What do you regret/ love about your fitted kitchen?

[QueenOnAPlate]

We are just in the process of having a new kitchen designed. The designer suggested a wall of cupboards and units and then an island, which does seem to be the trend, but I’ve come home wondering whether that is going to be right for us - we love cooking and have lots of appliances - kitchenaid etc, and they would all have to go on the island which would make it cluttered and reduce the workspace.

I’m also torn about style. Part of me wants all white units and worktop, but I’m worried it will look like a lab!

We are a big family and the kitchen will be very lived in. When we last had the kitchen done (15 years ago) it was really flawed - too dark, fridge in conservatory so not ergonomic, and not enough cupboards. I want to get it right.

I’d love some comments from others to help me decide, particularly about worktop space.

It’s a big space, we are extending and making it open plan, so anything goes!

Things I love: luxury vinyl floor. Not karndean but similar. Though I would go tile effect not grooved wood effect at spilled things get a bit stuck in the grooves.

Love larder cupboards.
Love my double wall ovens, love pyro cleaning function. Also grill. Love my tiny tray space. Love my hook for tea towel. Love my hook for oven gloves. I was a bit anal when planning and figured out when I would use something so where it needed to live. Eg my plates and cutlery are stored near the dishwasher for ease of putting away. Tea and mugs in cupboard above kettle. And yes kettle not hot tap. Those things go wrong and imo aren't hot enough for decent tea. Love my in cupboard bins (up off the underfloor heating so no smelly warm rubbish!).

Spices solutions. We have a lot. Stored in small baskets in categories in a cupboard next to cooker - 2 shelves worth. So only get out a small basket to find your spice. Other strategies I have seen are plate spinners and inner cupboard back of door racks. You could also have a couple of shelves in a pullout larder and label the lids. Look on pinterest for other strategies.
There are lots of great storage ideas. Pot lid stands for stacking baking trays in cupboards and roasting trays in pull out drawers for example.

Depending on the space, could you have one wall just units, one wall with worktop and an island? Then you could store out appliances on the worktop and just keep the island for stuff that goes away? The hob top is most likely to stay clear. We always have stuff drying by the sink, even though we don't have a stand and do have a dishwasher. I end up washing pans and all the stuff that turns upside down in the dishwasher eg kids plastic plates etc.

Lighting - plan your spots so the light washes down the front of the cupboards, taking into account projection of any bits on top of the cupboards. Definitely get under cupboard lighting strips.

Plan a space for recipe books.

@ZaZathecat
The best thing I did was have a wall of shallow cupboards by way of a larder, so I no longer end up with 5 year old tins of food I didn't know were there!
This is what we are planning
Designer suggested shallow wall and base units with a worktop area but it would just be used as a dumping ground so I want full height shallow for larder use, most probably with wire spice racks inside doors.
There's an existing plug socket on that wall and I'm going to have a socket fitted inside this larder so that small appliances can live on shelf at worktop height hidden from sight and be used in situ. Things like coffee grinder, food processor.

We wanted white but felt it was too stark, so went cream instead with a grey-ish worktop. I still love it.

Things we hated so got rid of are black worktops as they showed every single mark, same goes for white high gloss floor, cupboard doors with grooves/mouldings and made from a material that felt slightly textured again a nightmare to keep clean.

We spent hours deciding what doors to have as we needed it to be light and practical (2 kids and dogs), we liked the gloss but after the nightmare of the black tops and white floor were aware of how bad it can be, in the end we did go for a light coffee coloured gloss and it looks great, you have to really inspect it to find a fingerprint and it's made the kitchen look twice as big.
We've got a peninsula not an island as we have no need to walk around both sides and it gives us extra storage space plus I personally think it looks nicer in the size of the room and divides it nicely.

The fridge and oven are built in and are up off the floor so I don't have to bend, we have a few drawers which are great but I find stuff sometimes falls over the sides of the deeper ones as I slide them open, I'm not sure though whether you can get ones with deeper sides, ours have bars a along the sides and aren't filled in.

I have a wall of tall units. All the appliances are inside the units at a level that is easy to reach with inbuilt sockets.

Keeps the island and worktops completely clear of clutter/appliances.

This is all so helpful, thankyou- lots I hadn’t considered! What’s the difference between a peninsula and island?

We had all integrated appliances they look so much nicer. They are the same size as standard appliances not smaller as a poster above said.

Lots of plugs and lots of drawers.

I think islands will go out of date so we didn't have one.

Peninsula is attached to the wall.

I have one and it has an appliance garage on the end. So my kettle, toaster and kenwood can all be hidden by a pulldown door if I'm feeling especially tidy.

www.contemporist.com/store-kitchen-appliances-in-appliance-garage/

Mine is most like the stainless steel door in the blue wall. I really like it.

I have an island hob and spent quite a bit on a lovely ceiling mounted cooker hood which looked great and is high enough that you don't bang your head on it.

I love my drawers. I have two sets of 1m wide drawers. One holds all my crockery/ cutlery/ cooking utensils and the other holds food.

I've organised all my herbs and spices in pots with their names on the lid so you just open the drawer and select the right one. It has revolutionised cooking. My baking stuff is the same.

Things I would change I have a two bowl sink that is a bit smaller than the one it replaced and it is difficult to wash oven trays in. Doing it again with the same layout i would just go for a larger one bowl sink.

I economised on one of my cabinets and just got a cupboard. Doing it again I would spend the money for internal drawers (externally a cupboard is more aesthetically pleasing hence internal drawers) but there is quite a bit of wasted space on the shelves. I can retrofit this though and am seriously considering it.

I also like my expensive tap and worktop mounted washing up liquid dispenser but have recently discovered a secret bottle of washing up liquid in the cleaners stash - either she hasn't worked out what the pump dispenser built into the work top does or doesn't like the stuff I've got in it (method...)!

With a dark floor I would make my lower units a few shades lighter eg salter stone and then go a few shades lighter again for the mounted presses.

I would definitely get a painted kitchen so you can touch it up or change the color.
My kitchen is 12 yrs old and the island has been 3 colors.

Deep drawers, lots. Amazing pull out larder cupboard next to a tall shelved cupboard for stocks of homemade jams, the bread bin, spare food and lots of booze! Appliances cupboard which has half a worktop in front so can pull out blender etc and slide back in when not needed. If you get a hot water tap, be sure to replace filters in a timely fashion, we didn't and now have a defunct very expensive box under our sink. I love my built in dressers to store and display all our wedding list wine glasses and vintage tea sets. I adore my pale grey kitchen with driftwood effect laminate surfaces, tough as nuts and not hugely expensive.

I have two under unit sinks, one for washing up, the other with a drainer basket which means it always looks tidy, also a small sink with hot tap neat my cooker.

Lots of drawers. I went through my old (terrible kitchen) and wrote down every single thing on a post-it note and made sure it had a home in the new design, This meant we have a drawer to out charging devices in, for example and its amazing. I have a deep, wide drawer under the hob for spices that works really well.

I love my quooker tap, but it is a total luxury.

Appliances hidden in a cupboard, cupboards going almost all the way to the ceiling to store occasional use items (admittedly I am a natural kondo type so nothing lingers too long). Under shelf mounted racks for wine glasses. A magnetic knife rack. A rack above one of the ovens to easily slide baking trays into.

Flat cupboard fronts, vinyl floor make for exceptionally easy cleaning, but I run a catering business from home so that happens way more often round here than it otherwise would.

I skimped on our gas hob and I regret it often. I didn't want induction because I thought I would end up scratching it through overuse and I absolutely think that was the right decision. See also lovely smokey aubergines and puffed up chapati.

Our quartz worktop always looks fab and never needs polished (my mum has granite, admittedly 20 years old, that seems to require a lot more effort). Lots of sockets, including one with USB chargers.

Decent speakers, the lights on three different circuits (wall lights and lamps, spotlights, pendant lights). Huge windows.

Storage for serveware on the other side of the island closest to dining room.

The kitchen we inherited had an aga built in the chimney breast. It's pretty easy to remove the chimney breast (as long as you have the correct steel support) and we then replaced with a bank of tall units so no space was lost.

Our kitchen designer also suggested the Tambour unit with pull out shelves in the far right to house small electrical appliances. I was really unsure as I didn't like the look but it's been brilliant. We mainly have drawers instead of cupboards and they are much more practical.

Drawers-easier to fit stuff in it & get out without knocking stuff over. Agree to using all space-we have kickboard drawers which are great. Also induction hob-ace.

I like the big larder-don't have pull out bits in it but just use baskets to store everything & all jams/chutneys are on a lazy Susan in a cupboard.

Our worktop is quite patterned light with browns through & you can't see the dirt!

As many power points as you can manage.i had 17 In the last one!

we built a pantry into the corner where all the food and appliances live. There's a worktop in there for the microwave and toaster, and floorspace for the freezer. This made the world of difference because then we didn't need wall units in the kitchen. Cost less to do also (couple of stud walls and shelving plus a door. Worktop was left over from the kitchen)

We didnt fit our kitchen but moved into a house in which it had recently been done.

love

• big deep drawers
• cooker set into a fake chimney breast
• pull out bin/ recycling behind a cupboard door
• lots of sky lights

not keen on

• stone floor. Looks lovely but it's freezing and unforgiving if you drop anything
• maple worktop. Again it looks lovely, but we havent oiled it anywhere near enough as its such a faff and it's stained especially near the sink.
• small integrated freezer
• our main food cupboard is just shelves and pull out ones would be much better so you csn what you have

I have a very small kitchen and it was a nightmare to refit. I love it.

It's a mix of white and very pale grey handleless matte cupboards so it doesn't look clinical. Grey and white marble worktop and a colour called Brassica on the walls for impact.

I have 3 large draws which are fab and a cupboard unit which wraps around the fridge freezer. Under cupboard LED lighting finishes off. Induction hob and integrated appliances make it look as spacious as possible. I leave almost nothing on the worktop, not easy but I force myself

Regrets:

1. Not having an over-sink shower attached to the taps for rinsing pots etc.

1. Not going for a larger fridge, opting instead for more cupboard space. There are many cupboard items that can go in a fridge if there’s a space issue, but not so many fridge things that can go in a cupboard.

Thinks l’m pleased about.
Having taps/sink next to the hob.

Soft closing drawers, a breakfast bar, loads of storage space. I got my kitchen redone a couple of years ago with a built-in fridge freezer, but I wish I'd got a freestanding one with a freezer the same height as the fridge.

Has anyone had acrylic worktops from ikea? I don't like laminate or wood but can't really afford quartz or ceramic. It only comes in white so after reading one PP about stains on white worktops I'm doubting it!

Had it since Christmas (Howdens), love:
Drawers for plates and pans
Plinth drawers underneath, everywhere (can't abide dead space) - hello Van's not so secret wine bottle stashes
White matte shaker - good for finger prints, just enough elements to break the light and not look too sleek/like a lab
Pull out larders
Double the amount of electric sockets we thought we'd need, including inside a big cupboard for the printer
Minerva work tops
Tile splashback with dark grouting - adds interest, looks edwardian
That we thought about a good spaces for the bin & tea towels
Electric velux windows
Floor to ceiling storage (hate gaps up top, they just fill up with cereal boxes & shit)
White/grey colour sceme, can add pastel accessories for easter, red for Xmas etc
Space for a sofa
UT cupboard
Boiler cupboard

Sockets with USB points, lots of them

We have an integrated bin under the breakfast bar which is brilliant.
However it means that when the dishwasher is open we can't get to the bin which is a bit annoying when you need to scrape the bowl of Cheerios that the DC present you with at the last second!
We went for light grey doors with a light oak worktop and white tiles.
So easy to change the accent colour (yellow atm) as often as we like.
Our actual floor space is fairly small but because you stand in a little square everything is one pace away Not much worktop space really but the breakfast bar more than makes up for that when I clean all the kids homework and general crap off it

We had our kitchen done about 8 years ago and I love it.

Things I love:

-flat fronted oak units with black granite worktops. Love the colours together and they are easy to clean.

-large island with attached kitchen table. The table part is slightly lower than the island and we have a granite upstand between the two if that makes sense. We thought black would be too dark for the table so the island/table combo is in sparkly cream granite. It makes a feature in the middle of the room.

-large cupboard for larder. I don't like those pull out larders, I wanted a huge cupboard that I could put baskets in so I can see everything at once.

-induction hob - fab!

-coloured glass splash back. Ours is turquoise which looks great against the black granite.

-large countertop - ceiling cupboard with a metal roller door. I keep all my big appliances in here - Kenwood, slow cooker etc. It has power sockets in there, I just pull out the appliance and put it away after use.

-loads of oven space. I have 4 ovens 2 full size, 1 small oven and one microwave (that looks like an oven). Sounds a lot but I use 3 of them regularly and useful to have them on different temperatures. When I have people over I can use one as a plate warmer.