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Thanks. But do you mean just the inlet?

It was designed by a RIBA architect and a RICS Surveyor. I’d be grateful if you could point out the incompatibility? We are using wood fibre boards elsewhere in the house, but this specific part of the roof (which only bounds the staircase and the MVHR room) has limited headroom and so we need to be sparing with the wood fibre as it’s not as good with the U values as PIR so wouldn’t have passed regs. pavatex was my instinctive second choice but they are just as out of stock as Steico. Not heard of the others you mention, but I think I’ve settled for Knauf Frametherm 32 now, which isn’t as good as wood fibre for decrement delay, but is at least significantly better than PIR. It’s only for a small portion of the roof, so will have to do.

So in terms of the current hierarchy, which brand does a decent, reliable 90cm induction hob with a good uniform cooking surface?

Good point. Who knew! Based on more research, my understanding is that: Bosch, Neff and Siemens are all made in the same factory and have the same parent company so their reliability should be more or less the same. With Siemens you will get a very clean interface and nicer look, with Neff a no-nonsense interface and a simpler look and with Bosch its somewhere in the middle but with emphasis on function over form. Because of their market positioning, Siemens gets the most innovative features.

I know Siemens appliances are generally very well regarded, but just thought I'd share the following in case people didn't know: If you go to Siemens' website and click through to their consumer appliances page, it says: The shares of Siemens AG in BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH have been sold effective January 5, 2015. Accordingly, Siemens AG is no longer represented in the home appliances business. But the renamed BSH Hausgeräte GmbH is furthermore authorized to use the trademark SIEMENS for home appliances. Are the pro Siemens reviews that people have posted on this site in respect of products purchased after 2015 or before?

Apart from which? magazine/website, what other sites are there that review kitchen appliances more or less fairly? I find which? okay, but it is limited in the number of appliances they review and sometimes I find their approach a bit unscientific.

Because I enjoy looking at an aesthetically pleasing kitchen. If I got an oven, a microwave and a warming drawer from three different manufacturers, even if I chose them all in the colour black, they wouldn’t match, likely to be different shades of black, different levels of shininess and different style mobs and handles. You wouldn’t get bricks or windows for the same wall from two different manufacturers would you?

Indeed, the which? Magazine review of microwaves doesn’t speak negatively about the lack of turntable, but it just seems counterintuitive to me:

Keep in mind that solicitors’ rates will vary depending on the value of the transaction. You might think it’s the same amount of work, but being negligent on a £100k mortgage transaction and being negligent on a £1M mortgage transaction are very different beasts. Often solicitors will pass on their insurance costs by making an element of their fee dependent on value.

I’m going through this exact dilemma now. Found an affordable set of three Zanussi appliances which should all match each other, was about to order it but my wife pointed out there is no turntable. Anyone ever fitted an aftermarket turntable to a microwave?

One day I popped by my house unannounced to see how the builder was getting on. In front of my house was some bloke I’d not seen before operating a crane that was on the back of a truck which belonged to the local builder’s merchant. The crane, which was designed for unloading bags of sand and other supplies off the truck, was instead holding a 500kg 10metre RSJ some 10m directly above the bloke’s own head. He was trying to slot it into a small hole in the roof, and kept missing. The forema, his men and eventually my neighbours were staring at him as he kept trying to thread it in to this small hole. I couldn’t bare to watch so just left them to it. The following day the beam was miraculously in position with no damage to the roof or injury to life or limb (as far as I know). @pocster please get a crane and a qualified - and insured - crane operator!

The problem with Samsung ovens is that to get them in black you have to go for their infinite range. Unless there's a mistake on this website, that means spending at least £1500. I can get 3 zanussi ovens for that price!

We're considering getting the Zanussi ZVENM6K2 so that it matches with the Zanussi oven we are getting. Cannot find any reviews of this combination microwave oven. Closest thing I found was a review of a similar model on Zanussi's own website, which wasn't very inspiring. If you happen to have the Zanussi ZVENM6K2 or a similar Zanussi combination microwave, I'd welcome your review.

@recoveringbuilder what model is your Bosch dishwasher?

How long does it take you to remove them and to refit them?

@PeterW i note that the only negative comment made in the JL reviews of this oven is "Only negative point is the removal of the side grill's for self cleaning is a little tough." Have you found that to be an issue. We had a pyrolitic zanussi and funnily enough that was the only issue with that - it was VERY fiddly to remove the internal racks which support the oven trays. These had to be removed every time one cleaned because they weren't sufficiently heat proof to withstand the pyrolitic feature.

We can probably fit a 760mm unit. We might be able to fit a 770mm unit, but no bigger. @Faz can you explain why you think I need so much space. How are undermount kitchen sinks installed? I see the one in our rental where we are staying the undermount sink is supported by a piece of wood drilled to either side of the inside of the cabinet to support the sink, but I don't see why that is any different to the sink resting on the sides of the cabinet itself.

This is all very helpful stuff. Any thoughts on Samsung for kitchen appliances? Trustpilot reviews look awful, but they come with a 5 year guarantee and seem reasonably priced.

Struggling to find a frost free integrated undercounter freezer. Aside from the supply issues, in that we can probably live without one until Brexit/Covid/Petrol is sorted, the options appear to be: Liebherr IGN1064 - pricy and not a great deal of storage capacity, but nice and quiet at 37dB Liebherr SUIGN1554 - appears to be similar to the above although rated at 35dB John Lewis JLBIUCFZ03 - cheaper and slightly more storage but 43dB and one review on the JL website described it as very noisy AEG ABE682F1NF - slightly cheaper than the John Lewis one and also 43dB They layout of our kitchen means we'll be sitting about 2m from the freezer and 1m from the fridge. I've been careful to find a quiet fridge rated at 37dB but that will be a pointless investment if I will hear the freezer. But maybe 2m is enough of a distance that I won't notice a 43dB freezer anymore than a 35dB or 37dB one?

http://www.abodedesigns.co.uk/downloads/instructions/Matrix R15.pdf It's an undermount sink.

You must be a better cook than I am.

Thanks, that's helpful. What other brands are worth considering? Miele? Bosch? I'd heard good things about Samsung hobs and they come with a 5 year warranty, but they only do an 80cm hob, which SWMBO says is too small. Is it?

I'd like to buy this kitchen sink and install it on a 750mm base unit (pic below). Weirdly the specs of this sink say that it is suitable for a base unit that is at least 1000mm wide. Any reason why i can't install it over a 750mm base unit? I appreciate there won't be room for the hinges to be affixed unless i drop the position of the top hinge so that it is just below the bottom of the sink, but I don't see that as a problem. The base units I'm going for has sides made of 18mm MDF, so whilst it should be tight there should be just enough space for the sink. Thoughts?

I'm looking for a large induction hob, 90cm by 52cm, that has a flex zone. The AEG IKE95471FB meets my requirements, so does the Siemens IQ-700 EX975KXW1E. But why the big difference in price! The Siemens is almost twice as expensive. I know Siemens have a better reputation, but what is that based on? Is it just that they spend more money on marketing and so have to recoup that cost through higher sales pricing? Or is there something genuinely special about them. If there was a longer warranty period, I'd maybe consider it, but both these appliances only have a 2 year warranty period. Anyone have an AEG induction hob? Are you happy with it?

That's nice, but my house is 90 years old. Only so much some 40mm EWI and insulated plasterboard on the wall and 100mm PIR under the screed ground floor can do. Before our renovation, we spent a fortune on heating. I'm hoping these measures will significantly reduce that cost, but I doubt we'd get anywhere close to 2 days before noticing a breakdown in the depths of winter.