To ask what gives a kitchen the visual WOW factor?

[Florence1960]

I’ve been struggling with sorting out my kitchen for sooooo long.I’m not creative, not great at visualising things.
It’s a lovely big, airy room. I want cupboards along one wall and a huge island.
Hob against the wall, sink in the island.
When you walk in you’ll see the island first.
What do you think gives a kitchen the wow factor?
Any ideas/advice gratefully received.
Am off out now but will check in later.
TIA.

No clutter and clean. I think that makes a better impression than where cupboards are.

mine has gloss surfaces on doors and drawers and has no handles. Plus the extractor fan is black glass like the hob. It's very star trek.

But for me what gives it the wow factor is a few really good things out on the worktop. In my case it's the Kitchen Aid appliances.

It’s a lovely big, airy room. I want cupboards along one wall and a huge island.
Hob against the wall, sink in the island.
When you walk in you’ll see the island first.

What do you need this thread for?

Meh. I've got friends with all manner of kitchens.
Some big & airy, some small & cramped, some cluttered, some show home style. Some decorated in a style I would choose, some not.
What I'm interested in is if the kettle is on, potentially the wine is chilling and if it's a lovely fun welcoming atmosphere.

It’s all about lighting imo. You need to find a good electrician and check out some light fittings - don’t have to be expensive, just used well - Wayfair have some fabulous ones.

Gloss units or if matte then an unusual colour like navy blue
Not too many colours across walls, units, worktops
Echoing pp re lighting, both under unit LEDs and also main feature lighting
Reflective backsplash
Statement piece like art, or a statement island with a different colour or pattern, or something similar
For extra wow a gloss floor

Youve just described my kitchen. Island with sink. Hob, extractor & oven opposite. Base Units along back wall and one wall unit either side. Plenty as we have a large utility room.
All I keep on the sides is the kettle on one side and the toaster on the other. Perfectly symmetrical.
We have bricks on the same wall as the units with solid oak worktops and gloss units and we get lots of compliments on our kitchen.
Oh and the light on the extractor is usually on so shines down onto the bricks.

I think a good quality worktop can’t make the difference. Cabinets can be fairly standard but if the worktops and fittings (eg taps and handles) are good quality it will make the whole thing look more expensive.
Agree with no clutter as well

For extra wow a gloss floor

Nooooooo. When I moved in here the last owner had paid what must have been a small fortune for a highly gloss, solid marble floor. It covered the entire ground floor. Even the lounge.

The kitchen was awful. Food drops had removed the gloss, someone had tried to clean and polish it leaving stains and marks that wouldn't move. No amount of scrubbing and polishing would make this gloss floor look half decent. The kitchen was lovely but the floor and it's upkeep ruined it totally.
I danced around the room the day we laid a wooden floor over it.

Gloss floors are hard work.

I like modern with loads of extras like pan drawers, full size pantry, pull out shelves, wine fridge, a quooker tap and beautiful lights.

The less evidence there is of it actually being used as a kitchen, the better it looks.

Sink in the island is tricky. It’s a dirty area so hard not to have the odd mug, pan, tea stain in the sink, cloth hanging over the tap.... much better to put the hob flush to the island as that can be cleaned and polished after use and left, and put sink against the wall.

People always comment on our two sinks undermounted with work surface between them....

Bit like this but they are smaller and white ceramic

I agree with @AnneBullen, hobs in islands are better than sinks in islands.

Other than that, the best worktops you can afford, splashbacks that match and no clutter. Lighting and really good taps.

I'd like a Quooker so I don't even need to have a kettle out on show.

I like seeing a bowl of fruit and a plant or flowers if the room is big enough

OP, a really tidy island. So if you tend to leave dirty or clean dishes piled in the sink your kitchen will never look wow if the first thing everyone sees is dishes in the sink on the island. Unless you plan on having a second hidden sink I would not have a sink on an island.

We had our kitchen redone a few years ago. Our eye catching feature as such is the range. We went for glossy sage green cabinets, black worktops and a huge black range, with matching black hood. We have a few black appliances but mostly clear work tops. The first thing people notice/ comment on is the range

The less evidence there is of it actually being used as a kitchen, the better it looks. This!

Don't make the island too big - make sure the corridors between island and side work surfaces don't look cramped. In a small kitchen you could get away with 1m, in a larger kitchen you need a greater distance than that.

We have a sink in the central island, but it's actually a small circular basin used for filling kettles etc so no build up of pots and dirty plates because the main sink is in a corner. (We analysed all the activities we did in the kitchen, and who did what, and this showed that the sink was the real bottleneck, so we put and extra one in).

So when we have our act together, the central island is totally clear except for a big bowl of fruit (or sometimes two) and a large vase of flowers.

I love a smeg fridge and cooker

Worktop.

We went for white worktops, because dark shows up all the water marks and every single crumb!

Good quality worktops, quartz, marble or solid wood.
Agree with others, put the hob in island, not the sink.

Spend as much as you can on worktop. The cupboards are standard and worth next to nothing, it's the doors on the cupboards you pay for, but the worktop is used daily. (remember real wood worktops MUST be oiled to maintain them and granite WILL stain and require fine sanding and polishing to get rid of stains)

Be careful choosing handles as some of them should only be used on wood and not MDF etc (check what your cupboard doors are made of eg. 16mm MDF, 18mm MDF, soild wood with MDF panels)

If choosing a 'no handle' type of door, you'll need to be able to adjust the door hinges yourself (it's easy), as all doors subtly move out of alignment with use, it's just REALLY noticeable in the 'clean lines' of these doors.

Get quotes yourself from different places and haggle. If you time it right with sales etc, you can actually haggle a LOT. E.g Howdens sale is Oct EVERY year, and they'll give you a 'normal' quote and an 'oct' quote, which will have anything up to 40% off, you can then compare with B&Q/ Kitchens direct/ joiner quote etc and haggle them ALL down. This works with whichever place currently has a 'sale' on.

Your 'wall/ base/ tower ends as well as cornice and pelmets actually make the kitchen look well finished, so make sure you use them, there's nothing worse than a lovely new kitchen has the white/ oak of the basic bare cabinet visible, cos it makes it look cheap. ( Joiners will get your kitchen design pictures WITH cornice/ pelmets /ends and lighting, get you to pay for it, then take them off the bill before paying for it, thereby pocketing the cash and telling you you'd need to pay extra for these). So ask for an itemised invoice BEFORE you pay, and make sure. ( ALL the places that give joiners a trade discount give them an itemised invoice, then ask for a non itemised one to show their customer, usually with a couple of grand added which is taken off again before they pay). So if you can get an account yourself, do it.

Doesn't matter where you want the sink/ hob etc, just make sure your 'working triangle'( i.e fridge, cooker, sink) is as small as possible as this is what actually makes a kitchen 'user friendly' (as any designer will tell you).

Don't put tower units next to your windows as they really do cut out a lot of light.

If you choose a 'coloured' sink and tap, be aware they do NOT keep their colour (sunlight bleaches them, food stains mark them etc and the colour often peels off the taps in time).

Take your time choosing and comparing, remembering to check online retailers for cheaper appliances/ sinks/ taps/ lighting/ etc.

Haven't read the full thread but I think texture is the key. We designed and installed our own kitchen and it wasn't until we added these did it feel 'right'.

I love a smeg fridge and cooker

DP refuses to have any appliances that have the word "Smeg" on them in the house!