Kitchens, where on earth do you start?

[happydays2345]

Does anybody have any advice about starting to plan the renovation, and installation of a new kitchen? We currently have a battered old 1990s kitchen in our new house and we are wanting a new kitchen, but it feels overwhelming! Is there anyone who has had a new kitchen recently who could share their top three tips, it would be much appreciated!

Once you know your budget, make a list of what you’d like most. A boiling water tap, a combi oven, a larder, whatever. Write out a whole wish list. Pinterest for ideas of colours and styles. Armed with that go to a few companies in your price range for design ideas and go from there! If it’s a full refurb ie floors etc you may need to use outside trades but a lot of kitchen places (particularly independents) will be able to recommend people for those kind of things plus plumbing and electrics etc.

Oh, and know what on your wish list is essential and what you could compromise on!

It is really hard, we have recently done this and are about to have it installed. We had no idea how much it would cost. Builders could not tell us how much they would charge until we had a design, so we had no idea how much fitting would cost. The only was is to get a design, find out much it costs, then find a fitter and the cost of the fitting. If this is over budget, you then have to alter your design to reduce costs or source applances etc somewhere cheaper etc. We had a challenge to find a fitter who was interested once we had a design as tradesmen are so busy. It has prorbably taken 4-5 months from getting a design to get it fitted. Wechad to go through all this process with no idea if it would be affordable. It is a bit of a minefield but start with a design and then go from there. Once you have an outline of where and what your units will be, you can decide oj appliances etc

Don’t try and design it yourself. Shortlist a few companies whose style you like then get them to make some designs. Make a list of the features you really need then take it from there.

Try writing down what's wrong with the one you have.
Think about how you use it, and what's annoying about the layout, and what you like. (e.g., are you forever crossing the kitchen and recrossing it because the fridge and the cooker are at opposite ends?)
Move things like tables and chairs around and see if it works better, even move things like the fridge around if you have the skills to see if a different layout works better.
Ignore all the fashionable fads. They cost a bomb and are outdated in a couple of years.
Consider space- is your fridge always rammed ? (you really do need a bigger one) or just disorganised and full of long-retired salad ? (you need to get organised before you poison yourself, not get a monster walk-in, fashionable American fridge that will totally muck up your layout ). If your cupboards are over-full and you really do need to keep all that stuff, consider getting taller wall cupboards (900mm) if they will fit, they can provide a lot of space.
I have always designed ours, but then I'm used to drawing- I just do plans and elevations and drawing after drawing until I work out what I want. A careful measure up before you start will stop you being unrealistic about what can fit into the space. You can do it on graph paper, make a plan, include door and window positions, and cut out little pieces of paper the right size for your cupboards and appliances and play with it like a jigsaw. Draw up or photograph any layouts that seem to work. You can do the same with elevations. Don't forget things like dishwashers need a lot of full-width floor space in front for the door to open into.

use the diy kitchens online planner

Avoid Wren. They are lovely until they have your deposit, and then their service is shite.

Be prepared to wait for trades to be available.
If you are have big under floor heating, where will you store your bin?
Boiler tap?
Water softener? Where will you hand tea towel?
Do you use all of your cupboard at the moment, or could you do with fewer? Or need more?
We're having a larder cupboard which houses about 6 cupboards worth of storage for a much smaller footprint.
Where is your lighting/windows?
Do you want an island or peninsular? This was my must have as I wanted to be able to sit while I cook and chat (were having an open plan kitchen/diner built)
What colour doors?
Can you be bothered to polish stainless steel surfaces every day (work surfaces eg)
If wood work tops, will you look after them well?
Drawers instead of cupboard for pans etc?
Do you want the expense of moving cooker hood or pipes etc or can you work around existing fittings?
One kitchen designer asked me whether I am left or right handed. This was apparently relevant when planning where I stand to unload the dishwasher. I still can't understand the relevance, but maybe it's something you need to consider?

I did ours on the ikea planner and then made 3 appointments afterwards to finalise it all. And change a couple of things once or twice. The lovely lady who helped me finalise it knew all the little tricks and tips to maximise the space.

The good thing with ikea is that you can add all the clever inside stuff like bin drawers, pull outs and cutlery trays from their range easily at a later date, if you find you need it.

That... And the price!

Look at what currently works for you in your kitchen and what doesn't.

Look at every day tasks from making a cup of tea, putting your shopping away, tipping boiling water out of your pan, taking a burning hot casserole out of the oven where do you put it quickly etc.

We’ve just spent £27k on a kitchen, not including fitting, it adds up. But we are going to be here a while, I’ve never had a new kitchen before and we went a bit mad.

It’s was quite overwhelming. We went to 3 kitchen companies and got 3 v similar designs and just tweaked the look and configuration of cupboards and appliances.

Go and look at a few showrooms, Talk to people with new kitchens and visit if you can.

Get an idea of if you want traditional, modern glossy or something else.

We’ve gone very safe with ours.

Find a big kitchen show room near you. I doesn't matter what brand, just somewhere like wren or IKEA where they have lots of styles on display.

Walk round and see what style you like, what colour combinations, what worktops, what storage solutions.

Agree to making a list of what doesn't work in your current kitchen and what issues you'd like to solve with the new one.

Get a few designs in and see what you like.

Try to avoid fashionable colours or use them as an accent / somewhere easily changeable as fashions change

Look at local stonemasons for quartz worktops. You'll get a better quality of stone for a better price.

Thanks for all this advice, it's really really good! We are not fashionable, and are in a period property, so we definitely don't want to go with a trend. I think we definitely need to take a breath, and think about how are use the kitchen, and all the things you have both said about planning for the space. I think we will do that first!, I can't tell you how helpful you have all been!

Also don’t be put off by moving a door for instance, to tweak things round a bit. We moved a doorway up the wall by less than a metre and it made a huge difference.

"use the diy kitchens online planner"

And if possible visit the showroom..make a weekend of it in the Yorkshire Dales or Wolds etc. Really inspires you and they are very helpful. If you can go in the week even better as the staff have more time to help

I used the DIY kitchens online planner. We're in London, but visited the showroom two years ago on the way back from a weekend in the Lake District. The hardest part was measuring the space, but once that was done, I quite enjoyed it. Kitchen being delivered in October!

@bouncydog

Also don’t be put off by moving a door for instance, to tweak things round a bit. We moved a doorway up the wall by less than a metre and it made a huge difference.

That's very good advice. In our last kitchen, just moving the pantry door round a corner so that the door opened into a space needed for another door anyway gave us space for an entire extra unit.

Thanks, so much to think about! Really excited to get started now! Trying not to procrastinate anymore…

Two things are key in my experience . A designer who is awesome and a fitter who is too.

Both can be independent of where you buy your kitchen from. Or sometimes they can be found at a brilliant showroom.

Look ok the 'kitchen lessons learned' thread and copy and paste all the things relevant to you.

There's one designers name that keeps coming up on these types of threads too, give her a call and see when she can book you in ( usually a month or so after initial contact)

We're having a larder cupboard which houses about 6 cupboards worth of storage for a much smaller footprint.
How? HOW? I need to know this!!!