If you have an in-frame kitchen, would you have it again?

[namechangedtoday15]

Sorry, I know the kitchen threads have been done time and time again, but I have to order a kitchen in the next week or so and I am dithering...

Do you like it? Do you think there is any less space than a "normal" unit? Have the finish suffered where the door sits in the frame?

Any advice (again) greatly appreciated.

[JT05]

We have one already fitted in our new house. For looks, I'd say yes, definitely.
But the 300 cupboards are virtually useless. You can only get small thin things in them and it is difficult to get to the back. So I'd say avoid putting them in. If you have a 300 space think about a pullout spice rack or tray storage. You can't retro fit a pullout interior.

[namechangedtoday15]

Other than the appliances, we'd go with pan drawers (probably 80cm wide) so would avoid the slimmer cabinets!

Oh decisions, decisions!

[JT05]

Yes pan drawers are the way to go. Ours has been in about 5 years and still looks as good as new, so they seem to wear well.

[whois]

Would you go 100% pan drawers or do you think there is any benefit to having 1 or 2 cupboards?

[namechangedtoday15]

I think we're going to have a tall larder (although probably with drawers inside if I can) and slimline cupboards on one side of the island (work top will overhang them if you see what I mean so we can have stools - they'd just be for storage of things we dont use very often), but drawers everywhere else I think.

[origamiwarrior]

We've had ours for a couple of years and are happy, and would have again. Not noticed lack of space. Only thing have noticed is that you have to be careful not to knock the frame when you close cupboard doors/drawers, i.e. make sure nothing is caught (saucepan lids are the worse, but also sticky out utensils in the cutlery drawer) when you close, as these will ding the edges of the frames. We've got a few dents and dings from that (touched up with the touch-up paint they supplied). How careful are your kids?!

We have the same range of cupboard doors in our adjoining utility room, but the non-framed version, and no one has ever noticed they are different. However, I have to say, pan drawers look much better (more £££) when framed.

[Greengagesummer]

I have pan drawers throughout, except fridge & dishwasher.
Biggest issue was under the sink, well, drawer under that. It was v difficult to find a suitable recycling system to fit the height of that drawer. The only one that worked would have been £££, even in the scheme of a new kitchen. 2 decent rectangular tubs from the local everything shop plus the food waste bucket fit perfectly with a bit of space over for spare long things behind them. Under a tenner.
The directly under sink drawer loses a cut out worth of space for pipework & has to be removed every 6 months to change the water filter cartridge.
On balance, that's the only issue we've had with our drawers.

[Greengagesummer]

Sorry, realise that you specified in frame but not necessarily pan drawers...

[namechangedtoday15]

origami not careful at all like their mother. Having said that, they don't actually venture into the kitchen much!

Thanks for all the responses so far.

[RaisingSteam]

There was one in our house dating from about 1999 MFI. It was awful, no pull-outs, too many 30cm/40 cm and drawer line cupboards you could hardly reach into. We ended up taking off a lot of frames and attaching the doors so that it looked in-frame but opened as one piece. They also had normal elbow hinges not butt hinges, so the door didn't even open clear of the frame - the 30cm units had a clear opening of under 20cm.

I think to work, you need a sort of generosity of scale and simplicity, not fiddly little units or "fillers". Fewer, larger cupboards, definitely a lovely big larder, 2 or 3 wide drawer stacks or cupboards with pull-out drawers inside. It really depends on your range and where you get it from but have a good poke around in the showroom.

[namechangedtoday15]

Thank you Raising really good advice.