Most useful kitchen additions

[Isit2021yetplease]

We're just starting to plan a new kitchen and would love to hear your small design tweaks which make you happy! A friend of mine has a deep drawer with dividers in which all her chopping boards and baking trays stand up in and I love it as mind are all stacked on each other and forever trying to get the one i want from the middle without pulling all the other things out.

Anything you have whch you love or wish you'd done!

Everyday plates and bowls in a large drawer under the counter, rather than in a shelved cupboard.

Indestructible work surface eg granite.

Somewhere to hang a wall calendar/pinboard for keeping track of dates/bills/invitations/reminders etc.

Somewhere to sit eg a kitchen table or island.

Quooker tap is nice to have.

Drawers so you can pull them out and reach everything at the back without having to half unpack the front for access. All my base cabinets are larder drawers where the drawer is attached to the bottom of the door. Then I have interior drawers inside above the bottom drawer.

I have a chopping board/baking tray divider but it is upright and bought from Lakeland a million years ago. There are lots on Amazon etc. Completely agree having space for a whiteboard or calendar.

I have a Quooker. Would not live without it.

Separate plinth lights and under top cupboard lights so you can isolate them

I made a utensil hanging thing from a plank of wood and lots of hooks that goes over my worktops and under my overhead cabinets. Frees up a lot of drawer space.

A specific space for my instant pot and air fryer- I could live without an oven but not without these :)

Somewhere for the bin! So many kitchens look lovely but the bin is a complete after thought.

Second (or third) the boiling water tap! Essential!
Built in bins - a real bugbear of mine is having a separate one taking up space. Mine is divided half for rubbish half for recycling.

I also love my built in bin. I have three sections, so a little built in caddy for the food waste as well.

A last minute change to my layout meant I had space for a small desk/worksurface in a corner just by the door into the kitchen. It's perfect, the calendar and pin board are on the wall above it and it makes a great dumping ground for all the random bits of paper work that used to take up half the table and countertops. It was completely inadvertent, but If I ever do a kitchen refurb again I'll make sure I include something similar. Next time I'll make sure it has a plug socket (with USB sockets) though, so the fruit bowl on the main worktop isn't draped with charging cables.

I hate built in bins - I could never keep mine clean and they weren't big enough. I've got stand alone bins now but there was a perfect space to tuck them away. I might have had to get over the hate if they were out in view.

Love my big pantry cupboards with a mixture of shelves and drawers.

Also We'e got fairly high ceilings and have storage all the way up.

Two dishwashers, felt overboard but actually really useful.

Drying rack integrated into the wall cupboard near the sink so you can leave washing up to dry in there rather than on a rack cluttering up the worktop

USB sockets

All base cabinets are large drawers, as pp have said.

These are our bins, under the sink on shelves. Easy to clean, easy to take out to the main bins outside. Was going to get integrated pull out bins but never got round to it and actually much prefer this! Obviously, got to use my label machine too so very pleased with that

I had the island which divided the kitchen from the dining ‘room’ raised by 15cm ( they used an extra shallow drawer box). It meant that the working area was hidden when you were eating, without losing the sense of space. It was not difficult to work on, in fact DH preferred it.

Drawers drawers drawers!
I didn't spend much on internal fittings. All I've got is non slips liners and a few of those ikea expanding lid holders to keep everything in its place.

Also have a single full height 1000mm cupboard as a larder.
Every single ambient food item is in there. It makes shopping and maintaining stock levels so much easier.

top boxes on tall cabinets so no gap between ceiling and top of units
Full depth (60cm) tall cupboard that is less than 30cm wide that I can fit my ironing board in sideways plus brooms, small steps etc. Not used often, but just out of the way. BTW, 30 was all the space we had left in a run of units. Only did as have no utility room so nowhere else to put ironing board

A year and a half after having our kitchen fitted my spice drawer still makes me happy every day when I use it.

Marmite I know, but a waste disposal unit. No more skanky food waste bins.

A hot water tap! I didn’t like how the quooker ones “spat” and you can get them vastly cheaper at screwfix now. I absolutely love it!

Pull out (removable) bins right under my chopping board which fit in the dishwasher

Deep wide drawers for plates, pans and baking dishes next to the cooker and opposite the dishwasher

Specific spot for chargers with usb sockets

Specific homes for all appliances hidden except coffee machine, toaster and air fryer plus one long run of empty work surface. For no reason other than I like it empty

Pull out spice racks

Larder cupboard and walk in pantry