Dream kitchen must haves

[Livingoffcoffee]

Looking for inspiration as we plan our kitchen reno. What are your dream kitchen items? So far I'm thinking...

Quooker cold/hot filtered tap
Integrated bin
Coffee station
Bar/drinks station

[draughtycatflap]

A heated cat flap.

[Hotwaterbottlelove]

Ah, thank you! Off to search tambour units and breakfast pantries! This is so exciting.

[CloudyGladys]

If there's any option e.g. moving or re-building, I would have the kitchen at the back of the house and a decent-sized utility room between kitchen and outdoors to deal with wet or muddy children/ pets/ shoes/ washing etc.

Double sink (1.5 that's if not possible), placed under the window.
Windows that can be opened and blinds drawn without standing on tiptoe or balancing on a step-stool
Decent lighting, including under-cupboard movement-sensor lights

Wall-mounted iPad - for recipes, radio, timer, clock, reminders, diary
Environmental control/ Smart home tech and facility to add to this as technology develops
Lots of plug sockets

More storage than you think
A cold larder (marble shelf)
Well-stocked wine cupboard
Drawer for useful things

Big table for family meals, space for activities etc
No grot-spots where clutter and grime accumulate in corners and between or on top of cupboards
Magnetic dry-wipe board

[dizzyupthegirl86]

Let me know if you find a decent breakfast pantry outside of handmade 20-30k kitchens please! I can’t find them at any normal kitchen places and just don’t have that kind of budget.

[MoltoAgitato]

My Siemens oven has shelves on runners which pull out. Much better than slide and hide as you don’t have to reach into a hot oven.

[PeterPomegranate]

The boiling water tap at work breaks frequently. In an office it gets a lot of use but even so it put me off. I asked the man who comes to fix it whether he’d have one in his kitchen at home and he said he wouldn’t. Also it takes up a whole cupboard underneath.

[PeterPomegranate]

@Hotwaterbottlelove

I'm hoping someone can help me work out if this is an option for my dream kitchen. I hate having small appliances out. But we very regularly use the juicer and the blender and less so the mixer. I don't want them out but I also hate dragging them out from a cupboard and setting them up then putting them away after.

What I want is a set up where there is a counter top and sockets within a large cupboard so that all I have to do is open it to use them in place then shut it again when I'm done.

Has anyone come across this kind of set up?

My parents old house had a kind of garage door they could roll up to reveal the toaster and kettle.

[Livingoffcoffee]

@Hotwaterbottlelove I'd always called that an appliance garage. Something I had forgotten about but now looking at how to add it to our plans! I love this sorta thing

[Midrangecolours]

Don't get those boiling water taps, what's wrong with a £20 kettle?

[Qc16]

@dizzyupthegirl86

Let me know if you find a decent breakfast pantry outside of handmade 20-30k kitchens please! I can’t find them at any normal kitchen places and just don’t have that kind of budget.

Have a look at DaveyandAlger.com - definitely not in the 20-30k range but they do larder/pantry options up to 1 m wide - they do bespoke also. I’m their showroom in Claygate they had a larder top 1.2m wide with bifolding doors . We’re having a larder for normal stuff and then a larder top for the mixer/coffee maker with drawers at the bottom - both of these are 1m wide so standard. You could use either of these as a breakfast pantry.

[Qc16]

I didn’t know those metal roll up doors were called tambour units - we had one in a flat we just sold! The kitchen was installed in 2009 so they’ve been around a while!

[HforHotel]

A quooker tap
Sink in island (face out whilst washing up)
Larder cupboard
Quartz worktops
Deep pan drawers
Mirrored splashback
Breakfast cupboard (hide toaster/microwave)
Integrated bins x3
Giant F&P fridge/freezer
Plus Integrated fridge
Plus Integrated freezer
Shelves for cookbooks

[Sunisshining12]

@HforHotel

A quooker tap
Sink in island (face out whilst washing up)
Larder cupboard
Quartz worktops
Deep pan drawers
Mirrored splashback
Breakfast cupboard (hide toaster/microwave)
Integrated bins x3
Giant F&P fridge/freezer
Plus Integrated fridge
Plus Integrated freezer
Shelves for cookbooks

Can I ask - why so many fridges & freezers? Unless you batch cook I guess?

3 bins? What’s the third for? Genuinely interested in this as I’m worried the pull out bin won’t be big enough

Personally I don’t want to hide my toaster or kettle, dont understand this :)

[dizzyupthegirl86]

@Qc16 I could kiss you! That would work PERFECTLY. The price while they have a sale on is really good too. That’s the best option I’ve found by far, thank you so much!

[mencken]

dream is all very well but think practicality and longevity. The talk of guarantees is all very well, but in practice you won't see the kitchen company for dust once you've paid.

more moving parts = more to go wrong. Integrated appliances = less space, more cost and heavy doors. One particular stupidity is a cupboard for tea towels/hand towel; you have to open it with wet hands and the things won't dry inside. Keep it simple.

an appliance 'garage' if you must but it is all extra doors to open. Ditto integrated bins - how many do you want to be taking out? We left a space under one worktop, it has a normal bin and a crate to chuck the recycling in. That crate gets taken out and any sorting is done at the crates/bags that will actually be put outside. Also means no issue if the council decide to change how recycling is split

[HforHotel]

@Sunisshining12 - I‘ve got 2 integrated fridges at the moment and love all of the space. We often have 4-6 guests stay over a weekend, so space for everyday in the fridge/freezer, then extra integrated fridge and freezer for overspill. Also, I liked prepping, so like to have 2-3 weeks of food and water stocked anyway.

With the 3 bins, it’s a big bin for general rubbish and a big bin for recycling and then a smaller food waste bin. I empty the general and food bins everyday and recycling every couple of days.

I forgot to add garbage disposal to the list! It’s great when washing off plates before loading dishwasher.

[Sunisshining12]

Ahh, I see! I need to add food waste bin to my list! Does anyone have one of those bin drawers? Are they any good? Or would 2 be be better? I can’t really have freestanding bin because of UFH (and my dog is terrible for getting in the bin!)

I’d love another fridge/freezer but no space. We don’t have a garage. Maybe could squeeze one in the utility but would have to forfeit the drying area which is really important.

Are there any super super large integrated fridge freezers? I know F&P do larger than average freestanding fridges & freezers but i prefer the look of integrated..

[Asdf12345]

A four oven aga with back boiler and gas companion cooker.

The hot water taps are always breaking at work, wouldn’t touch one with a barge pole.

[LovingLola]

A four oven aga with back boiler and gas companion cooker.

We lived with mil and her Aga for 4 months when we were doing kitchen renovations
If I was offered an Aga on a plate for free I wouldn’t take it!!

[Asdf12345]

@LovingLola

A four oven aga with back boiler and gas companion cooker.

We lived with mil and her Aga for 4 months when we were doing kitchen renovations
If I was offered an Aga on a plate for free I wouldn’t take it!!

We currently run a Rayburn Regent and love it, but would like more hob and oven space. The running costs of the four oven aga however place it firmly in dream kitchen territory rather than any pragmatic set up we might actually buy.

[HforHotel]

Hot water taps get such a bad reputation for breaking, but ours has worked perfectly for years. The office ones get used to an extreme.

With our home one, we change the filter frequently and no issues. It’s the favourite part of my entire kitchen ☕️

[Midrangecolours]

Does anyone have tiles these days or is it all up-stands?

[Churchonsundays]

@LovingLola A four oven aga with back boiler and gas companion cooker.

I couldn’t agree more. We lived in a house with an Everhot and it’s the most useless cooker I’ve ever come across. Doesn’t keep the kitchen warm in winter, we all all boiled in summer (kitchen was too small to have a second cooker) and took ages to heat up. And it cost £12k. Couldn’t wait to get rid of it, and it’s second hand sale paid for our underfloor heating.

[Livingoffcoffee]

@Midrangecolours Personally I hate upstands. We're in a new build now and the one thing I insisted on doing was tiling the kitchen. And 100% will be in our new house / kitchen.

[Rummikub]

Great thread!
I’m sort of planning a kitchen for my fantasy kitchen extension.
I’m looking for genius ideas instead of those annoying blind corner cabinets. My current one has a carousel shelf and I hate it.

A pantry is on my must have list
And I’ve added an appliance garage too now.

I have a neff oven and have never used the self clean function (shame)