Kitchens - what did you spend money on that you now wish you hadn't bothered with.

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I'm looking at new kitchens. I need to replace pretty much everything.

Just wondering what is worth the cash and what didn't live up to how expensive it was?

Neff products
Full larder fridge
Dishwasher
Integrated coffee machine
2 single self-cleaning ovens
Microwave
Under counter freezer

= 7 items

Without exception they have ALL had to be repaired more than once within a year of installation.

Massive inconvenience & huge rip off.

Boiling water tap was best investment.

Have fun choosing!

Nice solid worktops i've had granite and corian and liked both. Worth the money.

Wood i'd avoid any where near where it could get wet - PITA and needs resanding/ oiling anually.

Love my boiling water tap.

Appliance cupboard I love (just a cupboard with space to put all the appliances away).

I love that we rewired and put loads of sockets in, a place to keep mobile phones and tablets charging.

I love that as its about my tenth kitchen design I know what cupboards I want to have and designed storage drawers and racks for them.

I love my larder shelves filled with jars of pasta, dried produce, flours and sugars in big systema tubs.

I avoid built in appliances - other than cooker and hob.

We have an undercounter fridge with drawer shelves - its fab if you're tight for space.

Thanks . Although, sympathy - that's sound like a nightmare. I'm a bit gutted that the full larder fridge wasn't worth it...

MisForMum - how/who/where did you do your kitchen design? Did you do it yourself?

This time the design was myself. Lots and lots of different versions till it felt right.

I purchased a very large kitchen with worktops from ebay so had some constraints.

The Ikea online designer is fun to play with to give you a good feel for your space and its worth getting a few designs done and wondering round showrooms to see what you like.

I'm a big pinterest fan too. I have loads of boards of things i like.

In my last two kitchens I've had a few bespoke pieces made to give the kitchen a higher end feel. In this kitchen its fitted very slim multilayer larder shelves. In the last it was curved heavy oak storage shelves above the sink. It was only a day of labour plus materials for the oak shelves so under £300 and they looked really nice.

Wine rack as we drink the wine pretty much instantly

I wish I had space for a dishwasher.

plan your sockets and where you need to put up cupboards. do not have sockets directly underneath where you need to drill for cupboards or shelves.

make sure there is room for plumbing at theback of the cupboards if you need it.

hotpoint fridgefreezer is crap and only works with the top drawer of the freezer taken out. otherwise the fridge ranges from minus one and freezing stuff to plus 15 degrees.

If you have a small gap to fill like 150mm then you can get some cool pull out units that you can chuck your tea towels or baking trays into. There are some examples of what I mean here. These really are useful!

Thanks. This is all helpful. Kitchen kit is very tempting to overspend on.

Rounded units. They hold hardly anything. I am thinking about getting a boiling tap, wish I had done it at the same time as the kitchen.

Those instant hot water taps are amazing! But, a bit expensive:-)

We have an island and had a small 'prep' sink inset in it as well as a main double sink. Never use the island sink.

Boiling water tap - ace.

I love our boiling tap, it brings me great joy every time I use it. The warming drawer is ace too.

We were going to have 2 ovens and a microwave above, but we went for one full size and a combination microwave oven in the end, with warming drawer underneath. Perfect for us, no problems with not having enough space (family of 5).

I'd have done without the insinkerator waste disposal, but I will concede it comes in very handy when the kids leave me a bowl of soggy cereal to deal with.

Oh yes, 1 and a half sinks are the business. We have them in the kitchen and utility.

I'm also about to install a new kitchen.

Things I do not want:

• hard work tops (marble, corian) that break or chip anything that lands on them. Wood and Formica are my friends :)
• cement or tiled floors, for the same reason
• butler sinks, for the same reason
• any sort of superfluous decorative doors on appliances. I like free-standing fridges, freezers, cookers and a dishwasher that slides under the counter top
• wall cupboards. I hate banging my head on cupboards above the counter top
• an island. I want a pretty wooden table in my kitchen

Things I want:

• all Siemens top of the range appliances
• a lot of drawers
• a tall larder cupboard

Oh no, Another, that sounds a complete nightmare.

Am now a little concerned as our new kitchen is going to be fitted in a few weeks with the same 7 Neff appliances you have had problems with. Can I ask what the problems were and whether Neff fixed / replaced without quibbling? Is everything working correctly now?

Too late to change our items now so really hoping we don't have a similar experience....

Yes, totally agree MiaowtheCat, we replaced our fabulous free standing dishwasher with an integrated one and I wish we'd gone for more than a middle range one. It's a big rubbish.

I don't like integrated appliances they are smaller.

Everything I did on my old kitchen I loved, little corner unit pull outs, wine rack, one and a half sinks etc.

If I had the money I would do bespoke up to the ceiling kitchen cupboards. They're getting in vogue now and seem so practical - more cupboard space, no dusty tops of cupboard with temptation to put crap up there.

I'm just marking to take notes. We're buying a house that urgently needs a new kitchen & I'm going crazy trying to decide what I really need and what is just a case of "oooh, pretty"

Stone floor with under-floor heating. Absolutely LOVED it while it worked but there is now a problem with it that trips the electrics every time it is turned on. It will cost thousands to dig it up to fix it so we now a floor where glasses, mugs, plates dropped by the DCs smash to smithereens that is also very cold...

The pullout larder thingies for two corner cabinets. Very difficult to clean around you have to dismantle it. It does provide lots of storage space but won't take anything too heavy (ie slow cooker).
could probably have achieved similar with clever shelving steps from Lakeland.

Oh and under cabinet lighting. Can't remember when I've ever turned it on.

Quooker boiling water tap is great.
As is the free standing American fridge with ice dispenser.
I'm also a big fan of drawers as opposed to cupboards under the hob for pans and wot not.