to ask for your new kitchen advice / experiences

[ghostyslovesheep]

because everyone loves a housey thread

about to move into a new house that needs a new kitchen - I have never done a kitchen before and ex husband is already making 'you will need to spend £54646464 and you'll get it all wrong' noises

so what should I do to make sure I get it right

I am buying the kitchen - I have my own fitter - what are the pit falls and top tips

Thank you

[MehsMum]

You can never have too many drawers: big deep ones for saucepans, plastic tubs, etc etc. I had some made which have upright slots into which I put my baking trays, roasting tins etc. I also have a lot of small ones for all the crap that winds up in the kitchen (dog de-flea stuff, elastic bands, takeaway menus, painkillers, batteries, twine, cupcake cases etc etc etc).

I also have a drawer with full-height dividers so I know where in the drawer to look for the rolling pin or the tongs or the salad servers.

If you need them, a bookshelf for your cookbooks and a spice cupboard.

[ghostyslovesheep]

thank you

I have added many draws it to my list of things I need x

[SwingingBalls]

There's a thread somewhere about the ins and outs of planning for a new kitchen. I think it's in property/diy section. It has loads of good ideas and tips.
Unfortunately I'm crap at links.

[Pastaeater]

I have just had my kitchen done and I have wooden worktops, which I love, but they are a sodding nightmare if you are not v careful with them.

[Peachy27]

Just absolutely make sure your fitter is up to the job. We hired a handyman, (recommended by a friend, he had done other jobs for her but not fitted a kitchen), we naively didn't go and look at a kitchen he had fitted and whilst he was cheap the poor workmanship still bugs me three years on. The saving on labour was not worth it, should have hired someone who just did kitchens, not a 'jack of all trades, master of none!'

[ghostyslovesheep]

thanks I'll look up that thread Swing

Pasta I've already decided on laminate wood effect for that reason

[SwingingBalls]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/1554664-The-MN-lessons-learnt-kitchen-thread

[ghostyslovesheep]

good tip Peachy - this guy has done work for me in the past - he's very good but slow as he pays a lot of attention to detail

[SwingingBalls]

Oh, I've suprised myself there ^^ Didn't think I coukd do that.

There's a few kitchen threads in that topic.

[ghostyslovesheep]

Thanks SwiningBalls xxx

[MoominMama22]

Avoid Homebase whatever you do. They promised 21 day delivery, I was 5 months pregnant . 4 months+ before we had it all. Yup I managed to bring new life but they couldn't manage to bring us the kitchen cabinets. Bloody nightmare. Total stressfest and no apology.

[StatisticallyChallenged]

Diy-kitchens are pretty good, we've used them several times now on kitchens we've planned ourselves. Cheaper than b and q and proper rigid units.

The alno kitchen planner is free to download and pretty good for tinkering with layouts and doing floor plans and 3d views.

[proudmum59]

Has anyone had a bad experience with Cooke and Lewis Brookfield design kitchens. Any water on doors causes the grain to lift and swell.....anyone else?

[MereDintofPandiculation]

Make sure all your crockery and cutlery is within reach of the dishwasher. Emptying the dishwasher is a daily job - being able to do it without walking across the kitchen is a blessing.

If you have more than one person using the kitchen at the same time, decide where the points of conflict are - ours was the sink, so we have two sinks.

[WhereYouLeftIt]

I have my dishwasher raised up so that the base is at about hip level and the top shelf just below eye level. No bending over and doing your back in getting stuff in/out of the lower level. This also leaves room for a big drawer underneath, able to take massive pots.

[WhereYouLeftIt]

And agree with *MereDintofPandiculation about having crockery/cutlery by the dishwasher. All our day-to-day stuff is in the cupboard hard against the dishwasher. I just stand in one place to unload straight into the cupboard.

[SynchroSwimmer]

Chuffed that I got a compost bucket undermounted into the worktop with a S/S lid...super convenient and everyone lifts the lid to have a look.

Also chose a Franke 1.5 bowl Large S/S Swiss sink unit, using the half bowl on the side to drain things in - keeps all the surfaces clear and all clutter out of view.

Designed an overhang space under the worktop to have 3 good sized recycling bins, very convenient and obscured from view.

[Lucywithout]

Initially (2001) we had normal worktops The edges got nasty and the tops marked and scratched. 2 years ago Corian - wonderful and so easy to clean. Get the best worktops you can. Wish I had chosen them before.

[StripeyDeckchair]

Have drawer base units not traditional cupboards - you just pull them out to see everything in them, no losing stuff at the back of the cupboard.
Think about how you work in the kitchen so mugs are near the kettle, china & cutlery near the dishwasher etc
Do you want a notice board - make sure it's easy to access without getting in the way of the cook.
Think about cleaning when you choose the fronts & handles - fiddly designs take more cleaning.
You can never have too much storage.

[TooManyPaws]

I got a kitchen from a place that normally sells to trade, so an excellent German-made kitchen much cheaper than retail. Worth looking around for in your area.

[PositiveVibez]

Yep X 100000000 to having dishes and cutlery drawer adjacent to the dishwasher. I actually read the tip on here.

I can empty the dishwasher into the drawers by turning my body from left to right. It's brilliant 😂

[PositiveVibez]

Wow. Hope OP is settling in nicely to her new kitchen 😂

Who resurrected this thread?

[Shoppingwithmother]

Get a posh place to plan your kitchen and then use the plan to get a similar one somewhere cheaper. I didn’t intentionally do this, but the quote was so ridiculously expensive that I had no choice.

Do not get a sink with square corners. They look cool, but they are impossible to clean and I hate ours now. The sink is the only thing I don’t like 3 years later.

[Shoppingwithmother]

Whoops!