what might we have missed...?

[Purplepjs]

Hi,

just starting to plan our new kitchen. Haven't done a kitchen before so just wondering if there's any advise or tips we might have missed!
Looking at a few different kitchen suppliers; might get the cupboards/doors/worktops all from different companies in the end.

Looking maybe at corian worktops...anyone have any experience?

Does anyone have an undermounted sink? Any downsides to them? Am thinking an undermounted 1 1/2 sink and draining grooves in the corian. Are the sinks significantly lower in terms of having to bend over to wash up?

Was wondering about a boiling water tap...are they worth it?

Thanks so much for any help. :-)

We have an undermounted 1 and half bowl sink in a Tristone worktop - which is another manufacturer's version of Corian. It's about 1/3 cheaper. An undermounted sink is no lower than one set in to the worktop. We have drainer grooves - I actually use a drying mat under the dish drainer if I have anything washed by hand which needs to dry.

Our kitchen came from DIY Kitchens. It's very good quality for the price. Several of the trades we used asked where it was from.

We don't have a boiling water tap. We have them at work though - there are different types, but bear in mind the size of the tank you may need to accommodate. We have an induction range - which is as quick as boiling a full kettle for things like pasta. We also have a Nespresso machine so our kettle doesn't get used much. I couldn't justify a boiling water tap and didn't want to lose cupboard space to one.

Thanks, that’s really helpful. Will look into tristone. Yes, I was thinking about cupboard space with the boiling tap...think we might give it a miss. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Hi. Sounds like we're at a similar stage.

We have a lovely kitchen / family / dining room (moved in September) but there is only a small archway between kitchen & the rest atm. So we are taking out more of the wall to make it more open, separating part off for a utility room and fitting a new kitchen.

I'm just finding the whole process really frustrating in terms of prices for stuff - I don't want to spend days haggling over it, I just want a transparent cost!

Anyway, we're deliberating between quartz & some kind of corian (Minerva is another one to look at, and several of the big companies do their own versions). Ideally we'll have quartz but there is a budget to consider.

Having a 1.5 undermount sink (a Blanco one). Induction hob. No boiling water tap - h is a bit anti- them (& let's face it leaves me more for the worktops).

Appliances we're sourcing ourselves as h is very specific.

Have looked at diy kitchens, getting wickes' quote tomorrow & meeting with an independent lady who has already priced up one option - tomorrow is the haggling visit! Howdens are coming round next week. May try magnet as well.

What kind of style are you going for? Look forward to hearing how you get on.

+1 vote for the Boiling water tap. I've installed one in our new kitchen and now I wonder how we managed without one for so long. We went for the 'insinkerator' one because it was cheap. It fits neatly behind the bins under our belfast sink, so takes up much less room that I originally thought.

If you have the space for it, go for 2 ovens. Ideally 2 proper ovens, not a microwave combi. Again, this is a feature that has had far more use that we originally anticipated.

One thing we got 'wrong' was the heating. Consider how cold your room is likely to get in the winter. It may not be a problem in a modern house, but ensure you've planned enough heating (radiators or under-floor) to ensure the room is toasty for breakfast first thing in the morning!

Mrs P wanted drawers and I wanted cupboards. In the end we went for a mix, and I have to say the drawers are more practical. I have fitted pull-out baskets to all the cupboards now which is a cheap alternative.

Do you know where the bin will go?

Another vote for the insinkerator tap we love ours, our cooker is in a separate run to main sink so have a small sink near cooker with the hot tap, so useful. As for main sink, I have two sinks next to each other with granite worktops the second sink has drainer basket in so no need for drainage grooves in worktop if that makes sense. This was all done 5vyears ago and has worked brilliantly. Also recently had Karmdean floor fitted which I cannot recommend highly enough.

I have all those things in our new kitchen. I love it

We have three sets of 1000mm wide 3 drawer base units. All the crockery, cutlery, utensils and pans are in them. Brilliant. There are some really good inserts for them too - we have a plate rack in one and huge cutlery organisers in two.

Don't use Ikea!! (See my thread!)

I would be very wary about getting cupboards and doors from different companies. They don't all work to the same standard sizes and you may find that you create a whole load of problems for yourself in terms of getting one range to fit another's products. Also, while you hopefully won't experience the extent of problems that I'm having, it is rare that every single piece for a kitchen arrives in one order at the start. If you fragment the order across several companies, you may end up with coordination issues if your design is complicated! I'm not saying "don't do it", though, more "take care and triple check all measurements!"

My favourite things in my new kitchen that I genuinely wouldn't want to be without are :

Insinkerator boiling water tap
Waste disposal unit
Pan drawers
Induction hob (I thought I would miss having a gas hob, but haven't looked back... I did have to change pans though)

Our kitchen was from Howden fitted by local joiner, all made to measure so no wasted space or fillers needed. And yes to waste disposal.

Just another suggestion are you having an island, we didn't do it as ours has electrics to it but some friends of our had a smaller island fitted onto locking castors so they can move it for parties etc

Pan drawers!!!

I love my big pan drawers and wide pull out larder. They were the best bit of our design.

I only got somewhere to store my trays by accident when there was a bit of space left when we designed what we wanted. Do you have any unusual sized items to store?

I got the planned place of my kettle wrong. A minor point but it's now taking up worktop space in the wrong place. Originally I had it in a nook under a wall cupboard but I quickly realised the steam would warp the cupboard above so I had to move it.

Thanks so much everyone, lots to consider! That’s so helpful and I’m really grateful to you for taking the time to reply. Lots of really good points...will read through again and make some notes!! Thank you.

I just can't understand how it is ok to flush liquidised food waste down sinks - doesn't it turn into fatbergs?

Put in the mechanisms to get the best use out of corner cupboards.

Consider a water filter tap if you live in a hard water area

Look at everything you have in your kitchen and then allow maybe 1 extra cupboard to expand into!

Double oven and some big tall units if you've space. Things like my bread maker won't fit into a standard cupboard if it has a shelf.

I have a quooker and I love it. The tank is only 3 litres so just like an extra big bottle really that sits at the back of the cupboard underneath.
When we were doing our kitchen a couple of companies we visited advised against corian worktops as they said they scratch badly. No experience of that as we went for quartz but might be something to ask about.

"I just can't understand how it is ok to flush liquidised food waste down sinks"

It's a waste of good composting material!!