New kitchen

[Ayeayeaye25]

If you were having a new kitchen installed in 2025 and you had no plans to move house in the next 15 years so knowing you would have to live with it. What sort of kitchen would you go for (Slab with or without handles or shaker with handles or a more modern handless kitchen design or a half way house shaker without handles) and would you opt for coloured units say green or a more neutral colour, not wood as our previous kitchen is a wooden shaker style kitchen and can’t get the same type of doors and that has been in over 20 years so its well past its best) also what colour white, dark or very non traditional unusual and what type of surface would you opt for blow the budget and have granite or quartz or except a good quality laminate with similar markings to quartz/granite except wood and what colour knowing you would have to live with it a goodly long time.

Also any things you were pleased with or displeased with in a kitchen?

DH happy with laminate worksurface, minimal lighting and sturdy units but wants to blow the budget with a Quooker tap. I would rather use a kettle and have nice lighting, mid range units and granite or quartz.

Depends on the style of house along with your personal style and decor. Orientation of the room. Who is using it eg young kids. What size is it.

so many unknown big questions to answer before the detail you are asking about.

handles and be changed. Doors can be changed. Colours can, normally, be changed. You can do updates on these every 5 years to keep it fresh. The worktop, I agree, invest here as it’s a long term asset and difficult to upgrade.

Sorry no young kids they are young adults one will leave home this year and the other next year. Our house is an extended 1930’s semi. I am not sure of our style not overly modern but trying to be more minimal
and not overly traditional either.

Go for shaker or similar then. It classic not traditional and won’t date.
do invest in a good layout and structure. Do invest in good worktops. The other bits are all easy to update.

We did ours 3 years ago. We went for an ivory shaker style and quartz worktop. Whilst we liked the fashionable darker colours, we knew we wouldn't do this again anytime soon (it took us 13 years before we did it!) so wanted something classic that would last. Our quartz worktop is just perfect and worth every penny we spent. So easy to clean and doesn't have a mark on it. We also insisted on 30mm rather than 20mm which is (was?) the fashion and it looks fab in our large kitchen. The layout is key, we spent lots of time thinking it through as it was a brand new extension and I've got no regrets on any decisions we made.

We have a 1930s house in a village. Went with in-frame shaker in a neutral light green-grey. We got ours from DIY Kitchens - it's their most expensive range (Helmsley) but was still 3 grand less than the best price I could get from Howdens with their weird opaque pricing. The units are painted wood so I can get them resprayed if I get bored.

We have quartz worktop - I agree with others that a quality worktop makes a difference. We got 30mm which looks really good with traditional kitchen. Our old house, the kitchen was over 10 years old when we moved ( we didn't put it in) and the granite worktop definitely helped with it looking fresh and not tired.

We didn't go for a boiling water tap because (a) we are coffee drinkers and have an amazeballs bean to cup machine (b) our induction hob boils water really quickly for pasta etc and (c) I'm too tight to spend an eye watering amount on a fancy tap. Remember you'll need to buy filters for it - something like £60 a year on them. Unless you're serious tea drinkers, I wouldn't bother. You can spend much less than £100 on a pretty kettle instead.

This ^

Thanks all with our old kitchen being a shaker style I thought a more modern handless style more current and might be a change. But ai am also still drawn to shaker styles. Sometimes in kitchen showrooms shaker can look really good minimalist and timeless but in other kitchen showrooms it can look very dated and overly fussy. But with the right handles, right work surface and minimal clutter it can also look very good.

Also sound like Quooker is a pig in a poke as I suspected as we mainly drink coffee.

Planning the kitchen for our forever home at the moment. Colours surely depend on your taste? I think millennial green and navy are going out of fashion. We’re going for white but as a pp has said, you can change colour.

Spend money on your work surface, your taps (not Quooker, too much maintenance and potential for things to go wrong), the units themselves including hinges and drawers.

I dislike slab doors so we’re having shaker. I dislike quartz so we’re doing solid wood. But that doesn’t mean that’s what you should choose.

Don't just think of the Quooker for making a cup of tea or pasta water. You can turn on the cold tap, activate the boiling water too at the same time to combine the streams and have water at a high temp to wash up with. So that pan that has to be hand washed can be done without running perfectly clean water down the drain until the hot water comes through the normal hot water tap. I also use it to clean the sink with that very hot water. Quookers can also do fizzy water and filtered too. Our is just the standard one as we have filtered water through the fridge which is plumbed in.

If you don't go down the Quooker route might I suggest a "secondary return" which is a loop of hot water pumped at low speed meaning pretty instant hot water. Speak to your plumber/kitchen fitter.

Choose a kitchen for you and what you like because you are living with it day in day out. My own kitchen was fitted 12 years ago, still looks new because it has been looked after but next year we will be either having the doors vinyl wrapped or having the original foil wrap removed to take the doors back to mdf and having them painted professionally.

Thanks a friend has wood on part of her kitchen surface and she says it is a nightmare for watermarks.

Im in the same position as you, we have recently downsized and this will be the last kitchen I ever do, we have had 3 new kitchens in various houses and I hate the process.

I don’t like shakers very much but I am concerned slab will date, the only thing I know is I want Dekton as a worktop, it’s a stone and just beautiful, I will probably still be pondering in 6 month’s time!

Let me know what you choose OP I’m hoping you might be my inspiration 😂

We got handleless doors, never again.
Constantly look finger marked.
Ours have a little groove to open and shut but people never use it to shut and leave dirty finger marks on door.

In terms of greens I was thinking more of subtle fjord blue/green, reed green fresh colour or a porcelain or taupe creamy colour.

In case it helps with inspiration- we’ve been renovating the “forever home” so we’re in a similar boat - really wanted something that would last, and ideally see us out! We had it built from solid wood (our own sycamore where we could) by a very talented local joiner. Some painted, some left as exposed wood, and some (real) marble behind the sink where it always gets wet. Really happy with how it’s come out, and if I want a change in ten years it’s very easy to either paint or strip back. It will patinate naturally over time, but (unlike MDF or plywood) solid wood can do that and still look good.
i refused a quooker because the one at work is constantly broken! 😅

I don't know anyone with a handleless Kitchen that doesn't say the same thing the hand fingerprints drive them demented

@BishopOakAntiques

how amazing having it handmade from your own tree ❤️ Kitchener made perfect by your dog x

Thank you - that’s very kind! (And pup is such a show off 😂😂)

Thank you that has made my mind up shaker it is.

Your kitchen is gorgeous and looks extremely expensive and out of our budget. Love your dog too.

@BishopOakAntiques your kitchen is amazing!!! I’m researching a long, long awaited extension and new kitchen. I’ve redone 3 kitchens in my time and I have learned

1. painted wood is best - you can repaint it to completely refresh your kitchen at any time.
2. do not go for a solid wood worktop, they are a pain!!! I’ve had 2 due to budget and never again; I will go Dekton or Quartz.
3. hide as much as you can - go for a larder cupboard with a shelf for a toaster and coffee maker etc.
4. don’t put a sink on an island unless you never use it to wash up - your focal point then becomes a messy sink.
5. build in your extractor fan - the silver on-view ones are not long lasting and now look dated.
6. small pewter handles never date.
7. don’t get a Belfast sink

I've just had my kitchen fitted. I'm not planning on moving for 15 years either!

I went for slab doors in a very dark wood effect. Dekton worktop which i thoroughly recommend - I shopped around to get a good price on the worktop.

I have handles after I went handleless last time. We also (like PP) had a groove instead of handles, the grooves were used so much the paint chipped off. It put me off painted cupboards as well as handless units.

I went for something I like now (the dark wood) with a worktop that will probably go with all sorts if I end up really hating the doors in future (I can't imagine i will!). I also love my up to the ceiling (high) units.

"7. don’t get a Belfast sink"

We have a double Belfast. I love it. It's an absolute ball ache to keep clean and they smash glasses at a 100 paces. But they are soooooooo pretty and im shallow.

I'm just finishing mine.

Inframe slab cabinet, painted off white which shows the woodgrain.
Brass handles, sockets, shelf brackets etc
Brass traditional tap
Neolith worktop (like Dekton)
Steel undermount sink
Built in bin, extra undercounter freezer, oven, microwave
Freestanding fridge freezer
Induction hob 80cm
Wall mounted extractor
A couple of shelves with lights in, no upper cabinets but various pull out larders, drawers etc
Generally quite traditional in style but with some interesting tiles to make it a bit less generic.

And rightly so!!