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?!

lovely kitchen TWRP where did you get it from if you don't mind me asking?

langlandgirl It's from Benchmarx, the Borrowdale range.

Both are lovely but I personally would go for the second option. I have flat doors and although not handleless, they are so easy to keep clean and after 8 years, still looks great. My kitchen sounds a bit like yours, one wall of base units (no wall units), one wall of full height cupboards housing the appliances and a central island, Silestone worktops. You could also mix the finish / colour of the doors; all our tall cupboards are cream high gloss and the low cupboards and island are wood. Happy to post a picture if it helps.

Would love to see a photo please Tattie

Mobile battery is dead so will post a picture in the morning (when it looks less like a bombsite and the Chinese Takeaway packaging is in the bin)!

First one definitely gets my vote.

I am going to disagree about in frame and cleaning. If you have pets they are dirt magnets and after 10 years I am so glad to be leaving them behind for a kitchen with none.

Pictures as promised - they are a bit rubbish but might give you an idea of flat fronted cupboards.

We are facing exact same decision except ours is decided for us by budget - we just can't afford the in frame kitchens. But we are going for a compromise. Matt painted handle less kitchen, which looks a lot less sterile and blingy than a gloss door, and we are still going for the navy blue island/lower units and cashmere tall units/wall units.

Thank you ladies, Tattie your kitchen is lovely, and Ilovetosleep that's lovely too. I've had a quote through unitsonline for the inframe kitchen and its much cheaper than the high street. I've been to another showroom this morning which is modern, contemporary - lovely kitchens. Why is the decision so hard?!!!

For everyone who has commented so far, would it make a difference if the kitchen is only medium sized / doesn't have wall units. I'm thinking that an inframe kitchen looks better in a bigger scale / with wall units (more traditional style)??

Tattie what are your kitchen work tops made of?

Turbinaria they are Silestone and can't recommend them enough. I don't particularly take care of them and nearly 8 years on they still look great.

That isn't my kitchen bye, just the style we are going for. I also felt our space was a little too small for an in frame - it's not small at 30 sqm (kitchen and diner) but just felt you wouldn't get the full impact of a £££ in frame shaker.

If you have a modern house, neutral white walls and square block skirting then a handleless will work.

If your house is aged and has character, wooden beams in the roof etc then go for a shaker as a handleless may contrast too much,

Hello namechangedtoday15 just wondering what you did with this in the end? Are you happy with what you decided? Currently agonising over the same options! Any help appreciated!!!

Elmhouse yes - went with the inframe kitchen - the same kitchen as the photos in the original post. This is it - really poor photo so excuse the colours - the units under the window which you can't see are 3 x 90cm pan drawers. Its the same colour as the original post too - just lighting obviously off!!

I do still question whether I made the right decision, but actually when you see the room as a whole (its one big room), I think too contemporary wouldn't have looked quite right.

And the windowsill is cluttered with Xmas cards, so they're not normally there (although there is usually a half empty bottle of wine on the island !)

Oh wow! It looks great!! Love the two tone colours. Almost the exact same configuration I am looking at although we don't have a window. But I'm considering doing away with wall units to make it less cluttered. Do you have enough storage? Anything you're glad you did/ regret doing? What worktop did you go for the end? Sorry for all the questions!

Also did you buy through units online? What was your experience?

Yes, we have plenty of storage, in fact a couple of the cupboards are still empty! We have a utility room off to the right where I have a tall cupboard (hoover/ironing board etc), and 2 more wall units for things you might store in the kitchen (couple of small appliances like slow cooker & food processor that don't get used very often) and cake decorating bits.

Yes, window was a bit of a pain from kitchen designers' point of view as they wanted to do a full wall's width of tall units but for our space, that would have been too much and we'd have lost somewhere for the hob.

Yes, did buy from Unitsonline. The only slight issue I had was that I didn't expect fillers above the ovens - I'd specifically sent a photo of what I wanted and asked if the overall design would be the same and they'd said yes. When the units arrived, they did need fillers (as the doors for the cupboards above the ovens were shorter than the cupboards) so I have to order 2 bespoke doors. I thought I'd been quite clear but obviously not enough. That was the only gripe and I'm thrilled with the kitchen. Tony who works there is great and put up with endless calls from me to check various bits before I ordered.

The work top is quartz, its called Bianco Carrara - have tried to attach a photo but not sure it'll work. Its very, very pale grey with a dark grey fleck through it which looks a little like marble.

You are my dream kitchen twin!! I also want Carrara marble but looking at quartz with the same effect. Does it look good? The ones I've seen in the shops don't look that great but I've not seen Bianco Carrara in real life yet. What made you chose that particular marble-look quartz over the other available?

Thanks so much for answering my questions! Really helpful. I think you've made my mind up to stick with the navy shaker dream. Which unitsonline units are they?

Its the Burbidge Petworth Painted. Ooh, now I would have had navy if the colour had been offered, may have changed but the navy wasn't dark enough and although the photo doesn't look it, its quite a bright room with all the glass and I definitely wanted dark! Sounds lovely !

I had quartz in my previous kitchen (Compac Luna) which was lovely but quite uniform, and then I had 2 different versions of Silestone in my bathroom and ensuite (only little pieces) which are similar - whitey/grey with a fleck. I really wanted something a bit different - something with a pattern, there is another MNetter that had a marble type worktop that I loved, and think it makes a traditional style kitchen more contemporary. I really wanted Compac Calacatta this but it was out of my budget so settled on something similar.

Oh! What colour is your island I thought it was navy 🙈?

That quartz is lovely. Thanks so much for your help and sharing your lovely kitchen!!!

No its charcoal. The "old navy" which is the darkest blue they have (unless you go for bespoke painted I think) isn't actually that dark. You might get a deeper shade with other ranges / brands though. You can order a set of colour samples (little squares of wood painted so you can see it in "real life") for about £30 which they credit against the cost if the kitchen if you order.

Beautiful kitchen namechangedtoday15!!
I see your induction hob is underneath the window...did you decide not to have an extractor fan as you can open the window?

Many thanks.