Dream kitchen - what should I have/not bother with?

[DianaBathesInTango]

So my list of must haves is:

Induction hob
Pan drawers
Warming drawer
Spray/hose tap
Two big bins (one for waste, one for recycling)

My list of not sure things are:

Quooker boiling water tap
A larder or larder cupboards

Anything you love/hate/regret having in your kitchen. This is going to be our long term home so I want to make sure I get it right this time.

We have also heard from kitchen people that pull out larders are a PITA and are only worth it if you have a very narrow space to fill. Otherwise, cupboards with drawers inside are much better.

We have just finished ours and I used some ideas from lessons learned thread.

We only have four wall units and chose extra tall but because kitchen is in extension with sloped roof, we couldn't have them to ceiling.
Have 15 drawers in total and love them. On one side we have American fridge freezer with double full length larder cupboards either side although ovens replace one of them.

Our island has two pullout bins built in with more drawers! We chose an induction hob which is easy to clean but difficult to get pans to work on it. The storage space is fantastic and struggling to fill it. We don't have a charging cupboard but have lots of double sockets and every other one including island one has two usb sockets.

Mistakes we've made:
Floor tiles are too pale and area in front of sink constantly looks mucky
My DH dislikes the bins but I like them as nice to have out of way
We have underfloor heating but think that a radiator would have been better.

We went for a separate utility room with loo after seeking advice here and glad I listened.

We have underfloor heating but think that a radiator would have been better.

Could you tell me more about why you feel this way Iggity? I'm at the planning stage and had thought underfloor heating was an obvious choice as it's a long rectangular room kitchen-diner, kitchen units on one short side and half each of the two long sides, the other halves of the two long sides will be completely taken up by a bench and some bifold doors meaning the only possible place for a radiator would be at the other short end far from the kitchen units and I don't think it would succeed in heating the whole room. So what are the down sides of under floor heating?

We had underfloor heating in our old kitchen and loved it, nice even temperature, never felt too hot or too cold in there.

I'm surprised by the dislike of pull out larder cupboards, I have several friends who have them and love them, I'm confused now!

I found it! The holy grail of kitchen threads, enjoy all

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/1554664-The-MN-lessons-learnt-kitchen-thread

We've only had our new kitchen for a couple of months so I'll be honest and say we have tested the underfloor heating an awful lot. These are just initial thoughts.

As a background, we extended our south facing kitchen diner by about 3.5m so the room is now much larger. The original room had a double radiator against the back wall and the room in general was always warm; the south facing direction helped a lot too.

So we only have the ufh heating in the extension and the few times we've had it on I haven't noticed much in the way of heat although my DH thinks it's great. We got a new combi boiler as part of kitchen and it's fantastic the way it heats rest of house but the kitchen remains lukewarmish. I'm not keen on having the ufh on for extended periods as it's electric rather than water based. I think another radiator would give off more heat. So I'm probably not much help as it needs more testing but we didn't have anywhere really to place another radiator apart from placing a vertical one next to boxed in soil pipe......not sure that would have been great! Another thing was that our tiler had to pour several layers of liquid latex on floor to even it with original floor so that probably hasn't helped or will mean it takes longer to heat.

"haven't tested it"

I love our Quooker boiling water tap. I drink lots of tea, but it's also fabulous when everyone comes in hungry and you just want to get some pasta on asap. Boiling water from tap + induction hob means that the pan of water is boiling in seconds.

We also have two dishwashers and love them! But it does depend how much cupboard space you have.

Also love my underfloor heating. I have sockets for toaster etc in a cupboard with a roller shutter, and for the microwave in larder cupboard. It keeps work surfaces free of clutter. (Well it helps. It seems there is always clutter....)

Just ordered my new kitchen. It's my third new kitchen in last 10 years (moved house each time) so I have learnt what we do/don't need.
Def love induction hob, easier to clean and heats up quicker than the gas one we having to use now. Pan drawers are fab, we have an extendable tap which is more useful than I realised. Getting a quooker tap as a separate tap so that kids don't burn themselves! We will have two dishwashers this time too.
I also like a social kitchen so area with bar stools was essential. I dont like larder cupboards but will be having a full height cupboard for food as well as other cupboards.
Oh and finally have had laminate, wood, quartz and granite in past and it will be granite again this time no question.

I love the fact I can dump the washing behind closed doors when I have visitors, we can't hear the washing machine. I also like to use the sink for all of the pet stuff and muddy stuff from the garden and all of our coats and shoes are in there. It's not huge but hides a multiple of sins !

How did I forget plinth drawers! Brilliant. It of kit.

Gah! Overexcited bit of kit. What's your colour scheme and flooring options OP?

I wouldn't swop my separate utility room .. at the weekend when washing Loads of towels and bedding I could just throw it all in there out of sight.

Ladder cupboard
Induction hob
Miele pans and casserole dishes .. so easy to clean even when burnt on
American style fridge freezer plus a separate freezer in utility room
Miele appliances
Good quality granite work tops
Microwave which doubles as an oven
Sink which Is large enough to take large oven trays

Quooker tap was something we left out this time around (had one in last house). Its too much money for what it does. An induction hob plus an induction kettle gives you boiling water in seconds anyway.

I love my:
floor to ceiling units
large utility room
drawers only on the base units
charging drawer (literally just drilled a hole through the back of the drawer and located a socket right behind it. All the phones etc go in and are out of sight).
Appliance "garages"/cupboards at counter level in my floor to ceiling larder cupboards. I have everything in there, toaster, food mixer microwave, blender. The only thing on my work surfaces is an orchid. Makes it so easy to clean.
Lights in every cupboard. All glass wall units have lighting and the appliance garages do too.

We did our kitchen 3 years ago, and there's very little I'd change.
Love - granite worktops, induction hob on Rangemaster, pan drawers, Belfast sink, lots of sockets, deep larder cupboard. Best thing of all = boiling water tap - expensive but so so so useful.
Wouldn't get a Smeg fridge again. Looks lovely but quality and design v disappointing. Otherwise the only problems with it are due to my laziness in putting things away rather than the inherent design of the kitchen - if the family were tidier it would look like a magazine picture still. Lots of storage and well planned for how we use it. Think about how you cook and live (or want to) and plan to achieve that. Worked well for us.

We also have a professional ice machine, it's absolutely brilliant, wouldn't be without one now

Saves lots of room in freezer as well with not needing an ice dispenser.

It also produces ice of the right temperature so it doesnt make your drinks flat