Kitchen must haves/don't bother

[GinisLife]

I've been to Magnet today to have a look and was bamboozled by the amount of "stuff" you can buy as add ons. If you've had a kitchen fitted what are you really pleased you bought and what do you wish you hadn't bothered with ? I've picked my worktop and I want pan drawers, an induction hob, a steam oven. What else ?

The best parts of the kitchen I designed:
Three huge drawers in one unit, top for all cutlery, middle for all white crockery and bottom for all pans sieves etc. Next to that a pull out ironing board with a cupboard full of table linen beneath it in two pull out baskets. Just handy!

Saving this!

Just had mine done, best gadget is waste disposal unit, no more smelly food waste, also love boiling water tap, don't think we've made any mistakes, we have deep pan drawers, lots of larder units which we've had boxed in so no gap at top and Induction hob is great, still getting to know it. We've had sockets put in cupboards to hide away phones while they're being charged and we have USB in other sockets. Washing machine and tumble drier are stacked with a utility cupboard build around them in corner of kitchen, hidden away but not integrated appliances. Units are Matt so don't show as many marks, I love it. Word of warning, I found Magnet not brilliant on design, more about how many units they could sell to fit in your kitchen and expensive, same with Wickes, no longer a budget option, we went to an independent in the end, little bit more than our budget but we have been really looked after from start to finish and worth the extra £££.

There is a massive kitchen lessons learnt thread which might interest you

@BlueSkiesLies I don't suppose you have a link do you ? I did a search for "kitchens" before I started this thread thinking there must be a similar thread but I couldn't find anything.

Oven housing unit with drawer if you’re having an under counter oven. The drawer is perfect for baking trays and makes use of otherwise dead space.

YY to pull out base units. My only regret is not having more!

If you don't buy from magnet and get diy-kitchen, your budget can include couple of things which currently feels out of budget.

Definitely drawers. I can't believe what a difference it has made having all under counter units as drawers instead of cupboards.

A hot tap has been our must have. It's so quick and easy and we haven't used a kettle in over a year.

Pull-out separate bins under the sink!

Induction hob
Boiling water tap (game changer and available much cheaper now than when we got ours)
Pull out larder units
Decent oven with steam function
More drawers, less cupboards
Good lighting and lots of it, task lighting, mood lighting (esp if you have a dining table in your kitchen area)

• Love them all.

Pop up induction hood

• Has always made a bit of a rattle and doesn't extract as well as old hood (and was £££).

Very pale integrated sink that matches worktop material

• Real effort to keep stain free

I had to have: dishwasher, big fridge, both built in, extractor, plenty of light over work tops, two ovens, plenty of power sockets, Franke one and a half sinks, in charcoal grey, with proper draining board.

Oh and a built in water filter, our tap water is rank.

I love my pan drawers. So much more practical than cupboards. One of my friends has all deep drawers in her base units, and no cupboards. I agree with the comment on Shaker style cupboards. I am always having to clean the ledges.

There is no way that I wouldn't have an extractor fan, unless the hob was right under a window. Also, what is wrong with pull out larder cupboards? One of my friends has one and I envy her for it. I would love a spice cupboard.

I agree with lunaballoon that a drawer underneath a built in oven is great. I have all my baking trays and chopping boards in mine. So much more accessible than in a cupboard.

We have a white sink which I love, but agree with a previous poster that it is hard to keep clean. Actually our fake marble worktop is also hard to keep clean, requires Cif on almost every spillage, not just a quick wipe. I'm used to this now but would have chosen something different if I'd known.

Good use of corner storage - we have a huge corner pantry cupboard with revolving shelves (the Pacman shaped ones) and you can get so much in there and see it all). I like our pull out cupboard which hasn't gone wrong yet (miracle in this house where no one has the delicate touch).
Dishwasher = utterly non negotiable for me
Huge fridge freezer with plumbed in water cooler and ice maker unit - it was our big indulgence and I don't regret it at all
Under counter bins (dog is a bin raider) with separate compartments for however your area has you sort out recycling
USB sockets - initially these were great - but they've been a bit annoying in terms of where we sited them and now a lot of my high-power gadgets like my current phone and iPadPro come with their own fast chargers and don't charge well off them.
My mum's kitchen has those little compartmenty stand things to keep your plates and bowls in line in the crockery drawer and they're really neat - but we manage without them.
I'm less fond of drawers than lots on here as ours end up a disorganised mess - I wish I'd got more of the pull out style units as that's remained impressively organised.
Induction hob - would not go back!

Link to the other thread would be great? What is wrong with a kettle though? Don't get those hot water taps at all.

Placemarking to read later!

I forgot to add don't have wooden work tops unless you are prepared to put a lot of effort in to keep them oiled (at least twice a year and it stinks). They burn if you put a pan down or tray, they stain easily and go rotten around the sink!

Likewise, don't have dark granite - shows every mark and crumb and looks permanently grubby.

"I forgot to add don't have wooden work tops unless you are prepared to put a lot of effort in to keep them oiled (at least twice a year and it stinks). They burn if you put a pan down or tray, they stain easily and go rotten around the sink!"

This ^^ with bells on. We replaced our manky beech worktop (which came with the house) with something else. The new worktop has worn well and looks so much better.

A few threads for you...
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/1554664-The-MN-lessons-learnt-kitchen-thread
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/1956962-The-MN-lessons-learnt-kitchen-thread-1-year-on
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/2958072-Kitchen-Lessons-Learned-The-Result

@PeoniesarePink Virtually the entire reason I want a new kitchen is because I hate my black granite work tops so much ! I paid a fortune for them 10/11 years ago when I had a new kitchen and they were a massive mistake as they show every water mark and grease spot. I spend my life polishing them!

See now I've had oak worktops for 20 years and they're completely fine! Not so great around the sink but no marks on them at all and I've only ever oiled them once in all that time plus I like the smell of Danish oil so not really a problem.

'm less fond of drawers than lots on here as ours end up a disorganised mess -
My top cutlery drawer is completely compartmented ( B&Q)
The middle, slightly deeper one, I bought boxes of various sizes from Ikea to help organise it ( make sure they are the full height if the drawer) and added a wooden knife rack. It's now very tidy and I can find everything! I also have those vertical plate rack thingies which makes storing crockery much more efficient.

Oh and for the pp who mentioned stuff falling off the rotating carousel in corner cupboards, I took mine out for that very reason, and bought more (Ikea) boxes to store stuff. I can fit 3 boxes top and bottom with additional room for tall bottles. Just pull out a box to find what's you want.
My DD has the same, and she can't be hers out so bought some cheap plastic baskets from Morrisons the other day and put these in the carousels.

Oak worktops are fine.

You need the polyx hard wax oil, not Danish. It hardens in the wood, works brilliantly.

Yes, you can't put hot pans on it but I've never put hot pans on work tops anyway.