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.

Kitchen cupboards that go right up to the ceiling - I’ll never have to clean the grease off the top of a cupboard again.

What’s the solution to that? Just insulation/ soundproofing round it? I pity the person that buys this house 🙈

A shower with a detachable hose / head - not one of those waterfall / rain ones that you can't move, and therefore can't clean the enclosure with.....

My aunt has build-in vacuum cleaner pods. So all she has to do is attach the handle/shake are and off she goes. I have house envy every time I see it.

One of the boiling water taps.

They look like this the build-in vacuum cleaner thing

I have just built a house, and put a laundry chute from family bathroom to the ground floor laundry room. Saves lugging dirty washing about !

Kitchen cupboards that go right up to the ceiling - I’ll never have to clean the grease off the top of a cupboard again.

My tall cupboards were a standard size so there was a gap between top and ceiling. Got the builder to box in the gap & painted the same colour as the cupboards, so it looks streamlined and no grease/dust gathering spaces.

Electric stopcock under the sink - so easy in an emergency!

Stop cock button, you just press it and the water is off. Would always have one now.

Something I would never have again is a mechanical bath plug you twist to make the plug go up or down. 5 years in ours has broken, you can’t access it to fix it. Just have a normal plug!

Have a purpose built hall cupboard which contains (apart from coats etc.)

• dedicated slot for ironing board
• intruder alarm panel
• plug socket for charging my Shark vacuum cleaner (hopefully to be supplemented soon by a robovac)

X-post Coughsyrupsucks!

@MrsFezziwig LOL! Great minds! They are amazing though aren’t they?

If you can have two living rooms. Keep one for best / adults lounging / guests which is always immaculate. And have a second one for every day use that guests don’t see

Gloss paint for woodwork. Ours was Matt white doors, skirting and banisters. It looked really naff and covered in finger prints. Now a quite wipe if they look mucky, which is rare (and we work outside with 2 sticky children!) and they sparkle again.

@chillie

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

Ooh. Thanks for that. I'm getting quotes in for bathrooms and was going to have tiles. Panels all the way now!

Two dishwashers (means minimal emptying of clean one)

No pets

Washing Machine & Tumble dryer raised to mid height with a pull out shelf lower down to put the laundry basket on.

4 dirty laundry baskets:
Whites/lights
Darks
Red/purple/pink

Anything else (delicates/bedding - in this house stuff DH isn't to touch)

really interesting range of opinions.

My white paint is all eggshell/satin, not gloss. None of it looks yellow.
I can't stand induction hobs, give me gas every time.
I can't stand those boiling water taps either.

agree with no wooden work tops., or butler sink. Stainless steel all the way

I like:
decent utility room, with space to hang washing (which is why I would not have the washign machine upstairs unless it had the utility room there too.

Matt washable paint on walls. very forgiving and must be able to be washed with flash.

lots of sockets

sensor light in utility room, garage and under the stairs all brilliant, but same could be done with extra light swithces so you can turn on the light from any door as you walk in to the room.

sensor light in utility room, garage and under the stairs all brilliant, but same could be done with extra light swithces so you can turn on the light from any door as you walk in to the room

Or you can buy the switches/bulbs that you can turn on with your phone :).

We have them for the outside lights. Great for letting the dog out or putting the front door light on when you come home- and the switch is inside!

I suffered with paint that marked if you looked at it. Now happy with Little Greene Intelligent Matt emulsion and Mylands Matt (made with marble dust!). They seem to need to harden for a week or so for full resilience, but now even oil splashes just come off with a soapy cloth no bother. Not cheap but worth it, and the depth of colour is gorgeous.

@rorosemary

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

I wish there was such a thing as a seatless toilet. It would be so much easier to keep clean.

OR are we just talking kitchens ?

sososorry rorosemary , didn't mean to quote anyone.

I thought I was being clever getting shower panels, so no worry about mouldy grout etc. I bought v v expensive ones. They scratch! Really easily! Ten small marks on them in first month! Wish I had gone for tiles as suspect we will be replacing these in a few yrs.

Wood worktops and ceramic sinks are obvs not for you. Not sure what is tho, I guess laminate or granite (or stainless steel!) worktops? Compact laminate is cool but can often chip at edges, quartz can stain, etc etc.

Wish I had got dehumidifier built in to the utility so it will dry a rack. I put in a fan and a tumble drier but doesn’t really work: drier overheats if utility room door is closed; fan doesn’t do much.

Kitchen cupboards with top boxes above them, so no dust.

I deeply regret two things in my bathroom - 1. beautiful, but small hexagonal floor tiles - the ratio of grout to tile is ridiculous and the grout gets v dirty. So I should have done dark grout or not ridiculous tiles.

1. A beautiful rectangular base basin - the water stays in it in the corners. And the limescale/scum is grim. Bad decision.

Avoid loads of small recessed lights which look great in the brochures but you end up spending a lot of time replacing the one dud bulb (otherwise it looks sht). Especially avoid G10 bulbs cos they get stuck in the socket requiring you to rip out the flush mounting and never really be able to put it back again properly.

Sorry lightbulb rant over, I know first world problem.

Cats. Each cat increases the housework by 50%. No fancy skirting boards: my last place had skirting with a bevel and two grooves. It took forever to clean. I hate mixer taps, they need replacing about every three years. YYY to doormats everywhere and somewhere to keep outdoor shoes so they never come in. Some set up that enables you to move the tv aerial socket around.

YYY to doormats everywhere and somewhere to keep outdoor shoes so they never come in

Especially those superabsorbant doormats. They are fab. Mine cost me £50 but they really do stop
The muddy footprints and drips of water etc. Gets filthy but washes brilliantly. Worth every penny.

We thought about bathroom panels rather than tiles. Fitter said he wouldn’t fit them the results are so bad. So went with tiles.

Which brings me to tile choice. It really is grey, grey, beige, grey, white or grey at the minute. I really didn’t want grey as it’s had it’s day IMO, and is also ubiquitous and I hate walking into yet another grey bathroom. Did end up with (very pale) grey though as there was nothing else.