New kitchen after 35 years and I am clueless!

[TeaAndStrumpets]

Our kitchen was handbuilt in the late 80s and had served us well, but we are moving to a new build this year and I have started to look at what's available. I am mindful of the many recommendations for DIY kitchens, but am also looking at getting Ikea with bespoke doors. Any other suggestions?

What I am really struggling with is the oven. We had a Neff double built in originally (replaced once in all that time) so I fancy Neff or similar again. My only quibble with it is that the top oven/grill has no fan. Ours gets used to store spare trays! Meanwhile we hardly ever use the main oven except the odd roast or batch baking, and use a little worktop oven for economy.

I think what I really need is a compact oven over a single oven, stacked in an oven housing. I don't need or want a microwave, so not a combi compact. I don't need steam either. Can anyone suggest a nice set-up? Also, do I need a custom cabinet so the compact oven isn't too high? I am 5'2".

BTW fancy a white oven again, but they don't seem common.

I would be so grateful for any recommendations!

Oh that does sound interesting booksforever. What a great idea. I'll see if I can see one in action. I am also hoping a few new models come out this year, since I don't need to buy just yet. With the huge popularity of worktop air fryers you'd think some manufacturers would see the use of having a non microwave small fan oven built in. Actually this is one appeal of range cookers, they often have a small cavity fan oven included. But it does mean a lot of bending! Your Samsung sounds very nifty, thank you.

We are just getting quotes for our foundations, so I may be reduced to a Remoska and a camping stove 🙁

If you are going from a hand built kitchen, you might struggle with the difference in quality with howdens/ikea etc.
I had howdens in my last house and it looked great but I'm not convinced it would stand the test of time!
We have a handmade kitchen of Christchurch and it's incredible. We're a year in and I adore it!

Baxdream I wrote a long reply and lost it!

Oh those kitchens are lovely. When DD1 was looking for kitchens she got the DeVol catalogue which is sheer property porn and we browsed for hours. Showed DH the prices and he went pale and clutched his wallet ...he does that a lot..hence considering Ikea.
Anyway DD1 - renovating huge old house and broke - bought a 20 year old kitchen (believed to be Handmade of Christchurch) for peanuts. Her joiner refitted it all and the wood worktop was sanded and re sealed. A quick lick of colour matched paint and it looks very nice indeed.

So I know what you mean.

Just say my previous kitchen was also IKEA and was about 16 years old. We couldn't reuse it as it was the old style and it's now all metod kitchens. But it was solid as a rock and all the sliding inners all worked perfectly so I don't have any qualms about longevity

Great to know grannycake thank you. This will be my final kitchen so sturdy build is important!

@grannycake we decided to order extra top units to sit on our tall ikea ones, as you said, Delivery in no time. I do love that we can change the look easily too, if we wish. And, we got interest free credit, which really helped.