AB-03Work out your wall type before you fix anythingTap the wall above the worktop: a dull, solid sound usually means brick or block, while a hollow sound means plasterboard on a stud frame or dot-and-dab. Run a stud detector, or a fridge magnet, along the wall to find the line of screw heads that marks a timber or metal stud — a magnet skips over screws in a timber stud but sticks firmly to a steel stud track. If you drill a small test hole, fine pale dust means timber and fine grey swarf means a metal stud. Lath and plaster walls (common in pre-1930s houses) feel slightly springy and give a lighter, more hollow knock than solid brick. Before drilling anything, remember cables and pipes can run almost anywhere in a kitchen wall — a detector helps, but it can still miss cables in conduit or behind foil-backed board, so always find your stopcock first (usually under the kitchen sink) and check it turns, and if you have any doubt, isolate the circuit at the consumer unit before you drill.