Kitchen must haves and mistakes

[ladywithnomanors]

I’m in the process of buying a house and will be having new kitchen. I’m worried about making any expensive mistakes and don’t want to regret layout, appliances etc.
For example I put oak counter tops in my last house and while I loved the look of them , I won’t be getting them this time as they mark too easily and have to be maintained. Also I found the position of my oven partially blocked a door when in my previous kitchen.
What do people regret having? And anything they didn’t have they wished they did ?
TIA

Agree, also invest in a granite/quartz type work surface which is lovely and easy to clean. We opted to not have the drainer lines/ridges in (as a man told DH they are hard to clean and attract dirt. I wasn’t sure but glad we did this. I have a spice draw and love my big draws wish we had space for more, an eye level oven and ceramic hob that I also love.

I had several firm to design my kitchen, getting lots of ideas, a wish list too.
I used Ikea and they supplied and fitted my kitchen. I love it, it's light and airy, loads of space in the pantry, pull out shelves, corner pull out shelves that house the toaster, mixer, slow cooker, waffle maker etc. Result, clear work surfaces and everything in the correct place.
The price was cheaper than other firms as I didn't need to find a firm to fit it on top of the cost of the kitchen. Very happy with my choices.

Power outlets with plug, usb and usb-c.
Put them in the corners, lessen the wire stretch over the worktop.
speakers up high.

Agree with almost everything so far!

Love:-

• quooker
• pan drawers
• bin drawer
• larder cupboard
• Clear island (no sink or hob on it)
• island with rounded end with 4 seats round it (instead of along one side in a line - means we can sit around together with a takeaway, board game etc)
• two single ovens (though I do wish one was a microwave oven as we currently have a separate microwave in a cupboard taking up space

Minor regrets:

• Not getting a fridge freezer with a water dispenser (I love freshly cold water, DH talked me out of it)
• not getting a quooker with chilled and sparkling water - as above, I was the only one who wanted it and it was extra money so I sacrificed it (with hindsight it was a drop in the ocean and should have just got what I bloody wanted!)
• too small knobs on the doors - they look nice, but on the heavier doors eg fridge freezer, they are hard to grab and all the paint around them has been rubbed off as a result
• space permitting, I’d definitely get 1.5 dishwashers now so you have somewhere to put dirty stuff while one is on
• should have got a small wine fridge…

Most of my recomms relate to sympathetic considerations based on living in an older property.

If you have an awkward corner, don't be afraid to find an imaginative solution. We could have just had shallow cupboards floor to ceiling in one alcove/nook corner. Instead it's got a countertop in the middle and it's where toaster and kettle do their thing.

Storage comes in many forms. One very useful thing we got as part of the design was a pan shelf with hanging itensil storage.

Flooring is tricky. People try to tell you wood is practical and natural stone is too cold. Wood isn't practical and you can wear slippers. Latter also helps if you drop anything on your toe.

Cooker/ oven with knobs instead of touch screen- when touch screen works it’s great, if something boils over you have to quickly dry it to get the temperature down!

Soft close flat doors (but my Matt Fish looks great but needs wiping for finger prints!)
Drawers for pans, dishes, plates and serving dishes and one with a pull out cutlery drawer. I have six big drawers and would like two more.
Have a larder cupboard and an appliance cupboard or drawer
I do like wall cupboards too for food, glasses
Roll out bin - thought I wouldn’t like but I do
Inducrion hob, double oven with integrated microwave in one
Two fridges (don’t bother with a wine fridge) One freezer (don’t use much freezer space in our house )
Stone worktops (ours are cream) - barkeepers friend powder for any stains). (Although they can chip - mine has a tiny one from a pan near the sink)
Have a double sink with strainers and a hot water tap
Dishwasher next to the sink
I love my island - it houses my sink, dishwasher, bins and two under counter cupboards
Separate Utility if you can manage it for storeage as well as sink and laundry appliances.
Think about lighting - I have dimmable down lighters and over island dimmable lights as well as under cupboard lights and also the light in the coooker hood

Things never to have again:
Pine or any wood finish or painted cupboards
Profiles on doors (collect dirt)
Any free standing appliances
Black appliances - show water and finger marks
Butlers sink - chips and stains
Freestanding bin
All cupboards instead of drawers
Annoying corner cupboards
Larder cupboards (the ones with dirt trap wire pull outs)!
Free standing microwave
Clutter of appliances on the worktops
Not enough power points or poor lighting

Have just fitted mine in a grade 2 listed space
nothing on the island ( sink or hob )
love my neff warming drawer
i have a breakfast garage / small larder
separate utility
double white butler sing and quartz worktop

regretting shaker door s

I recall that the best kitchen layout is a triangle between cooker, fridge and sink.

If I was redesigning our kitchen I wouldn't have wooden worktops, shaker style doors (dust traps!) or a such a huge (double rangemaster) cooker & hood, since airfryers arrived we rarely use wven a single oven and the hood is a nightmare to clean/ dust.

I would keep soft close drawers and doors, the rotating baskets in the corner cupboard, pan drawers, full height wall cupboards with the tops boxed in and lots of double sockets.

I would like to add a dishwasher, water softener and hot water tap.

We got a new kitchen last year. I love my island with downdraft induction hob. Also love pull out bins and Belfast sink with fancy but cheap pull out spray tap thingy!
One design boo boo was the dishwasher opening too close to the island. It’s not a massive deal but just a bit annoying.
We have pull outs too which I love, there’s one beside the sink with all my cleaning bits to hand.
DH didn’t want to bother with the under cabinet lights but I put my foot down and we wouldn’t be without them now.

Full height pull-out larder. It holds an unbelievable amount and can be accessed from both sides. We also have a little under-counter one which is brilliant for olive oil etc.

Think about what you really need space for. The more cupboard space you have the more crap you keep.

wall or full height cupboards take up a lot of space visually and make the space claustrophobic.

My must haves: boiling water tap, gas hob, lower cabinets are drawers. Integrated appliances and no washing machine (always on the floor with the bedrooms). A cupboard big enough to house vacuum cleaner, broom etc. Stone or similar worktop.

Oh yes agree re some touch screens. We had a holiday cottage one that was a right pain despite being new.

I'm also not a fan of those integrated dishwashers with the controls on the inside.

Oooo I like the rack. Ours is a vintage Habitat olive wood shelf with stainless steel pole. The shelf has all those lesser used things on it. Yes, there's dusting but I do love the look. The utensils and strainers and sieves are on the hanging pole with hooks. It's on the chimney breast and there's a cupboard inset below with pull out storage. It leans in to the very unique space of an old house

I’m quite short so with my two ovens, I find it hard to put stuff in/out of the top one when the door is down, and I can’t reach the back of the oven to clean it without standing on a step!
This could have been solved by positioning a bit lower or buying one of the ovens with the sliding doors which go inwards so you can stand right up against the oven.

I love our island - we have seating around 3 sides and so can seat 9 easily. We have units on the rear side of the island as well, for the lesser used items like champagne flutes, ramekins, cocktail shaker and spare mugs.

I have the hob on the island and like it because it means I don't have my back to the room when cooking and I like to do my prep next to the hob.

I don't like sinks on the island as I find they always look messy - there's always something on my drying rack or waiting to go in the dishwasher! The hob only looks a mess when in use. Wed also have had to sacrifice the 2 pull out larders if we hadn't had it on the island as we'd have needed the counter space for it.

Eye level ovens are a must, ideally hide and slide type. But I think you then need to have neff ones.

I disagree with this. We went with insinkerator and it is brilliant, and half the price, filters are cheaper and easy to change. I prefer it to my MILs Quooker which I find fiddly to use and too powerful which makes it splattery.

We did a new kitchen a couple of years ago (for the first time despite owning houses for 20-odd years!) and made the mistake of having dark worktops and floor. Every Single crumb/speck of flour/grain of salt shows up and it needs mopping daily and 30 seconds later (feels like) it needs doing again..................

Lots of brilliant suggestions!

Something I'd mention - think hard about usability and flow around the kitchen. Relatives of mine have recently put in a new, enormous, incredibly expensive kitchen, all possible bells and whistles. But the huge island is so close to the cupboards/counters along the wall that if you need to open the fridge or any cupboards, it blocks access to basically the whole kitchen for anyone else. Likewise they have incredibly huge/long drawers for pans, cutlery etc, which looks fab but it means if anyone is standing remotely nearby you have to make them move before you can retrieve that single teaspoon you need. The sink is really far from the hob so annoying for draining pasta etc. Just lots of niggles that I think would drive me nuts if I had to use it frequently.

Haven't seen it mentioned but I love our waste disposal unit.

Whoever asked how I can have so many broken taps, I do not know. Hansgrohe are the worst for breaking! I asked my plumber about taps and he agreed to go for cheap ones as they last just as well.

why on earth do you all need so many dish washers and ovens?? I’ve never had any need for 2 ovens. We use the ninja electric barbecue if we have people over for a meal.

hanging racks pans would be a disaster where I live as there is so much dust. All my kitchen walls are wonky so my corian style work tops had to be cut with a computer which was impressive. Walls are micro cement so no issues with tiles. Cupboards are wood and easy to keep clean and floors are Spanish stone which are beautiful and not particularly cold.

I love it so much. It's one of my favourite things that we did.

Very much agree! No more digging out soggy cereal or half eaten bowls of soup from the drain strainer. Bliss!