AIBU to ask things you have in house that are not low maintenance

[Newdonewhugh]

Hi

I’m building a house and I really want it to be as low maintenance as possible. Can you talk to me about things that have made your home life easier and things that are a nightmare.

Some examples:

A friend told me not to get a handless kitchen as the scoop bits to open the doors are always filthy.

Another thing I want to talk about are these new black taps? Will they save me from the grind of constantly filthy, finger marked stainless steel or will they just be covered in limescale instead?

What about a shower screen? They drive me insane. Shall I just build a wall instead I f shower screen?

Robot hoovers.... are they worth it?

Please help me live a life where I can sit down and relax on a sofa one day.

Sorry just to add- I want to hear about things you find great but also things you regret. Everything.

Sockets everywhere. My new build has a fuckton of sockets with USB ports and I bloody love it. Mil has rooms with one electric socket!! I am in a small bedroom right now and there are 6, the kitchen has 10!

I've no experience with the black taps but I have a black fridge and the fingerprints on it are so bad.

If you can then build a utility room. It's so nice not having the machines in the kitchen.

Thank you, yes I plan to have quite a lot of sockets. Hopefully placed in places where I don’t have to have leads trailing all over the place (I hate that)

Shower panels instead of tiling, no horrible grout to clean.

Yeah I looked at a really nice and ridiculously expensive black bin that I loved but all the reviews said it was a finger printey mess all the time. I’m determined not to buy a single thing like this. Keep them coming please.

Oooh. We are about to finish a renovation of our property and I have tried to think about what to choose based on less maintenance too.

Such as:

Brushed stainless steel handles/taps/door handles (doesn't show finger prints)

Matt Polyflor flooring (similar to Amtico but cheaper). Commerical grade so will last. Medium oak and varrigated colour so won't show the odd scratch over the years.

Plain white good quality sockets/light switches - not shiny metal ones that show finger marks

Matt tiles in bathroom - Terrazzo but porcelain which don't show the odd hair.

All handles on any kind of cupboard to be pure stainless steel. Won't wear out the coating as there is none.

More sockets in each room that you could possibly think you need. You don't know what will be invented in the future. I have a few in cupboards for charging such things as vacuum cleaners.

Space next to front door and back doors for coconut matting to be inserted. Keeps flooring cleaner.

Wall hung toilet

Epoxy grout in tiling - v hardwearing and doesn't stain

Matt kitchen cupboards

Shiny quartz kitchen worktop but with a mottled pattern and mid colours (I had a pale plain one before that showed everything).

Miele applicances but not the top level ones.

Make a vent for a tumble dryer, condenser dryers aren't a patch on vented ones.

We are doing the same OP
So far I have decided
Full length windows to eliminate windowsills internally
Kitchen cupboards without grooves( shaker style) as dust and dirt gathers in the grooves. I have opted for smooth Matt finish.
Simple skirting- less ridges for dust to gather
Shower screens don't bother me- if you clean them regularly
Tiling- keep them as big as possible- less grout and grooves to clean

Black taps- depends on the type of water in your area, if it has high amounts of limescale then they will go white on the edges(I have seen it and it looks horrid!)

Think of the ergonomics- I have placed the pantry beside the fridge so when I take in the shopping I drop it in front of them,I can sort it easier and I'm not running around the kitchen to several cupboard.

I’m thinking about shower panels but then I get swayed by lovely bathrooms on Instagram etc. Must stay strong in my mission for an easy life!

We extended and then rewired the whole house. I second the sockets. Consider room layout and possible variations if you get bored! Lol. Also, light switches. My electrician hated me as I ended up with quite a lot of two and three way switching, but I had no intention of walking in through any door and not having easy access to the light switch!

Oh, and if you're in a hard water area (as I am), our plumber highly recommends investing in a decent water softener. We will, but haven't got that far yet.

I’d love to have all the doors, skirting and architrave in solid wood. Skirting boards always look so dirty, scuffed and chipped after about a week of a new paint job. However I can’t find any pictures where it doesn’t just look naff and 90’s and it doesn’t seem to go with the rest of the kind of interior design I want.

Hidden recycling bins if you have room. I hate the faff of sorting recycling so I have two hidden bins in cupboards in the utility room, paper & card, and plastic & tins. I can rinse the empties and throw them in the right container so they are all ready to go at the weekend.

In the bathroom, have a radiator AND a heated towel rail. I've only got one, and I have to choose between warm towels or a warm room

Yes I’m thinking about getting a whole house water filter. I’m in SE so very hard water.

I forgot about the wiring! All the place rewired but also have two master switches by the front door so that when you go out you can easily turn off all the lights rather than walking round.

For a sound system (there was one installed before but not up to date) we have chosen to go with Google speakers including portable ones and will just move them about.

As part of the re wiring, the router has been moved to the middle of the property as it was at one end before.

We have moved our kitchen to a different room but because the pipework is not ideal there are a couple of little hatches (rodding eyes) where pipes can be easily accessed if there are any problems.

Big matt white tiles in bathrooms. No fingerprints and they always look clean.

Definitely lots of sockets. There are never enough. And put them higher than the skirting board.

Things that I find high maintenance/stressful

Limestone floor - it needs to be cleaned with special stuff all the time and every year or so you have to strip and re-seal it.

Expensive Butler sink - a faff to keep clean and constant stress not to chip/crack it with heavy pots.

Things I love

My quartz top - it’s white but it is easy to clean and doesn’t stain, and looks beautiful.

As others have said, plugs everywhere, and also think about connectivity, having your WiFi wired through the house. Our house is quite big and it’s proved to be very useful.

Self cleaning oven. Life changing and the extra cost pays for itself compared with a couple of oven cleaning services. Ours also has a coating on the outside that repels dirt and grease so much easier to clean, is AEG brand and wasn't ridiculously expensive.

Dishwasher that allows big things to be put in it - I can put the oven door glass in mine (self cleaning is only for the metal bits). This was a bonus feature of an otherwise low spec Bosch, so well worth looking out for.

Make sure your woodwork like doors and skirtings are as simple as possible, also radiators. Most of our skirtings are shaped but when we had a kitchen extension, the skirting was made from a much simpler shape so there's fewer ridges for dirt to collect in.

Hand wash programme in the washing machine.

Don't have USB sockets in your kitchen if you don't want to be shifting endless charging gadgets every time you wipe up. Put them somewhere else.

I like the idea of charging things inside cupboards, so the leads are hidden away but I haven't implemented this yet.

I am a lazy filthy housekeeper who is unfortunately able to see and dislikes dirt so this is my favourite topic.

A shower head with a water filter is a good buy. Solves the problem of limescale on your shower screen and does wonders for your hair. I reckon a shower screen is easier than a wall, because cleaning grout and corners is even worse than having to squeegee down the glass every time. The squeegee is massively easier than trying to scrub the limescale off, even if it does add 20s to your shower. And both are easier than trying to make a curtain look anything other than disgusting. Don't have a free standing countertop basin. You have to clean splashes off the countertop and they get yuk round the bottom. If you can, buy a large sink that forms its own counter - no staining if you leave a toothbrush next to it or spill makeup, completely water resistant and easy to wipe down.

Otherwise, grey mixed-colour composite or granite hides crumbs, coffee rings etc really well in the kitchen, which might count as a good thing. We went for pure white when we replaced it because otherwise we'd never clean it and our kitchen would end up as a biohazard. Also the largest tiles you can get (like floor tile size) for the kitchen walls makes cleaning easier. Never buy a sink with sharp corners. You'll never get the grot out.

This is going to be unpopular since islands are such a thing on mumsnet, but unless you really really love to cook and clean, the smallest kitchen you can. Any workspace that you don't use is going to get covered in post, sunglasses, facemasks, mouldy bananas and novelty bottles of olive oil which makes it more of a pain to clean. If you have to move the kettle to fit the chopping board on, it's going to be clean. In the various sized kitchen I've had, I reckon every extra base cupboard unit adds 10 minutes on to basic cleaning. The one I'm in at the moment (tiny flat) has 3.5 base cupboards and it's wonderful. Deep cleaned in under an hour, including cupboard fronts, oven, microwave and fridge. 10 mins for a post-dinner wipe down.

Robot vacs: yes, but only if you're tidy and don't have too much furniture. Don't expect miracles and the fancy computerised smart ones work no better than the ordinary ones.

Shower screens are the devil.

Be careful with Matt tiles through the house. Test them somehow first! I have them in my house and I would like to burn the bastards. They show every little foot mark and hair and the tiniest specks of dirt. I never knew how much my kids feet sweat, put it this way. Look lovely when clean - for all of 0.05 seconds. I have to mop them daily or I feel stressed looking at them.

Yes to a robot vacuum, he is on team Burn The Tiles.

Black taps seem fine inputs but the drain plug thing in the sink is also black and that always has hard water deposits on it. We live in an area with hard water and are looking at installing a water softener in the pantry so we aren’t constantly cleaning limescale. They seem great!

I’m glad the butler sink has been mentioned! My mum reckons they’re the easiest things in the world to keep clean but I hate mine! It’s always covered in tea stains. I’m a slave to cleaning the stupid thing.

Build more storage space than you ever think you'll need.

Definitely a whole house water filter. We are in a soft water area and every time I use hard water on holiday, at relatives etc in hard water areas, I'm reminded about how awful this is to live with (very much a first world problem obviously, I'm acutely aware of how fortunate we are to have clean, safe, affordable water, literally on tap).