The Ideal Mumsnet Kitchen - what's in it?

[RubyBlueberry]

Mine is in need of an massively urgent update after just moving in. It's circa 1979 (with original appliances and handbooks and is a gorgeous shade of olive green!)

So what would you have in your kitchen?

We are just planning our new kitchen at the moment. We would really like cream gloss units but bit worried about finger-prints showing up. Our youngest is 5 now so not at the sticky toddler stage.

Just wondered, does any-body here have high gloss units, and would they recommend them?

Cream gloss units sound lush. That's what I'm considering..... what colour to have on the floor though, big terracotta tiles or lino??

Ripeberry, our old house had terracotta tiles and they were a nightmare because they kept coming loose but that's probably to do with how they were initially fitted. Also they broke quite easily and if you dropped something on them there was zero chance of it not smashing. Also they were very cold unless we had the underfloor heating on. But they did look very nice.
We have vinyl flooring in our new house, which would have been great if the fitters hadn't done a botch job on it. It looks great in the bits that haven't been cut badly and it's warmer underfoot. Also glasses etc don't automatically smash on it and it's softer on DCs heads if they fall over on it.
You can get clever vinyl that looks like tiles/slate/wood.
When I've got the money I'm going to replace our botched vinyl with rubber floor tiles, which look fabulous but are pretty pricey.

Proper larder
Aga
Big fat leather sofas
Black labrador

A semi-naked man doing all of the cooking and washing up for me.

Aga
Cream painted units
Belfast sink
Wooden worktops (maybe) or granite ...hmmm, not sure now
Larder
Huge table that can seat 8 easily around it still with lots of room to move around
No toys
Rubbish chute magically taking rubbish straight into correct recycling box or wheelie bin (this is fantasy kitchen right?)
Gigantic fridge but disguised so looks like kitchen cupboards. My dad has beautiful one ... double doors but not hideous fridge monstrosity
Utility room for washing machine, dryer and gigantic chest freezer

A kosher dishwasher is presumably two dishwashers in one or a double dishwasher (it was mentioned in response to me wanting two dishwashers).

Orthodox Jews are not allowed to mix meat and milk, and so meat plates have to be kept separate from dairy plates, and thus presumably cannot be washed in the same dishwasher even.

Actually this thread is making me panic a bit.

Kitchen guy is coming round tomorrow and all I can think of is pointing at the old one and saying: "Urrrrm . . . anything that's nicer than this please."

Some context here...

DH is the family cook, the food he cooks is wonderful, but he is a messy bugger at best. We also have two small dogs whose house training can be somewhat erratic (adult when we got them.)

So, my dream kitchen has a central drain and a pressure washable floor. I am also pondering a design where there are no permanent flat surfaces, so that DH has to put things away at once rather than leaving them for me to do.

The other stuff up there sounds wonderful, too, mind you. But first things first.

A full-time house keeper would be good, too. Clothed.

well i wonder if they envisaged the extra obstacles to design of modcons when writing the new testament!

Love the no permanent flat surfaces!!
I think I will have to get entering competitions to get the kitchen i want

HinnyPet directed me to this thread and it is brilliant. I am getting a new kitchen soon and it has been really useful to read people's thoughts.

So far I know:

I like everything put away (not keen on clutter display);
I want a divider between the dining area and the kitchen area;
although we live in the country I don't want a "country" kitchen - the more streamlined the better so it doen't trap dirt;
because we live in the country we have had a bit of a "small rodent" problem from time to time, so I want all my cupboards up off the ground on metal legs;
my neighbour advises me against wooden kickboards/ plinths because they have gone all yucky through mopping the floor;
I want solid splashbacks, not tiles;
need a serious double sink for washing and prepping all our garden produce.
I also really want a pull-out larder cupboard.

What has been brilliant is the DCs are taking a real interest - I remember being dragged round endless tile warehouses during my childhood and I absolutely hated it!

Currently looking at Howden and B&Q (drooling over their "Cooke and Lewis" range glossy cupboard doors that are so streamlined they don't even have handles - you just push them and they click open ... DCs love "zebrano" stripey dark wood effect - although that won't suit our own small kitchen space! )

Still looking for practical ideas for dealing with with compost/ recycling/ other waste - want it tucked away, not sitting out;
also - in your RL kitchen - is there something you have but you regret? (e.g. dirt magnet, unintended peskiness?) I have heard some people regretting their halogen lights as expensive to run and expensive to replace when the bulb goes. What do you wish you hadn't bothered with?

A huge, rambling range cooker!

We've jut had a new kitchen and having lived together for 8 yrs we knew what we wanted.
We bought from wren kitchens, their prices are incredible and so we went to the show room with the 'too good to b true' philosophy and have bought our kitchen. It's fantastic quality, great service. No heavy sell or deals - the price it was it is.
I have the big 1m drawers for pans, crockery etc and they are so good. A big double door pantry cupboard with pull out drawers... you can see eveything so easily and no rummaging in cupboards! Thy are soft close as standard.
I got a touch control cooker (electrolux about £900) no sticky gunk round the knobs any more! A double franke sink with hose tap. I have a walk in pantry but it's not very cold so it will be used to store big thinks like bread maker, sack of spuds/dog food etc. I have so much room and it is just brill. I am so happy. The price from wren was great and we have a large kitchen - £2,300. I did order sink, taps, cooker etc seperately and got Bush board worktops from a local place with matching upstands so we don't need any tiles.

I got some accerorise, the drawer organiser which is fab and the crockery holders and sides for the drawes to block them in rather than just bars.

kitchen: www.wrenkitchens.com

sink: www.frankesinks-franketaps.co.uk/franke-infinito-inx-621-stainless-steel-kitchen-sink-312-p.a sp

Cooker: www.applianceplanet.co.uk/eshop/manuprod/EKT6045X.htm?ref=froogle

Tap: www.tradingpost-appliances.co.uk/store/customer/product.php?productid=7775

Someone has, I see, already done: gin, naked man and chef [possibly, if Marco, the same]

Beyond that, I can only think of a giant fuck off lock on the door to keep me in and the kids out.

My parents had rubbish shutes, my brother has the house now.

My perfect kitchen is nearly done. The tiles look amazing and DH has done a fantastic job on prepping the walls and painting them. Kitchen is going in next week and then the work surface guy is coming out to template for it.

Thanks Clarea1 the wren range looks good but they aren't up here. Will keep looking!