To ask what one thing you’ve done to a new kitchen that you can’t live without

[LaPampa]

Finally planning our first kitchen and looking for ideas from people who’ve done it before - What’s the best thing you put in or chose in your kitchen? (Or indeed, the worst)

Pan drawers! Never knew what we were missing x

Double dishwasher has been transformational.
Americans can style fridge freezer
Pull out larder
Breakfast cupboard - ours is small though, should have gone bigger
TV - I really enjoy watching the news in the morning.
Pan drawers
Wine fridge
Boiling water and spray taps
2.5mx 1.5m clear island worth losing a kitchen table for it.

A slow cooker, and really good knives

We just had enough height to fit in the fridge/freezer and oven units under the stairs (bog standard semi-detached 30s House) which meant we had space in other parts of the small kitchen for dishwasher, corner carousels etc.

New thinking - instead of built under fridge and Built under freezer, 2 built under fridges and decent sized freezer in the garage?

@ginmakesitallok but won’t bending down to get the milk out/see what’s in the fridge become a huge pain?

I don't think so? There's one space where a tall unit can go - we're using it for a double oven.

Overhead of new design. Under fridges would go in units opposite sink

I haven’t got it yet but my dream kitchen will have a double sink, a dishwasher and fold back windows along an entire wall. Also room to eat.

One large sink that fits a baking tray in rather than two small sinks. Small kitchen here but worth eating in to a bit of workspace to have a bigger sink

Were just in the process of having a new kitchen fitted and as its only a 10ft x10ft space we have gone for as much work space as possible as that was what the old design was missing, breakfast bar, tall wall cupboards to maximise storage (will need a step stool to reach the very top shelves though), corner pull out shelves, deep drawers, built in fridge freezer so it doesn't look cluttered, a tall pull out larder, big sink but no dishwasher as we've never had one before so won't miss it. We opted not to have the boiling water tap as that just seemed dangerous to me!!!

Dishwasher! Every time

Bins with electric lids, real game changer.

Just wanted to echo what @readwritedraw said about integrated appliances being awful. I ended up ripping my entire kitchen out because of the previous owner’s bad choice of integrated appliances. They are great when they are new but an enormous pain in the hole when they break and you have to purchase something that will fit in the space and then get someone handy/a carpenter to deal with putting it all back together once you have managed to purchase one of a choice of two appliances that will fit. We spent an extortionate amount of money on the world’s most underwhelming fridge - couldn’t wait to get rid of it in the end. And don’t get me started on the oven...

Also wanted to second the positive comments about big pan drawers and spray taps.

Pantry and big pot drawers.

Tralala I have 2 sinks. Prep sink on island where we also have boiling water tap and a 1 1/2 sink beside dishwasher that has waste disposal and spray tap. Love it! Island is designed so behind me when I cook I have fridge / freezer, microwave and 2 single ovens. Hob at other side of island d from prep sink. So I stand in the middle and can reach everything. It’s wonderful.

Wish we hadn’t got a built in tall fridge. It’s a nightmare to repair

This has been massively helpful! What sort of storage have people got under their islands? We have a wide peninsula work top and we don’t want stools under it as we have a table right next to it.

For hygienic reasons I would never want to have a kitchen without a dishwasher. It's the first thing I do in a holiday cottage, put crockery, cutlery and glassware into a hot dishwasher wash. But I am a bit OCD.

Love this thread as because I read the mumsnet “lessons learnt” thread about new kitchens, I have all of these must haves in my soonto be finished new kitchen!!!😃😃😃

Integrated appliances are usually a standard size though, can't see why they are so hard to replace- other than the faff of getting them in and out of their spaces- they look so tidy though so think they are worth the hassle.

Another vote for a tall pull out larder, I love it! We also have a very slim under counter version next to the oven for oils/oven gloves/frequently used ingredients.

I have double butler sink with the pull out hose tap thing that squirts-I love it so much-
Granite work tops- so handy to put hot things straight from oven on to
Plug sockets everywhere-including on kitchen island
Also guiltily admit to telly in kitchen-love watching cooking shows while I chop
And having to have just had to replace my dishwasher I realise how much I would not be without. The sparkling glasses make me happy

Dishwasher definitely.

When my twins were born we were living in my old family home waiting for it to sell. There was a big double fridge freezer with an ice and water dispenser and I miss that terribly but there’s no room here!

Integrated appliances are so expensive to repair and replace so I wouldn’t do that if I were designing from scratch.

Insinkerator- the American style waste disposal in the sink. Actually really cheap and you never have to worry about a blocked sink again.