Dream kitchen

[mrsnobby]

... Well not quite but are in the process of a major build to open up lower ground floor and have a living/ kitchen/ diner opening on to the garden
So I have a blank canvas with which to start our kitchen planning. We know what colour/ finish/ work surface tiles etc we want. It's going to be in a contemporary style. Exciting but a bit daunting!
Just looking for top tips/ suggestions re appliances, what to include etc - want to come up with a "wish list" although it won't be granted as already over budget!!
eg my husband really wants one of those boiling water taps but I am worried about kids. Are steam ovens worth the ridiculous price? Shall we have island just for work surface or appliance there. I think I want gas hob and inbuilt oven, microwave & fridge.
Just feeling a bit overwhelmed and would value advice from anyone else who has done something similar
Thanks

Ooh, marking place to shamelessly pinch ideas! We are getting a new kitchen soon too...

Just looked at buying a house that needed opening up with a living/kitchen/diner so having the same thought process.

I would not get a boiling water tap with children.

An island depends on shape of kitchen. A square kitchen is good for an island. If we do one it will have pull out 'shelves' under the surface so it can be used as a breakfast bar or place to snack. I would put the hob there too as well as sink and prep area.

I like minimalist and all the appliances hidden so in the long kitchen we would have I planned a long kitchen area all along one wall faced with a lime green and steel flat surface that hid everything including the work tops.

Unless you are a serious cook I think a steam oven is a waste of money.

One last thing - you need a lot more lights than you think you need. Dont skimp on lights. Save money elsewhere but not on lights.

Plan for where your bin will go. And the recyling. Dull, sorry but actually quite important. Do you want freestanding chrome jobby or hidden away in a cupboard? Lots of compartmentalised cupboard ones if you have to sort your recycling like we do.

Are you planning a high end bespoke or Howdens/Ikea/B&Q?

When sorting mine I have just segmented the kitchen into food storage (larder cupboard, ridge freezer etc) Utensils/crockery storage (pan drawers, plate rack) and had that near the dishwasher but not getting in the way and then washing area - sink/dishwasher/bin all on the island. This will also be the area closest to the table so can be the place clearing the table stacks get put. Easy to load in the dishwasher. Long worksurface next tot he range so easy to dish up.
So really more how you want to use it. Think about the "triangle" a bit. Think about zones. Imagine yourself moving about in it.
And bins.
Sorry - probably not much help. A couple of kitchen design visits helped me.

Fishfingers - good point on ergonomics and the 'triangle.

My current kitchen is almost painful to work in it is so badly designed. It is almost worth cooking a meal and doing a video of yourself to see how you move around and where.

We have just started the building work for ours. Some of our decisions:

• We are having a boiling water tap, despite small kids. Chose Quooker for reasons of safety....the push + turn handle looks much harder for small hands to operate than some of the others on the market. Additionally some brands combine the boiling functionality in the main kitchen tap, and I think it is safer that the boiling tap is separate.

• Much as I love gas for a hob, have chosen induction as have been really impressed with my parents one and I am a lazy slob when it comes to cleaning

• We have an inbuilt oven and steam oven. Boring bog-standard freestanding microwave is going in the separate pantry area. Built in fridge & freezer.

• Focus on appliances that are quiet - e.g. dishwasher and extractor fan. Since it is an open plan kitchen/dining/living room I think it's much more important than in say a stand-alone kitchen.

Our kitchen is matt and handleless, and coming from Higham -I read recommendations on here, went down to their workshop and really liked what we saw. Will need to report back on how ours works out though!

Is there now a MN kitchen, as well as haircut?! Yet another one here having an extension for open plan kitchen diner!

Cream shaker painted wood units here but not sure what colour to paint the walls yet. American fridge freezer, built in combi microwave oven and grill, as well as double oven (greedy, me? ) I wouldn't spend the money on a steam oven, if I'm doing bread I can stand a bowl of water in the oven!

I thought I wanted a 5burner gas hob but MN has talked me round to induction!

I'm very tempted by a boiling water tap but when I compared how many kettles I could buy for the cost of the boiling water tap... :( (until the build comes in massively under budget!)

I can't wait to get my bin in a cupboard - so fed up of kicking moving it around the kitchen as it blocks things I want to access in turn!
And totally agree with the need for lots of lights in the kitchen, not just a big central one that leaves you working in your own shadow

Don't know if I'm allowed to tell you to look for annalouiseh on here, her DH designs kitchen and has sent me some beautiful pictures with a v competitive quote

Oh, and islands.
Our kitchen isn't big enough, you need to have 60cm depth either side for units, then about a metre either side of the island to walk past, and still have room for island - so 3m20 of room not including size of island, we could fit a 20cm deep island in!

Bin in cupboard
Waste disposal unit (the best you can afford). Make sure your drains are good with good access/rodding points.
A utility room. (where the DC's can make their sandwiches and mess in peace) also keep microwave/toaster etc in there so kitchen looks tidy.
The biggest dishwasher possible
Quiet powerful extract fan
More plugs than you could possibly use (you WILL use them)
A few plugs in cupboards for recharging phones etc (unless you have a study or similar)
Big drawers not cupboards
Underfloor heating
A simple design without trendy details so it won't date too quickly
Boiling water tap is good but not essential (really can't see the problem with little DC's )
I had two full size ovens rather than The more usual one and a half as it looked better , and I have since found it really useful.
Cupboards right to the ceiling, makes the ceiling look taller if they are low and easier for cleaning.
Lots of nice lighting
Read Which reviews on what appliances to buy.
A self cleaning oven
Ifyou have granite go to a granite importers rather than a kitchen company as they are usually lots cheaper and have a huge variety compared with the very limited range held by kitchen companies or DIY stores.

.........can't think of any more.

Boiling Water Tap - my favourite gadget!
Loads of pan drawers - I have my main kitchen run entirely of pan drawers.
I have an eye level Neff double oven - I wish I spent slightly more and bought a pyrolitic double oven instead (De Detriech). Very glad that I don't have to bend down anymore to a range cooker.
Plumbed in American fridge freezer (Samsung G-Series) with full height pull out larder units either side (I moved a doorway to fit this in) and a bridge cabinet over the top - DH loves this.
Flexinduction hob alongside a gas wok burner so best of both worlds with a outside wall extractor - although island hobs/extractors are popular, they are style over substance imho (which would be shared by most professional chefs!) I chose the most powerful one I could find which was relatively quiet (in relation to its extraction rate) which was also reasonably priced. CDA fyi.
We bought Ikea units which allowed us to buy an expensive quartz worktop and high end appliances/sinks/taps. Do not underestimate the cost of appliances.
Caple Wine Chiller integrated into our island which also houses our dishwasher(Ikea) and main kitchen sink/tap(Franke).
Integrated microwaves are a ripoff - if you can plan a separate utility room - do so. We house our 'normal' combi microwave, toaster & Gaggia in there. We live in a hard water area so we also house a water softener in our utility room (where we chose to have our main cockstop).
Plan all your electrics, plumbing & lighting now for your quotes otherwise they will be expenisve extras that weren't in the original spec! Invest in LED downlights, don't scrimp with halogen. Consider plinth heaters and tall radiators to have more wall space (precious if this is an open plan area).
Yes, plan where you want your bin space - we overlooked this extremely important aspect but fortunately have enough unit/cupboard space to stuff them under the main sink and under the utility sink.

Interesting you say integrated microwaves are a rip off, I see it as buying back worktop space.
I'm still tempted by a boiling water tap on a similar basis - how does it cope with demand for larger volumes of water? Is it a one cup at a time job, or does it cope well with boiling water by the panful? And what brand do you have?

We can't have a separate utility room downstairs but have managed to design a small laundry room upstairs for the washing machine and tumble dryer and hanging drying space, so at least the kitchen floor won't be perma-carpeted with the next waiting washload!

Plinth heaters and underfloor heating have both been recommended already - why would you choose one over the other?

Brilliant!
Thanks ladies for all your fantastic ideas & suggestions.
No not a high end bespoke one am afraid but have an amazing fitter so sourcing handleless cupboards and drawers and then splashing out on work surface/ appliances, underfloor heating and floor tiles.
Bins one thing I hadn't considered so will def incorporate bin/ recycle cupboard.
Sounds like my husband's wish re tap may be granted!
Am definitely going to check out induction hobs as they seem to be rated to highly- would I need to buy all new pans though?

A pull out larder cupboard is great.
I have an integrated microwave as my available space for counter tops was very limited.

If I had a big enough kitchen I'd want to have a 2nd oven/grill, too, but I'd miss the integrated microwave as I like having nice empty counters without too much clutter.

Those boiling taps are a rip off in my opinion - we had one at work and it needed servicing all the time, plus the water isn't really at boiling point, just very hot, so tea doesn't taste quite right.

I spoke to my kitchen designer about putting my regular microwave in a cupboard. She said is (unofficially) fine as long as is only thing in a base cupboard - so there is enough ventilation. So am having a socket in the cupboard (only cupboard apart from ladder cupboards) so I have the option to hide away the microwave.

I love my tall cupboards with pull out drawers - can find everything now. I also love my island for extra work top space

We had this a year ago - knocked down old garage and extended so we now have a huge l-shaped kitchen/diner/sitting area. My top five things are:
Boiling water tap - so useful (disclaimer my youngest is 10 so no real safety issues, quite the reverse in fact as much safer for the children to make hot drinks with than the kettle).
Huge island (1mx1.5m) with just worksurface and pop up socket in centre. I can now cook with all three DDs at once (and even had my whole Brownie unit over for a cooking evening). Island houses a bookshelf for my cookbooks, four pull out baskets (really useful) and a couple of cupboards.
Rangemaster cooker with wokburner - transformed my cooking.
Pull out tall larder cupboards and corner cupboard (from Howdens).
Pull out bin.
There are some pics on my profile if you are interested in having a look.

YY to hot water tap, ours has a button you have to hold in to operate it, definitely too tricky for little hands. So handy not just for drinks but also pasta/veg etc. We love it. Tea tastes great to us, pretty sure the water is at boiling point.

If you have room consider getting two dishwashers as we always manage to fill one before the end of a day, so then had to pile up dirty dishes until cycle finished....now I never have dirty crockery hanging round

Induction hob also fantastic, but you will probably need new pans (test your existing ones with a magnet, if they stick to the bottom they will work).

Huge island is heaven for prep and feeding all the family/socialising with guests whilst cooking. Pop up socket v handy.

Big deep, wide, drawers and bin drawer with separate recycling sections are great.

Also have pics on my profile.

Induction hob.
Pull out larder cupboard (but MUST be good quality)
Pull out corner unit- as above.
If you need an appliance on the island, I recommend hob rather than sink (which is often very messy). We also have ovens in island, so do all cooking there. You definitely need pop up socket on island if used for food preparation.
Waste disposal (which we don't have) would be great.
Big, wide drawers for cutlery, crockery etc.
Think about position of your bin. Ours is next to the hob; I wish it was next to the sink.
Enjoy it, though it seems stressful!

Pootlebug. Snap! Just had my handless shaker by Higham installed. it's beyond beautiful!

Chosen two built in ovens and 5 burner gas hob and a down draft extractor. Hob and ovens are Piano range by Smeg. Polished steel tap by MGS with a fast flow water filter so all cold water is filtered. Downdraft is stainless steel by caple. Fridge freezer is the John Lewis (made by AEG) flush fitting side by side one with a wine cooler. And specially imported 40mm honed Carrara bianco extra marble. Three pendant lights from Foscarini (Aplomb).

No boiling water tap as my 3 yo DD easily opened a Quooker tap at a friends house. No harm done as I whipped her away before she could shove her hands under it but sadly I am now far too scared to have one.
Love my new kitchen

Quooker - I chose this because I think it's safer than a kettle. DS was 3 when we had it installed. No problems so far, used for a thousand (!) or so cups of tea per day.

2 single ovens stacked, so one at eye level the other below. Makes cooking roasts, Christmas dinner etc... a lot easier. I found double ovens were too small. We chose the Neff slide away door model.

Induction hob - heats up and cools down very quickly, easy to clean.

Caesar stone work top. Cleans up a treat.

Underfloor heating.

My only regrets with our recently installed kitchen ...

Really thinking through the ergonomics. I spent hours, days probably looking at cupboard fronts, colours, tiles etc, but very little in terms of ease and comfort and in particular ...

Worktop height - ours is standard 90cm, wish we'd gone a bit higher tbh
Sink depth (relates to worktop height, i.e. ours is a bit 'low')
Ease of getting around cupboards etc
Making sure floor is totally level

Love my ...

Rangemaster
Siemens extractor hood (glad we spent money on that as a big room)
Karndean flooring
Lots of lighting

It's definitely worth spending time thinking about what goes where in terms of cupboards/appliances etc. Our kitchen is so easy to use now, mugs and tea etc kept in cupboard next to sink (boiling water tap), crockery drawers open opposite dishwashers so emptying the dishwashers takes seconds as you only have to move stuff about a foot.

Work out what you have in what cupboards in your existing kitchen and make sure you can fit it all in where you need to (preferably plus a bit). Originally I was hoping to avoid wall units but that exercise made me realise I simply had to have them. Also I ended up sacrificing 40mm of worktop from my original design to put in a tall larder cupboard for food storage.

Sheep....don't talk to me about totally level floors, grrrr - my strongest piece of advice to anyone doing a building project is to make a spirit level your constant companion whilst plastering/floors are being done. We have had a nightmare with tiling/finishing as a result of levels not being true.

Build a separate utility room for your washer and dryer and drying clothes in. You could use it as a mudroom too, for boots and shoes and jackets. Keep all that mess out of sight and you will lead a more zenlike existence.

We had a Quooker boiling tap installed. Fantastic.
Induction hob is so fast. Check your pans with a fridge magnet. If it sticks it will work. Simples. We had a Scavolini kitchen installed and it is amazing. Dont be put off by the look. They really can do a good deal.