New kitchen units. Everything dates, what will date least?

[Kayemm]

I'm having an extension which includes a 15 x 14 kitchen.

I'll be living with this kitchen probably for the rest of my life😁

What is an absolute classic where kitchens are concerned?

Can’t go wrong with a shaker kitchen. We’ve just ordered ours in shaker style with wooden worktops and a Belfast sink. For some reason gloss kitchens make me feel very uncomfortable, same with mirrored furniture. Makes my toes curl, I just don’t like shiny things!

Anything fashionable will date.
If you want something that is timeless it's unlikely to feel on trend

Everything dates, this is on purpose so you spend money to be "up to date". Just pick what you love and not go with fashion trends

How about stainless steel? Durable, ultra practical, it can’t date or go out of fashion because it was never in fashion in the first place.

@OUCH321 yes i did i still love my kitchen

Painted shaker style wooden cupboards with a Belfast sink, and a wood or stone worksurface depending on your budget.

I first had that type of kitchen 30 years ago and it has never really gone out. It'll probably be my next kitchen too, with a silestone worksurface instead of wood.

We had a cream shaker for 20 years, solid wood tops. Very neutral and still in showrooms now.

Just replaced it with matt dark blue and white quartz. Decided to go with what we love rather than same again.

Am enjoying feeling streamlined and modern. Love the white quartz tops. But also loved the old kitchen. Wood not easy to look after however.

We had cream shaker, with Belfast sink, range cooker,in our last house,a 1930s cottage. This was 20 years ago,BIL (who's house was an untouched pigsty) looked,curled his lip, said they were fashionable donkeys years previously. I don't think they ever date. You can change small details, handles, worktops even.

im on to my third kitchen soon in the same house, whatever colours you choose doesn't matter, spend what you can afford but get it very well fitted. spend on the sink and taps. the best lighting you can buy, in the right places. Maximize the storage potentials of the room. I got myself a sort of walk in full height corner larder pantry. which I will keep when i re-do the cabinets, dont have wood worktops anywhere near the sink.

I love navy or dark grey/black kitchens but it’s a big outlay to then decide you don’t like it in a couple of years. So am thinking of a classic white kitchen with brass hardware and dark wood flooring, which I also do. May paint the walls dark instead

Doors are cheap and easy to replace. Don’t get anything too weird and wonderful and it should be easy to update.

Jumping in as I need to update mine but on a budget. Mine is walnut shaker doors with black handles so not awful but not modern either. Any recommendations for handles to update?

Whatever you choose, get flat doors, no grooves, nothing, just flat. Anything else is extra maintenance as dirt collects in the grooves. Make life easier for yourself.

Similar here (although in our case it was 25 years ago). The one we had back then was cream shaker with teak worktops and a belfast sink with Perrin & Rowe tap. Later we added a small island with granite top. As far as I know the same kitchen is in place (or at least it was when the then owners put the house on the market a couple of years ago).

In our next house we fitted a similar kitchen (2008) but painted the wooden cabinets in a duck egg blue and the worktops we chose were granite. Belfast sink and Perrin & Rowe tap again.

Next house identical painted wood shaker cabinets (this time in cream with a blue island). Iroko worktops, Belfast sink and Barber Wilson taps.

In our current house we fitted a Handmade Kitchens of Christchurch kitchen in 2018. Initially we painted the cabinets cashmere, then went darker (Little Greene Knightsbridge), but eventually settled on F&B Oval Room Blue on the base cabinets and Craig & Rose Pale Oak on the tops. The island is also Oval Room Blue. We chose iroko again but went for microcement on the island. Belfast sink again and articulated tap from Steamvalve Originals.

All our houses have been old, characterful ones but even in a newer house I'd be choosing paintable shaker style if I wanted a kitchen that wouldn't date. Imho the look can be changed so easily by repainting.

I second this as we have an inherited kitchen and all the plastic on the doors is starting to pop out and crack, if it was wood we could paint!

@Isseywith3witchycats @ouch321 we have the that pale blue paired with long retro 60s chrome handles.

Had it 8/9 years works with the 60s house and still love it.

I've had shaker style I the past and the dirt and grease are a complete pain to clean off compared to gloss.

Traditional style - Shaker, solid wood that can be repainted.
Modern style, Matt white slab with simple handles.
I remember in the 90s everyone ripping out handleless styles in lurid Formica colours.

Styling and accessories (and splashbacks) date as much as the basic doors, I would keep it simple and go easy on "statement features". You can make your room interesting with decorating and accessories/art .

Go white and be bold and on trend with tiles and worktops
Worktops and tiles can be updated later obviously a cost but lot less than new kitchen

I'm in a similar situation. I walk into a friend's kitchen where, more than 15 years ago, they had a chalky white shaker-style kitchen and quite plain dark grey granite worktops fitted, and it still looks good to me. My sister's expensive cherrywood kitchen, fitted 12 years ago looks dated. My friend's mum had an expensive hand-painted sage kitchen installed only a couple of years ago and to my eyes it looks much more dated than the 15-year-old off-white one. It's a nothing sort of colour. I notice that people have already started throwing out the grey kitchens what were fitted in a new-build housing estate three or four years ago. I used to love grey, it was my beige, but it now screams lockdown and cheap flats.

So I'm off to DIY kitchen to select my off-white shaker-style units. I think like a black polo-neck sweater, a well-fitted tweed jacket, a good overcoat, good boots, it's classic and won't date.

Handles that they don't do anymore

Really depends on the house you are putting it in too.
I always advise clients (architect) to go for something they like and of good quality - cheap stuff looks shabby earlier.

I have a hand built shaker style with solid oak kitchen with off white silestone worktops, and putty coloured porcelain floor, built to the proportions of the room (very high larder cabinets to match the 3.5m high Victorian ceilings)
It's 9yrs old but still looks good and suits the room/house, it's colours chosen to match the view (trees/garden/fields) rather than being in trend.

Go with something you like and suits the house and you'll be good.

We have just put a new kitchen in as part of an extension. Both the previous kitchen and the one in our old flat were unpainted wood with dark worktops and looked very early 2000s. I do think pale Shaker kitchens can be quite timeless.

We have gone for a pale blue Shaker (DIY Kitchens cornflower blue) with white quartz worktops and brushed steel taps/handles. To me it looks both fresh and classic. Navy blue and heritage green are lovely but very on trend and I do think navy blue with white worktops and copper handles may date.

My friend has just put in a sage green kitchen with wooden worktops and that looks very classic to me, in a more country style.

But you should go with what you love - and if that’s navy, do it, it’s popular for good reason.

Matt white or cream Shaker style will probably date the least, and even if it does a bit, you can just change the handles.

Matt shaker style kitchen in a neutral shade, you can always update worktop & handles to change the look of a kitchen later, rather than do the whole job. Think carefully about the layout and how that will work for you. I would avoid grey, as grey has been popular for a long time, or gloss unless you like cleaning.

Shaker style cabinets made from solid oak will last a lifetime. You can paint it any colour you like now, and when you feel like a change, just repaint. Solid quartz or granite worktops will also outlast you. Taps and handles are easily changed and updated if your taste/fashions change.