Roger Bisby fits an all-in-one kitchen that can definitely stand the heat.
My sometime assistant, Duncan, had never seen an Elfin kitchen before, or at least he doesn’t remember having seen one. He may well have come across one when he was a student because they are very popular in student accommodation – but his student days are one big blur.
I told him we were going to fit one in the attic conversion we had been working on and his immediate reactions was “why not buy a base unit, a fridge, a hob, a microwave, a sink and a bit of worktop and make one up?”
At this point I have to say he was an art student, not an economics student. I invited him to price the job up with his components and he got busy on his phone.
Not only did his parts come within £150.00 of the Elfin price but everything he chose was the cheapest tat.
Now I may not know much but I know that kitchens and bathrooms in rented accommodation have to be built like battle ships.
Nobody is going to look after them and the fact that you can replace every single steel component in an Elfin kitchen means you can bring it back to pristine condition in no time with nothing more than a screwdriver. The stainless steel tops are also a very heavy gauge.
Duncan, in his enthusiasm to save me a few quid was also forgetting to factor in the labour. By the time we have monkeyed around building our little kitchen the day would have gone.
We would also have spent half a day shopping. So I won the argument and by the time he had seen the quality and we had fitted it he was a convert to the Elfin approach.
I have fitted a number of Elfins over the years and, as far as I know, those units are still in service. One of my customers had one for the Granny flat and when the granny no longer needed it (RIP) it was a very simple matter to remove it and put it on ebay.
Unlike chipboard units and worktops, Elfins tend to hold their price. The unit I fitted in the flat was a 1500. In my opinion this was a little too large for the room but the choice wasn’t mine.
I also added a length of stainless steel worktop from Elfin, which simply bolts on the side. You can buy wall units as well but the sloping ceiling made that impossible.
The unit arrived on a pallet and in an easier location we might have carried it in with no need to dismantle it but the fact that we had to negotiate some kites and winders up to the attic meant we had to unscrew the fridge. Even with that little extra the job still only took a couple of hours to complete.
If the stark white is a little too utilitarian for your customer you can chose from a range of tasteful colours and I dare say you could run the doors down to your local car spray shop and have any colour you care to choose if you got bored with it.
For more information on Elfin Kitchens click here.
