New kitchen: must haves or what to avoid?

Jimmithecat

I would never be without my waste disposal unit on my sink

Caterina

Large double sinks are really useful, but if you don't have space at least try to get one and a half sinks.

If you live in a had water area get a tap with ready installed water filter tap, it makes the world of difference to the quality of drinking water. We had a Brita one and are delighted.

Threebabes

We had black granite in our last house (have since moved), i loved it but it to have it look lovely and shiney it was hard work. Also you could see every crumb.

We had white units and again looked lovely but you could see ever mark.

Nicki

We love having a boiling water tap in our new kitchen. It makes cooking so much easier as you never have to wait for a pot to boil for rice or pasta, and when visitors come and you are offering tea or coffee, you can make this instantly rather than disappear for 5 minutes while you wait for the kettle to boil!

The other silly thing which made life easier was swopping the tumble drier and washing machine round so that I could lift washing straight from the WM into the TD without having to manoeuvre round the open door of the WM. Only works if the doors are hung in the right way though.

We also had a compartmentalised pull out bin under the sink so that we could put recycling in one side and rubbish in the other and empty into external bins at the end of the day. (Like this one http://www.thebincompany.com/catalog/product.php?CI_Code=50279503)

bossymoo

I'm planning too. On my must have list is

A pull-out larder cupboard
Deep drawers instead of cupboards
Single piece glass splashback - my current textured tiles grab grease and don't let go
Doors without panels - my mum has shaker style and she said its a pain to clean the grooves
Single sink - not what others have said but I have 2 now, have never used the second, it has a tray over it and my draining rack on top
Moveable shelves in top cupboards, lol after years I recently lifted a shelf a notch higher, and now my spray bottle stands up, heheh

chiefpossession

I had a new kitchen last year - my only stipulations were:
drawers - brilliant for keeping tidy and saves your back against reaching into the deepest darkest recesses of a cupboard
Magic corners
no tiles - white glass splashback behind the cooker is so much easier to keep clean
no gap above the units - no sticky yuckiness to clean

We had a work surface that can be sanded and has an upstand and a piece for the window sill as well.

YORKSHIRELASS

We had a new kitchen in last year. In some ways it was easy because I loved the layout of the old kitchen, it was just tired and outdated.

I had my heart set on white originally but went for cream in the end. Stating the obvious but it does mark easily so be prepared for lots of cleaning if thats your choice.

Also, handles. Our old kitchen had cupboard door handles that were fiddly and really difficult to clean. Everyone puts their hands on them, thats what they are they for, you need something thats easy to wipe.

We went for black speckled laminate and so far I love it!

rosie383

Waow! So much great input thank you.
We are planning grey high gloss units. Definitely want to avoid any grooves in doors as they just always get grimy.
Very good advice about lots of deep drawers rather than all shelves. I honestly didn't think of it even though one of my favourite features of our current kitchen is the big deep pan drawer.
We also currently have a carousel in a corner cupboard which I love.

As for the sink, hadn't even considered one of those boiling water taps. Hmmm...

I really want solid wood work tops. Are they a pain to keep clean?

Definitely want a Perspex type wall panel especially behind the hob rather than tiles. So much easier to clean.

Good idea about hidden bins too and a tall cupboard for ironing board, Hoover etc. Hadn't even considered cupboard space for laundry baskets either!

jaybee

Cupboards that go right up to the ceiling - no more awkward area to clean!
Waste disposal unit.

suki1964

The one thing that would stop me going for solid wood, esp if I didn't have a lot of counter space, would be it burns

As I said I've granite, and I can put hot pans on it no bother. I have a solid wood block on the granite and the other week when I was serving up for 12, I just didn't think, left a hot cast iron casserole on it, and it's now got a horrible burn mark on it

It's ok as I've only got to replace one block, imagine that's your counter top

You will need trivets to hand when cooking