The MN lessons learnt kitchen thread.

[jollydiane]

I have read loads of kitchen threads so here is my conclusions.

1. Plan for where you bin is going to go.
2. Handless kitchens look lovely but can wind you up.
3. Floor Tiles look stunning but can be a bugger to keep clean.
4. Splash-backs are very practical for cleaning and can look stunning although some of you think they look naff.

What else should I add to the list before I make my purchase?

The one area I'm really stuck on is flooring. I want something that I can use my lakeland steam mop on (another MN suggestion) which I love.

I also have a Franke Triflow Tap for filtered water which is great in our hard water area.

I wish I'd known before I bought it that it would cost me nearly £50 every 6 months for filter cartridges though.

goldmed,

it might, provided that in your town the builders don't roll up, start work and then disappear to work on some other job without telling you.

Project Management is a job that needs skill, experience and aptitude, as well as lots of hard work, which is why good ones are well-paid and hard to find.

no, electrical work can not be "signed off" retrospectively. It has to be signed by the person who designed it, the person who installed it, and the person who tested it (they may be the same person)

Hmm so if I had a new bathroom and the (supposedly very professional) builders never mentioned the need for electrical certification, can I go back to them and complain now?

I would, goldmedalmother.

I am annoyed with the builder / friend who did mine!

Mmelindor Do not buy Lamona! God awful. Got them as we hd no them to shop around and within year there was a problem with every single appliance. Crappo quality. I've heard they are just rebadged BEKO.

Thank you to MadBusLady for liking our Recycled Glass Worktops and splashbacks.
To answer Stealthsquiggle our glass is made from fused recycled glass bottles and is different to normal glass used in windows etc. It is a very strong ceramic type of glass and is therefore as scratch and heat resistant as granite, but has the advantages of being non-pourous (stain resistant) and easy to clean as it has a matt finish which doesn't show watermarks!
Our recycled glass is handmade in Yorkshire from bottles collected from pubs/clubs and bottle manufacturers. The labels are removed by a social enterprise called Bottle Rescue in Keighley which employs young adults with learning difficulties to clean, delabel and refill bottles collected from pubs and clubs. The majority of these bottles are sold back to microbrewers and home brewers, but we buy the exciting blue and green ones!
Our recycled glass worktops are roughtly the same price as granite and our splashbacks are one of a kind pieces of Art.
Anyone in the Wetherby/Leeds/york area is very welcome to come and visit our showroom/workshop to see how it is all made etc.
Make your kitchen different, save landfill, reduce the impact of electricity and give your firends and family a kitchen to talk about with some Recycled glass.

Normally I'd report you for advertising bottle but actually I'm really intrigued by your worktops. can you give me an idea of cost compared with eg granite? Any plans to do different colours (eg a darker green, I love the greens but they are quite bright).

Ooh bottle, you may just have solved my lighting dilemma :)

Would your lighting panels be suitable for hanging flat from a ceiling to diffuse a few bulbs above/behind them?
How child friendly is your showroom - and how much of the making can you see? I can watch a glass blower for hours and know what you do is different but still think the DC might be interested, but the eldest is 5.5 so I'm happy to park them on GP while DH and I come and nosey.

Not sure when we'll next be in Leeds though

I wanted a magnetic knife board but we have ceramic knives - any suggestions?!

Plan, Plan, Plan your kitchen extractor/cooker hood very early.....it is dull. But necessary. Especially if you are knocking walls down/moving where the cooker is. We are now having fun trying to work all this out after everything planned around a range in the middle of the house...

^

obsessed with extractors now

Moog
Thanks for the warning. I was already looking into Bosch appliances, and you have confirmed my thoughts (and saved me arguing with DH cause when I say, 'oooooh noooooooo, MN says they are crap', he will accept that it has to be Bosch')

.

Self cleaning ovens (set on the 'cremate' setting, which automatically locks the doors too). Just wipe out bit of fine white dust after.

Insinkerator with biggest motor you can afford.

Underfloor heating.

Butler sinks.

why butler sinks?

Just love them, great for soaking big pots, baking trays. Other one good for handwashing and um.....making marble effect paper. Didn't see point of them until stayed somewhere which had 2 butler sinks and was converted.

what about the stains, the large amount of hot water they take, and the fact that they break things? I'm guessing you're not very tall so don't get backache from leaning over them?

No stains (have always used bicarb of soda for cleaning white enamel). Need lots of quite hot water sometimes (if not, use less in there). Broken one small bowl only so far. I'm 5 ft 8 and dh 6ft 2, never had backache problems due to the sinks. They work for us anyway. Miss using them for bathing the children when they were babies/ toddlers :).

I hated our butler sink.

My next kitchen will have a teeny tiny blink and you miss it black granite sink with no drainer. I only need one for washing veg and fruit.

I have a double butler sink and I love it. It is an unforgiving surface though - have already broken two cafetieres by bashing them against the edge. But great for soaking stuff, will take big pans and dishes and looks lovely.

My granite only needs a wipe over with an ecloth to look shiny, honestly. It is black/grey with lots of speckles (to avoid the tombstone effect ). I don't use cleaner or polish after the ecloth. Is it because it came from Martin Moore so maybe it is more polished (how can it be more polished?)

Fluffy - that's fine if you never want to sell the house!

By the time Fluffy sells her next house, I have a feeling that Butler sinks and Agas will have followed downlighters and laminate flooring to the place where Artex and Stone Cladding went. Timber decking is already on its way.

Oh yes, don't know if anyone has said this yet, but have a separate fan AS WELL AS the extractor hood.

We have one and it's a god send. It's quieter than the hood and so can be left on in the background to get rid of any lingering smells from lamb/fish or if something has burned etc.

You can add a bigger sink though, cut a hole and plumb it in.

I've moved 3 times in 7 years, next one will be sold when I'm dead so I won't care!.