable, whether the gate takes a 1000mm unit and whether there are steps up into the yard. Storage wants to be dry and indoors. A garage is fine, a damp shed or an open outbuilding is not, because chipboard swells and swollen carcasses cannot be squared up later. Check the delivery against the order the day it lands, because replacements run between you and DIY Kitchens directly. Once we are in, most fits sit between five and ten working days with the unit stage moving quickly.

What is included

• DIY Kitchens specialists
• Full assembly service
• Worktop templating
• Complete project management

Fitting DIY Kitchens kitchens

DIY Kitchens is an online supplier, so there is no showroom visit and no designer standing in your kitchen. That puts more weight on getting the measurements and the order right up front, which is where a survey before ordering pays for itself. Units arrive rigid and pre-built, so once they are on site the fit moves quickly.