Losing the will to live - kitchen decision! Please help

[namechangedtoday15]

Kitchen extension. Cannot make my mind up about kitchen.

1930s house. Planning on being here pretty much forever. Whole room is kind of starting from scratch. Will have quite a lot of light, decent sized room. Layout of kitchen will be run of base cupboards (no wall units) with couple of tall appliance housings, then quite a large island.

Originally wanted in frame - but now I'm thinking all the ridges / gaps / lines in the doors would drive me crazy especially for cleaning, even though I think overall, it makes more of a statement (particularly if I choose a dark base unit colour for the island). Now it comes to the crunch, I'm thinking that the handleless streamlined design is more suited to us and family life, easy to clean, less "fussy" and if its fitted properly, will look high end and the gaps won't drive me crazy.

Its such a lot of money and worrying about getting it wrong. These are the two types of kitchens.

First - inframe shaker style, probably grey / navy for the island, a lighter colour for the run of units on the wall. Probably a marble-esque quartz.

Second - handleless probably in a "cashmere" colour and probably matt. Quartz worktops.
Any advice?!

We had our kitchen done last year and went for the white high gloss style, though with a real wood (beech) worktop. I love it.

However, the two options are very different - it will be very much down to personal taste. If you prefer the framed shaker style and go for an alternative because it might be "easier" you will regret it I think.

I went for what I had my heart set on initially, despite being told real wood would be harder and difficult to look after, and that white gloss would show all the marks. A year on I don't regret it at all and love my kitchen, and don't find it hard, or time consuming, to look after and keep clean at all

Both would be lovely. Neither would be a mistake.

Which do you want?

Flip a coin. See if it gives you the right answer.

I faced the same choice. I went in frame. It looks great. Not hard to clean. Too sleek wouldn't have suited us. One of my interior design rules is that it must still look good (or even better) when a bit messy and as it gets knocked about with age.

My mate has a beautiful high gloss white streamlined kitchen. Looks fantastic immediately after it has been cleaned and everything put away. She is a bit obsessive about keeping it that way. That's not how I want to live my life.

The second one looks a bit like a lab rather than a family kitchen

That's the trouble. Today I want in frame. Then tomorrow I'll want sleek and modern.

Food for thought about aging well.

Thank you.

Super sleek kitchens need to be perfectly clean at all times. They are a bit blingy, which is not my style. Is it yours?

In a 1930s house I would opt for a less up to date look - go for a design that looks more organic and layered rather than of the moment.

Bobo, no, blingy is not my style but we have had a matt white handleless kitchen for the last couple of years which was a dream to clean and still looks brand new (in fact have sold most of it now that work has started).

But I kind of want the "wow" factor because we've waited quite a long time for the extension (6 years) and we wont be doing anything again for quite a while and for us, its a big pot of money so I want it to look lovely and new rather than lived in! I definitely prefer streamlined rather than clutter.

Your situation is pretty similar to mine - I'm currently renovating and extending a 1930s property. I'm thinking of a grey in frame kitchen. But am worried I should be going more 'modern' and also that grey painted kitchens are a passing fad (even though I love them). I'm currently looking at a Wickes grey kitchen, but making it more high end with nice appliances, handles and silestone worktops.

The last kitchen I did was a super modern gloss job. It looked amazing but it's difficult to keep clean and I think will date.

Go onto right move, select all the new build houses and have a look at those, if nothing else it will give you lots of ideas. Also look at other similar 1930's houses and what they have for ideas.

I am having the same dilemma..
I would like to have corn forth while floor units and Hague blue island units with marble effect silestone but not sure if this would be a mistake and should should. Go for a more modern style..

We are also in a 1930s house and mulling over kitchen renovations. I much prefer the first of your options. I think it is very classic and very much like we have in mind. Though we did the high gloss thing at our old hous and found it very easy to keep looking nice.

IME you are overthinking the cleaning liability of kitchen doors. Unless you have people literally painting grease and porridge on them every day. There is a tiny ridge. Occasionally you need to wipe off a bit of dust or the odd drip. It is virtually nothing in the overall mass of surfaces and objects that need cleaning in a kitchen. A matt painted finish with a handle on each door, doesn't show every fingerprint - because people touch the handle, not the door. With a handle-less kitchen you are forcing people to put their sticky fingers on the glossy door every single time they use it.

Why not go for a plain painted Shaker door without an in-frame? They look less visually fussy but still traditional. There are lot of other things that can give the wow factor to your kitchen (interior design, artwork, other furniture) as well as the door style.

All things being equal something slightly in sympathy with the style of the rest of the house and the age of the house might tire less quickly, or something simple and understated.

If you plan on keeping your kitchen a while, I would go with the first option. It is more in keeping with the period of your home. So in 10y it will still work with your home. When choosing designs what helps me is thinking of a 1980 design in a victorian home. It's all kind of wrong.

Thank you everyone, its really helpful having objective opinions, feel like I've lost perspective

The first one as the second may date quickly

Definitely the first one. It's much more homely and will look good forever. I'm not keen on sleek and glossy, especially in a family home and an older house.

We've just put an in-frame kitchen in our extension, it's beautiful.

Had gloss white in our old 30s house which looked nice but needed constant wiping - handleless would be even worse.

That looks beautiful, I think I saw that on a post about the cost of fitters, if I remember correctly, I was very jealous impressed with the cost!!

I am a bit OCD where the gaps are concerned (hence we thinking of a flat fronted slab door) as there is more chance of everything (and I mean every single line of every single drawer ) being lined up absolutely correctly. With there being, for instance, 4 gaps round the side of each drawer where it fits into the "frame", I've worried that I'll be neurotic about tiny differences that will annoy me in the long run. Excuse the question (and I know it is to do with the quality of the fitting) but is everything "perfect"?

Thank you!

The only thing slightly out of line is the door on the integrated washing machine which protudes a little further than the other doors because of the magnet closure. Everything else looks perfectly in line! Our fitter is amazing though, he wouldn't be happy if it wasn't right.

I must say I'm absolutely in love with the middle picture you posted! /jealous I didn't see something like that before we changed our kitchen but I have to agree that a high gloss modern kitchen sounds like a nightmare to me - probably because my DS is 11mo and my mind visualises messy handprints on ALL surfaces.
And btw TWRP your kitchen looks amazing! We have a tiny eenie meenie kitchen which doubles as an entrance to the house in a little village cottage and I dream about a big open space like that

It is pretty big - the old kitchen ended where the floor colour changes and was a tasteful 80s dark wood affair.

I'd definitely go for wood over high gloss every time!

If you have inframe traditional you could repaint it in a few years - it's like getting a new kitchen again! Worth a couple of days labour from a good painter and a tin of paint or two !

The other option that I'm seeing more and more of is white kitchens then current trend of wall colour ( currently grey or taupe ) because that way you can change the walls easily to the next trendy colour ( blush !) when it's fashionable to do so !

Very personal decision - but I think the shaker look is more classic and less likely to date and suits a 1930s house and family life much better. Id imagine it would age more gracefully too!

Definitely shaker, ours is very similar - large darker island with lighter run of base units. And darker unit with built in fridge & freezer. We have 2 dogs and 2 children and I haven't had to obsess over dirt in the grooves.

And the best thing is I can have it hand painted again in a couple of years if it gets damaged in any way or I'm bored of the colours.

I am going to go to see the CAD designs for both and then will have to make a decision . Thank you