New kitchen: must haves or what to avoid?

Any

I for one absolutely hate deep drawers instead od cupboards, my sister has them and I find them difficult. But thats me!
I second having washing machine and tumble drier next to each other, with doors arranged so you ake out of one and stick it in the other without any obstacles such as doors.
No empty spaces!! Our current kitchen (we moved here recently), has pretty looking alcove around our range.. But it's empty, dead hollow space!! No idea why they didn't put in sliding out spice rack or something. My sister has that, and for one it's good usage of space, and secondly it's extremely handy to add spices to food without moving a step from the cooker.
We have solid wood worktops with biiiig beautiful chopping board in designated chopping space and so far the rest is not difficult to keep the tops clean. Before I bought that chopping board I was constantly on watch if someone is not chopping without chopping board and making marks (like when you just cut 1 slice of bread-people were lazy to put chopping board down for that). With the big one it's always there but you can properly wash it at will. Looks good and homely too.
Oh and my cupboards go right up to the ceiling too.

Any

I have stone floors. Grey slate with natural beigy pink running through it.
Never ever look dirty!!

Any

rosie383 wrote: »

On the subject of paint, I've discovered the Dulux endurance range. It's truly scrubbable. I had painted a windowsill with it, and next day dh dumped a load of DIY stuff on it and it has had a week of immense dust, every screw, hammer, you name it, dumped on it. I thought it would be ruined but it wiped clean as if it hadn't been touched. Ditto the two completely black handprints when a filthy dh lost his balance and put his hands on the wall. Not a mark after a quick wipe. Wilko does it for not much more than their durable range and it is far superior.

Just read that all back and I think I need to get out more! Seems as if I didn't pause for breath. My excuse? Complete exhaustion!

Ha ha, after experience of that paint in the kitchen, I put it in a hallway too!!
Lifesaver. Especially when someone bangs a wall with a suitcase.. Quick wipe, and any marks are gone!!

rosie383

It is amazing paint!
I did the same as you and got some to do the hall and it has already had to earn its keep.

Update! I have a fully-working kitchen!! :-) Dh managed to stop the leak under the sink so I was able to wash up in it yesterday! Felt so good! Mind you, the novelty wore off after the first lot of dishes :-/

Still trying to figure out how to attach the door to the integrated dishwasher. If anyone knows how to, answers on a postcard please! And had to lose a drawer under the oven in the tall cupboard as we got an Ikea £400 combi microwave built in thing for £70 from the local chazzer, so need a small drawer front there to cover a gap, but otherwise it's looking good!

I'm going to treat myself to a nice kettle/toaster/crockery etc. when I can afford them (from ebay or car boot of course) as I have had really cheapo mismatched everything until the kitchen was done. Glad I waited as everything got pretty grubby and marked during the whole moving and building process.

bouncydog1

spendingmad wrote: »

Waste disposal- once you have one you will wonder how you ever lived without it!

We had one many years ago and hated it so much we had it taken out!

I wont even have a bin in my kitchen. Everything goes straight out into the dustbin and recycling bins!

bouncydog1

se_ren wrote: »

I'd look at flooring options now - you can pick up laminate/LVT samples, or buy sample tiles to take home to try and get a feel for how it looks. depending on what option you go for, this might be better being installed as the kitchen is being done. so the flooring runs under the kick boards rather than up to them. Check with you kitchen fitter. NB. if you go for laminate, it needs 48hrs to acclimatise before fitting.

Splashbacks - just tiling is an alternative to a metal splashback. I have this in mine and its lovely

The floor will go right under the plinths. We have a large adjoining conservatory (all open plan) and are in the process of having the roof re-glazed. Until that is completed it's hard to see what the light is going to be at various times of the day, so another reason we have to wait. I think we're going to go for granite upstands with painted walls and a granite splashback.

Our last couple of kitchens have been completely tiled and I found that for me they ended up looking dated. At least you can get someone in to change the paint colour!

DH is fantastic at lots of building and structural works but painting is not his thing! I'm not allowed anywhere near a paint tin because of previous history!!! :rotfl:

Rooster72

I wouldn't buy another Ikea kitchen. They might look nice but they are not very robust. However, if you do...
Do NOT buy taps from them. If a ceramic cartridge fails it's difficult to get replacements. Ikea don't supply replacements. Our hot cartridge failed within a few months and they wanted us to disconnect the mixer tap and take it to them to mull over whether they could be arsed to replace it. We had a plumber come in recently and swap the tap. He'd never seen a set up like it and it was a headache for him to remove it.
Do NOT employ their people to install their kitchens. Seen any adverts recently saying they install their own? No? Because they never have. They employ other companies. The one that did ours didn't do a good job of finishing it to an acceptable standard and they charged almost double the cost of the kitchen.
We're trying Wren this time. The saving has been enormous. And we shall be employing a proper joiner.

snoozer

One of the best things we got was a boiling water tap - it's brilliant and everyone who visits wants one. Oh and an induction hob, so fast and controllable, just like gas only safer.

bobby_1

Hi....we're thinking of buying a kitchen from Ikea....are you happy with yours and how difficult was it to install yourself?