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.

Seriously? They installed stuff you'd specifically told them not to? I'd be tempted to name and shame, that's rubbish. Bet it cost you more than a plain corner cupboard as well.

I can sort of imagine open, easy to clean (maybe frosted glass?) shelves with appliances on - just not in our terminally messy kitchen. Our previous house had (not chosen by us) little shelves on the end of a run of cupboards and they were a complete grease trap. Bleugh.

We have about an inch gap (maybe 2 at the top) around a big American style fridge-freezer, but previous (did I mention not chosen by us ) kitchen had much tighter slots for under counter fridge, dishwasher, etc and that worked fine apart from it taking about an hour to 'ease' the dishwasher into position.

Underfloor heating
Cupbaords up to ceiling so no mess or cobwebs
As much workspace as you can muster
Spots exactly above where you are doing food prep
yy To masses of sockets

And personally, a gas hob that faces out, so I can cook and talk to friends at the same time.

I have just been told by the lady who cleans for us

• not to have wood because we are not the right kind of people as we leave wet things on the work surfaces.

• not to get dark granite because you have to buff it to a shine for it to look good . If you just wipe it down it leaves streak marks.

• not to get stainless steel appliances because you can't scrub stuff off if it gets on them.

I'd already figured out the first one for myself but the second one was new to me about the granite. Is that right?

princesschick - we have a massive fridge freezer so rarely use our wine cooler fridge thingy. In fact I forget its there most of the time.

Its useful for parties and Christmas

We have white silestone worksurface. Love it.

lingle - I think there is some self-interest from your cleaner involved there - dark granite is hard(ish) to get perfectly shiny - but I just polish mine with glass cleaner and kitchen towel after I have scrubbed it - doesn't take long and the result is incredibly satisfying.

Gas hobs lovely - I'd never be without one. Whener we stay in self catered accomodation with electric I got cross every time I cook. Everything boils over as it's so unresponsive and then it always seems to take longer to clean because even though it's just flat and doesn't have fiddly bits like gas, it always seems to go really smeary.

Granite does take more than a quick wipe with a cloth. I use Method spray on mine, wipe with wet cloth and then dry with an old soft tea-towel. Not overly onerous. And I am a lazy cow!

Interesting thread. We are thinking of getting a new kitchen in the next year or so and I want to get it spot on so am thinking alot about where to put everything.

A couple of questions though:

• Light painted cabinets - are they harder to keep clean than wooden ones as they show up any spillages more obviously?

• only one mention of a water softener - we are thinking this is a must to make things easier to keep clean and shiny - any feedback on if they're worth it?

-If wood is hard to upkeep and not that practical, and granite is hard to keep looking nice and shiny, what is the work surface material of choice?

Love the tip of plug socket in a cupboard for all the phone chargers/other junk - I hate all this stuff being left out.

lingle I think that sounds a little alarmist re granite. Dark granite is not the lowest maintenance thing ever, but it's a lot lower maintenance than wood, for instance. What I find with it is you can't just leave it after use, or make do with a quick wipe with whatever damp cloth you have to hand like you could with, say, beige speckly laminate. But buffing to a shine?? All you need is a spray of any cheapo window/glass/shiny surface cleaner (windowlene or own brand equivalent) and a glass polishy e-cloth. Cleans and polishes in one go with a couple of wipes. I'd rather have something slightly less dark and less shiny if I was choosing again as have vv hard water and I'd like to be able to have it look presentable for a bit longer than it does, but it's certaintly not a nightmare.

We have composite granite rather than solid so it may be a bit different, but we don't find we're buffing it to a shine or anything. The main thing we're doing is wiping off the breadcrumbs every so often so clearly we're far from houseproud with it (at present at any rate - wrangling a 2 year old DD and 3 week old DS!). Never noticed any water marks, anyway.

Princess
I think it depends where your open cupboards are. I am not having any near the hob, cause that is where the worst of the grease/steam is.

Am also going with a wine fridge - you can get a small one that takes about 6 bottles which will be perfect for us.

Am also going with built in appliances - we only recently relocated from Switzerland and I could not believe that anyone would not have built in appliances. It is totally standard there. Looks much neater.

LittleFrieda
Just the wee nooks and crannies under the gas outlets - are they not difficult to clean?

Knife, fork, spoon.
Don't have wooden work tops, ceramic sinks or wooden Venetian blinds...they look great but are not practical and are a nightmare to clean/keep nice.
My current kitchen has laminate work tops...so easy to clean! Stainless steel sink..looks fab and won't crack, and a roller blind that easy to replace.
Make sure your job, oven and sink are well spaced.
An area for recycling would be very useful.
Lots of sockets, decent lighting.
Ceramic tile floor...I have a Lakeland mop too! :)

I would love an induction hm but my oven is electric and if we have a power cut at least I can make soup/pancakes/omelettes etc with a gas hob.
Yes to in built appliances...dishwasher a must for me.
Ime cooker hoods are a waste of the and money....

Depends on the kind of granite you have. My stepmother had speckly granite and now so do we, and it's fine, as it doesn't show spills. But on honeymoon we stayed at a hotel that had that nero black granite around the sink, and my God did I feel for the chambermaids - a single drop of water made a mess and dried badly. That pure black was really popular for kitchens a few years back. IMO it's as impractical as stainless steel surfaces in a domestic home, and for the same reasons.

I hate laminate that pretends to be stone or wood. It looks fake. Laminate should look like laminate IMO. I love the look of granite because it's a natural material, same as wood, but it's not important.

Telescopic shelves in ovens are essential though, IMO. Also dishwashers.

you want satin finish granite, not shiny. very easy to keep clean and does not show stains.

Oh and if you want stainless steel, make sure it has the special no fingerprint coating, one option here: www.geappliances.com/products/cleansteel.htm

Talk to me about stainless steel - these say stainless steel effect

which I take to mean that it is some other metal with a coating on them which will at some point come off and look awful.

Our appliances are allegedly fingerprint free, too. Unfortunately nobody told them that....

Steel does look nice though. Worth the cleaning on fridges. Dishwashers etc, and whatever the design, integrated ones won't date. Stainless steel will eventually, too - look how much black or white finish ovens have dated now, for example.

In terms of appliances, our engineer said to always go for the lower end of any major range. Build quality is the same as with the top of that range, because varying that costs the manufacturer more than they'd save, so you're paying for bells and whistles, not basic quality, as you go up the price points. That doesn't help you if the oven isn't insulated properly, despite having a million extra options, or the washing machine has a trillian settings but is stabilised by concrete rather than steel... so always go for the bottom end of the best range you are comfortable with. We got a Miele washing machine with a 20 year guarantee (they offer those as a sales tool every year at some point, apparently) at the bottom of their range, and it cost not that much more than the Zanussi it replaced, which didn't wash anything like as well despite a massive array of gimmicks, but died just a couple of months outside guarantee. (Similarly I wish we'd not gone for a SMEG dishwasher. Looks nice, but not that great at actually washing, and not that long-lasting. We might as well have gone for a cheapie and saved some £.) I figure spending £700 on a washing machine will be cheaper than spending £300 4 or 5 times, which is how long we were told a bottom of the range Zanussi would likely last, and we had the cash at the time which we couldn't guarantee we would when the next machine decided to go phut.

We have always gone for Siemens/Bosch/AEG - which are basically the same machines with different tags on them. Have lasted us ages.

Anyone bought Lamona machines? Never heard of them before, but Howdens are offering them. Don't know hwat the prices are like compared to Bosch et al.

We have a 2m kitchen island which consists of stainless steel drawers on all sides. I have 2 children and whilst I wouldn't say its always pristine, it by no means looks a mess. Its very easy to clean, one drop of baby oil and some gentle rubbing.

It looks stunning. Its Ikea! But I got a decent worktop.

I think its important to think about where you want to spend your money. For us, it was the worktop, a few solid wood units ( only a few, the others are floor to ceiling Ikea plus the island ), the foldy slidey door things and the floor. In general, the things that will stay if we want to update the kitchen in 10 years time.

Oh and yy to cooker hood hatred. No way was I having a gigantic extractor on the island.

We have a small inconspicuous vent thingy in the back wall but if I burn something or it gets smoky I just open the foldy slidey door things.

MmeLindor
Am also going with built in appliances - we only recently relocated from Switzerland and I could not believe that anyone would not have built in appliances. It is totally standard there.

You didn't go to the homes of any people who live in Switzerland and are short of money?