Kitchen units that you have loved and not loved

[Tigerlion]

We are finalising our order for the Wickes Heritage Grey kitchen.

There seem to be so many different options of units nowadays: pan drawers, carousels, pull out irons, pull out larders, etc.

Which ones have made a difference to your life and which ones did you think were quite frankly a waste of money?

I had a Wickes kitchen at my last house and loved the pan draw. It was deep and roomy, and we did indeed put all our pans in it. Get 'soft close' on all the draws/units too, it's great. I've always wanted a pull out larder but never had the room - my brother has one and I'm all envious!

Did you have a cutlery drawer at the top of the pan drawer? I saw a friend who had one from Howdens and it looked pretty efficient

Pan drawer/s definitely. My mum has a pull out larder that's fab. Her carousel broke though- as did my friend's- so I wouldn't have one of those. Instead I have a corner unit with a normal door but a metal unit thing that sort of pulls out to make best use of the space. I think it was called a magic cupboard. It's good for tins. I also love my recycling bins in a cupboard. Makes the kitchen look so much tidier.

I wouldn't bother with a pullout iron unless you always do all your ironing in the kitchen.

I have that very kitchen (as I mentioned on your 'oven' thread). I have and love the full-length pull-out larder, and two 800mm pan-drawer units (with cutlery drawers, yes, at the top). I agree with linspins that they are fab. I've also got a mini under-counter pull-out larder next to the hob for bottles of oil etc, which I like very much. I don't have a carousel because I haven't got any corner units, but if I had I'd tempted by one of those 'magic corner' type things.

Hobnob, we're getting 800mm pan drawers/cutlery drawer in our kitchen - do you have any other drawers in yours, and is that plenty of storage? I'm liking the clean look of the base cupboards without little drawers at the top and am hoping there will be plenty of storage in the pan drawers for pans/casserole dishes/cutlery/utensils. I may even put the plates/bowls in the top pan drawer - seems easier to lift off the top plate rather than pulling one from a stack. Depends if our pans will all fit in the bottom drawer easily.

Pull-out larders - we (I) decided not to get one - they look like a great idea as you can see the stuff at the back (and Nigella has one in her TV kitchen!) BUT I tend to stack things 2 cans high so if I had one of these I would probably have an avalanche every time I pulled it out as things fell off.

Hello Housemum

We find the two sets of pans drawers plus cutlery at the top give plenty of drawer space (and we don't have any others). And yes, perfect for plates and bowls, too. I had a massive de-clutter before we had the extension built, which has helped enormously.

Re the tin-stacking thing: I bought (from a separate company) some extra baskets for my pull-out larder which has solved that issue. (You're not supposed to in case it overloads it, but I've just got spice bottles and things in the extra ones, leaving lots of tin space in the others.)

Just realised I sound a bit 'look at me in my new kitchen'. Sorry! But I'm in the first throes of enthusiasm and want to get in on everyone else's act!

I am very excited about my new kitchen too - 4 weeks until the patio gets dug up and they start on the conservatory, 9 weeks until the kitchen fitters start

Our pan drawers are going to have 2 thin cupboards either side (300mm) so I am intending to use these for storing flat-things-on-their-sides eg baking trays, pizza stone, trays, chopping boards. At the moment these are in a tall wide larder cupboard, and I've clipped Ikea bookends on the shelf so they have something to lean against.

Ooh, lovely! Good luck with it all!

And do you have wall units throughout or are there some areas where you only have floor units and no wall units?

I don't know if it may look too cluttered if there are wall units throughout

I have drawers everywhere except for under the sink. I absolutely love them - so much easier to find stuff. In the corner I have a carousel which I also love. What I have found brilliant is having really wide drawers - mine are 80cm and it just means that you can actually fit all your cutlery in them plus klippits, corkscrew, paring knives etc rather than having them in separate places. The other cutlery depth drawer is where all the spices live.

I can't believe I'm selling this flat sometimes!

Tigerlion - if you CAT me I'll email you pics of what I've done, if you like.

IME, don't bother with any cupboard narrower than 400mm with those framed doors. They should have butt hinges not metal elbow ones or they will not open clear of the inner frame, but narrow it by an inch. My "300mm" cabinets have a useable opening of 20cm - I can't fit a saucepan or plate in. You also lose shelf height due to the frame below the drawer. Go for wide cupboards.

Check that corner wall cupboards are proper L shaped ones with fully opening doors and not two crappety separate units with 300mm doors bodged together with a two inch gap inside for things to fall down - totally inaccessible. Also check that corner base units are Lshaped with piano hinged doors, or have a full height opening door (ie just a mock drawer). you will still probably not be able to squeeze anything through the tiny porthole opening. If they have spec'd a 800mm blind corner unit, get it changed (see catalogue p 98, 2nd example). This is a RUBBISH detail.

I inherited the framed kitchen we have, a Schreiber one, but for quite a number of cupboards we have taken the door and drawer fronts off, screwed them to the frame (to make one big door) and put new interior fittings in or replaced the unit behind.

Sorry if I sound like I have a grudge but it pains me that someone spent so much on such a badly designed kitchen.