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

what's an up stand?

We did our kitchen in 2016 and I love it. My favourite bits are

walk in pantry with floor to ceiling larder cupboard, counter top space, open shelves and under counter cupboards - and a door that closes. My kitchen never looks cluttered now but I have all my appliances on the pantry counter so they are easily available.

2 ovens, one with a warming function.

integrated bins

Two double sized sinks - one near the hob, one under the window.

Big island with tons of storage and bookshelves for cookbooks and a filing cabinet.

We've redone our kitchen this year and things we specifically wanted were
4 way boiling water tap (normal hot and cold, filtered boiling and cold) - it's amazing!
Full height integrated fridge and full height integrated freezer
Neff slide and hide oven
integrated microwave
Full height larder cupboard (had to go in the utility but it's not been an issue so far)
Cutlery tray (not basket) integrated dishwasher
Pan drawers

A lightly bigger kitchen for more storage would have been good but hey ho

@claireb707 which 4 way tap do you have?

We have the Franke Omni in copper
www.franke.com/gb/en/ks/expertise/special-features/omni-product-information.html

We have the square design rather than the curved

Sorry meant to add it's one of the few boiling water taps that is actually boiling, that and the filtered cold bit were the main selling points for us.
It wasn't cheap though 😂

It's this one www.franke.com/gb/en/ks/products/instant-boiling-water-taps/omni-contemporary-4-in-1-tap/119-0513-228_detail.html

Thanks Purplewithred (incidentally, one of my favourite colour combos). I'm really tempted. There are four of us here so I think we'll fill one drawer daily. One thing that really attracts me is I've never found a dishwasher that does crockery and pots properly so separate cycles is very appealing.

@pallisers Would love to see a pic of your pantry!

@pallisers An upstand is a small strip of the countertop material that goes up to the wall - rather than tiles. (Not sure that is explained well...)

But I second the ask for a picture of your pantry! Sounds amazing

I haven’t got one but love the look of a mirrored splash back, especially in a small or dark kitchen. But not sure how practical they are? And if you still have an upstand with them?

Secondly, bar stools. They seem to be added to all the islands nowadays - but do they get used? How many is too many?

@Sunisshining12

I haven’t got one but love the look of a mirrored splash back, especially in a small or dark kitchen. But not sure how practical they are? And if you still have an upstand with them?

Secondly, bar stools. They seem to be added to all the islands nowadays - but do they get used? How many is too many?

We have a copper splashback, it's not highly mirrored but it does reflect light, no upstand with it though

We love it

My wishlist is:
• All appliances at working height (washing machine, tumble drier, dishwasher, oven)
• Full size fridge and freezer
• large pantry with marble shelf
• hob on island/peninsula so I’m not cooking with my back to everyone
• drawers below waist height
• dishwasher/sink/bins/crockery cupboard grouped in a “zone” slightly separate from food prep zone so in the morning when I’m making breakfast and lunches and dc are unloading the dishwasher we’re not in each other’s way.
•3 bins in an under counter drawer I can kick open (I already have 3 bins in a cupboard which works well, but would prefer if they could slide out)
• ceiling height units. Top cupboards for things I currently store in the attic
• utility room will have laundry on one side (with sink, heated towel rails instead of radiator, folding space, hanging bar, space for sorting baskets and washing baskets, fold out ironing board (maybe) and on the other a “mud room” with a narrow bench with cubbies under for shoes and school bags, and hooks for coats above.
I’m struggling to get enough counter space into my plans though.

I currently have a corner press with a hinged door and I think it’s a great design as I can reach all parts of it. I have a lazy Susan in the middle of the bottom shelf but still use the corners as well, albeit for things I don’t need daily. The downside is that door can droop a bit on one side because of the weight distribution so we’ve had to tighten it up once or twice.

I quite like the corner drawers in this picture too

Omg to those corner drawers. I relay can’t work out if I think they are brilliant or awful !! I’m tending to the bloody awesome.

@Hotwaterbottlelove

We are in the middle of our kitchen install and have two of these. One is a larder but without a bottom so the microwave and juicer will sit on the worktop inside, this has spice racks on the doors.

The other is a pocket door unit so the coffee machine and toaster will be inside but the doors slide away inside the frame (like the slide and hide ovens only to the side) so you can leave it open while you are using it without the doors being in the way.

I think they are called breakfast cupboard or butlers pantry. It’s a pain for the installation though as the units can’t go in until after the counters are fitted so the base units are all in and we have to wait until the stone is fitted for the pantries to go in

I’d prefer to swap corner units/corner worktop for a full height larder style (if space allows).

Plinth drawers would be great for tea towel storage, phone chargers etc - not sure how they look visually though.

‘Waterfall’ effect on the end units/end of the island looks lovely.

Unit height above the sink always throws me - do you keep it all one level (seems to be the norm in showrooms/online photos) or have shorter units above the sink (not sure if this is dated now?)

Definitely a hot tap.

We went for an induction hob with integrated extractor flush to the surface so nothing is obstructed.

Drawers are a God send, we have three deep drawers under our hob which houses all of the pans, lids, graters, sieves etc.

USB power points and pop up power points.

Our over counter cupboard doors don't pull out, they pull up so no smacked heads.

More storage than you ever think you will need. The kitchen has been in for two years and we are now having more storage put in while we have more renovations done upstairs.

Heated floors are lovely, especially now we are doing night feeds again and running up and down for bottles at night.

If you have the space, a separate utility means you have more room for units, it was so nice designing a kitchen and not having to make space for washing machines.

A friend of ours has an amazing pantry built behind a false door, so it looks like a normal kitchen unit but behind it is a utility room/pantry.

We put glass shelves in our over counter cupboards. It makes it much easier to see see what’s on the higher shelves.

I'm planning one of these for my blind corner cupboard. I'll have baking stocks (flour, etc) in the nearer part and baking tins in the further part.

pin.it/r332lqK

A friend of ours has an amazing pantry built behind a false door, so it looks like a normal kitchen unit but behind it is a utility room/pantry.

@BillyAndTheSillies
That is what I'm hoping to achieve with mine! Though on a separate thread, the general feedback was that I shouldn't combine a pantry with the same area my washing machine would be housed. I can't see there being too much of an issue since pantry will mainly hold dried goods.

Here's a pic of a blogger I like, who had something similar done, though behind folding doors rather than a pocket door (which is what I'll be getting).

I'm loving the ideas on this thread!!

@BillyAndTheSillies Love the idea of a false door into our separate utility room..definitely going to ask our kitchen designer about that!

Those saying a larder with a marble shelf - is that just so it keeps it cool / food storage won't go off as quick? I have a marble slab I use for baking that I never know where to put that I'm thinking could just sit on the larder shelf for the same effect?

@Sunisshining12

I’d prefer to swap corner units/corner worktop for a full height larder style (if space allows).

Plinth drawers would be great for tea towel storage, phone chargers etc - not sure how they look visually though.

‘Waterfall’ effect on the end units/end of the island looks lovely.

Unit height above the sink always throws me - do you keep it all one level (seems to be the norm in showrooms/online photos) or have shorter units above the sink (not sure if this is dated now?)

We have a 'waterfall'