# Forum Home Renovation Kitchens  Kitchen benchtop cutout too big for stove - ideas sought

## Geno

We have an old stove that we want to replace.  It is 630mm wide and is housed in a cut-out that is 610mm wide. 
It seems the new "standard" size for stoves is about 600mm wide, which normally requires a 590mm cut-out. 
What this means is that the existing cut-out is too big for our preferred replacement stove. 
Does anyone have any ideas how I can fudge the smaller stove into the cutout?  Perhaps some stainless steel trim? 
At this stage it looks like our only option is to go with a much larger (and expensive) stove that we would like.

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## Sturdee

Get 2 of 10mm thick stainless steel bars and screw into the opening to reduce it to 610mm wide. The bars should be cheaper than a more expensive stove. 
Before screwing the bars in place seal between it with a generous layer of clear silicone to make the bench waterproof.  
Peter.

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## reybec

if the hotplates are stainless then get a piece of stainless made up to cover the hole.if you go a bit bigger than the hole size it can look quite effective or you could router it into the bench so it sits level with the benchtop.
if you have a stainless oven underneath you could also get the stainless to come around the front of the benchtop i've done that before & it didn't look too bad.

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## Markw

Just a note to consider,
I recently went from an upright old clunker to a new modern cook top and now sometimes I wish I hadn't. 
With the old clunker I could fit a larger array of pots on the stove at one time but with the new fishhead & pikelet, I have trouble fitting the same cookwear on top. I almost can't wait for this one to wear out and I shall invest insometing a little larger to fit my cookwear. And before you say get a smaller pots, the cookwear is probably worth more than the cooktop. Just don't wont to throw away $700 worth of top.

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## renomart

If there are gaps showing at the back and front (as well as left and right) get a piece of stainless steel cut out like a picture frame. It will work and look fine!

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## Geno

Thanks for the replies.  Yes, there would be gaps front and back so I think I get an idea how much it will cost to get a Stainless Steel insert made.
I assume I would then need to do something to stop the stove-top from sliding around on the insert.

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## Wildman

Bite the bullet and go the 900mm stove, you wont ever go back...... 
Cheers
Ben

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## leeton

Got a stainless steel oven, pain in the a*#$....900 wide too...always shows the marks, big glass door, always cleaning fingerprints off it...and I don't reckon it can cook as well as the old one...but maybe that is the wife...not sure..the stainless steel jobs, are not as good as they look in the showrooms.
I know that doesn't help with your problem, but I agree with the other guys.

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## silkwood

Why not go for a 700 wide cooktop. They usually have the knobs at the front (no, I'm not talking about you!) so you get the maximum cooking area on the hobs. In addition you take up less bench space than a 900. 
Whilst they are a little more expensive than most 600's companies like Technica and Euro  (amongst others) make reasonably priced units that are good value and quality. 
Cheers,

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## Markw

> Got a stainless steel oven, pain in the a*#$....900 wide too...always shows the marks, big glass door, always cleaning fingerprints off it...

  Hi Leeton
I usually clean the fingerprints with 3M stainless cleaner on both the stainless stuff and the glass. Stops most general prints from coming back for a few months especially on the s/s. *Note!!* It will not stop sticky childrens fingers but wasn't that why they invented bolt cutters? :Biggrin:   :Biggrin:

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## Trav

I had a similar problem in my old house. Except we replaced a 800mm cooktop (the old coil type electric one) with a snazzy 600mm gas cooktop. All I did was square up the hole in the benchtop, screw a couple of cleats underneath the benchtop and then dropped in a new bit of chipboard the same thickness.  
Then I covered the area with tiles so you couldn't see any of the joints. This worked really well as it covered the joints and gave me somewhere to put pots and pans when they were hot if there wasn't enough room on the cooktop.  
Stainless steel would work the same.  
Trav

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## ricmanalac

I'm also planning to make some changes to our kitchen. I'm thinking of replacing the cabinet doors and updating the appliances. I think the appliances in the kitchen are the original appliances that the previous owners bought 10 or 15 years ago. I have a similar problem now with regards to the cooktop cutout.  
The current cooktop has a length of 870 mm and the cutout would of course be a bit smaller than this. If we buy a 600 mm cooktop then we'd probably have to do the same thing you did. I'm glad I saw this thread as I now have an idea of what can be done to work around the problem. My only option before was to buy a 900 mm cooktop (more expensive) but even with that option I was not sure if the 900 mm cooktop will fit readily on the existing cutout. 
Does anyone have other ideas on how to hide the joins aside from covering the area with tiles? 
Thanks. 
Ric   

> I had a similar problem in my old house. Except we replaced a 800mm cooktop (the old coil type electric one) with a snazzy 600mm gas cooktop. All I did was square up the hole in the benchtop, screw a couple of cleats underneath the benchtop and then dropped in a new bit of chipboard the same thickness.  
> Then I covered the area with tiles so you couldn't see any of the joints. This worked really well as it covered the joints and gave me somewhere to put pots and pans when they were hot if there wasn't enough room on the cooktop.  
> Stainless steel would work the same.  
> Trav

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## Geno

A 900mm stovetop should be no problem, if anything you may have to increase the size of the existing cutout.  Of course it is always easier to remove material than add it.
The stainless steel trim I got made of looks OK.  Having something near new cooktop to put hot things on is a VERY good idea.  I scorched my benchtop due to absence of such an area.
Interestingly, I have been told that granite benchtops are not scorch proof.

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