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.

My cousin swears by large drawers, rather than cupboards. That way, you can reach everything far more easily. She easily has the best kitchen I've ever seen!

Oh, she always has one of those instant boiling water taps, and says that it is a game changer!

Oh, I’ve just googled raised dishwashers. What a good idea, I don’t think I can do it though because I’d lose too much worktop space in that section.

Do not have a pet.

I've got a small dog who isn't supposed to shed, but the HAIR... see also tiled floors. Never ever look clean. At least carpets make most of the dirt invisible.
Wood work surfaces show Every.Single.Crumb at least mine do.
Make sure you have tall cupboards. Tall enough for an ironing board (should you ever use one) and full sized hoovers (especially if you want them lifted above the floor).

But then I live in the world's smallest and oldest cottage with nothing new since Noah was a lad, so what do I know? Except the pet thing. If you must, get one that matches the colour of your flooring.

Whatever you do, don’t get a wooden worktop. Ours can only be 5 or 6 years old and it looks absolutely shite. People before us clearly never sanded/oiled it. And to be fair, who wants to oil a sodding work surface every three months?

Loos built into the cupboard space. Our bathroom/en suites have a long side of cupboard/sink/loo built into counter top/rest of counter with cupboards under it along one whole side. Kind of like if you were designing a kitchen and just putting bathroom stuff in it instead. Loads of storage space, looks great, easy to clean.
BUT don’t have a tiny gap between the back of the built-in sink and the wall, it is impossible to stop drops of water creating mould / limescale down there.

Flat sockets and light switches that don’t collect dust.

USB sockets in the kitchen. Stops the arguments about who plugged in the toaster when someone's phone was charging.

Karcher window cleaner to dry the shower off.

Robot hoovers - brilliant; like PlanBea and chasingsquirrels we have a Eufy. Life changing, worth every penny.

There is a whole thread full of besotted owners.

I recently refurb a large house - it had no central heating when we started and is now my dream house.
Four things to think about

1. Design the space for you - not someone else. This is our forever home so we have a music studio and a study for me. Not everyone would make those choices but they are ones we need.
2. Get a large fridge / freezer - life changing esp in summer with ice and cold water on tap
3. We built a large bootroom- and really thought through what would go in there and shelving etc. It was right at the end of the project and my husband thought it was a waste of money: he now agrees it is brilliant.
4. Paint. We went for Johnson's colour match on farrow and ball. It marks when you breathe on it. House will need to be repainted in a few years - buy paint and throw things at it to see how it wears

Definitely avoid white gloss kitchen cupboards if you don't hate yourself.

The really big thing I would do if I was building my own house is look into Passivhaus. Eliminates drafts in winter, overheating in summer, and keeps the heating bills down. My current flat has lovely big east facing windows with an amazing view but on sunny summer mornings we can't open the curtains otherwise it becomes unbearable. Even if I didn't go for full PH certification I would still spend some time thinking about where the sun comes in and the heat goes out.

A utility room and good size cloak cupboard go a long, long way. All the crap can be shoved out of the way.

LVT flooring such as Amtico is by far the easiest to keep clean.

Have built in furniture such as wardrobes, alcove cupboards etc where possible. More storage and fewer places for dirt and dust to accumulate.

Declutter. So much easier to keep things clean if there isn’t stuff everywhere. Plants and decorative shelving are very fashionable but they are all DIRT TRAPS.

An obvious one but electric oven and gas hobs! As well as at least one electric shower. You can cook something in a power cut and wash if your boiler dies. Never again will I live somewhere without those.

Oh one more thing - extractor fans. Do make sure you have decent (quiet) ones in utility and bathrooms, to avoid mould build up. Or for a modern house from scratch I would also look into installing whole house ventilation - MVHR. It’s a core component of a Passivhaus as mentioned above.

Robot hoover owners - how do they cope with the kitchen table and chairs area? This is our main problem area due to kids dropping food but not sure if a robot hoover could manage to hoover round all the legs properly?

Bins are the bane of my life. Pedal bins the mechanisms break. Swing bins the swing gets in the way and gets filthy. A loose lid needs to be put somewhere. What I just want is a lid that opens by hand and stays open when it's open. What I have is no lid at all which is a bit manky.

Don't have carpets or rugs. They are dirt magnets and trip hazards.

Use semigloss in kitchen, bath, mud room, and children's rooms. It cleans much better, and marks less.
Build in lots of bathroom storage space to store spare towels, loo rolls, maxi pads, and other bathroom needs. A very posh mummy I know keeps the extra loo paper in the larder "so it doesn't get wasted". Sometimes, you want extra paper whilst on the throne.

Yes to drawers instead of cupboards
Induction hob all the way.
We have amtico type flooring which we love, it's a commercial grade one though so tougher. Make sure it's not textured as it will collect dirt.
We have grey gloss units but I wish I'd got a lighter colour as the room is dark. They don't show dirt or dust though.

Love the boiling water tap but 3 years later it's a bit of a pain. It needs filters and descaling that we didn't know about.

Yes to fitted bathroom furniture and wall mounted toilets

Hallway paint doesn't stand up to small children who insist on running their hands down both walls!

Oh and for the cooker consider induction. Performs as well as gas for most cooking, wastes less energy and doesn't make the kitchen so hot in summer, and no fiddly bits to clean.

A friend of mine once had a vacuum system within the walls that you plugged into in each room and the 'stuff' got collected in the basement/utility room. No lugging of a hoover around just the brush thingy and tube....was brilliant.

Induction hobs, much easier to clean

Wooden floors with rugs, much easier than carpets

Sofas that either go all the way to the floor or are high enough that you can get the hoover under them

Recessed lights as they dont catch dead flies

Have a utility room where you actually will enter the house everyday and make everyone leave their shoes there. Have space for everyones clutter there so it doesnt get littered all round the house

Dont get a hot tub or swimming pool 🤣

Black taps and sinks fade over time (a year or 2) if they are in direct sunlight... And most sinks are under a window!

Eggshell /frenchic white paint on skirtings etc as they don't yellow like gloss does so don't need redone as often.

A squeegee for your shower screen will save having to scrub as often, use after each shower. Rounded screens make this much harder so go straight glass.

Plainer internal and kitchen doors, the more detail the more dust etc they claim.

Don't get full length curtains if you have animals /toddlers. Bottoms constantly full of fur and or sticky handprints.

Good utility room with space to hang a washing /somewhere to put bins and hang washing etc.

This is a little odd but handles. So many are bevelled or fancy shapes and the amount of germs that live on them is horrendous. Flat handles are way easier to clean

Waste disposal unit for food waste - I would never be without one now...
We have an insinkerator branded one - and it works well.

Absolutely a utility room - as large as you can make it, with one clear wall for wall hung laundry racks.

Induction hob - SOOOO much easier to clean and with flexibility like gas.

lots of large drawers in the kitchen - much easier to store things!

Do : A bank of floor to ceiling cupboards in the kitchen. I have a wall of 4 double ones with pull out basket drawers as well as shelves. I put 3 in the utility room as well.
DON'T - white porcelain tiles - chip and look horrendous

Handleless cupboards: I don't find they get dirty (I clean them once a week). I do find that mine have annoyingly sharp corners though. I am always getting stabbed when I load the dishwasher.

Black taps: Mine look better than my old chrome taps, water marks and limescale show up less. The coating can chip though. I think the shape of the tap determines how much limescale build up you get. I suspect they will start to look dated soon though...

Shower doors: I hate my glass screens, cleaning them is the task of Sisyphus. I have a coating that helps prevent water marks but it is still a nightmare. If you have room for a wet room, go for that.

Robot hoovers: Yes, yes, yes. You will still need to hoover sometimes but it saves a lot of time.

@minipie it depends a bit on your chairs/table. If the vacuum fits through the legs it's ok. If it doesn't it usually goes around the "edge" and will get most of it. When we were renting we put the chairs up on the table as the legs were so close together (we only had 2 chairs and a table). Now with 10 chairs and a table it's fine because it fits through the legs