Brand new kitchen - things you love or hate...

[anonymousbird]

We are in the fortunate position, now we have planning permission to extend our property, to go to town a bit on a completely new kitchen. Nothing of the current will remain, other than the (pretty modern, installed 2 years ago) Rayburn. It is pretty exciting and have got the wheels in motion as to basic look/function of the new kitchen.

It's not a case of "money no object" but I am prepared to spend money on sensible things or features that make it as useable and practical as possible for life with 2 young DC's, but also want to consider any seriously good modcons/kitchen fittings that make a difference to its use. Our current kitchen is 30 years old so has absolutely nothing modern or modcon about it!

For example, and it's not the best example, is it worth spending the extra on things like a built in Brita filter?
Usefulness of cupboards versus the big deep drawers that now seem to be all the rage?
Fridges with icemakers/cold water taps?
On another level of expense, I gather that you can build in steam ovens and Nespresso coffee makers, but I suspect I will be stopping short on those - but open to any ideas really to at least think through.

ANY tips you have on things you installed, and wished you hadn't or didn't and wish you had, or did and think "thank goodness we have one of those" would be very gratefully received. The kitchen runs straight into our Breakfast Room and Playroom/daytime TV room if that influences anything!!

Thank you.

Things I did install and would do again;
tap with built in water filter (Franke but there are other makes)
Granite worktops practically indestructible
More storage than you think you'll need

Things I'd have now
Instant boiling water tap
Underfloor heating
Fridge with ice dispenser

Probably not
Inbuild appliances more expensive and when you move you have to leave them behind

if I had the room I'd have a larder type storage area!

We had new kitchen a few months ago. Went for "Second Nature". www.sncollection.co.uk Has a fab, good quality, range. We went for Fenton Alabaster. Have got lots of very wide (900 & 1000) pan drawers. They are brilliant for cramming in loads of stuff. Also pull-out larder is great. Mine is quite slim (only 300) due to lack of space but would recommend it as v useful.

Went for granite worktop as well. Looks v smart & v practical. Would have liked wood but decided I wouldn't look after it properly knowing what I am like! Have a couple of friends who have wood which looked great at 1st but does need looking after.

Thank you for your reply.

Did you consider Corian as opposed to Granite, just out of interest?

the built in water filter is a winner,eh? My MIL swears by hers, not sure how much they cost, but I am possibly quite keen on that one.

Instant boiling water - I forgot about those! I have seen one of those, but are they very energy efficient or inefficient compared to good old electric kettle (we use Rayburn kettle in the winter).

Underfloor heating is an excellent one, we are replacing the floor and I love the one we installed in our utility room... good point.

Inbuilt - always a lot more, and I think we will inbuild as this should be our "forever kitchen/house/extension".. hopefully.

CKYL Thank you. I agree that wood is lovely, but we have had to rule that out as a surface for identical reasons.

I will have room for a nearly full height pull out larder thingy I think, also those twizzle trays that fold into the corner, I am very pleased to hear that you find the larder of use as I really like the idea and we need to quite "smart" with our use of space as I am trying to avoid having any eye level cupboards above the work tops.

Agree that the following are really useful

1. Deep Pan Drawers
2. Pull out larder - mine is also about 30cm wide but is brilliant for finding cans and jars quickly
3. Deeper than usual surfaces - so that you still have lots of working space after your kettle, toaster etc are back on
4. built in recycling bins
5. somewhere to put the ironing board.. thought of that one a bit later here...

Totally agree that instant boiling hot water dispensers are incredibly energy inefficient. A good, powerful kettle will be quick and save you a noticable amount of money.

It will be worth getting a membership of Which for a couple of months while you are planning. As well as getting their monthly magazine you can access all their on-line information, which will help you find the best appliances etc before you spend your hard-earned.

We did consider corian but I preferred the not completely uniform look of granite. Depends what look you are after though. A friend of mine has just installed a completely white kitchen using Ikea units and white corian. Looks stunning also. Depends what your style is I guess.

We didn't go for twirly thing in corner cupboard. Nearly did but they are quite expensive & manage fine without. Guy in the shop actually advised against! Having said that, it depends how accessible the corner cupboard would be. Can reach into mine no prob.

Oh golly, I am so glad I started this thread! There are some very good tips here.

Built in recycling bins are a must I think, oh and the ironing board?!?! Hadn't even thought of that!

I also know someone who put in white corian recently and it is Beeeautiful, though agree the "perfectness" of it may not be what I am after. I wouldn't go white, just because of our overall style of kitchen/house, but am a bit on the fence with it at the moment.

My corner cupboard is really deep and inaccessible - goes back a couple of feet and having that space accessible, even if the tray things are a bit pricey will be all important space in my new "streamlined" kitchen!

Thank you all, I have lots of good new ideas now to think about. Hurrah! Would have taken me days to think these things up/make suitable list so DH will be VERY impressed with my new found kitchen planning knowledge... (MN saves the day once more)

I want MillyMollyMardy's dream kitchen. It's a bit like my last one.

Somewhere to put the Kitchen Bin. If it's going in a cupboard it needs to be a design you can actually use without having to use mucky hands to open and get at it.

ALSO LOADS of power points.

Soft-close drawers. Cheap but sooo nice!
Enough counter space so you don't get kettle steam over everything and you can have a food processor on it.

Fridge that is short enough so you can reach stuff on top of it.

Drawers are truly brilliant, much better than cupboards.

Instant boiling water is horrendously inefficent - boiling a kettle is much better. (I looked this up, and I think that the Danish equivalent of Which had done a comparison and shown that instant boiling water is only better than randomly boiling a full kettle of water when you want a small cupful).

But built in water filters are great.

We have laminate worktops, which are indeed very practical and stain and water resistant, so we're chuffed with those, but in retrospect, would have liked Corian for the look. Bit worried about the staining issues, though.

I disagree with deeper than usual surfaces which we have, as I find it hard to lean over them to really clean stains on the splashback, walls and on the windows.

One of our best things is a bin built into the worktop, which saved so much space. It's supposed to be a compost bin, but we use it as the landfill bin, since we generate more compost than landfill.

Just thought of another thing. We have granite upstands instead of tiles and then becomes higher & curved behind cooker to create a splashback for cooker. Seems to be the trendy thing to do. Looks great & adds to a seamless look.

My friend with the white kitchen has built in recycle bins in a drawer & doesn't like them. Thinks they take up too much space & are a pain.

Wow, interested in your Laminate Worktop comments, GrendelsMum as I am seriously looking at these too... is Corian stainable? I was told it was bulletproof - presumably colouring pens etc won't go well with it??!? We currently have laminate and it is sooo forgiving. DC's won't be young forever, I know, but we have several years of pen misuse ahead of us. I don't want to be Hitler Mum saying "no pens in the kitchen" as that simply is not realistic or good for a happy household!

Must walk Dog, but will be back later to continue making notes!

Isn't instant boiling water quite dangerous?

Am lurking, will need to think about this stuff soon.

We've just had ours done and bought all our appliances from Roy Waring South (I've mentioned them on other threads) - fantastic bargains - without boxes but still with 2-year guarantees.

Good luck with your kitchen - sounds v. exciting.

Oh, and I also completely agree with deep pan drawers, and with pull-out larders. If you end up with a sliver of spare space then you could get a mini undercounter pull-out larder for oil bottles etc. I love mine.

Pull-out larders for me... and losts of higher cupboards that DC cannot reach

A really good cooker hood extractor fan(is what I want, not what I have) that is vented outside. The one we have just filters and recirculates the air.

Second the mini undercounter larder thing!. We inherited a kitchen with one next to the cooker - perfect for stock cubes, spices, oils etc.

Am loving this thread as have just ordered our kitchen! I believe those instant boiling things have child safety devices but I haven't bothered with one, seems like an expensive optional extra. And it's more visual "clutter"

We've gone for granite worktops with an undermounted sink, so the draining board is grooves in the granite - visually it looks like a much bigger worktop. We have a water softener so am hoping that will reduce the issue of hard water marks that people on other threads have mentioned. Think that also wiping it down after use helps.

We have a larder cupboard but I didn't go for pullout drawers as I thought that if I had cans stacked 2 high the top ones would fall off? (I have a larder cupboard without pull-outs at the moment)

We decided that plinth lights at the bottom were a waste of money (the BIL mentioned the "pimp my kitchen" idea of blue lights so I was definitely put off!)

We're going for the granite upstands/splashback as mentioned above - I'd forgotten about that!

We're now moving to a house that's got a lovely wooden kitchen with granite tops and splashbacks and it does look very nice. We've got wooden worktops at the moment which does look lovely and warm and gorgeous but does dent, scratch, burn (if your cheapie burgers catch fire in the grill) and does need sanding and oiling pretty much every year to keep it at it's best.

The new kitchen has bins under the worktop, and there's a hole in the worktop with a big matching granite plug for chucking stuff straight in the bin. Never seen that before!

And it's got a walk-in fridge. (smug)

Is Smug posher than Smeg

I am getting so excited!

One thing we asked for was higher wall cupboards - they have to be an inch or two lower than the ceiling so the fitters can hang them on the brackets, but ours are tall so they use that wasted space that gathers dust and dirt (I figured that I could put things on the top shelf I rarely use or only need to get to once a month or so like Xmas plates/cups, party things, candles etc)

i had pull out larder in last house and tbh it annoyed because you cant really see anything without rumaging around. this time round we have gone for floor to ceiling tall larder cuboard with cut back shelves and spice/condiment racks on the inside door and a middle full shelf.

its really worth considering handmade/bespoke as well, the price comparison to highstreet is pretty good these days.

soft close drawers.

tray space is very useful too. look at your current kitchen and list what you dont have a particular space for.

if you've got a rayburn then you might as well use it for your boiling water surely?

We've got a butler sink (fantastic for washing out large things such as a grill pan but too low if you don't have a dishwasher and are washing by hand) uand I am SO glad we got a tap that pulls out http://www.sinks-taps.com/item-2940-PROFESSIONAL_Pull_Out_Monobloc_Tap.aspx like thisso that you can clean things without splashing and it's great for cleaning the actual sink itself. We have a fridge with water/ice dispenser which I love. Also agree with everyone about drawers - pan drawers are great.

Do go for more plug points than you think you will need and if you have an island have a pop up plug rather than one on the side to save trailing wires.

OOps! This was my link like this

Also agree on soft closers as if you aren't having wall cupboards and will therefore have crockery/glasses etc in drawers then you won't want them crashing shut!