Kitchen Door Handles - a guide to fitting.

Kitchen Door Handles are a fundamental part of your kitchen design. They will set the initial ambience within the kitchen. They will be the part of the kitchen that you touch many times each day. The must be functional, stylish, durable, simple to maintain and compliment the overall design of the kitchen.

Here at the diyessentials Group we offer many thousands of styles and finishes and have kitchen door handles available to suit any budget. In fact most of our customers are able to fit their kitchens with kitchen door handles for less than £45. We run a dedicated website www.kitchen-doorhandles.co.uk that is one of the most popular sites in the group receiving over 5,000 unique visitors per month.

Listed below are the fundamental questions you need to ask yourself when considering new kitchen door handles.

1. Are you replacing existing kitchen door handles or is this a brand new installation?
2. Do you need kitchen door knobs or kitchen door handles or a combination?
3. What style of kitchen door handles should you choose?
4. What size do you need?
5. Have you got the tools to do the work yourself?

This is a very inexpensive way of giving your whole kitchen a new look. The process is very simple and need take less than an hour.

Kitchen Door Knobs

Typically an average kitchen will have 20 individual kitchen door knobs or kitchen door handles. Changing knobs is a very straightforward and simple operation as there will be one hole already made in the draw or door.

To remove the existing knob simply open the door and locate the handle bolt and unscrew it whilst holding onto the knob. Tools required would be a Philips screwdriver.

Take the new kitchen door handle bolt and new kitchen door knob and fit. In total this job should take no more than 1 minute per handle. So 20 minutes in total for a complete revamp.

Kitchen Door Handles

These are a little trickier as you will have two holes. The distance between the holes is known as the hole centres and on most modern kitchens these will be:

64 mm
96 mm
128 mm
160 mm
192 mm

etc in increments of 32 mm

So when purchasing replacement handles firstly measure your hole centres before you go shopping.

To replace simply unscrew the handle bolt, then fit your new handles, again the only tools required are a Phillips screwdriver. In total this job should take no more than two minutes per handle giving 40 minutes for our average kitchen.

Many people will look to replace the doors and handles as this will give the whole kitchen a completely new look for little cost. This approach also means that you can choose whatever handle of knob you like. Fitting is slightly more complicated as you need to drill holes in your new doors and draw fronts. It is also worth considering fitting a soft close hinge system whilst you are replacing the doors and handles. The soft close hinge system can be installed for around £5 to £6 per door.

The most important aspect to consider when fitting kitchen door handles or knobs to new doors is consistency, so purchase a jig to make sure all the holes are drilled in exactly the same place on each kitchen drawer or drawer front.

There is nothing worse than looking along a line of cupboards to discover the handles are all at different levels!

The tools required here would be:

• Handle Jig
• Cordless drill
• 4.0mm drill bit
• Philips screwdriver.

To complete a standard kitchen should take no more than one hour.

If you have any questions please contact us on 0800 369 9732. We would be delighted to talk to you.

www.kitchen-doorhandles.co.uk

As an added bonus here is a short video showing one of our more popular handles and a description of how to measure hole centres.

DIY Clinic 28/04/07 9am - 12 noon

This Saturday we are running a DIY Clinic hosted by three experienced trades people who operate locally.

We have a time served Plummer and Electrician, an experienced cabinet maker and a kitchen fitter all waiting to help you solve your problems with your DIY projects.

Learn the secrets from the masters to ensure that your DIY project goes smoothly.

There will be a free coffee and bacon sandwich available to all interested parties.

This will also be an excellent opportunity for both Trade and General public to gain a full appreciation of the products we have on offer, along with the great prices and service!

We are located here. And the phone number is 0800 389 9732 if you need anymore details.

Just Sandpaper hits the headlines!

Yet another site in the diyessentials group. This one offers exactly what it says on the tin - sandpaper.

Our supplier Mirka is one of the leading manufacturers of sandpaper and abrasive products for the automotive, wood and boat building sectors in the world.

With a huge range of products and delivery set at a lowly £2.99 for orders under £45, why bother paying much higher prices at your local store for a lower quality product.

All roll products such as the highly acclaimed Hiomant , Jepuflex and Hiflex are sold by the metre. Or why not try out Abranet, which is a revolutionary new product designed to keep dust levels down to a minimum.

Just-sandpaper.co.uk will become the leading UK supplier of Mirka Sandpaper and associated products to the DIY sector.

Anyway, happy shopping and watch this space for the launch of our next site which is shaping up to be our best yet!

www.Door-Handles.com - its here and its great!

www.door-handles.com has gone live with a big bang!! Orders have exceeded our expectations and the warehouse is very busy.

We went a bit mad and are offering new customers either:

10% off their first order - use voucher code New Customers

Or:

Free postage (worth £7.11) - use voucher code Free Delivery

This site has a huge range of interior door handles, door knobs, pull handles and all the associated hardware needed to make your doors look special. We will be adding a range of door handles for exterior doors in the very near future.

Happy Shopping and hope you are having a great Easter.

DBB Mortice Jig - only £136.59

This is a fantastic product with a world wide following. For those of us fitting mortice locks this handy tools saves hours. Here at DIY Essentials we have the DBB Mortice Jig on offer for a limited time only at the fantastic price of only £136.59 including VAT and with free delivery to UK addresses.

We will ship abroad but will only take orders over the telephone and goods are not despatched until cleared funds have been received.

You can buy the DBB Mortice Jig on www.diyessentials.com.

And whats more here is a little video clip to demonstrate the DBB Mortice Jig in action.

10% off on all sites in the DIY Essentials Group

We have been racking our brains on how to reward our Customers for their loyalty. We are running our Win an Easter Bunny competition across all our sites but we also wanted to give some cash back to you and your friends.

We are offering a Voucher with a code of Easter that is valid across all the DIY Essentials Group web sites:

www.diyessentials.com

www.kitchen-doorhandles.co.uk

www.bathroom-essentials.co.uk

www.binsforkitchens.co.uk

This gives you the opportunity to shop once on each site and get 10% off each time.

The Voucher code is also valid for orders placed over the telephone.

Simply type Easter into the voucher code box when placing your order. The voucher will be valid until April 3, 2007.

Happy Easter and Happy Shopping.

Easter Bunny Surprise!

We are running a great prize draw leading up to Easter. All orders placed on:

DIY Supplies | Door Handles | Spice Racks | Kitchen Accessories
Kitchen Door Handles | Stainless Steel Bar Handles | Kitchen Knobs
Kitchen Bins | Stainless Steel Kitchen Bins | Integrated Kitchen Bins
Bathroom Accessories | Towel Rails

between 19 March and 3 April will receive a Lindt Chocolate Egg. The Customer receiving the egg covered with silver foil will win the huge chocolate Gold Bunny.

Good Luck!!

Innovative Bathroom Storage Solution

We have taken delivery of 100 Bathroom Pole Systems that would make any bathroom look fabulous. The quality is superb and they include a number of popular bathroom accessories including:

1 x 300 mm chrome plated wire basket with toughened glass shelf
1 x Glass holder with two glasses included
1 x 300 mm Beech wooden shelf with chrome plated railing

Readers of this blog have an excellent opportunity to be first in the queue for this fantastic pole system.

Full details can be found at www.bathroom-essentials.co.uk

The retail price of this item has been estimated at £125, they are on sale including VAT and delivery to UK addresses for an amazing £70.48.

Seven key tips for success with Google Pay Per Click

We spend a huge sum of money with Google every month but we get fantastic results so the spend is justified. I thought it would be a good idea to share what we have learn't with budding internet entrepreneurs in the hope that you don't make the same mistakes we did.

There are many so called experts out there but we are active merchants who have mastered the PPC game so it delivers real results for our business.

So here goes, enjoy!

1. Choose keywords to bid on carefully. We started out bidding on the keyword DIY which was great in terms of generating traffic but hopeless in terms of conversion. We now bid on exact match key phrases that are the ones you type in when you want to buy. For example if you selling a particular tv, make sure you bid on the exact model as a keyword as this is what people will type in when they want to buy. They may start out with "plasma tv" but when they have decided what they want they will type in "JVC PD-42DX6 42" Plasma TV Screen" or a variation of.
2. Understand totally the difference between phrase and exact match. It is likely that your conversions from exact match keywords will be highest once you have figured out the right ones.
3. Get help from experts. We used traffic broker for a number of months and would recommend them as a first class organisation. They will manage your account for you and is a good way of getting a campaign set up the right way from the start.
4. Measure conversions. It is extremely important to know which keywords are performing and which campaigns are successful. We measure success as a CTR (click through rate) in excess of 15% and expect 5% of traffic to make a purchase.
5. Use tracking software. Good tracking software is not free but can be acquired for as little as £35 per month. We use Saletrack which is exceptional and comes with no fixed contract. So go on try it for a month and be prepared to be amazed. Oh and don't forget to mention me, Simon Taylor, when you telephone!
6. Continually look at the numbers. We know exactly what percentage of gross sales we are prepared to spend on Pay Per Click. It is very easy to fall into the trap of becoming a slave to Google and having to spend the money to make the sales. Don't lose sight of your bottom line.
7. Work hard! The more time you spend on your keywords and campaigns the greater the rewards will be. Expect to spend some time every day reviewing what is going on.
8. Okay I said seven but here is a free one. Use Dynamic Keyword Insertion, it will enhance the effectiveness of your ads ten fold if you use it in the correct way!

Thats all for now and I hope this is useful for you. If you need more drop me a line and I will help if I can.

Handturned Wooden Knobs for Kitchens

Well we have finally done it and launched a bespoke service for customers looking for that fantastic unique look for their kitchen cupboard doors.

We have a local craftsman who will turn any pattern we present him with, in a timber of your choice and finished the way you want. We will advise throughout the process to ensure the exact look is achieved.

To see some examples look at the handturned wooden knobs on www.kitchen-doorhandles.co.uk.

Uniross Hybrio Range - reduce your carbon footprint!

The days are counting down to the launch of our green battery site! This will be our major contribution to help all uk consumers reduce their carbon footprint. Throw away all those disposable batteries and replace them with state of the art batteries from Uniross.

When we launch it will be announced on this Blog first and there will be some great giveaways and voucher codes on offer.

Search Engine Optimisation

OK we have selected blueclaw to work with us on optimising the sites for our keywords that generate most business. Fergus will certainly have his work cut out over the next few months but we are very excited at the prospect of reducing our pay per click spending.

New Catalogue

For some time we have been pondering over how to produce a catalogue that won't bankrupt the company. One of our suppliers has come to the rescue and in early February we should be able to send all customers a massive 140 page spectacular with the majority of our best sellers included.

We will also allow potential customers to request it from the web sites by leaving their contact details.

I'll post a firmer date later in January.

Green Batteries and helping save the Planet

In the New Year we are going to be offering the Uniross range of rechargeable batteries and chargers.

Did you know that every year in the UK we throw away enough disposable batteries to cover 150 football pitches! What an environmental disaster!!!

PLEASE USE RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES.

The Uniross range has been endorsed by WWF hence our reason for offering them.

Anyway keep an eye on diyessentials for more news!

SEOs and are they worth the money?

WOW have we come a long way since my last post. Back in January we had been trading for six weeks with our new site www.diyessentials.com and life was ok. We now run three more sites:

www.kitchen-doorhandles.co.uk
www.binsforkitchens.co.uk
www.bathroom-essentials.co.uk

Turnover has tripled and we are moving into new premises in the New Year. Staff numbers have also doubled which is making life interesting. We have plans for four more sites in the next three months so watch this space.

We went to see blueclaw today who came highly recommended and had a long chat with Fegus, the MD. He seems to know what he is talking about so we will probably be using his services in the New Year. This will boost our natural listings for our chosen keywords and enable us to cut down on Google ppc spend.

Thats all for now and I promise to keep the blog much more up to date.

EZ sniper : Free ebay auction sniper software. Snipe auctions online. Automatic esnipe bid sniping agent.

Just discovered this great site. If your tired of losing ebay auctions in the last minute, try this!

Read more at www.ezsniper.com

High quality products for the home improver at great prices. Call 0800 3899732 for the latest brochure.

Just updated the site in preperation for some PR in the Eveing Standard on Monday.

What do you think?

Read more at www.diyessentials.com/s...

Just a normal working Saturday

Well some bright spark thought that creating a blog would be a good idea. Keep users up to date with whats going on they say. Fine but its little old me lumbered with writing the thing.

Anyway, home page was updated tonight in preparation for a bit of PR in The Evening Standard on Monday. Spice Racks, Waste Bins and some spectacular designer railing systems from Italy are going particularly well at the moment.

Richard Herne as always has done a superb job on the graphics so with a little help from Alison Cork it should all go splendidly well.