What property features would you never have again?

[AnxiousRose]

What features from your current or previous property would you avoid if you were househunting again?

For me, it is three storeys. I had this in my last house and did not expect to dislike it as much as I did. My bedroom was on the top floor and I hated all the stairs especially with young kids. Three storeys usually means the downstairs space is small for the number of bedrooms.

people without fitted kitchens, where do you store everything? I'd love to go unfitted but not sure how it would work

I had a freestanding kitchen once, I also had two 4ft x 9ft pantries bedecked with shelving and old features like a cheese box and marble slab etc..

I can’t imagine it working for me without the pantries.

Fascinated by all this freestanding kitchens talk! Would anyone post a photo, or even just a stock photo of something similar to what they’ve got, please? 🙏

Me too, I hate my kitchen, and it is a nightmare to get pans out! I think this is due to the old style though, rather than the fact it is fitted. All of the new fitted kitchens have those convenient large slide out draws, so you're not bending in cupboards dragging stuff out.

My mother had a hatred of fitted kitchens, and we lived in an ancient house with not a single straight wall. We had a Welsh dresser along one wall. Pine table in the middle and then a couple of tall cupboards used as work surface. Sort of like this:

Forgot to add the picture

(not the real kitchen)

We have a larder and a fridge for food and a tall cupboard for all pots, pans, utensils, tea, coffee etc. The cupboard has seven shelves, more than enough to fit everything in. I dont have a cutlery drawer, so I store knives, forks etc. in small ceramic pots. They don't get dirty or cluttered in the way the cutlery drawer used to.

This is my main storage cupboard. I can't photo the whole kitchen at the moment because dh is putting shopping away and it's messy 😂

We used to have a very small U shaped kitchen beforehand. Couldn't even fit two people in.

Has anybody got one of those contraptions which you hang pans on? Would this work in my fitted kitchen? Where do they go?

That's looks so lovely, and traditional. I couldn't see a normal oven in a free standing kitchen though. Maybe an aga would be more suited. I also think you'd need a utility room for your washing machine, and tumble dryer, and a larder. At least I would anyway!

thank you to everyone who has answered but no, it would NOT work for me.

Thank you very much for the photos @squirrelnutcartel and @TheDowagerCountessofPembroke 😎😍

I really like them! They look so much nicer than most fitted kitchens, and that storage cupboard is fantastic 😎 My kitchen is small too, so it seems like it’s full of fitted cupboards, which is a bit oppressive, but doesn’t actually have much space. What do you use as work surfaces? Tables?

I really want a new kitchen now!

I'd love a freestanding kitchen (we had an IKEA one once), but I'm not sure how one would work in my new house. The kitchen may be too small.

We still have some bench space to the left of the hob - next to the sink and a longish bench to the left of the sink which goes along as far as the food cupboard/larder. The washing machine sits under this bench. You can buy freestanding benches for food prep etc. We have a toaster, an airfryer and a slow cooker sitting on our bench space.

A friend of mine has one not too dissimilar to the one here from Etsy (no link to them it was just the first image I found that looked similar)

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/130749169/wall-pot-rack-pan-hanging-kitchen-wall

It's basically just an iron bar attached to the wall with iron "S" shaped hooks to hang your pots and pans from (as long as they have a hole in the handle).

You can affix it to any wall where you have some spare space.

I’ve got one of the pan hanging things. Love it, had it in three houses now. Mine is above a worktop that doesn’t have a wall unit. Looks like this but is wall mounted.

Just found this thread, loved it!
I've moved house so many times, had all different styles etc, most beautiful was a large old stone cottage, but the CHILL in winter, & always maintenence to be done. Now in a 20 yr old town house, it's so WARM! No drive, car park a few steps walk away, didn't realise how much I'd love not hearing / seeing vehicles all the time & inhaling exhaust fumes. It's so quiet. Love the layout too, the only thing I wish I had more of is storage, had to buy two sheds, on the other hand, the more cupboards etc you have, the more you fill with crap.
Much smaller than the cottage, can clean all the windows from top to bottom here in the time it took to do two rooms there.
Still got a separate downstairs loo, I wouldn't have given that up wherever I moved to!

Thank you so much, I don't have much spare wall space, because of fitted cupboards. May need to hang them from the ceiling 😂

Maisons du Monde does some amazing free standing kitchens. You just buy cabinets lay then next to each other and they're are really beautiful. Sadly they don't sell to UK anymore but I know people buy furniture from their European shops and ship them over.

Sadly that rules out most UK houses. And doors are standard things with gaps around them regardless of the house build.

I don’t know what kind of log burners people have but mine doesn’t smell at all. I would never buy a house where I couldn’t have one.

Well everyone weighs their individual circumstances obviously. Some will tolerate shower noise and smells if the plus is having their bathroom separate from their four teenage boys. I don't have four teenage boys and only my two little ones. There's no one rule that fits all and this four teenage boys sound like a special case. Same with open plan. Some say they love it some hate it. Might depend on whether they like solitude, or all one big family doing their thing in parallel, if they get on well, how is the open plan structured and decorated....These are anecdotes and not a statistical study. When I'm on my tea break if I ask my own colleagues many might say they hate en suites and then I believe I hear that a lot 😂 I do know two friends who were specifically looking into converting en suites to wardrobes and had similar sentiments.

@Wexone god I love en suites- but I do like them to be a decent size - we have a full en-suite bathroom and a totally separate nice big showerroom rather than another bathroom for guests

Mirrored wardrobes in the bedroom. I can't stand them. Thankfully we got rid of them ASAP after moving to new house.

We have these and looking to get rid too.
A shame as previous owner spent good money on good quality ones.