Your kitchen: things you love and the things you hate.

[bibbitybobbityhat]

Ok, so I've got to start on the great kitchen replacement project. It is a long, thin west-facing room in a Victorian terrace. There's no separate utility room, so the washing machine and tumble drier have to be accommodated. But it is a big room with space for a full size dining table and chairs as well.

What do I need, what must I avoid - esp layout wise?

Thank you v much for any thoughts.

Personally, I need small lights under the over-head cupboards so that I can see when I'm working on the sideboard. I hate cooking in the dark and the light from the central room light gets blocked by me standing there.

Thank you Ruth! Good point.

Things I like about mine:

Little downlighters on the worktops.
Big Villeroy & Bosch double sink with big drainer
Masses of granite worktop (not black, Kashmir Gold which I know sounds like hashish.)

Things I hate:
Bloody stupid floortiles dh chose with little pockmarks in them which always look filthy

Stupid carousel units in the corners which things fall off and stay hidden for years.

Oh, and 16 v small halogen downlighters which you can angle onto pictures, or cooker or whatever.

We have a Godin range in red enamel with gold plated rails & edges. Definitely not worth the money, the gold has worn off.

i rather love my induction hob.

thinking about layout placing the dishwasher right next to the plate cupboard has changed my life :)! ooooooo and big drawers rather than cupboards too. I dispensed with wall cupboards completely as it felt more airy.... but it depends it you need the cupboard space and the style of kitchen you want.

I spent many happy hours on the ikea kitchen planner:)

I learned that it is important to prioritise as it is easy to get carried away.First have a clear idea of the daily functions your kitchen has i.e what do you do in it ? cook alot , entertain people in it , what? If it takes a lot of hard knocks then that ceramic sink could be damaged if a knife is thrown in it, for example .Any back problems? The new inbuilt ovens stacked at eye level are a godsend Second choose a style that suits the property as a whole so it blends in Use accessories to make it eyecatching

I love my cherry worktops, and have found them surprisingly easy to look after. I also love my pan drawers.
I hate that I didn't get cupboards to the ceiling so we pile loads of junk on top which looks shit.

I have one full size cupboard with 2 doors. I would love another one as the storage is fantstic.
Personally I do not like intergrated appliances, but I do have a seperate utility room, so only have the dishwasher in the kitchen.

I love my induction hob, having lots of drawers, my magic corner pullout cupboard, the slow close catches on all the units and my full height integrated fridge.

I hate that the kitchen is too small, but there wasn't much we could do about that

i like -

wall cupboards that go right up to the ceiling. no more dust on top of cupboards

eye level double oven with glass doors. no more bending over to reach hot trays of food, easy to check on cooking

stainless steel double sink. easy to clean. dishwasher situated near to sink so you can rinse plates and stack them in dishwasher

lights under wall cupboards to light up worktops

long ceiling light with directional lighting

deep pan drawers situated next to oven

I love my range cooker, my deep drawers and my under wall cupboard lights.
I hate the tiled floor, the tiles are not smooth so collect grime in the grooves.

We had our kitchen refitted last year. A couple of the things I love we already had so we designed the kitchen around them. The extra wide fridge/freezer and a range cooker. Other things we found as we designed the kitchen. The modern style ceramic sink, led lighting inside cupboards with frosted glass doors and a rather odd but fabulous laminate worktop. We wanted wood but logistic problems meant we ended up with laminate and we're very happy with it. It was cheap, is very hard wearing and looks fantastic.

Things I don't like? The quarry tiles on the floor aren't laid very well but we decided not to replace them. I think maybe we should have done. We also fitted an extractor over the cooker but we have such a high ceiling that it's pretty pointless.

I think with kitchens, function has to precede style. It's all very well having something that looks good, but that doesn't always help with the day-to-day use.

I'd suggest firstly making a list of all the niggly things about your current kitchen, because that's a starting point. Maybe do an exercise where you mime cooking a meal but focussing on where the utensils and ingredients currently are. For instance, you can get very narrow, pull-out drawers next to the cooker for oil, herbs, spices, etc, rather than rummaging around in a wall cupboard somewhere else.

I'd also suggest researching underfloor heating. If the kitchen is large enough to accommodate a dining table and it's going to be a frequently-used area, then it's large enough to need its own heating independent of the rest of the house.

I'd also suggest looking at the electrical consumption of all the kitchen equipment, and consider whether a seperate electrical feed and consumer unit for that area would be a good idea.

Lastly, I'd suggest a large glass splashback for the cooker. Tiles are prettier, but I'm glad I no longer have to deal with oil splashes on grout.

Had ours done in feb...

Things I like...
-Love my oak worktops, they look fab and are surprisingly easy to maintain.
-bowl and a half sink... Were advised not to skimp on sinks and taps, we have a franke one. Would recommend.
-dishwasher near sink and plate cupboard if you can.

• lights under wall units look great at night.
• induction hob has changed my life! Had gas before and much much prefer induction, looks sleek, easy to clean, can slow cook on it and I mean slow cook.
• we have the hotpoint draw fridge (not cheap) but it really gives an expensive looking finish to the kitchen.

Don't like...
-Didn't get a waste disposal unit due to f up of lady who designed kitchen, cupboard not big enough to hold the masserator so it had to go back, leaving us gadgetless!
-wouldn't go mad on the carousel .. Things fall off, if had time again would prob just have shelf in corner unit.

I am also about to embark on a new kitchen, now have my design and am just trying to decide on the finer details of the kitchen itself.

I am adding 2 full height cupboards for storage of vacuum cleaner, ironing board, steps, etc.

Having a 120 wide "dresser" with illuminated cabinets above for glassware and storage below for dinner service and serving dishes.
Keeping my american style fridge freezer and building around it with 2 pull-out larder units and a topbox to keep food storage together.
Washer and tumble drier (freestanding) built into cabinets under a specially deep worktop.
Sink moving along to allow more space between it and cooker for preparation space.
Deep drawers next to dishwasher for crockery storage.
Curved cupboards on corners of island unit and at end of runs where needed for "flow" around the kitchen.

I'm keeping my kitchen table and chairs as find it more relaxing to sit at a table than on stools/highchairs at an island.

For lighting am planning a combination of spotlights and something spectacular (would love a chandelier but worry about it getting greasy and being a pain to clean!)

Worktops probably granite and floor probably wood but not decided yet. Any advice appreciated.

Have been advised by someone else on here to list what is in the current cupboards and then check on new plan where it would go, that's been very useful in our planning

I like: most of all, my pantry. It's the downstairs bog, converted, with bog & basin removed & shelves put in. Takes all the food, tins, pans & random stuff like candles.

A big draining board, to stop water going over worktop (see below).

A big(ish) fridge-freezer. We've just bought one. Had a 'normal' under-worktop fridge before & miniature freezer, now it's great to have space to see what's there instead of everything crammed in.

Dislike: agree about the floortiles withge pockmarks that always look dirty. You can get stuff to seal them with when they're new & I wish we'd done that.

Wood surfaces. Had fake 'granite' before & it was much better. Wood shows water stains if water not cleared up straight away & shows cut marks. You might not cut veg on the wooden worktop, but someone else might has

I love a kitchen thread! Have been planning mine for a year whilst saving up for it.

I'm having:
wall cupboards to the ceiling
Down lighters under the wall cupboards
Integrated appliances
A dishwasher
An induction hob
Eye level oven/microwave
No tiles - hate cleaning grout
Deep 'pan' drawers

What I'm not having:
A feature extractor fan - a bugger to clean (can you tell I don't like cleaning )
A hot water tap - I'm having a tambour door to hide the kettle instead.

General advice I've taken on board?
Spend on the sink/taps and worktop and can scrimp a bit on the cupboard doors/drawer fronts and appliances (I assume the integrated ones)

What colour scheme are you going for bibbity?

Oh yes, sockets everywhere. Our electrician questioned why we were having so many but they're essential. We also have a switch panel that means we can turn off the fridge, dishwasher, extractor and washing machine without having to get to the sockets behind them.

We had our kitchen done 3 years ago and it is also a long thin room. From the hall you walk through the dining part of it to get to the kitchen bit which has units round all 3 walls so lots of storage but is impossible with more than 2 people in there.

I love my induction hob and wouldn't swap it for anything. Likewise my glass splashbacks behind hob and sink (no more dirty grouting). If it's a narrow space like ours then eye level oven(s) are better re door opening space. Don't think I've any real regrets.

Another must have. DH is having a man drawer to store all the crap that currently lives on top of the fridge

Sockets? Didn't consider those!

We inherited our beautiful kitchen when we moved here. It is really well planned and appointed (especially after our awful old one!)
I love having sufficient storage, carosel thingy is great ( I don't find things fall off), extractor hood...lots of stuff people take for granted. I also have a sort of shower spray tap which I love, teeny lights in the kick boards under the units which are very pretty and give a really nice gentle light rather than harsh overhead ones all the time.

The only thing I dislike are the black granite worktops. You can't just wipe them over, you need to buff them otherwise they look really scuzzy. I hate that job, dh likes it, so you can always tell when he's been working really long hours as the worktops are all smeary!

Adore -

Marble slab near oven so hot things can go straight down on it
Wall mounted knife strip tucked to the side of one of the wall cupboards (we have more knives than fit in a block and this is much safer than in the drawer, plus no surface space used)
Two sinks side by side instead of double sink, each with own tap so you can wash up while someone else gets a glass of water at the same time
Space for the dog under the work surface

Not so keen on -

Aga, just not for me
Floor tiles - how are they a good idea? Stuff builds up between them and I just find them yukky, would much prefer cheap lino
Not enough manouver(sp?) space around the kitchen table so as soon as one person sits down evreyone else can't get in easily.

IME people tend to massively over-light their kitchens. You need good strong task lighting over your worktops but keep it mellow elsewhere.

We've just had our kitchen done. Love our magic corner but make sure you research if you go for one. Our fitter said he has seen some awful ones that are designed so badly they scrape the unit edge as you pull them out. I also love our pull out larder and pan drawers.

Waste disposal which is brilliant especially in this warmer weather as our bin used to stink really quickly from old catfood etc. Glass splash back behind hob (we have a beautiful one with a blossom print on which makes a great feature) and upstands so no tiles at all.
Agree with going for loads of sockets too. Also our mains stop cock is now harder to access so our fitter put a water switch on it so now we can switch the mains off at the wall by a switch. Beats pulling everything out of the under sink cupboard!
We already had an induction hob so moved that into new kitchen because they are great.
Sorry - you can probably tell that I am still in love with my new kitchen!

LemonDifficult - we're having cheap lino! And this is my dream kitchen!

I took the carousel out & turned a corner unit into a recycling centre - it's great

Double sink & double drainer