what would be on your wish list for new kitchen?

Kaz2904

I have a semi circular whirly thing in a corner cupboard and I hate it so much that I'm making DH remove it and put the shelf back in.

I only put in 1 drawer for cutlery cause I know I just fill drawers with carp!
I've had 3 new kitchens in 3 properties. The 1st we didn't choose and it had a low oven. DH is 6 ft 3 and I'm clumsy. 2nd kitchen was fitted when I was pregnant with DD and my must was a high oven. We had a single. This kitchen has a built in high oven again but it's a double.
I would say tiles are a must (2 years and still waitng for them to be fitted- going to do them myself now- sod DH!).
Space for a bin.
I wouldn't bother with the big fridge freezer, I do like the ff's that have a larger freezer compartment but couldn't tell you where I saw them now!

greenbee

Kaz

Agree with you re. the carousel - have a corner unit where the doors open both sides and you can get right into it. Much better than some silly gadget! I have this (make sure you have 125 degree hinges, not 90 degree, so the doors open fully) and everyone comments on how useful it is, and ironically, its much cheaper than a carousel or sliding basket unit!

Also agree with the eye-level double oven. Mine is my grandma's - over 25 years old and still going strong! It's fantastic, as I can just look in and see whether stuff is cooked.

I'd also say plenty of sockets spaced along the work surface, for all those small appliances.

Softstuff

I've been mulling over the kitchen makeover thing, and have decided to wait at least 3 years. It'll do till then.... providing the last remaining hob on the built in cookplate that works continues to!

blueberrypie

I have lots of ideas - lots of plans (which will probably never come to fruition!) for my own kitchen, and having lived overseas I've seen and used various things that are unusual here but not elsewhere. Hopefully some of the ideas will work for you :-)

Go for the big fridge-freezer, and get one with the water/ice-dispenser. I know it seems like a big spend (and it is, I suppose), but it is so worth it, and the odds are you won't be able to fit one in if you don't make the space while you're remodelling.

Walk-in pantry, as suggested above - fantastic space to have, you can eliminate lots of cupboards in this way (and you could put things you'd like to keep but don't use often in there - small appliances on a high shelf, things like your microwave out of the way but accessible).

Lots and lots of electrical sockets.

Double sink, rather than a sink and drainer. You can put a drainer basket over one of the sinks, but you can lift it out of the way when you want to use the second sink. I used to have one of these, and if we ever replace our current 1.5 sinks/draining board arrangement, I'll be going for the double sink again.

A mixer tap with a pull-out spray hose thingy - very handy, well worth spending a few pounds extra.

A good large countertop for working space - deeper than usual, if you can manage it. And a second decent-sized work surface in another area of the kitchen, so that two people can work there, or so that you can have two tasks going on simultaneously.

Deep drawers for storing pots and pans. More deep drawers for storing things like pasta and other items that fit better in drawers than on shelves. Tupperware-type stuff falls in this category!

A shelf for cookbooks - maybe include a slot there for paperwork, if your kitchen is like mine and gets all the post and notes dropped on the counter!

If you can take the upper cupboards to the ceiling, do it. It might cost a little more, but you gain a cleaner look and an extra shelf in each cupboard, and you eliminate the need to clean the tops of the cupboards!

Cupboards with move-able shelves, and extra shelves to put in them, so you can avoid stacking things like small plates on top of big ones and so on.

Plan a junk-drawer. Nearly everybody has one, but if you've got a specific place assigned for it, it won't be nearly as irritating LOL. A shallow drawer for rolls of plastic wrap, foil etc is also really handy. Standard depth kitchen drawers are all wrong IMO - too deep for cutlery etc, too shallow for pots and pans! LOL

With limited space, it might be worth getting a small drop-down wall-mounted table and mounting it at countertop height - as an extra counter - or at normal table-height, to use as a small desk for planning meals, reading recipes, all that sort of thing.

Good lighting. Good ventilation. Have you thought about the floor? Consider what kind of flooring you want. We have ceramic tiles - I wasn't sure when we bought this house if I'd like them, but I wouldn't have anything else now.

I used to know someone who replaced a lower cupboard door with a sort of tilting door - hinged at the bottom but with catches on the sides - and put bins into that - she just put a big bin-liner in and it made it really easy to sweep all the rubbish from the counter straight into it. That worked really well.

Go and look around places like Ikea, where they have all sorts of small-but-clever ideas, even if you're not planning on buying the kitchen from there.

harley1

Blueberry pies list is pretty good.

One thing I would add is to remember to think about where you want to put tea towels. I designed my kitchen with a 'trayspace' unit, around 5" wide with a pull out towel rail and enough space to put my lap tray but the Kitchen Designer thought his measurements were better than mine and insisted that it would fit with the bigger cupboard that I was also looking at.

Needless to say, I was right - as usual, and when it came to fitting it the trayspace unit would not fit. 4 years on I am still really annoyed about it and I doubt he will ever forget the dressing down he got in front of a shop full of customers.

I would also recommend the shower head type of tap. Mine is Chrome with the pull out bit the same size and shape as the rest of the tap, no-one knows that is what it is until I pull it out. I love it and would never have any other type of tap. My brothers actually looks like a shower head and I don't think he's overly happy with his now that he has seen mine.

The other thing to be aware of is the depth of your cupboards, I was shocked when the new kitchen top cupboards were a lot shallower than the old ones, and my plates only just fit on the shelf. Even then I have to be careful not to let the door slam shut. I have those soft shut piston type of things so that the doors and drawers don't bang but, typically, the plate cupboard is the only one that doesn't work properly and I can't see any way of adjusting it.

Anyway, hope some of this helps you. Good luck

Harley x

sparrer

after ** years of shopping, cooking, washing up, cleaning the kitchen etc etc I can't think of anything more essential than a maid :rotfl:

kunekune

First up, a nice big room, though not necessarily a kitchen-diner, I'd still prefer a separate dining room/area.

Next, a big central bench for preparation - that way more than one person can be working at the same time, great if you're teaching the children to cook, for instance, or if you've got friends over, that way you can chat and cook.

I agree about the pantry - as big as possible. I used to keep my small appliances in there as well as all the dried goods.

Rather than an American size f/f, I'd go for a larder fridge and a large drawer-type freezer. They don't have to be next to each other. And if there's a problem, at least you still have one of them.

With the fridges and the pantry, no need to keep food in the cupboards under the benches/wall cupboards. I'd probably have some shelves for pretty stuff like jars, and I like to keep oils, spices and pastes very close to the cooker, so somewhere for that.

A separate utlility room for my washer and dryer, preferably with room for ironing as well.

A waste disposal unit in the half-sink.

Shelves for my massive collection of cookery book and a little desk area for a netbook, for on-line recipe searching.

thriftlady_2

My OH fitted me a new kitchen a few years ago and it has pretty much all the cupboard and workspace I need. The only thing that is missing is somewhere to hang teatowels near the sink.

A dedicated baking area was something I planned -a wall cupboard to keep alll my supplies in and a base cupboard for baking tins with a pull-out wire drawer for little pieces of equipment like measuring cups, funnels, paper cases, cutters etc.

A drawer for junk is useful as Blueberry Pie said, and a drawer for all the kitchen sundries-greaseproof, clingfilm, foil, cake liners, plastic bags, jam pot covers, string, clips, muslin squares etc. I also have a drawer for plastic tubs of varying sizes for freezer and lunch box use.

I planned a drawer unit for my pan storage. Deep drawers obviously, it is easier to lift pans out of a drawer than from a cupboard.

I'm lucky enough to have a huge freezer and a tall fridge plus some food storage in the garage which is just off the kitchen.

If I were planning my dream kitchen however, it would have an aga, a walk-in pantry and a huge scrubbed table in the middle where I could work and we could eat and the children could do homework or paint. There would be room for comfortable, old chairs to sit and sew or read cookbooks or novels whilst waiting for things to cook. It would also be in the country with a door opening onto a kitchen-cottage garden with hills or moorland beyond....

Badger_Lady

I'd love a modern cooker (as opposed to one fished out of a neighbour's garden that leans to one side), some units/cupboards to keep food and crockery in, a washing machine that works, and a good length of work surface. Oh, I can but dream!

CRANKY40

I need more light. My kitchen had nothing in it when we started, so it is more or less as I would like it, except the only window is at the side of our house and the kitchen is quite dark. Our next plan is to knock down the chimney breast that makes up one wall, and make the kitchen and utility room into one, with french windows out into the garden. This will make the kitchen about a third bigger again, and we will only need to move things around a little bit to do it (not to mention the addition of two RSJs upstairs and the cost of the building work!!!).

I did have a pantry. We've made it into a downstairs toilet :rotfl: . I have enough in the cupboards. Goodness knows what I would be like if I had a pantry to fill too!