What extras does your kitchen have that you use/don't use?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Starting to toy with replacing our kitchen and we've only ever had kitchens that came with the house. Never done a kitchen refurb before.

I have lost myself in Pinterest with all the extra ideas you can add (ironing board that pulls out of a drawer/thin kickboard drawers for Tea Towels etc).

Does your kitchen have any extra features aside from basic cupboards, drawers and typical white goods? Any must haves? And waste of money?

Am going there to watch this as we will be doing ours in November, though maybe I better not as I don’t want to be tempted beyond what we have already ordered!

Am going to watch this

I thought this was going to be about garlic presses!

Great thread. Don't have a fancy enough kitchen to reply helpfully though. Sorry!

I used to have an ironing board drawer and it was hopeless. It was in a cheapish kitchen, though, so fancier ones might be better.

However deep pan draws, rather than cupboards, are amazing.

Did ours a few years ago with an extension so things we use

Double sink. Always want one on the go and another to tip tea and stuff down

Special tall cupboard for trays and chopping boards with slats.

Extraction hood. Very useful for smells and smoke.

Two fridges. One massive American one and another on the other side just under the counter under the kettle and toaster which is for milk, butter, jam, bread so breakfast involves no walking. Other people have wine fridges I know but its a godsend at xmas.

Oh yes Peony, I have loads of deep drawers too now. Brilliant.

Just had ours done! The things I love are:

Quooker - boiling water tap. Means I don't have to have a kettle on the worktop, and don't have to wait for a pan full of water to come to the boil

Separate, side-by-side fridge and freezer (tall, free-standing). Much more space than if you buy an American fridge freezer, where the freezer element is actually pretty small.

Deep drawers rather than cupboards

A larder unit, and with spice racks attached to the inside of both doors

A wine cooler/fridge!

Glass splashback rather than tiles - looks beautiful and much easier to clean; no issues with grouting going grey over time

I'd second deep drawers, I use mine for plates and other china - but I line the drawer with a non-slip mat so nothing moves when you close it. Also a waste disposal. The kitchen had one when we moved in and we replaced it when we did the kitchen, really saves on having food rotting away in the food recycling. Not everything can go in mine (stringy stuff like leeks or asparagus get caught in the grinder) but I'm sure there are fancier ones available.

We don’t have fancy things in cupboards.

But I do have 2 deep pot drawers which are useful.

We have a range style dual-fuel cooker that gets very well used (double oven, separate grill, 5 rings).

And I have an American style fridge freezer - also very well used. But we built a press over that which is where l the treat things and baking stocks go and I am very glad we did that.

And the shelves in the head height cupboards are adjustable so I have a couple of tall shelves for large bottles and stacks of tins, and some shorter ones for things that don’t stack- I can change these if what we are storing changes from time to time.

Fancy extras?! My kitchen doesn't even have drawers! Not even 1 (thanks previous owner!)

When I lived at home the kitchen had big pull out unit taller than me with loads of shelves so food never got lost in the back of beyond. I'd love one of those and corner cupboards with the shelves that roll out so you don't have to grasp in corners you can't see for lost tuppaware.

Starting a kitchen wish list now 😁

There's a brilliant thread somewhere on here that you should treat as essential reading when planning a kitchen - they've done all the work for you!

I’ve just had mine done and some of the things I am loving:

Five burner hob so always space. Double oven at eye height saves my back. Hot rods on the worktop so no trying to find heat proof racks.

Pop up sockets, keep the worktops clear and give loads of sockets when needed. As many drawers as you can fit in, abd carousels and pull out units to use every bit of space.

1.5 sink so always one to drain into.

Boiling water tap so no kettle, cleared worktop and always ready to make a cuppa.

I don’t have a pull out ironing board but that’s all tucked away in a huge cupboard off the utility room.

Door mounted bin in the under sink cupboard too.

Everything pulls out and slots away again 😬 so it’s a doddle to clean.

If the room and budget were slightly bigger I’d have gone for two dishwashers, one clean one dirty but I can live with one!

I had my kitchen done earlier this year, boiling tap and waste disposal worth every penny. Bins behind drawers, big pull out drawers for saucepans, plates etc. One of my provisos was I needed a kitchen that was easy to keep clean, nearly everything is behind cupboards & cupboards up to ceiling, we had ours boxed in. Induction hob, brilliant, just needs a wipe over, light coloured Quartz also just wipe over - I lived with black granite for far too long. Have fun but be prepared we went way over what we originally budgeted.

Definitely pan drawers and at least one huge larder cupboard - much better than a lazy Susan/ pull out cupboard with metal holders those almost went for

We've decided to move instead of upgrading our kitchen, but my wishlist had a two drawer dishwasher so you could always have one dirty and one clean; a massive larder cupboard; side by side tall fridge and full size freezer (they're crap on American style ones) and a 100cm wide range cooker. And no crappy little drawers, all deep ones - they're a godsend for pans and china.

This is great. I'll also look out for that other thread.

We have a separate utility with washer, dryer, dishwasher and fridge freezer.

I have corner cupboards with door that folds outwards (struggling to explain) so no unreachable corners both below & above, & pull out spice/sauce narrow cupboard.

We've got pull out bins either side of our sink - one for general waste and the other recycling. It's great not having to faff about with a pedal or swing bin when you're tidying up. Yes to deep pan drawers - wish I had more than two, actually! We also have two very narrow cupboards with a rail inside, next to range. Too fiddly to hang tea towels in there, which I presume is the intended function, so it has ended up being mostly wasted space ( though I do stack baking trays in one).

Useful extras are: USB sockets, double sink, dishwasher, soft close drawers, built in coffee machine (at first)

Non useful extras: Built in coffee machine. I used it a lot at first but now never! I keep forgetting to buy pods for it

I got mine done last year. I work in the accounts section (I say section as it's a small company so can't really say department and I work from home 😂) of a home improvement/emergency call out company. I didn't work for them when I got the kitchen done but got offered a job with them while I was getting the kitchen done and my living room is next! It's getting done in a few weeks and I'm proper excited! Once that's done, all we have left to do is the hall (just the walls really) then I'll have the house I wanted 🙂

Oh forgot to add induction hob onto the lost of useful things

Definitely drawers rather than cupboards. Twice as much accessible space. I also like pull out cupboards - largely same reason. You can use the full depth. I have one the is only 30cm wide . I can use the whole depth, which makes it very useful. Being so narrow it would be pretty useless as a normal cupboard.

I love the 'le mans' units for corner cupboards as well. So versatile. I have a pull out bin unit that has 2 bins (general and bottles) and a concealed drawer above for bin bags (also other bags, foil, greaseproof etc).

I love my induction hob. Used gas since childhood but this is so controllable - can even be set to just keep warm, and so very easy to clean.

I only have one wall cupboard but I definitely love that it has a bifold door (folding up) I was forever banging my head before when putting things away from the dishwasher beneath. I can now leave it up when putting things away, setting tables or whatever that needs multiple visits without risk to what's left of my brain.

One thing I haven't got but would love is twin dishwashers. Saves so much putting things away. Use them straight out of the dishwasher and put the dirty pots into the empty one. Sometimes, if I haven't got round to putting clean pots away, dirty ones end up stacked on top. Wouldn't need to happen if I had two (I'm so lazy )

Have a look on DIY kitchens for practical ideas without paying extortionate prices - their standard units go up in increments of 50mm so you can get an almost bespoke kitchen at an off the shelf price. I got mine from there because of recommendations from a self build forum I am a member of.

I do like the pan drawers. Ideally I'd have all drawers.

What's the benefits of induction over gas hob?

Induction is as responsive as gas but far easier to clean

We've recently had a kitchen extension and I love most of it.

Best:
~mid height dishwasher so that I don't have to bend down.

~ flat extension lead in a drawer with two plug sockets and 4 USBs.

~ kitchen island with stools so that I can cook and chat

~tandem pullout larder

~ integrated separate fridge and freezer

~ wine fridge (though just an extra fridge for booze would have worked

Meh:
~ boiling tap. I love it for cooking as it's so fast, but it's not hot enough for a cafetière of coffee nor my husband's steeped tea.

~ downdraft extractor. I rarely use it and it takes up a ton of space in the island cupboards