Make me feel better about my new kitchen...

[ThatsMintThat]

Yes I've posted before but I've lost my old log in details and can't find the thread.

Had a new kitchen fitted. Look wise I like it, more space too. But the gloss. Oh my god, the gloss. Why did I get it? DH can't understand there are handles for a reason and I spent most of my life getting rid of fingerprints.

Anyone own gloss and grew to like it?

Does it even look nice? Or does it look dated? There's no way DH will let me change it when we spent upwards of 6k a few months ago on it.

Any advice or even positive things to say about the new kitchen? This is before and after.

I have white gloss. Kitchen installed over 10 years ago and I can honestly say that I haven't ever noticed finger prints. I usually just wipe over with a damp cloth every few days but its really just the handle and the immediate area around it.

There are probably hacks to prevent finger prints but be careful. I was warned by the installer only to use a damp cloth and no cleaning liquids as that can damage the gloss surface. I've stuck to that and the kitchen still looks good 10 years on,

@Daffodils234 thank you, it's true it is quite futuristic - it probably wouldn't look right in an old cottage would it haha!

@TheSandHurtsMyFeelings I guess it is and it isn't x

@BestDIL really? That's good to know as online I've seen people using glass cleaner etc and have been looking on Amazon to see if there is any specific gloss cleaner. Is it just fairy liquid and water that's best?

100% agree can’t go wrong with a classic shaker plus they aren’t shiny so don’t show the grease nearly as much

I can appreciate that you’ve become like someone with a noisy neighbour who is always on edge, waiting for the next night of deafening music, even when the neighbour isn’t currently audible, but honestly, you can’t live at this level of stress! I also understand it’s disappointing and frustrating when you saved hard for it. I think you can only work on trying to reduce your watchfulness and stress about it, or work towards replacing the cabinet doors with something non-gloss. This isn’t good for you.

Gorgeous kitchen. I looked at gloss when we were getting a new kitchen a few years ago and one of my friends advised against it due to the fingerprint situation. We got a kind of matt instead but to be honest, I notice fingerprints sometimes anyway. I think it’s just one of those things with that type of popular kitchen.

Mine is more like your original one, but the dust and grime collects in those carved out sections. SO swings and roundabouts? I like your kickboard lighting. Colour seems about the same to me. Just enjoy it and move on. Wipe the fronts down with a baby wipe of an evening if it upsets you. It's all fine.

All those people who object to gloss because of the fingerprints- do you realise that there will be fingerprints on the matt cupboards too? Do people with matt cupboards not clean them often? It takes seconds to wipe the gloss ones.

@Logainm Oh my gosh, you're describing how I am to a T!! I'm like the nosey neighbour who is always poking their head around the door waiting for the next disturbance!! It is stressing me out and I've got a few other things causing stress at the moment.
DH wouldn't go for a new kitchen, possibly would let me replace the doors if that was possible in a few years but I think we're more likely to move in the next 5 years than change it again. I daren't even mention being unhappy with it to him as I know how frustrated he'd be as it was mostly his money and I bloody chose them! 🤦🏼‍♀️ I don't know why it didn't cross my mind about fingerprints, the woman in a shop just said gloss is much easier to clean! And I think as the previous doors were shaker matte style I suppose I wanted to feel like we'd had a big change.
Sorry to rant at you! x

I like it but the fingerprint situation would annoy me. As they’re your DH’s fingerprints could you ask him to give a quick wipe down every evening? Or are there screw holes into the front of the doors or are the handles screwed on from behind, so if you took them off it would just be a plain door? Then you could add new larger handles on the front (not knobs like the previous doors) that can be pulled and then pushed to close? The thing is that your toddler will still touch them and get fingerprints on them. So it might just be something you have to accept and get used to. Like I regret getting black appliances but I’ve accepted they will have fingerprints and dust that needs to be cleaned every other day 😩

Dear OP

Forget what others think, put yourself first

Sadly, there are too many idiots, jealous people that are only too eager to put people's places/them down.

We all have different tastes/etc,

It is you place and changes expectations can vary but you will soon be very happy with it, trust me

Sadly, we get opinis from others regardless of us asking and its often from those that are living hand to mouth

Enjoy your kitchen and your life

I’ve had a gloss kitchen before and it was just never an issue, yes sometimes around the handles in certain lights you could see finger prints, but if you moved a foot to the right you couldn’t see them, I’d get a dry tea-towel and buff them off. Takes seconds. I wouldn’t do this day to day, just if I was having a clean. I wouldn’t put loads of chemicals on them or constantly clean them, you’ll make the marks worse.

I remember your last thread where you said you didn’t have handles. Then hundreds of posters pointed out that you did. I think you just need to let it go now.

What is the lighting and general light level like in the room? We have gloss cabinets as well and I don't really notice the fingerprints unless the overhead lights are on, hence most of the time I just switch on the under-cabinet lights and that way there is not so much light reflecting off the doors and the prints are not so visible.

In terms of tips on removing them, a damp (just water) microfibre cloth is what I use.

I feel your pain. I inherited white gloss in this house and WITHOUT HANDLES! No groove either so you open them by touch and close them with a gentle push, so can’t avoid finger marks. So stupid! I have a microfibre cloth handy.

The final insult is that I’m short and slightly lardy so I’m forever opening drawers and cupboard with my gut as I’m at the sink or prepping on the work surfaces. It’s an expensive kitchen so probably designed for 5ft 11” Germans with coat hanger shoulders and definitely no gut.

Your kitchen looks good and you have handles. You’re fine!

Well I have a new kitchen with Matt shaker style doors and you can still see finger prints. I just clean them once a week when I'm doing my weekend clean and ignore them otherwise. We have actual handles so I don't know why my annoying family don't use them! In my dreams my family have one kitchen and I have my own which I can keep clean!

@Sunshine322 Thank you. It wasn't until I'd ordered the kitchen and showed my friend the virtual design of it that she said.. it's lovely but the fingerprints would do my head in. I don't know why but it didn't even enter my head until then then 🤦🏼‍♀️ x

I would never pick gloss, apart from the fact I don't like it, I had to live with shiny granite tops for 12 years. The work involved in buffing them up with Mr Muscle window cleaner after every wipe down nearly finished me off. Cleaning it after a pastry making session meant I bought Jus-Rol for years and rolled it out in greaseproof paper.

I now have a marble type stone that you can wipe down with a dirty old rag and they still look smear free and clean.

The black cat hairs however ......

@marshmallowburn thank you! Our old kitchen was as old as the house and the paint was chipping, the tiles were just tiles over tiles so it wasn't exactly state of the art! As you say it's swings and roundabouts. If I'd got matte I'd probably be saying do you think it's too similar to my old kitchen or something! X

Gloss is easy to clean. Felt tip pen wipes off, trust me.

@Bluevelvetsofa well I'd heard with matte that it was more grease than fingerprints that could be an issue and they were more difficult to remove so that was another reason I went against them x

@ThatsMintThat

Read that back to yourself.

cupboards you barely touch getting covered??

what like by witchcraft?? Look for the goblins.

Do the fingerprints bother your husband?

if he can learn to close the door with the handle and not out his paws all over the doors when opening them with the handle, then he needs to get more involved with the cleaning of them.

its one of the reasons I'd never buy gloss because I'm untrainable & i don't want to spend my life wiping bastard cupboard doors.

you could look at getting the doors painted (by a professional) in the mat version of the same colour (then you don't need to get all the unit facings & ends redone. - just the doors)

It's stunning if I was moaning about it my friends would tell me t get as grip.

@Shania7788 I'm not too certain about the handles, I'll have a look! I mean if you're conscious it's quite easy to just use them but typical man DH isn't conscious at all! (As he doesn't do the cleaning) I don't know why I care so much.. the only person who comes in my house is my dad and he doesn't care how it looks!
To be honest my little one is pretty good and rarely touches the cupboards apart from the freezer when she's after an ice pop, and the lower cupboards seem to show the fingerprints less as the light is pointing at them. I wonder if changing the spotlights for just a normal light would make a difference!

Honestly I think this is a bit anxiety based. It’s a bit like the house buying remorse. You spend a lot of money on something and want it to be perfect. I understand as last year we spent a lot of money on a new kitchen. Also the first I’d not “inherited” and I’m pretty old. I was very stressed at first especially about the expensive induction hob, convinced I’d marked it. Also discovered quartz worktops have to be treated like special jewels. However a few months on I’ve accepted it’s a kitchen. It is going to get marked and bashed and is not going to stay perfect. I had gloss units before this kitchen and I liked them! The doors are going to be touched and there will be finger marks I guess. No-one else will notice. Just wipe down as part of your normal cleaning routine and apart from that ignore.