What's fabulous about your kitchen?

[moretea]

Just that really. I need to renovate but not really sure what to consider. I know I need as much storage as possible and a dishwasher but not sure about materials or what's available in terms of magical touches to make life easier and the kitchen more exciting. Just read on here about Appliance Garages, liking the idea of hiding everything away but still being accessible whilst avoiding built-ins. Please inspire me.

Things I love:
Quooker tap,
Pan/ crockery drawers,
Induction hob,
Underfloor heating.
Pantry with open shelving.
Having a peninsula rather than an island so kids can't run through and I have a safe cooking zone!
Having a 1.2m wall round peninsula (which has hob on it) so no splatters going across room. Inside of wall is fully lined in stone composite like the surfaces so easy to clean. The wall also hides cooking stuff from the eating area.
Corner built in bench seating
My open shelves for cook books.

Things I would have done differently:
Get a bigger sink- it's ok but just a size too small and a bit irritating.
Not got porcelain floor tiles, they look great and the underfloor heating makes them warm but the whole room can get very echoey and loud as there isn't much to dampen sound.

Aga, stone floor, sofa, beautiful table and chairs. Two utility rooms. I love my kitchen and pretty much live in it. In fact if I'm not in bed you can find me in the sofa in the kitchen working

Lots of drawers are brilliant for storage, I keep all my pans in drawers. I have a Franke Fragnite sink. I fancied a Belfast ceramic sink until I heard that my cousin cracked hers the week after it was fitted. My sink has had some battering and it still looks pristine.

Quooker and Elica Celestial hood.

It is so pretty.

Yes to lots of pan drawers and two ovens.

But do not get white marble effect composite stone worktops - our current (rented) kitchen has these and they're the bane of my life. You can't put ANYTHING down. Look glamorous. Actually awful.

I'm watching to pick up hints as we are about to embark on the new kitchen journey 😀 Great thread OP.

ohidoliketobe Where did you get your tall corner cupboard, I've googled and can't find anything. I want one

Yes, two ovens and I have an induction hob, which is totally fab.

I love my Kenwood oven as it is so easy to use . I live in a studio flat so don't really have much of a kitchen

Great ideas!

Franke Omni 4 in 1 boiling water tap
Granite worktops and splash back
Large hidden extractor
Pan drawers
Underfloor heating
Large peninsular with cupboards on both sides
Row of floor to ceiling cupboards
Floor to ceiling wine fridge 😜
Dishwasher
Slide and hide oven
Separate oven with microwave
Warming drawer
Pull out larder
Induction hob
Wooden cupboards in a shaker style with modern handles

Huge walk in pantry with shelves all round, wine racks and appliances (kitchen aid, rice cooker etc) at the bottom, dry goods in clear plastic Oxo storage jars, step stool to reach top shelves (where the chocolate and crisps live in big baskets), totally love it.

Also my waste disposal, no stinky food in the bin, totally amazing.

I have one wall of floor to ceiling cupboards. I love it as the extra storage space is much more useful than worktop space.

bouncy dog where did you get floor to ceiling units (and wine fridge) from please? Do you have photos of your kitchen please?

Wow Bouncydog, floor to ceiling wine fridge! Every night must be party night at your house. I like your style 😊

Ooh MadameCholets I've just Googled the Elica celestial hood. I didn't know a thing of such beauty existed. It's like a giant mirror ball for the kitchen. That would go in my fantasy kitchen, but the price tag is 😮

Everything! Our kitchen is brand new . In no particular order, these were our must haves:

I love, love, love our Miele appliances:

• Induction hob
• Steam & microwave oven
• Conventional oven
• Warming drawer
• As big a fridge as we could fit (freezer is in utility room)
• Quiet dishwasher
• Hidden quiet but powerful extractor built into wall cupboards so we have a nice line of wall cupboards above the hob

Quartz worktop Large pan drawers Pull out tall larder cupboard Tambour unit (to hide the kettle and mixer) Plenty of sockets including a pop up with usbs Glass splash backs Amtico floor Peninsula has given us extra worktop, more storage and a seating area on the other side of it

We do have Le Mans things in our corner cupboards, haven't made our made up on them yet. Also have a clever corner carousel that spins around including the doors - this is way better than I imagined and has all my cans, spare jars etc in it. Also have some shallow (front to back) base cupboards with 2 shelves that are great for crockery.

Buy the best quality you can afford. Work out where you will put everything and make sure you don't forget anything. Take into account the height of your small appliances e.g. Blender. Spend plenty of time on the plan to get everything just right.

We had one firm do everything (except a bit of building work done by a firm they've worked with before), which obviously cost more, but meant less stress for us.

I love my kitchen, have fun planning and creating yours.

Thanks FlossieFrog that's really helpful advice. I've had a look at the tambour units, that's the sort of thing I had in mind from some of the earlier suggestions for an appliance garage. Perhaps it'd work in a wall of floor to ceiling cupboards and hide a shallow worktop within it. There are lots of things I currently have out that I'd like to hide away.

To @SnowGlobes here is the sofa. Pictures on the mobile app refuse the work.

Does anyone have one of those us style waste disposal sinks?

Fauchelevent I've had a waste disposal sink and it was a pain tbh. Quite noisy so used to scare the children, but that didn't stop them poking things down it and pressing the button scaring the life out of visiting grandparents. Worked quite well as long as foods weren't too fibrous, but then it stopped working and I was left with a useless little sink that was really hard to clean.

Best thing in my kitchen is the lovely man who stacks the dishwasher.

I am also very fond of the pan drawers. silent, smooth and sturdy enough for a stack of pans.

We've just had ours done and it was built by a joiner to fit our awkward space. Absolutely love the big, wide pan drawers, lit larder cupboard with a sectioned spice drawer which I am particularly pleased with :-), lovely Neff appliances. I'm new to induction and I absolutely wouldn't go back to gas now. Hide and slide oven, combi oven beneath and deep warming drawer (doubles as slow cooking/dough proving etc) below that. Dishwasher with cutlery slide out drawer at the top is great.

Our plans sort of evolved as we went so much to my surprise ended up with a marble look quartz worktop which is incredibly tough and incredibly forgiving in terms of marks (had a dark granite one years ago and it was a nightmare). Elica Ascent extractor (lovely but noisy so do pay attention to db before deciding). Both peninsula and island with seating (sounds flash but we have minimal wall space for cupboards), fab pull out drawer for bin and recycling and a dead space is now a fab utility room. I'm in love with it all. Top tip - if you go for quartz (composite) it is dearer but very resiliant and there are endless finishes to choose from. Don't go for the big brands ef Silestone/Caesarstone as they are very much more expensive than going to a local stone company. For our selected finish we had prices ranging from £5.5k to £7k in Silestone. We actually paid £2.6k for a virtually identical one from a lesser known name.

Oops sorry I've gone on rather a lot but you did ask . I had to make loads of decisions on kitchen / bathrooms and Mumsnet became my sourcebook and source of great advice so thanks everyone !

Some photos here for those that asked! Kitchen is solid maple with star Galaxy worktops. And the granite is really easy to clean!

We also had a couple of squares of granite cut out of the off cuts that sit beside the hob to act as work surface protectors for hot pans. We also got some special granite cleaner that you wipe on with a damp cloth and dry with a microfibre one and leaves it shiny and streak free.

I have a pantry. My pantry leads to an under stair cupboard where I keep all the cooking gadgets i.e. Blender etc, and large pans, roasting tins.

I can also hide in here and eat biscuits without dd's wanting one too