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.

You can get a drawer in a kick board? And a step in another?

Wow.

Am scared to look outside incase the pavements are paved with gold and I'm in Heaven. Or, am Bruce Willis.

also to drawer in kick board - what a great idea - why do all kitchens not have this!

jicky I've been mulling over floors (cos, that's the way I roll) and am all excited at the prospect of a rubber one.

Are you in the UK - got a supplier of this magic?

We have the Franke Minerva hot tap, which is boiling water combined with the normal tap.

Both DC still living, along with grandparents (although they are not senile).

There is a safety button that you press in as you switch on the boiling water. You can also switch it off at the wall if you want to be super sure. We do however have a safety brief that we give to visitors who may be using the tap (babysitters etc). When it is being used, it can sound quite alarming, there is a lot of hissing, but it is fine and safe to use.

It doesn't use more electricity. In fact, our usage has gone down, but hard to tell if that is due to the tap or other factors.

The tank sits behind the kick board, so doesn't use up space in the cupboard.

We love it.

hazlenutt love the open-with-knee bin idea, but if you put it under the sink, that will mean you can't have one person washing up while another scrapes plates into the bin... which is how DH and I often work... but perhaps you work differently.

jicky where do you get your folding step stool? I need one (I have ridiculous 6'6 wall cupboards and I am 5'3 )

mini I guess you could put it next to the sink as well, so can use both at the same time? We have dogs so scraping any leftovers to bin is not necesssary, just give the plates for them to lick a dishwasher, so rarely any washing up by hand.

ah yes if you have dogs then no bin scraping needed! we have a dishwasher but there still always seem to be a few things to wash up and that is firmly DH's job

nankypeevy - the floor was recommended by our architect who dealt with Dalsouple. They used to have an online system where you could custom pick your main colour and then the size and colours of the flecks in it.

minipie - the stool was from Hafele - search for stepfix step stool.

Dalsouple doesn't sell direct to domestic customers any more though . You have to do it through an architect/designer. Though I guess a builder would be able to get it too??

I really love the speckly terrazzo style ones they do. Remind me of Italian gelaterias.

Marking place on this most wondrous of threads

We are about to knock a wall down to create the Massive Kitchen of My Dreams and DH says we have 'a fair whack' of money to spend on it

Wilfsell...but what if the power dust affects the take out places too??

I have to say if we ever change our current kitchen (its about 5 years old) I would get an ikea one.
I dont think any other kitchen company gives as many options for cupboard depth and width, handles, types of sinks, canny storage solutions....
I want glossy black work tops with glittery bits in!
There I have admitted it!

Power cut, obv....bloody auto correct!

I'm mainly a fan of freestanding but if I had to do fitted I'd do IKEA too. Stainless steel cupboards (yes, I've had stainless steel surfaces before and yes, I like them), probably a white granite/corian/recycled glass worktop. Basically because I'm a control freak who wants to use the planning tool. I can't understand the "Tell the builder what you want and he'll get a price from Howdens" model. It's probably how unwanted carousel disasters happen.

My own little thread got no attention so I am bringing my kitchen dilemma to this mighty kitchen thread.

We have a decent sized square kitchen, about 15ft x 15ft. It has units on four sides, broken up by the door from the hall, door into the utility room and an 8ft space into the side return.

The side return has been converted with minimum effort, that is, without removing most of the side wall. We have a nice glass PVC framed roof, French windows to the garden, but a rather narrow space that we'd like to use for eating.

Questions are:

1. What might it cost to remove this wall, put up RSJ etc. if most of the side return work is already done?

1. Would I have room to put an island in to store the sink and dishwasher that are on the wall curretly?

1. Given that there was no evidence of building regs for either the side return, or the utility room (which has been added at the back of the house), am I sailing into trouble by doing more work? Both were done well over six years ago.

How strong are ikea kitchens though, really? We hosted a reference visit for our kitchen a few months after it was finished, and the lady said "how strong are the pan drawers, though?" - I just pulled out one (they are the extra-wide ones) and showed it to her heaped stacked full of Le Creuset cast iron pans - could an ikea kitchen take that kind of abuse?

stealth My ikea deep kitchen drawers hold all my le creuset with no issues at all.
The drawers are crammed with heavy saucepans and cast iron casserole dishes stacked inside each other and we've had no problems.

[impressed]

@ stealth

How long have you had your kitchen Takingthestairs?

yy to strength of Ikea units/drawers etc.

I am the clumsiest, slammiest person you could meet. I also shove waaay too much on shelves, ram things into cupboards and shove things into drawers.

Our kitchen is 3 years old and not one problem yet.

Franke Triflow Tap. Very hard water here so need filtered water for the kettle but didnt want a jug on worktop, no more Brita

@ madbuslady Since Feb 2010, so just over 2.5 years.

We moved into a new build flat and there was a ready installed kitchen along one wall in the kitchen area. It was't big enough for us, so we made a large island with 4 deep drawers, 2 normal drawers and a cupboard with a custom made 2m x 1m counter top to allow for room for stools on the opposite side to the drawers if that makes sense?

It's brilliant and we've had no issues with quality, even with moving it twice to have a new floor put in.

*wasn't

sheesh!

Re: Ikea kitchens, we did our old house kitchen with ikea cabinets and although the cabinets themselves were fine, we found the cupboard fronts were going all manky and starting to peel a bit to show the ply (or whatever it was made of underneath) after a couple of years. Maybe we were unlucky

Themumsnot - wow yours sounded a lot more complicated than ours, we are in a 70's built house so concrete floors everywhere, still not level though once we knocked through walls!

The samples arrived today and look pretty good, DH is thrilled at the prospect of saving £2,000. I am going to ring and see if I can get a full size tile delivered to double check. The sceptic in me thinks the price seems too good to be true. .

Many thanks for the tip, much appreciated.