To think a fully equipped kitchen for 6 people must include...

[PenguinsAreAce]

...amongst other essentials the following items:
Wooden spoon or plastic/silicon equivalent
Whisk
Spatula
Scales
Large bowl big enough to make salad/ cake mix / whatever for six people
More than one tea towel (for 7 days)

Bonus points if you can guess what has inspired this.

Sounds lush Boffin!!! Wild swimming off the jetty

Boffin - I wouldn't worry about pleasing everyone, people have conflicting ideas about what makes a great holiday let. For example, there's no way of pleasing the people who want to bring their dog and those who want a pet free environment.

I wouldn't choose one near open water, no matter how toddler friendly inside, but my DC won't always be toddlers and one day your cottage might be just what we're looking for. But other parents might be less bothered.

My approach is to make sure I'm going somewhere at least as comfortable as home. The things I look for are:

1. Pet free as DH has allergies
2. King size bed (we have a super king at home) - you can't tell on booking, but I would be very annoyed to find that the beds were poor quality and uncomfortable. Many cottage booking websites don't make it clear what size the beds are and I won't book if it doesn't, so worth making sure this is clear on any listings.
3. Wifi
4. Dishwasher

For our next holiday I booked a bit late, so I've compromised and we won't have a dishwasher. I don't think I'd compromise on the other 3 items. I found the one I booked on TripAdvisor and it was very useful to see what the reviews have said. I did then contact the owners directly as I wasn't sure if they'd have to pay commission if I booked through TripAdvisor.

When I was booking I saw a lovely apartment listed as 'ideal for young families' but it was cream/white throughout including sofas and dining chairs. I don't think my children are particularly messy, but I couldn't risk the stress of feeding them bolognese while sitting on white chairs.

I think the reason that holiday let's always have blunt knives is that they tend to have glass chopping boards which blunt knives. I assume that's because plastic chopping boards look crap after a few weeks as the surface gets scarred. The answers might be to replace plastic chopping boards very frequently (environmentally not great) or provide a sharpener.

Wooden chopping boards every time.

@Agoddessonamountaintop no way in a holiday let! Can't go in the DW and can be pretty unhygienic.

I've tended to take with me to any self-catering place a set of kitchen equipment including sharp knives, a potato peeler and a stove top coffee pot. Took this with me to an NT windmill on the Norfolk coast. Sleeps 20 and was amazed to find it the absolute best equipped kitchen I've every cooked it. Not particularly modern, but quality stuff and tons of it. It was a delight to cook there, and like many have said, cooking on holiday for friends and family is a lovely way to spend time together. Very relaxing . . . and more often than not, if you've done the cooking, someone else is doing the washing up.

However, I wouldn't expect scales at CP. My nan always managed to make cakes and scones using a tablespoon to measure out ingredients. Easy enough to do this.

Some examples of pathetic "fully equipped" kitchens for 6 people

Reviews we read before we booked said that the kitchen was amazing and well equipped,. Well it might have been in the 1950's but not now. We had 49 dinner plates and 1 cup for four of us. No kettle either because there was a coffee maker. When I was asked to review the property I did and when I mentioned the above the owner went mental.

No balloon whisk at last week's cottage :(
I had to whip a pint of cream by hand using the whisk attachment of an electronic hand whisk; no idea what happened to the electric part! Took forever.

Not done CP, but have found at other holiday parks if you book privately owned accommodation the kitchen equipment is so much better and fit for purpose

Hipster, may I direct you to the Food Standards Agency's take on the issue: 'There isn’t any strong evidence that one type of chopping board is more or less hygienic than another, whether plastic, wooden, glass or even marble. What is important is that the board gets cleaned properly after every use and is replaced if it gets damaged, for example from deep cuts or scoring. You could also use separate chopping boards for raw and ready-to-eat foods.'

Boffin, it sounds fab.

Thanks for all the advice. I am thinking now that babies who are not mobile are going to be fine, but we ought to concentrate on over 8s a bit more. Which is a bit sad as it's now got so much great stuff for younger kids (and I took mine there when little, obviously).

Plus the sofa is bolognaise coloured!

Dishwasher proof wooden composite chopping board:
www.amazon.co.uk/d/Kitchen-Tools-Gadgets/TopGourmet-Kitchen-Chopping-Compressed-Composite/B003IP0XS8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502486844&sr=8-1&keywords=wooden+chopping+board+dishwasher+safe&tag=mumsnetforum-21

Swingball/table football and some DVDs will sort them.
Keep the toddler stuff.
People with a wider age gap will be sorted.

Too many sortings, bleugh.

Table tennis goes down well, if you have the space.

Hmmmmm

On holidays my DH packs...
Tea towels x 3
Kitchen towels x3
Paper towels
Hand wash
Dishwasher tablets
Washing up liquid
Grater as there's never one in the house

All normal so far?
Nespresso machine
Soda stream (we love sparkling water)

Think it can't get any more 'did he not pack the kitchen sink?'
Plug in induction hob complete with casserole dish(le creuset)

He's also been known to pack the Wii

Can't imagine what would possess you to bake in a holiday house! If I had one I'd never think to buy that sort of stuff!

We're in our holiday house and its brand new which is nice but because it's brand new, there's no sugar for breakfast tomorrow. That surprised me - I've never stayed in a house with no sugar before! We always leave loads of stuff like that behind us and I was surprised it wasn't there (though I see why).

I'm staying in an airbnb at the moment and I'm currently missing my very lovely pillows and cotton bedding...polycotton is just not nice. Only 4 mugs despite being advertised for 6 and the glasses are very small....no proper wine glasses either - they clearly don't drink - anything ever!

Leaving loads of stuff behind is unhygienic and also puts a dampner on the next guest' 'just arrived at our holiday house' vibe. If you don't want things to go to wastetake them home with you; no one else wants leftovers.

Dampener

Leaving loads of stuff behind is unhygienic and also puts a dampner on the next guest' 'just arrived at our holiday house' vibe. If you don't want things to go to wastetake them home with you; no one else wants leftovers.

My thoughts exactly. I hate it when there's all manner of opened packets, and cartons, including salt and sugar. We never use any of it as there's no telling how long it's been there, whether it's been stored correctly, whether there's been insects in it, etc.

Some owners have the right idea and leave a few sachets of sugar, coffee, etc., and a small carton of milk. You can use them or use your own and it's enough to get you started.

We stayed in a horrid place once where the kitchen cupboards were full of all manner of other peoples' rubbish, including several packets of cereals, half used packets of pasta, - all of which were at least a year past their best before dates - the worst being a tin of prunes that was 10 years out of date! Then in the sugar bowl were some dead ants.

There's a difference between leaving some basics for your guests as opposed to being too bone idle to clean the place and dispose of the rubbish left by others!!

@Agoddessonamountaintop yes agree that wood isn't inherently more unhygienic, just that I know something that has gont thorugh the DW is nice and clean where as I don't know if a wooden board has been properly cleaned or just given a wipe down.

I have wood boards for bread, and the JJ different coloured boards for food.