Advice on a new kitchen - design, layout and installation

Gangstabird

I would sit in the middle of your existing kitchen in a chair with a notepad and really think about you cooking, washing up, rolling out pastry, where the plate cupboard is in relation to the dishwasher, when you make sandwiches is the fridge to hand? That type of thing. Also a silly one is where I store my huge Makro washing powder boxes is nowhere near my washing machine. It's these silly things that will drive you mad. Once you have sussed them it's all relative.

I know that kitchens work on a triangle basis, but I am going to attempt to get a new one shortly and these are the things that bug the pants off me:D

Added, and after that you have the drama of choosing the blimming thing - Joy!

mrsheenpearl60

email me, ([EMAIL="mrsheenpearl60@hotmail.com"]mrsheenpearl60@hotmail.com[/EMAIL]) i am a designer for a living but its also a passion of mine and i will always talk to anyone about whatto really look for and what to look for. In terms of your original post...high gloss units will show smears but....the biggest thing to look for is how the doors are actually made they can either be laminated, vinyl wrapped, painted, acrylic sheeted, or solid acrylic. there arent many people that know the differences but the final look is immense!!!!!!!!!! It bugs the hell out of me when some clueless fool starts banging on about Howdens being great..they do an ok vinyl wrap version with 2 colours theyre not cheap though..ikea are sh*te and have weird sizes. Crown Imperial will giveu a better look as they use an acrylic sheet - parapan will do a solid acrylic door and is fantastic!! the cost of cabinetry is only a small part of the cost of the total project. i could go on forever here do email me i can give u free independant advice and it could save u afew grand and if ur as obsessed as me about the look and final appearance then you will be glad u did - cheers chris

mrsheenpearl60

ooo and by the way - the triangle thing is a load of old tosh, any 3 points become a triangle, ur better off looking at the flow of ur kitchen and how u use it...

squirrelchops

Hi there,

We are installing our second kitchen (different houses i hasten to add!) in 2 years!

First kitchen was Ikea White gloss- abstrakt with beech worktops. Looked amazing and a really good price......in fact to be honest it was the kitchen that sold the house.

Second kitchen is black gloss units with oak worktop. Very modern but the wood helps to calm it down and so it doesn't look like it is out of a space ship!

Advice: if you have the knowledge then fit yourself...that has saved us £££. Secondly, think carefully about what kind of splashbacks you put in. We had stainless stell with white kitchen...never again. Too much faff to try and clean without scratching. Think we have decided on glass for current kitchen - still have tiles and floor to do. As regards oiling the wood my brother said something about you have to do it every week for a month, then every month for a year then once a year?????? Don't know about that but once very few months was waht the white kitchen got!
Choosing the flooring is also really important to 'bring it all together'. The first ever row the OH and I had was over which floor to buy in the black kitchen!!!!

Finally....enjoy it whatever you choose!

squirrelchops

Oh and as Mrsheenpearl said the detail you get really does make a difference.
I couldn't beleive how long my OH 'faffed' about making sure it was absolutely perfect...the sort of stuff most people wouldn't notice. However, it just gives it the edge totally and you think...yeah that's great.

Mind you we still haven't seen the new kitchen in all its glory as currently still has the plastice on protecting all the units until we do the floor and tiling!

Doozergirl

Gangstabird wrote: »

I would sit in the middle of your existing kitchen in a chair with a notepad and really think about you cooking, washing up, rolling out pastry, where the plate cupboard is in relation to the dishwasher, when you make sandwiches is the fridge to hand? That type of thing. Also a silly one is where I store my huge Makro washing powder boxes is nowhere near my washing machine. It's these silly things that will drive you mad. Once you have sussed them it's all relative.

I agree. I guess one good thing about moving house a lot is that I've finally learned that my recycling is often in danger of taking over the world. I now have a tall larder unit in the utility which fit decent sized Ikea boxes on each shelf so I can properly hide it away and keep it organised and leave my H to take it all outside for recycling day. Small thing but I am so pleased I demanded it! I have three shelves right now but when our carpenter comes back I'm going to have him jimmy them around so I can get four in for paper, cans, plastic and glass.