New kitchen must-haves

[CatsForLife]

Looking at Howdens for a new kitchen. What are the hits and misses for those who have had kitchens recently? I’m thinking things like boiling water tap, pull-out larders, bins in cupboards, drawers instead of cupboards? Do I need a warming drawer? Built-in microwave? Finding it all a bit overwhelming!

We also have a pull out bin, and we have recycling bins under our boiler, in a built in cupboard.

Boiling water tap is brilliant!! I do find it doesn't stay as hot for quite as long as kettle boiled water but it's still fab. Wish we'd had one when the children were babies and we spent what felt like forever at 3am waiting for the kettle to boil for their bottles!!
We've got 6 huge drawers we use for pans and utensils which I love. Would recommend those but we have plenty of cupboard space too so not sure if I would recommend them over cupboards.
Things we didn't get I wish we did were a wine rack and a pull out space for a bin. And a bigger fridge/freezer we got an intergrated one and it's tiny compared to our old stand alone one. Luckily we have space to keep the old one in the garage as an overflow.

And omg DO NOT GET GLOSS. Unless you want to be like me and spend your life wiping off fingerprints

Bin in cupboard, induction hob, drawers,boiling water tap with filtered cold water, full height fridge and freezer (so much space) pull out larder. I love the warming drawer. Oven tha5 cleans itself. Plan somewhere for baking trays, ironing board, mop,…

think about lighting.

Love our slide out cupboard, I regret only getting one...

Induction hob- so easy to clean. Pan drawers , much better than storing in a cupboard. Built in microwave is great, better than using worktop space. Slide out large kitchen cupboard is convenient. Also love my American style fridge freezer with ice dispenser.

Not getting drainer or drainer groves on quartz as it gives more worktop space. Anyway drainer groves on quartz don’t really drain away. Just bought 2 x draining mats.

I’d love an appliance garage and slide and hide doors.

Check out AO for integrated ovens, some of the more recent models have an air fryer function. I'd like a plate warmer too.

I like deep drawers with the hidden cutlery drawer in the top one. Drawers over cupboards, to save that peering into the back of the cupboard on your knees for a tin of beans.

One of those cupboards that you can close and hide the toaster, kettle etc.

I also saw a dishwasher on Instagram that was higher than floor level to save bending over to empty and fill it. I wish I had that.

Absolutely walk in pantry, I have a walk in corner one and it is amazing.

The big drawers are brilliant. I only have 2 and wish I had more.

I have a pull out jar cupboard thing (I'm not sure what it is called but it's wider than an spice rack and can fit the width of prosecco bottles) at the side of the under sink cupboard and it is brilliant for storing the glass recycling rather than having the ugly glass recycling box in the kitchen.

Freestanding over integrated every time for me.

Granite worktops are lovely but require re-sealing every few years. You can do it yourself and it's very easy.

Under counter lighting is a must. I didn't bother with skirting lighting and haven't missed it.

Cupboards, cupboards and more cupboards. Same with counter space. Ditto with plug sockets. You never have enough. I had my kitchen rewired and I put plug sockets all over (dad is an electrician and he said whilst you have bare walls go for it as you always need more and if you remodel again then they are there).

Shelves for things like tea/ coffee/ sugar - absolute game changer for counter space.

Bin out rubbish bins one rubbish one recycling. Hot water tap. Deep drawers for plates and pans. Cupboard for mop and bucket.

Love my pull out bins in cupboard, flexible tap thing with jet setting for rinsing, 1.5 bowl sink, extra tall wall cupboards, spinny corner cupboard thingys, pan drawer. Also love my oven and induction hob but bought those separate from howdens. Regret getting freestanding dishwasher (crumbs!) rather than integrated but the undercounter freezer doesn't bother me as its not so much in the eyeline because of the layout. Having the extra half size freezer is great. Kept the old freestanding fridge freezer and happy with that. Slight regret over kickboard heater run off the CH as although it works brilliantly it was expensive for how often I've used it. Regret the worktop. Went for white matte laminate to save money and it marks soooo bad. Comes off easily with oxyclean but irritating. The designer made a mistake and we couldn't get the drawers in our larder unit because the door won't open past 90 degrees due to the layout. Minor annoyance and I'm used to it now. The only thing I would actually change is the style of laminate for ease of cleaning, and integrated dishwasher, but it doesn't bother me now. I love my tiny kitchen so much. So much better than the rotten 40 year old one I inherited with the house!

USB plug sockets. and getting one of these USB sockets inside a cupboard!

charge things out of sight then. Very useful!

Sockets!! I e worked in lots of big lovely home kitchens and the amount of times the kettle is miles from the bin for the tea bags because of the limited number or badly placed sockets.

Also I personally hate bins in cupboards. They can be smelly and the cupboard needs cleaning and that's not a nice job. I love my Joseph Joseph totem bin.

Pantry is a must. Some really cool pull out ones about but you can't overload them like you can a shelf.

Not part of the kitchen but my dream home has a utility room! I work in nice houses then come home to my gally kitchen and what I miss most is the washing out of the way

Our kitchen was put in by the previous owners. We have 2 half height fridge and freezers (ie 4 separate appliances). Similar amount of space to the 2 full height fridge and freezer I guess, just a different layout.
What I wish we had was full height cupboards - we have quite high ceilings and there is space on top of the cupboards to store boxes or oversize appliances, but it would look neater behind doors.
Also, we have a kitchen island for eating at but I wish it had a power socket on it - sadly enough I wish it had that so that I could keep my phone/tablet charging while I'm using it when I eat lunch on my own.

Pull out pantry - accessible and lots loads.

Drawers as much as possible. They are so much better than cupboards. We have one small cupboard that is a total.waste and i spend a lot of time thinking about whether it's too much hassle to change it to a small pull out pantry style!

Yy to good lighting and lots of plug points, including USB. If you have spare, have one in a drawer for devices etc. Our electrician was a twat so one of our plug points is v close to the stove... don't do that.

A few open shelves are actually surprisingly handy we have found. Admittedly, our kitchen is weirdly shaped with doors and windows in annoying places but it's really expanded our options in places where there isn't enough depth for cupboards.

Two full size multi function ovens. We’re a family of five and I’m unsure how people manage with a single oven, or even a double with the tiny top oven. My dm does but there’s only 2 of them.

Quooker, pan drawers, powerful extractor, pyrolitic self clean slide and hide ovens - excellent if you’re on the petite side as you can reach right in! Built in combi microwave and warming drawer. No bins - we put everything straight into bins outside the back door as we have a dedicated bin area that is screened off. One cupboard with all switches in so only sockets in walls (have more sockets than you think you need). Adjustable height shelves in cupboards for hiding away tall items like the air fryer and food mixer. Dishwasher - biggest regret is having one with a cutlery tray as dinner plates are too tall for the bottom rack. Extra wide sink for oven trays rather than 1.5 bowl sink. Full height pull out larder unit and pull out carousel in corner cupboards. Glass splash backs so much easier to clean than tiles. Usual fridge and freezer plus a full height wine fridge to get over the shock of the cost and upheaval!

In the event the cupboards don’t go up to the ceiling, get that blocked off with a filler piece as that way no dust can accumulate up there. Also get good lighting installed.

@bouncydog i didn’t know there were filler pieces for the top! That’s genius. Do the glass splash backs cover all the area where tiles would go? Or just in the high traffic areas for preparing food?
I’m sensing drawers, plug points and being really careful with appliances. Ti didn’t know you could have plug points inside the cupboards etc. I remember I used to have a bin in cupboard and it did used to get dirty and smelly, so might have to forgo that.
@jernna no shaming here for charging your device while you eat. The sockets on island is an excellent point!

I was thinking about the other things that annoy me in my house (and they obviously might not be problems you have) but I struggle for storage for recycling because of the requirements to separate it.

I have to have normal mixed recycling (fine) but then on top of that there's glass recycling (which I have a bin for, but that is a pain) and also soft plastic recycling. If I were putting a new kitchen in I would be tempted by a pull out bin system purely for the recycling, even if the bin itself gets too grim to be stored away.

I love having the bin hidden away.it gets emptied more often that’s all I suppose. Not stupidly often….

the downside of the bin being hidden and the boiling water tap is you have to give visitors instructions. MIL hasn’t made a cup of tea since we got the new kitchen and can’t use the stove…

I have two larder cupboards, I love them and a built in microwave, obviously built in white appliances
I have AEG appliances I love them. .
3 big drawers under the gas hob.

I had a new kitchen fitted 2020. The next new kitchen I had fitted in 2023 did not have bins in cupboards, waste disposal or a boiling water tap. 2023's kitchen saw a massive yes for a repeat of the pull out full size larder.

Waste disposal was alright, but smelly
Boiling water tap gimmicky and I ended up using my kettle.

Bins in cupboards are appalling things that mean you leave germs and marks everywhere on the cupboard doors.

Get more drawers than you think you'll need.

If you are having an island, have usb plug sockets mounted on the outside of it.

Double sized sink has been a game changer this time round. So much better than 1.5

I took my biggest baking tray measurements and made sure it would fit in sink.

We got a new kitchen in 2022. We used DIY Kitchens and designed it ourselves - I’d pay an independent designer if I did this again but really rated DIY Kitchens and for us it was much cheaper than Howdens.

Love: pan drawers, Le Mans corner cupboards, eye level oven, massive sinks (we have a stainless steel 1.5 bowl in the utility and a butler sink in the kitchen). And pull-out bins. We also have a pull-out unit for chopping boards. Loads of sockets.

Regrets: in an ideal world we’d have had a full height fridge, freezer, eye level oven and pull-out larder. Couldn’t fit them all in. Don’t get a stainless steel sink in a hard water area!

Happy we didn’t bother with: an integrated microwave (very expensive to repair if they go wrong, and you need to make sure it’s a safe height for loading and unloading); boiling water tap (our induction hob boils water very quickly, the taps are expensive and need space below in a cupboard); pop up sockets on the breakfast bar (we have a socket at each end); an island instead of a breakfast bar (we get more counter space this way).