What follows is a series of tips and things to consider when building a house and planning for the kitchen.
Electrical outlets
Plan where you want appliances to go (dishwasher, microwave, stove, kettle, toaster, fridge, etc) so you know where to put power points. For example the microwave and dishwasher power points will probably need to go under the benchtops, so you will need to cut holes in the back of the cabinets.
What I suggest is that you ensure there is extra cable at the back of the power point when the electrician fits off these power points on the wall. Then, when you come to install the cabinets, you take the power point off, drill/cut a hole in the cabinet, poke the wire through the cabinet, and mount the power point onto the inside of the cabinet back, rather then the wall – much neater.
Plan out your cabinet sizes and spacing and ensure that the power points don’t line up with the edge of a cabinet – that will be a real pain to deal with.
For a toaster and kettle, you may want a power point inside a benchtop cabinet.
Plumbing for sink tap and dishwasher fixtures.
Normally the fitoffs for tap fixtures sticks out past the plaster board face just enough to screw on a shutoff valve/tap. However when the cabinets go in these fixtures need to stick trough the cabinet backs as well, which means the fixtures need to poke out an extra 20 to 30mm. This is very easy to forget when you are fixing in the plumbing into the stud walls.
Kitchen taps and window ledges
You will often put the kitchen sing under a window. If you are using timber window frames, you may have a window sill/ledge that protrudes out from the wall face by 20 to 30mm or more.
Just be aware that this may get in the way of your sink faucet. If the faucet mounts behind the sink and the bench is a typical 600mm deep, you may not have enough space for the faucet.
If there is some sort of decorative ledge between the back of the bench and the wall, then you will be OK.
Blocking
You may need blocking in the stud walls to screw things to:
- Base cabinets
- Wall cabinets
- Shelves
- Range hood
It takes a fair bit of foresight to plan for this, but its worth it. Take photos of all the walls BEFORE the plaster is hung, so you know where the blocking is!