High maintenance kitchens - let me learn from your mistakes

[KristinaM]

I'm a terrible housewife, I live in the country and I have three small, messy children. What do I NOT want in my new kitchen??? (apart from the kids of course )

I've already worked out that the beautiful cream glossy floor tiles are probably not for me.....

smooth not shiney kitchen doors

Shiney smears
grooves collect dirt/grease

a stainless stell/brushed steel range/hob.
absolute bastard to keep clean!

I'm ok on the hob as we have an aga which we are keeping of course.

are stainless steel sinks ok? ours is so old and battered - i've never had a new one?

oven doors that have two sheets of glass which isn't sealed in between - stuff spills down the middle but if you ever want to clean them you have to unscrew the whole thing (some, like my mum's, just click off).

if they are small kids you dont want appliances that are easy to turn on either.

don't get a white sink - always looks dirty
don't get a brown sink - can't tell if it's clean

S/S is good but I preferred the non-shiney ones

brushed steel or else you have to always keep it looking shiny.

Not a textured plastic white (at least must have been once) sink and drainer - attracts every stain possible and is a pig to get looking remotely hygienic (not my choice btw) I miss my old double drainer stainless steel one even though the rest of the kitchen was cr£p. Also forget fancy display shelves - pita to keep neat and tidy and dust traps - and glass fronted cupboards to display your best Ikea coloured kids' plastic ! Pull out full height cupboards for tins and packets are ace !

I've put wall units floor to ceiling on one wall and it's so much easier to see the food/stuff in the cupboards I prefer it to larder units

what kind of grooves katy? you mean on the doors or the grooves you get on worktops by the sink??

I mean grooves/trim/carving on cupboard doors

They trap grease from fingers etc

Smooth doors are quicker to wipe over - wood/wood effect shows less marks than white - but white can look cleaner (but only if it is reaonably clean)

brushed steel sink fine.
you can make it lovely and shiny if you want but otherwise mine tends to be prefectly happy with a wipe over!

My mum has just had a new kitchen done and the MFI bloke recommended NOT getting the highly polished granite worktop type thing as they had one and his wife was forever shining it to stop it showing the smears.....

Mum also got a single drainer sink which she is cursing as the dirty dishes actually have to go on the actual work surface,which she hates......

Get a separate draining section to the sink - really handy for pouring away left over tea etc without messing up the sink full of dishes....

If you are a bit untidy re cupboards, then don't get glass doors...nice for display but a sod to keep the inside arranged neatly etc...

Thats about it so far - hth a bit - all based on my mums kitchen btw - not mine!

i detent a sink theme here...so S/s is ok but not any coloured plastic. what about the white ceramic ones? and do I want one with a proper drainer or one that is inset into the worktop? Dont they get all yucky around the join? and do you break dishes in them? ( especially if you are 3 and helping with the washing up)

katy - sorry if that was stupid question about the grooves . do you think a painted finish would be ok on the doors?

oh nikki - you read my mind about worktops...i did a search on the mn archives on kitchens and they were all raving about granite worktops. but i'm not convinced... I dont have all day to stand by the worktops with an e cloth in my hand in case a child drips something on my polished surfaces

I have my uses! lol

Mums have enough to do with removing DP/DH/DC skiddies from the loo, picking up their socks, dust bunnies etc when people come to visit - who wants to be frantically shining their worktops and then stepping back to see if any smears show up!! Be less mnetting time!!!

I inherited my kitchen, am not responsible for any of it. While it's not a bad looking kitchen I now wouldn't personally choose shiny black worktops (need to be polished to look good) or a stainless steel cooker hood (greasy dust trap of doom). I think I would check out completely flat cupboard doors as well as even the very simple ones we have collect a nice greasy ledge of dust around the bottom 'frame'.

I am responsible for the cooker, which is much more practical, it's painted a sort of slightly metallic gunmetal grey and it's infinitely more forgiving than proper stainless steel, but not as cheap-looking as fake steel.

Don't get lights in the kickboards (don't know the proper name) - my friend has these and they illuminate any dirt or marks on the floor!

nicky - do you mean a sink like thsi with a drainer?
oen and a half bowl sink with drainer

PSW - thats the kind of thing you see in these magazines all the time. the lights I mean, not the dirty marks

my SIL has four kids and has just had a new kitchen installed with white glossy doors and floor tiles and shiny black granite worktops. oh and a shiny steel fancy cooker. it all looks FAB. but I'm glad i dont have to clean it

Suggestion from a book a friend has - make your worktops 3 inches deeper than standard ie. sit your cabinets a little further from the wall. It gives you somewhere to put the salt, pepper, etc which you need while cooking and still have the normal amount of space to actually work in.

If you get a stainless steel sink get "Shiny sinks" from the supermarket and wipe it over every so often. The sink comes up brilliant, even if you're in a soft water area.

Minimum of sink and a half - two separate sinks is lovely if you have space.

Put your spoon drawer near your kettle, near your mug cupboard and coffee cupboard. We got it wrong and it's SO irritating every single day.

brushed stainless steel kickboards are great for hiding dirt

we have oak shaker doors and they also hide the dirt

have the cupboards go to ceiling height so you never have to clean the top of them

have drawers for all the plates/pots/pans etc,tis much easier

best thing in my kitchen is double full height pull out larder cupboard

I like my shiny black granite,but I would probably go for corian or similar next time

definately get a double sink or sink and a half

Haven't read the thread ... but my vote would be for NOT getting lovely real wood worktops - ours looked lovely when we inherited the kitchen ... and now how red wine stains, horrible black marks from leaving damp stuff on them, mould where the kitchen tap leaked when we were on holiday etc etc etc.... AND you're mean to oil them at least every year or something and it takes at least 24hours for the oil to dry ... you'll be surpirsed to hear we have oiled them once in 3 years...!!

Agree with many of the others, get flat fronted doors, steel sink (not white or brown), avoid stainless steel appliances, agree a gunmetal finish on eg cooker is much easier to keep looking decent and finally get a floor whcih is easy to keep clean. We have floorboards which look ok but there are gaps between them which is a bit of a nightmare!
Also suggest matt not shiny tiles in a colour other than white and grout which is not brilliant white but eg cream or grey.
I find solid beech worktops quite easy to keep looking decent, no polishing for me!!

splashbackx - was planning to have pained tounge and groove effect wood behind teh unit and tiles behind aga. thnaks pannacotta for tip about matt tiles and cream grout

I'm now totally confused about worktop..if granite and wood are high maintenance does it have to be....laminate??????? Dh is dead against granite. Not because he has to polish it but because it marks with common food like vinegar and lemon juice

oops sorry typing getting worse... i mean painted tongue and groove of course. except thats more grooves isnt it??? sigh