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 ?

A full height cupboard for the mop, power if you have an island (messed up on these two)

If you have not got a utility room I would make sure that all the white goods were covered with cabinet doors (bulit in). It has made our kitchen look so much bigger.

Other must haves, pan shelves, pull out bin, waste disposal unit, deep sink, induction hob.

We have just had our smallish kitchen done by Wickes. Was dreading it but the whole experience was positive, to the planning, the delivery, and to the fitting. (We used a Wickes approved fitter which will be more expensive than sourcing your own but it made for a more streamlined experience.)

The cupboard/drawer with your cutlery, plates, mugs and classes must be within arm's reach of your dishwasher. You won't get those days back ..

And a bin in a (kick open) cupboard next to the sink. You don't want to have to trapse the sink plug across the room to empty the rice Krispies into it.

Toaster and coffee machine in a cupboard

Hot water tap. And when I win the lottery I want a filtered sparkling water tap

The rice crispies get mangled in the chumblie! That’s what my mum calls the waste disposal unit! It’s wonderful and I’ve not been without one for 40 years! It does everything except chunky meat bones. Chicken bones are fine.

Also two bins built in. One for general and one for recycling. Split one in two for food waste if you need to. We have to separate all three for our council.

A double sink. Half sinks take next to nothing. Ideally a double Belfast sink and a separate veg prep sink near the fridge.

Laundry room if you can and tall cleaning storage cupboard. If not, stack laundry white goods behind a cupboard. Add shelves for sorted dry laundry and detergents.

If you have an Island, pop up sockets or ones just under the work surface. Enough sockets. We have 12. All appliances except small ones are wired but kettle, toaster and chargers take up a few plus a phone. DH likes his Bose system too!

I'm amazed people still install food waste disposal units in sinks?
Why pour leftovers puree into the sewage system?

Water softener and RO filter with separate drinking water tap.
No more plastic water bottles from the supermarket, ever.

In hindsight however, I would bypass the water softener for the dishwasher supply. The soft water marks glasses terribly—I had to throw mine out and get new ones that I hand-wash.

And don't get an integrated washing machine. The door will have to be left open to air the machine so it quite spoils the effect!

Must haves-
Dishwasher
Lots of worktop space
Lots of plug sockets

Wishlist-
6 ring hob
Large double oven

Hate-
Induction hob
Waste disposal

Wine cooler

Yes aren't we all composting our leftover food t.hese days?

@Scholesfan I had a wine cooler with my last new kitchen but it packed up a couple of years ago and I didn't replace it as I'd realised by then it was just a very expensive cupboard ! The red wine was always too cold and the white wine wasn't cold enough.

Ill be doing away with my utility but I've only got to find space for the washing machine. I have a separate cupboard with the tumble drier in in another room - and the mop lives there too

You can't compost cooked food. It has to be uncooked peelings, trimmings and garden waste.

I'm surprised that waste disposal units are still allowed TBH, as the stuff that goes down them just clogs up the pipes. Surely they must contribute to the fatberg problems we have?

We’re house hunting at the minute and it amazes me how many cupboards most kitchens have. So I’d be up for less cupboards. As you just fill them with shit. We re-did our old kitchen and had less cupboards got rid of loads of stuff that was just in the cupboard and never used.

So mine would be space for a table, 1.5 sink, dishwasher and under cupboard lights

Wouldn’t touch most of the big sheds for a kitchen ikea or Howdens for me.

"It amazes me how many cupboards most kitchens have"

I don't have enough cupboards in my kitchen. I cook from scratch, and have a lot of gadgets that take up room, all of which get used. I also like entertaining. I have some rarely used stuff in the loft and some more frequently used stuff in the garage. The stuff I use all the time is in the kitchen cupboards.

We live rurally so I keep a lot of "store cupboard" foods in the house as I can't just pop out for something I don't have, especially if we have snow. I want a bigger kitchen.

I prefer less cupboards too actually

Favouring wall space over banks of wall cabinets.

Kitchens have moved on from the utilitarian room you just prepare and cook in and then shut the door to hide them away to in many instances the main living space in a house

The most important thing for you will be planning... I listed everything in our current kitchen and measured the space. I made sure we had at least the equivalent in the new space. We added top boxes in to take our units to the ceiling. We have pan drawers which hold loads and pull out larders which I really like. We haven’t turned our steam oven on yet and we’ve lived here 6 months... it was our biggest mistake. We have a boiling water tap which I like a lot, 2 dishwashers, integrated bins.

We live rurally and cook from scratch and entertain quite often. Don’t bother with gadgets but still have a cupboard full.

We don’t carry much excess food though

I like to have clear work surfaces, which is one of the reasons I need more cupboard space. The breadmaker and food processor take up too much space on my worktops. I don't have a utility room so have my washing machine and tumble dryer in the kitchen as well, and they take up valuable storage space.

Tall cupboard for vacuum, ironing board etc. Appliance cupboard. Switch cupboard (all switches to turn off appliances in one cupboard all labelled - brilliant). Boiling water tap (essential). Underfloor heating. Pyrolitic ovens and induction hob, dishwasher with a timer. Glass splash backs and plenty of lighting.

I'd definitely go for s double sink, so much more useful than a 1.5 one. A tall narrow pull out larder is great for cereal boxes, bottles and jars. I really wouldn't bother again with pull out vegetable racks, they get really dirty when bits of onion skin etc drop to the bottom.

And I second Osmo Polyx oil, it's brilliant. No need to avoid wood worktops if you use that.

Separate utility room (sorry OP).
Pan drawers (not only for pans).
And would anyone like to explain why a draining board is a better choice than a second sink? I honestly can’t see the point of draining boards.
Can’t understand eye level grills/microwaves either - is it only me who thinks reaching for hot food from eye level is a dangerous practice?

Oh and I love my pull out tap - nearly didn’t have it as I thought I wouldn’t use it but it’s really handy.

Waste disposal units better for the environment than you think according to this article. Best thing of course is not to have left overs in the first place.

www.cleanweb.co/2018/10/29/are-garbage-disposals-bad-for-the-environment/

I’m going for something like this. As in this idea but nothing like this style of kitchen