New fitted Kitchen - tips, ideas for minimalist cleaner (me)

[annedawso]

Hi all.
With 3 kids and my OH and I working full time I am after some tips of what to do with my new kitchen to make it really, really, really, easy to clean and maintain.
I have decided on white as there is not much natural sunlight in the room. At the moment I am favouring gloss. I want a Duropal Walnut Laminated worktop for a bit of warmth with a very light coloured Amtico flooring.
Have decided no open shelves as they are a pain for me to clean.
Not sure if to go for a stainless steel sink or a black sink . Any views?
Thinking of an induction hob, though have only ever used gas.
So far have had John Lewis out to measure up and a local company that has been recommended. Still waiting on prices.
Want to get load of drawers as well as a couple of larder units. Getting all new appliances apart from American fridge freezer.
Getting the old range cooker out will be a struggle as it weighs a torn and I don't want to ruin our Karndean flooring in the hall.
Though guys who delivered it recommended putting it on an old duvet and dragging it across the floor. This has worked surprisingly well for this and getting the fridge freezer in.
Any thoughts much appreciated.

White will show up marks more and gloss shows up fingerprints. The smoother the cupboard doors the easier to clean (rather than those with ridges in)

Induction seems to be the way to go and very easy to clean

Oven with self cleaning function

Very dark worktops (black) seem to show up crumbs a lot

I would design your kitchen to put as much stuff away in cupboards as possible so then when it is clean up time everything has a home, it's all hidden away and then just run a e cloth round so you don't have small appliances or stuff on surfaces to pick up and clean under.

Mines white gloss with walnut worktops, looks great, so easy to clean so go with it! I also have a black sink which I think looks nicer than stainless steel - but have black apliances too! White gloss doesnt really show the fingerprints at all but a quick whip round with microfibre cloth sorts out any issues- I have a gas on glass 5 burner hob so is easy to clean, but would get induction next time I think! My kitchen was a bit dark with the old units, but the white gloss is lovely!

We have white units in our new kitchen tho not gloss there fab,flat fronted makes it much easier to clean too ( we made that mistake in our last house). We have gone for oak llaminate worktops this time but had walnut in previous house and both were pretty forgiving if not spotless. We have pretty much all drawers and there fantastic, amazing how much stuff you can get in them. We also went for wall cupboards tthat go to the ceiling, which means i still need the steps to reach the top shelf but all the rubbish I used to store on top of the cupboards is hidden away. Ours is ikea and i loveit.

We have just had white kitchen fitted - flat fronted handleless mat finish. Love it. So easy to clean. Would second drawer units, amazing. We don't have wall units, but have row of floor to ceiling cupboards (larder / fridge freezer and double oven housing). Have a normal electric hob (because I didn't want to replace all my pans). Also have Duropal worktop on for 2 lengths (but in Wenge - a dark brown) and have also used is as a wrap around all the units (so they have a sort of border which pulls the look together). No open shelves, no tiles (just an upstand), pale grey quartz on island unit (which is my pride and joy which I wipe over every night so makes me tidy up the rest of the kitchen!).

My only advise is flat doors. Shaker styles or any other detailing is a dirt trap. I have a terrocata stone tile floor. It always look clean

Isn't white gloss a bit over I thought it was all about muted grey now

No grooves in cupboard doors, silicone sheet in bottom of oven which can go in the dishwasher, something easily washable next to the dishwasher as ours is next to a wall and it gets lots of splashes. I have a pull-out bin in a cupboard under the bit where I do most of the food prep and it's great for putting peelings, crumbs etc straight into. Get a magic eraser sponge...they're brilliant for cleaning kitchen cupboards. No tiles therefore no grout! Baby oil on stainless steel makes it look brand new and gets rid of water marks. Absolutely everything to have it's specific storage place....makes it so much easier. No kick-board lights to light up a dirty floor!

I just had white wall cupboards and pale grey base units installed. Matt, flat fronted handleless which are easy to wipe over. Second the silicon sheet in bottom of oven - brilliant. Induction hob seems a dream to clean (always had gas before). "Shiny sinks" cleaner is brill if you go for stainless steel sink - just discover on recommendation of manufacturer.

Have decided to only leave kettle and toaster on the worktop as they match but not sure how I'll cope without a bread bin as I've not cupboard space left! (small kitchen)

I'd agree with what's already been said.
Plain doors with no grooves to catch dust
Smooth worktop (granite or quartz)
Simple handles
Enough space to put everything, bar the kettle & toaster away. That includes bread/chopping boards, food mixer/processor, vases and cleaning kit.
Induction hob
Good extractor
SS sink, my ceramic butler is a devil to keep clean.
Easy to keen floors
Say no to additional accessories, yes that gorgeous egg timer is pretty but no it doesn't need to be on show.

I asked about gloss cupboards on another forum and had a resounding no from pretty much everyone, they said they showed every fingerprint, smear, grease spot etc so I didn't install them.
My Mom has the high gloss wardrobes though and they seem ok but a bedroom doesn't get the water/grease/food splashes and she's been told to only use a microfibre cloth very lightly as they scratch so easily.

Regarding worktops avoid black like the plague, we moved here last year and the kitchen had black tops which were a nightmare, they show every crumb, smear and mark, to get them clean we had to wipe, dry and polish then as soon as you put a cup down it marked, they were such high maintenance, needless to say we've replaced them with a golden/caramel matt colour and they are great, you can't see a thing on them and it's doubled the size of the kitchen.

Wall cupboards up to the ceiling so that dust can't gather on top. If you have wall cupboards that stop short of the ceiling resist all temptation to store things (slow cooker, casserole dish etc) on top as they will just gather dust!

Upstands or glass splashbacks instead of tiles. So easy to clean.

Wipeable moisture resistant paint such as Dulux Endurance.

Storage space for everything... keep worktops (largely) uncluttered. If no room for things, get rid of them.

Really useful tips everyone, many thanks.
Mrsmarigold -White gloss might be over, though I don't tend to follow what is in fashion for my clothes never mind my kitchen. I was just thinking it might brighten the room up a bit. It is a big room with not a lot of natural light. It is cream at the moment so want a different colour.
Conflicting views on whether gloss is easy to look after. Though both designers have told me to be careful of the steam from my kettle for damaging units.

Just in case you are nosy like me.
We had John Lewis out today to quote for Amtico Spacia flooring for kitchen, dining room and study. Approx 36 sq m. Quote was for £38 per sq m for the Amtico flooring only then when you added on removal of existing tiles and all the prep and laying total price was £3,128.
If we removed the tiles and got rid of them ourselves we would save £377.
Cost of just materials - Amtico Flooring including glue = £1,361

There is a flooring place near me who did a very good job of our hall who cost £28 per sq m for exactly same Amtico.
Will get them out and consider whether to get them to do it or get John Lewis to price match.

Starting a major declutter as know this is going to involve a lot of work.

Another thing. The John Lewis person told me to wipe gloss units with a J cloth. Was too embarrassed to admit I didn't even know what one was.

cloth J cloth

Oops link went a bit stupid sorry. Please ignore.

A J cloth is just a brand name for a thinnish woven kitchen cloth that you can wipe things down with.

We have recently done our kitchen. White units, walnut work tops, walnut floor. All drawer base units, all wall units go up to the ceiling. We have an induction range with a hob top kettle so no wires trailing.

Everything is in appliance garages, food mixer, toaster (on a pull out shelf), microwave. The power sockets are in the cupboards too and so there are no cables appliances etc on the work surfaces. We have no wall sockets at work top height, they are all either in drawers or mounted underneath the wall units.

It's fab, so easy to clean because the only things out are a vase of flowers, a chopping board and a lazy Susan with salt, pepper, oil etc on.

Atticusclaw- your kitchen sounds lovely, very minimalist and easy to clean.
Just been to John Lewis tonight for our "presentation". It was very well done and the design pictures look great. I did ask about ceiling height wall units but he said they woukdnt suit our kitchen.
The fitter and electrician will be coming out so will ask about hiding sockets.
I will definitely want a kettle out but not much else.

Do think about whether their advice on units up to the ceiling is actually correct. I suspect it's more that their units only come in one size and he wasn't sure how to do it. Our wall units are normal wall units but we hung them slightly higher than normal and then filled the small gap at the top using trim. It looks so much more polished. If you look at websites like Houzz where there are literally millions of kitchen pictures you start to notice that the higher end kitchens generally have little things such as ceiling height units, feet on cabinets etc which all come together to create an expensive look.

We found that the larder units didn't really give us enough space to hide appliances and so we stacked three base units on top of each other to get enormous floor to ceiling cupboards (this was also a lot cheaper).

Our kitchen is actually not minimalist. Its New England in style and all of my wall units are glazed and so you can see the (nicer) crockery and glasses (crappy ones are hidden away in the drawer units), but it is clutter free and very easy to keep that way.

I would second white Matt flat doors I witkd also advocate toaster wired into a cupboard so you can shut the door on the crumbs if you are in a hurry. I also have a quooker fusion not a kettle and all appliances (blender/juicer etc) are in cupboards. Pull out drawer for bins. My one extravagance apart from the coffee machine was an inset deep fat fryer but only 'cause James Martin had one on sat kitchen. Bloody love it though. Whole kitchen is the easiest to clean and I have Carrara marble too which is surprisingly easy to live with and looks lovely (last two had stainless steel and black granite tops) good luck with the new kitchen!

Prada queen - a built in deep fat fryer!!! That sounds great though I wouldnt have a clue what to do with it and it sounds rather dangerous.

The more I see the more confused I am.
Really liked the John Lewis kitchen but when I have looked at the breakdown some of the prices are a joke. They have charged £1100 for the work tops and I can get the exact same make for less than £350
There are so many diifferent kitchens, appliances, flooring. I need a month off work to decide it all.

I am going to look into the height of my wall units. Like the sound of high ones.