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)

Yy agree with the traditional larder issue. We had one in one house we lived in and stuff really got lost at the back and it was a dumping ground, don’t think I’d have one again.

Deep pan drawers, double sink, lots and lots of workspace, breakfast bar and cooker, sink oven triangle

I can't understand how you would get rid of a dishwasher. What do you do if you have people round with piles of washing up?

The thing is to have a 600 unit with a door in the place where you might have a dishwasher, (ie near sink) leave plumbing and drainage capped off behind, then if you do come to sell you can point out it would be easy to fit one.

This is the bottom end of our kitchen/family room. Guess what's hidden behind the doors!

A double sink and a double oven. Lighting over every work area.

I have all my mugs, coffee and tea in a drawer near the kettle and I love being able to pick a mug rather then reaching into a high level cupboard....

I’m not sure on my microwave oven combo either by the way, I don’t think I’d have it again, often you just need to blitz something for 30seconds and can’t becauaw there’s meat in it for 3 hours

However my slim line cupboard under my hob with 2 deep pull out “boxes” in it one at the right height for oils one for most frequently used slices/salt/pepper so I don’t have oil on my worktop then priceless

Hotpoint fridge drawers are like a larder only soo much better !

Pan drawers, more pan drawers and another for luck. Best things ever. I had a miserable six days between dishwashers and would NEVER contemplate not having one.

I want to keep this thread for reference for our next kitchen. So many great ideas.

I've already said my "one thing" further up thread but cleaning the kitchen today I was reminded of one thing I have that most don't that I absolutely love:

I've always hated how quickly draining boards get dirty. So now I don't have one at all. Double sink, installed below lovely smooth granite worktop. When I need a draining board I have one of these that lives in the cupboard when not needed and can be popped in the dishwasher whenever needed.

So now my "one thing" is "lack of nasty grotty draining board with all the fiddly bits that make cleaning a pain."

It makes a huge difference. It's lovely.

Agree tenorlady

I have grantite that, even with a water softener, needs cleaning. I have www.amazon.co.uk/Joseph-Double-Sided-Draining-Board/dp/B00AVWEBH0/ref=sr_1_2?s=kitchen&keywords=joseph+joseph+draining+board&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1540073661&sr=1-2 that drains into the sink and means I never have to clean the granite.

Everyone now and again I shove it in the dishwasher. Sorted.

*Every now and again

Have a small kitchen and very little cupboard space. Have a rack above sink that all saucepans hang off. Is so easy, would keep it even with a kitchen twice the size. Also have a smaller rack with all kitchen implements hanging from. Space savers but actually more convenient than the alternative of cupboards/drawers

I moved 7 times in 14 years and have now concluded that my kitchen NEEDS a comfy chair and a cat.

TWO comfy chairs and a cat... otherwise where will you sit when cat gets there first?

Self cleaning oven. Bloody amazing!

I have managed to fit a dishwasher (slimline) into my kitchen and the whole thing is only 10ft by 5ft, doorways on. Both 5ft walls have doorways, as does one 10ft wall. You could theoretically rearrange the kitchen to mean you could have a run of cupboards, corner and end. But it would involve moving the stairs so pretty impractical!

It's very tight for space though, if I designed a kitchen on less of a budget another time I think I would have extra tall cupboards to the ceiling. I'm considering adding hooks under the top cupboards for mugs to free up some extra storage space. I literally only had space for a single run of units. I manage with what I have but it's a long way from ideal.

@soontobe60 - what is hidden?!

@nacreous - have you been to ikea, they have loads of really good space saving solutions.

If you have young children a high level oven is essential. To avoid the risk of nasty burns.

Don't have an integrated fridge freezer next to the oven

Am also planning a kitchen and I want 2 sinks-one for prep on island and one for cleaning.

Does anyone else have this? Is it useful? Would you recommend it? Or am I just being beguiled by all those gorgeous pics I keep seeing on the Internet?

The Man Drawer :)

Induction hob
American fridge freezer
Pan drawers

Noego
I love the idea of a man drawer!
Can I put my man in it if he's irritating me? Or does a man appear to fix things? Like a plumber, electrician or whatever?
Do Miele supply them?

Yy agree with the traditional larder issue. We had one in one house we lived in and stuff really got lost at the back and it was a dumping ground, don’t think I’d have one again. We have one, but it's a separate walk-in (if we didn't have a cellar I think someone would have fitted it out as utility room). So shelves are only 12 inches deep and things don't get lost, the deepreeze is in there, as are noisy things like breadmaker, microwave.

Am also planning a kitchen and I want 2 sinks I was just going to come on and say that was my "one thing". In our case, main sink near dishwasher for washing pans and food preparation, secondary small basin in central island for when someone's hogging the main sink.

We made a list of everything we did in the kitchen and what bits of the kitchen it would use, then transposed the information to a flow chart of kitchen places to show which were most heavily used, and where one activity (eg making a cup of tea) might get in the way of another (eg cooking a meal). We deduced that the main competitive pressure when more than one person was in the kitchen was on the sink. So - two sinks.