What is your absolute must-have for a great kitchen?

[BrandoraPaithwaite]

Getting the ancient, grubby, falling to bits kitchen finally ripped out and redone in the Autumn (Covid permitting).

Please help me plan an ideal kitchen!

It's roughly 4.5m square. Door to porch and back of house which we use as main entry/ exit to house. No scope to extend or have bifold doors. Family is 2 adults, 1 dc, dog and cat.

What is your absolute must in a kitchen? Or what have you got in yours that you couldn't live without?

All we have already decided is to have a range cooker in the chimney breast, a big cupboard near the door for coats and shoes. And no island unit or breakfast bar.

Thank you!

What is a pot filler?
Why 2 dishwashers?

Should also say that relative who took out chimney breast also bought old house for period features. They didn’t want to remove character but said they felt a palpable relief after they decided to take out the chimney breast (there are still fireplaces in all other rooms) as suddenly they had lots of options and could actually have the kitchen they really wanted rather than everything having to be arranged to the convenience of these - now pointless - awkwardly positioned brick walls.

And yes, what is a pot filler???

freshome.com/inspiration/pot-fillers-trendy-practical/

I’m disabled so for me not having to carry water to fill a pot is brilliant.

I had deep drawers instead of cupboards. It means you can use the whole area without bending down and scrabbling about. Get lots of internal fittings, racks etc so you can stack things vertically rather than horizontally.

Why 2 dishwashers? 🤔

I see 2 dish washers mentioned on MN all the time but have never known anyone actually have it

Is this another MN myth?

There are a significant number of mumsnetters with large families, so maybe they need 2 dishwashers?

Think about extraction.

Very, very boring

Very important.

You cannot put an extractor up a chimney. Too high. You need your cooker/hob near an outside wall - or within 3 meters.

Range cooker in the chimney works fine. I have space either side. (Excuse the mess). Plus somewhere to hand teatowels. Focal point of the kitchen.

This is an Esse. Like an aga but they have been around much longer. Love, love, love it.

The builder did ask me if we wanted to remove the chimney breast and I said no.. But now I'm going to ask about it and what it means for cost.

I know folk with 2 dishwashers (massive kitchens) or those 2 - drawer types. It means you can have a dirty dishwasher washing and load up the other one so no plates etc on the side. Or if you are lazy you just leave clean stuff in one dishwasher and take it out to use it as and when.

The current horrible kitchen has NO extraction whatsoever! Just the oven and hob squashed up next to the door 🤔

We did our kitchen 2 years ago. There were so many things I wanted, but not enough space for all, so I had to figure out which compromises I could live with and which ones I couldn't.

I have a hidden cupboard in a wall that I just love. It uses the space between the joists. It's as tall as the tallest door I could buy. Inside it's about 12cm deep with shelves built from 2cm thick planks so it can take the weight. I measured all the things I wanted to keep there and worked out the height I wanted for all the shelves. I ended up with 12 in total. I had to rearrange some of the shelf heights once the builder showed me where the 4 hinges would go. I measured tins, jars, containers etc. and added 1cm to get the perfect height for each shelf. Of course in cases where bigger jars were different heights I went for the tallest one, as they also work for stacked smaller tins.
The top ones are for tins, some are smaller for smaller tins and jars, some are bigger for sauce jars and peanut butter, and the bottom ones are higher to accommodate the plastic Ikea containers I house our breakfast cereal in.
It just looks like the wall has a door hanging on it for decoration, but when I open it it has masses of stuff and I can see everything as nothing is hidden behind.
these kind of hidden cupboards can also be used for shallow cleaning supplies.

As storage was a huge need and we have high ceilings, we also put wall cupboards 80 cm high and then added 40 cm high but as deep as the base cupboards on top. In between we added a panel so as to not show the bottom of the upper deep top cupboards and integrated some spotlights into it for extra lighting.
It's the best storage for those things I don't need very often, but still easy to get to as I have stuff in plastic boxes that are easy to see through and easy to bring down when needed.

Using drawers wherever possible has also worked really well.
Some that I have:
Drawer for spices.
Drawer where oven trays, trays and cutting boards are stacked standing up on their side. Very easy to find.
Drawer for oven dishes
Drawer for heavy casserole pot.
Drawer for bin and recycling bin (under the sink)
Drawer for compost caddy and powders and liquids for washing machine and dishwasher ( also under the sink and with the machines on either side)
Drawer for larder items (pasta, rice etc. With labels on top of containers)

I wasn't able to get a high oven, but I do have the microwave in a wall cupboard.

I agree with the need for some kind of counter top next to cooker. I've lived without it and it was a nightmare. Our old kitchen had a wall next to the cooker and having to point pot handles inwards or against the wall was so frustrating and got the handles so hot.

Pinterest, rightmove and google are your friends during the planning stage.

Good luck with your planning!

We have a large extended family I can easily have 30/40 over for family birthdays, Christmas etc. I don’t want everyone washing up. 2 dishwashers helps.

I'm still getting used to living with my new kitchen (was finished in January). I'm so glad I insisted on 2 full size sinks side by side. I had a 1.5 bowl before and it was annoying. I had to have 2 separate ones rather than a double as there wasn't enough area for the worktop to fit and have an hot water tap - a marvellous invention which means I can keep most crap off the surfaces. I've had 6 large pan drawers and I'm now using kitchen equipment I'd forgotten I owned because I can now see it !! I have an induction hob - I'm sure it would help if I read the instructions !!! Downsides are, I have nowhere to hang tea towels, I don't like my 3 section bin in a cupboard and only use the big bit for rubbish. I used to hang a carrier bag on a cupboard handle though so at least I can't see the rubbish now.
Kitchen came from DIY Kitchens and I can highly recommend.

The thing is with a country style kitchen, you don't really want everything hidden away. A certain amount of accessories are part of the look.

We rented one house with a very expensive cottage kitchen, Total Control Aga, granite, boiling tap etc. It was so disappointing. There was only one useable worktop to the left of the cooker and that had the cutlery drawer under it, so we were constantly "excusing". It was cluttered with the breadbin/jars but also the only prep area. Despite a lot of cupboards most had low shelves and there was only one you could put cereal packets or bottles in - they actually had a back up pantry.

I've recently designed a kitchen for my sister who is also renovating a cottage and whilst she has a decent budget we have just had to be practical as her DH has limited mobility. (3d pic). They also wanted a range cooker and a pantry (behind door) and a plate rack area, but worktops are kept clear and there 's loads of prep space. The room has a central dining table but it could be replaced with a freestanding island if wanted. Plenty of pull outs and large drawers in the base units. The chimney breast was taken out to make room for the cooker.

I know what it's like when you get that Perfect Country Home and you want it to look like a magazine but it's gutting when it annoys you every day or constantly looks messy as it's badly planned. Don't take it on trust that features you see in all the displays and brochures, are actually very practical. You can still get a country look with the style of the units and the décor and colours.

Granite or other stain-free stone worktop. Ours is fifteen years old, has suffered a fair bit of ill treatment and is still in perfect condition.

You can still make a lovely feature of the range with a mantel/cabinet over the top housing the extractor.

Tea towels you just need a bar on the end of a run of units, costs £5.

I redid my kitchen last year and forgot to get a big cupboard for the mop, bucket, cleaning supplies etc so something to think about.
I've got a bin that is in a pull out draw, half recycle, half the main bin. It's plenty big enough and I love it.
I wish I had more large draws for pots, trays and pans. I just about manage with 2.

I've got a tambour door on one of the units that sit on my worktop and hate it. It looks great at the beginning when the kitchen is new and I installed it so I could hide away my kettle, toaster and food processor etc. But it's an arse to keep clean. Grease gets into the lines and you can't scrub it if it gets splatters on it because it scratches. Mine also gets stuck far too often and once I got a bit mad and yanked it and it broke. I can't wait to get rid of it.

@Lulooo Ok that's the nail in the coffin for the tambour. I was wondering if the cracks would get grimy.

The wide pan drawers are great. Mine is 900cm and the bottom (just) holds all saucepans colander etc. 1000cm would be a bit better but I couldn't quite fit it. Upper drawer has lots of Ikea tubs which hold all the random bits - bigger utensils, clips all sorts. Then a hidden inner cutlery drawer. As it's 900 holds loads. I got really nice wooden cutlery organiser from b&q. They fit whole drawer so look 'built in'

Found it! Coming over from a different board to mark my spot. Will
Contribute once I've read the thread. I'm planning a kitchen (very very early stages) so this is so handy.

But my favourite very cheap addition is vertical shelves that separate up the cupboard space for storing the baking trays and chopping boards - perfect and very cheap.

I have a tambour and love it. I find it easy to keep clean but it's not near the hob or sink. Warming drawer is used everyday and one of my best decisions. Flush ceiling extractor fan is great.