What you love most in your kitchen?

[Celeste777]

Hi :)
I'm now designing a new kitchen. It's a decent space (was the kitchen and diner originally) but we are certainly not on a luxury budget so boiling water taps for 1k are not on the radar.
But I would LOVE to know what you love in your kitchen that it's worth me thinking about, I've never before had the opportunity to design a kitchen and so I'd like to get it right but would really appreciate advice of those who have been there and done that,
Thanks so much for your time :)

Bora induction hob
Big sink
Decent size island
Good bin units
Eye level ovens
Warming drawer
Lots of storage

Exciting times!

Had mine done 2 years ago, it's the first kitchen of my actual own choice I have ever had!

A deep drawer to put tupperware in
The corner cupboard pull out thing, it was an extravagance but I really wanted one and it's so handy!
Curved corners on the top cupboards, they made a huge difference to the look.
Plenty of tall larder space.

I looked at DIY kitchens and the initial quote was very cheap but I was put off by a FB group saying that the painted cupboards were chipping.

MrsPuddlethey need to be regularly serviced and descaled.

If it counts, my pantry - it's a separate space at one end of the kitchen with an open doorway in, and it hides my fridge and so on, but you can see in from the kitchen all my dry goods are in jars on shelves so I can see what I've got and what I haven't straight away. It's not a big space; it's just about zoning the space so you have extra walls/hidden bits.

Otherwise, I'm very simple. I love my hanging rails for pans/utensils and I love high shelves that make proper use of the space - nothing worse than cupboards that end a silly half-foot below the ceiling and make you feel hemmed in, while guaranteeing anything you put up there lies forgotten in greasy dust.

How often? Is a regular maintenance contract?

In ours there's a set of units in one side with surface and plugs, and cupboards above. On the opposite side of the room (it's square) is the cooker and main food prep area. In between on the other wall is sink in middle of a long run of stuff and surface.

So in the "hot drinks area" the kettle and coffee grinder are plugged in. Mugs and coffee, tea etc in cupboards above kettle. Fridge is on the end of that for milk. Cutlery drawer is under the kettle.

If you want to boil the kettle to start off a pan of pasta or something you do have to cross between areas! I might bring in a system where you have to apply for a cross areas visa permit.

I love my pull out bins, my warming drawer, pan drawers for pans, crockery and dishes, the corner cupboard with moving bit inside and my built in appliances. I also love the extra cupboard I managed to squeeze in (tall larder unit cut down in depth) that went in where our bins used to be. Even more I love where I got the builder to extend the cupboard depth above the fridge (would have been dead space otherwise) which has almost doubled our storage. All very sleek and a space for everything!

My kitchen was done on a budget too, so nothing fancy.

I really love that my sink is positioned in a corner, meaning I've a lovely long expanse of counter top, great for food prep & baking.

I wish I'd a pull out corner unit. It's very annoying trying to stop stuff going back into the dark recesses!

Boiling water tap. I also love my marble worktops (my aunt owned a tile company) and the Fired Earth tiles.

Deep drawers and pan drawers are great too.

I could talk kitchens all day.

Sorry OP, another vote for Quooker tap! We got the basic standalone one (plus a separate hot/cold water tap) and couldn't be without it. Proper boiling water and no way you can turn it on by accident!

And a soap dispenser that's built into the worktop - cheap and so worth it for never having ugly washing up liquid on display.

Otherwise, the dual bin system (recycling and household waste in separate containers) and the corner appliance unit that houses toaster, teapot, chopping boards, food mixer etc without them being on show all the time.

Deep pan drawers!! As many as you can.

Nice, slimline matt white plug sockets with USB ports. Easy to overlook but really make a difference compared to the basic plastic ones. And not expensive either.

Slimline cupboards next to oven/hob to house oils, spices etc.

The main thing is layout. Try to design it so that when you unload the dishwasher most things can be put away in only 2 steps. I cannot tell you the joy that this brings! 😁

Have fun!

Well in my kitchen there's nothing to stop me carrying the boiled kettle to the cooker to top up a saucepan. But it means people making hot drinks aren't doing "excuse me" with the person cooking. Leaves your prep area clear. To be clear I've never had a large kitchen so the areas aren't at opposite ends of a huge room.

We have had no worries with ours. We did have a couple of wrong parts turn up on delivery and we had one damaged end panel but the rest has been fine. The only downside with them is if something is damaged or wrong it takes them a while to resend stuff out. It took about 1.5 weeks to get the replacements which is annoying when fitters are on site.

Big deep wide draw that was probably intended for pots and pans but houses all our spices and soice blends - jars with labels on top so easy to locate, but also perfectly higgedly piggedly with packets and all different shapes as let's face it, they come in all different shapes and sizes and if you're into your cooking, you end up with all sorts not just uniform sainsburys , waitrose or barts jars!

Thanks @LucySno I suppose you could have a kettle and a hot water tap 😃

We did ours 2 months ago and heres what I love:

Induction hob on the island, double bins also in the island. A big breakfast bar on the island so kids/ parents can sit there to chat while I'm cooking. Cupboards all round the island so loads of storage space.

Our dishwasher and drawer for plates are also in the island and are near each other so its easy to unload.

A hidden cutlery drawer. (Drawer within a drawer).

We have the full length fridge and full length freezer side by side and it works well.

Two ovens side by side at eye level. Oven has reheat function so we dont need a microwave any more.

One thing I regret - I wanted 2 dishwashers but only got 1. Really wish I got the 2.

Also, we recently replaced a double oven (one small one on top of a standard one) with a new standard one which left a space above the new oven where the old smaller over was. We put a shelf in, but left it open, put down a heat proof mat, and it's perfect for putting hot oven trays of food, as they come out the oven, so they are out of the way not taking up counter space.

My deVOL brass hanging rails. They were a treat to myself as they are the only thing I could afford from the deVOL catalogue .

I have one above the range which I hang utensils from, and one by the sink that is used for dishcloths. They make me happy every time I look at them (sad, I know...)

Pan drawers - especially my inner cutlery drawer. I love the look of just 2 drawers.

My pull out bins - I nearly didn't go for it because of cost but I love it! No more messy bin that is always visible.

And, the full-height larder cupboard. SO useful (although currently v messy).

My kitchen is massive, so lots of work surface and storage (we still manage to over fill it somehow!). I adore my double sink. I have no idea why people want boiling taps, but I’d happily have a warming cupboard (OP you can warm plates or bread if you’re doing a nice meal, or keep things that are ready warm while other bits of the meal catch up. They’re also good for slowly warming a dessert while you eat the main course).

Extra deep worktops. We ended up getting a 900mm deep breakfast bar and cutting one edge off. This means I can keep things on the counter top (toaster, coffee machine, kettle etc) and still have 600 deep of free space.

Or just go for a wider top. The standard 600 top can look a bit measly, unless its a small kitchen.

My sister swears by her warming oven.

Oh and my pull out larder cupboard.

Bin wise you can get all sorts of different combos. I have two bins in mine - I use one for recycling and one for waste. I have a separate food bin as just felt that could get very messy built into cupboard.

Also yes to my big sink - I got as big a one as I could fit in the 600mm wide unit.

In fact I love my whole kitchen - I waited a long time to do it and dreamed about all the things I could have.

There’s so much I love- drawers below make everything accessible. Pantry with drawers is so much easier to organise. Full size fridge and freezer. Hob on island so I’m always facing out, chatting with dc or guests, and it’s much easier to prep together. Oven, dishwasher are at user level so there’s no bending. Huge sink for soaking. Appliances are behind a door so it instantly feels clutter free and streamlined.

We saved for ages and spent years planning the details and layout. Lots of designers were hell bent on giving us symmetry at all costs but we pushed hard to create functional zones and it’s a really user friendly space. We put a huge amount of thought into the electrics and I’d recommend taking time to talk that through carefully with your electrician.

Depends if you live in a hard water area. No preventative measures needed but if water flow is affected maybe due to limescale in nozzle which can be sorted yourself but if this doesn’t sort it an engineer service call out would be needed. If soft water area could get away with no action for life of tap tho. I live in really hard water area!