Kitchen ideas

[Hopedun]

We got a new kitchen 7 or 8 years ago. It is the kind that has laminate matte doors and inside is MDF. I wouldn't say it was cheap, it was around 7k. We had to have a new boiler fitted which caused leaks and had to pay to replace some of units. Now we have chips all over it and a couple of the other units have blown. The layout of it just doesn't work, we have nowhere to put a bin and we have hardly any bench space. I hate it!

We have quite a big space to use as we have an extension. I think it's about 30sqm. We use half of it as a seating area and have two sofas and bifold doors so don't want to move the table into this part of the room ideally.

We've decided to bite the bullet and get a new one. This time I want to get it right and for it to last a lot longer. We have a budget of around 11k.

I had a local independent man come out and am waiting for a price from him.
What I told him I wanted was...

Not laminate worktops, he suggested Mistral which sounds good. Any feedback on this? Also the splashback would be made of the same Mistral as the benches.

Intergrated appliances, I don't have this at the moment and it looks crap. The only appliance on display would be the American style fridge which he would build a unit around.

A hidden two part bin for rubbish and recycling.

Pan drawers.

Get rid of the massive 8 seater kitchen table and have a four seater breakfast bar instead. There's only ever me and H who use it. The kids prefer the existing breakfast bar. When we have people over I usually do the food buffet style anyway. Plus we have a summer house which we use for guests.

Tall cupboard next to the fridge with room for Mop, hoover etc. The hoover currently lives in the cellar and it's a nightmare to get it out all the time.

Plenty of workspace.

Any other ideas or no nos? Thanks 😃

Does the 11k include fitting and any appliances?

Full height pull out larder with solid, not wire, shelves
Magic corner in corner cupboards
Appliance garage
Cupboards up to the ceiling

A tall larder cupboard with swing-out shelves - definitely my favourite thing from when we redid our kitchen last year!
Swing-out shelving in any corner cupboards.
100% agree with pan drawers, they are amazing and so much better than low-level cupboards.

I am just going through this with Ikea (I had about 6 virtual sessions) and they help to design and plan. V v helpful. Looked at magnet and JL too but decided not for us. Good luck

We could stretch a bit for the appliances and fitting. Probably another 1.5k on top or I'd get interest free finance.

What do you mean by appliance Garage?

Definitely a good idea to have the cupboards going all the way to the ceiling.

Stretchy tap and a boiling water tap if too can afford it !
Oven tray drawer under the cooker

It’s usually a cupboard with some sockets in it but here are a few ideas.. It keeps your counters tidier. We’ve got our toaster in a cupboard but I’d love to be able to open a door for the food processor already set up.

12.5k incl fitting and appliances is going to be very hard going. We did our very small (2.4x2.9) kitchen last year and that came in at 10,500 and that didn't include all appliances. We bought a new oven, hob and built in microwave but kept other appliances from old kitchen. We also had to go for laminate worktops to keep the price down.

Fitting you are probably looking at 3-4k minimum depending on what plastering, electrics and plumbing stuff needs to be changed and moved.

With a 30sqm kitchen I don't think you will be able to do it for 12.5k sorry.

Have a look at DIY Kitchens, and if you get the chance go look at the showroom in Yorkshire it's fab.

I would never design a kitchen that removed entire 8 seater dining table and just replaced with 4 breakfast bar seats.

It will loose ££ if you ever want to sell, and if you don’t, are you really planning to sit at a breakfast bar only forever? When old? With small children visiting?

We did a biggish kitchen for less than that last year - but it's more of a galley style shape so lots of straight lines. The corner storage solutions tend to cost a lot!

Ours is mid-range Howdens and cost £6k for units, taps, sink and worktop (laminate as we prefer that). Utility room was £2k for units etc). Plus labour.

We are very very happy with it - have lovely larder unit and pan drawers.
We didn't go for integrated appliances. We had them in the rental we previously lived in and hated them - they're smaller than normal appliances because of having to fit both appliance and housing in the space. They're also a pain when you need to replace an appliance.

We did our kitchen last year with a mixture of Neff, hotpoint and AEG appliances. We did go for quartz and it included a small utility so 2 sinks but all in with fitting, electrics and plastering it cost about £24k. That wasn’t basic but it wasn’t high end either. We went with a local company but Howdens came to about £1k less including fitting but that didn’t include electrical work so there was not much in it.

@Caspianberg I’m with you - who wants Christmas dinner at a breakfast bar? But I guess everyone is different.

This sounds AMAZING, do you have a picture please?

Hi there!
We got an ikea kitchen and I agree with what people are suggesting here.
But my absolute best thing that we incorporated in ours was an old library(?) filing cabinet. It stores so much stuff and I really like the looks of it.

I also spent time making specific drawer compartments for all my pan drawers to stop everything rattling around and ensuring that everything had a specific place. That definitely makes keeping things organised in the long term an absolute breeze!

If you have Facebook, follow the Bald Builders, they have just installed a DIY kitchen & utility room in Brad's house. It has some very different ideas, including a corner pantry unit in the dead space where you normally have all the junk you never use. If you look on YouTube, they visited the DIY Kitchens factory. All the units come ready built which saves time & money for your kitchen fitter.

What a clever idea, that's fab!

I hear what you say about a big kitchen table, but make sure there is either space for one, or enough reception rooms so one can be a dining room in the future.

We moved from a house with a dining room and a kitchen breakfast bar, where the bar was probably used more, inti a house with a dining kitchen, and the only person who uses the breakfast bar is DH when he eats lunch alone. I wouldn't buy a house that involved ripping out a kitchen to get a table in.

Love our tall cupboard. Hate the corner cupboards with pull out racks. You can hardly get anything in them. Love that the cupboards go right to the ceiling.

Another recommendation for diy kitchens, we'd used them previously and have just fitted one (finished last week) and we love it.

I agree your budget might be tight for everything you are trying to include.

The whole room is about 30sqm not the kitchen. Half of it is just a seating area. We're keeping the same flooring (we have spares). The electrics will be done free by a family member. All water, gas etc is staying in the same place.

I recommend and lots of mumsnetters have used her too, Karen's design service -https://www.oneplan-design.co.uk/

Because she isn't selling you a kitchen, just a design, she really really focuses on what is practical and right for you and your space. It's the little things like she asks you your heights and what sort of thing you cook. So we have a kitchen where I don't have to strain to reach the oven (I am only 5ft) and which has lots of spice storage because we cook a lot of cuisines.

I agree with PP that your budget may not be enough and that you should think carefully about the dining table.

It might be worth looking at something clever and extendable so that you can seat people when you want to: https://www.furl.co.uk/clever-tables

But having said that it's really up to you - we had lots of kitchen companies tell us we wanted a breakfast bar but we really didn't and we are very happy not having one

What is the size of the kitchen area you have then? That will help people to give you ideas.

The kitchen/diner itself is 7m long and 4.5 m wide. The kitchen area takes up half of that.

I'm not worried about the budget as we live in the NE and I know prices are a lot higher down South. I've had friends and family have high end kitchens with granite worktops done in the last 6 months and they came to 9k, 14k and 17k. My parents kitchen was the 17k one and theirs is bespoke with all the bells and whistles. The house is ex council so I'd be crazy to spend over the ceiling price and spend 20k on a kitchen.

I'll look at that kitchen designer thanks. Good idea. I'm waiting for a man to get back to me today with an initial price for all I've asked for.

With regard to the table, we have a table in the summerhouse. We're getting it all insulated and plastered this year so can entertain in there. There is still plenty of room for a table if whoever buys the house in the future wanted one. We also have a playroom and separate living room so plenty space.

We never host Christmas, we always go to family. Any entertaining we do is casual and wouldn't sit around a formal table. This table is honestly huge and I'm sick of it dominating the room.