AIBU to want a normal kettle and toaster?

[StonedRoses]

We have just had our kitchen done and have changed a lot of our old appliances. DP does not want an electric kettle or toaster as it ‘looks cluttered’ and spoils the new kitchen.
It’s only been a few weeks and I’ve had enough of doing toast under the grill and the stove top kettle that makes a horrific noise (that annoys the rest of the family who are still in bed) if not attended to immediately! It’s also much slower.

Early morning starts are busy and stressful enough without this. I have to give the cooker my full attention or breakfast is ruined!

AIBU to pop to Argos and buy a normal toaster and kettle?

Either buy a new kettle and toaster - or let you DP sort out the morning rush of tea and toast

We got a new kitchen recently. We keep the toaster in a cupboard now and we bought a new kettle that matches the kitchen so it actually enhances it.

I doubt we'd survive without our kettle and toaster. Basic toast - toaster, toasted sandwich - grill.

Tell him to go and jump. Unless he's the one doing the breakfast he doesn't get to make this decision. If it bothered him that much he should have been smart enough to include a cupboard for these items in the design of kitchen. He probably didn't even get involved in the design.
It's a working kitchen not a showpiece. Stick his aesthetic up his backside.

I wish someone would actually explain to me why so many English people’s ambition seems to be to not have a kettle or toaster on their kitchen work surfaces.

I remember being invited for a coffee by a neighbour just after I had moved to a village and she fished her electric kettle out of a drawer, emptied and put it away again afterwards. Entirely bare work surfaces.

Over time I realised it was a widespread thing. Seemed to align with the lower-middle class. It also seems to explain the Quooker thing.

Every time I see (usually on TV, on Grand Designs or similar) one of these shiny new, ultra-modern, absolutely empty kitchens, I say out loud "Another big spend that's all about image rather than function". Kitchens are functional spaces and wanting to keep the countertops free of the devices we use on a daily basis needs to be in the hands ONLY of the person who deals most frequently with kitchen activities.

Our kitchen is a cooks' kitchen - we have shelves full of spices and herbs, a rail with the pots and pans we use frequently hanging on it and the kettle, coffee machine and toaster are OUT - because we use them every day.

I'd be getting the toaster and kettle and he can feckin' LUMP it.

Bizarre, isn't it? I was at a friend's recently and stayed overnight. He and his wife have spent an astonishing amount on their kitchen and it includes one of these hot water tap thingies, so no kettle. He made me a cup of tea. The water wasn't boiling and so it was CRAP.

I don’t have a kettle we have a boiling water tap, I keep the toaster in the cupboard, I hate stuff on the surfaces too!

edited to add, my tap is boiling! If you fill a saucepan and put it straight on the stove it boils straight away. Some can be lukewarm though!

I do like not having a microwave on the work surface, one of our ovens has a microwave function - but I’m quite happy with a toaster and kettle.

Our kitchen is a cooks' kitchen - we have shelves full of spices and herbs, a rail with the pots and pans we use frequently hanging on it and the kettle, coffee machine and toaster are OUT - because we use them every day.

Ours is too but I don’t want everything out so I have to clean stuff all the time. We have a pan drawer for the pans and a shallow one for herbs and spices. It takes me ten seconds to get the toaster out and another ten to put it away again. I spent a long time getting the kitchen design right so I don’t have to have cluttered worktops.

Had one of those taps at work. Fine for coffee but awful for tea.

Half with you. I could not be doing with toasting bread under a grill every day. Get a toaster!

My stove top kettle on the other hand is far faster and quieter than the electric kettle we had. It never gets put away though, it's either in use on the hob or on the counter next to it so I don't see how that would cut down on "clutter".

I'll never understand the bizarre desire to have completely empty work surfaces. Unless you're really pushed for space and only have one counter top for food prep, who cares if your kettle or toaster is out?

I've got a kettle, toaster, air fryer, blender and stand mixer on my counters. My kitchen is for cooking in, not playing appliance Jenga every time I want a piece of sodding toast.

Get a toaster and kettle or tell your husband he is taking on sole responsibility for tea and toast going forward 🤣

Kettle and toaster are essentials and not clutter. Whilst there shouldn’t be too much stuff on work surfaces there should be something or it risks looking too clinical. In our kitchen we opted for small toaster and coordinating kettle on a unit that’s to one side and levels off an alcove (very old house, sympathetic modern kitchen). It looks neat and functional and has a dinky little cookbook shelf at the other end, it’s a long alcove

This is why you need two kitchen, one for show and one for cooking (preferably done by someone else) which no one can see. (I don’t have two kitchens btw, in case I’m about to get jumped on)

Kettle essential but toast is a million times better done under the grill.

My view is that a kitchen is like a workshop. I would not put my electric drill away in drawer, spanners are on a rack. Saws of different sizes hang on nails. Everything in easy reach ready to go.

if you just put in a new kitchen why didnt you buy a quooker tap for boiling water? go and buy a toaster and hide it when he is there

They’re all still in bed. Youre running around sorting breakfast for them all. By all means treat yourself to an electric kettle. Or tell them to get their arses into gear and sort themselves out.

DP sounds like a knob, if you don't mind me saying so.

You can buy some really nice toasters and kettles that compliment a kitchen. Your husband is being totally unreasonable! I'd be straight down to the shops.

Our kitchen is so small I have to be really careful not to leave too many things on the counter - genuinely can barely fit a few plates on there! Not having the kettle and toaster out is madness though - so inconvenient!!

While not sure about the class thing I completely get the utter weirdness of the ambition of nothing. Less is more, apparently.

I make sure my stove top kettle looks good - Le Creuset, as does my toaster - Dualit, and my very battered but fab Bialetti coffee maker. Now I think of it, it's another form of statement, but really that I would never put those things away so make sure they look nice to look at.

The rest of the kitchen surfaces have lots of other shite too, but all about the cooking. I cook from scratch and the idea of fiddle-faddling about to locate the essentials for cooking in, er....a kitchen, is beyond me.

MY DH is a bit like this, but we do now have a Quooker hot tap - fabulous and apparently the only brand that is genuinely boiling so don't waste your money on any other make.
I spent £20 on a nice small toaster from Argos though, can't believe how huge and expensive some of them are.

DP can get them out every evening so they are ready for the morning.