Suggestions for New Kitchen??

Jo4

I will reply to your suggestions and comments now. I didn't before because my laptop was away getting fixed and the old computer was very slow and trying my patience!!

Jo4

mah_jong wrote:

For me after living with this kitchen for so long I know the changes I would make for me!

It would be more about rearrangement of appliances .... work units and moving the back door! Just small stuff really !!!!

I dont think there is any point in must have stuff that you wouldn't use (unless you are selling and want to market a high tech upto date all singing dancing kitchen! Think about how you use the space...your regular 'I wishes ' .

My fridge is free standing but then so is everything else!!

Get some mags ..... go to the showrooms .... you have plenty of time!

re bin concealed in cupboard...my mum HAD one of those and found it too small. Back to the swing bin. Again think about your usage.

my thoughts!

We will not be selling. Will now make a list of "I wishes". Was at an ideal home show and seen 2 swing bins built into one of the cupboards. They must have been at least 2 1/2 ft high. One was for recycling and the other for the rest of your rubbish. Good idea but I do not have that much room, maybe next time!!

Jo4

td wrote:

We have just replaced our kitchen and moved our sink to look out of the window. But ours is also a small kitchen and we put in taller wall units which surprisingly makes thekitchen look bigger as they are quite light and gives us masses more storage space.

td

Sink is in front of window at the moment but thinking of moving sink so it will be in front of the other window. I like the idea of taller, light coloured wall units, it makes sense although not something I had thought of.

Jo4

JanCee wrote:

I always choose to have a built in/integrated microwave. It looks good and frees up worktop space.

Ours is on a wall bracket at the mo. Though I am sure it would look a lot better if it was integrated, hmm, I wonder if I will have the space?!?! :think:

Jo4

kroome wrote:

Having recently overhauled our kitcen I recommend max amout of work surface possible, tall wall units if possible, corner carousels are excellent, build oven and microwave into one tall unit, and lights, lights, lights. Sink in front of window, utilities to outside wall (washer, dryer, dishwasher) drawers essential, and wire pull out trays excellent (available at ikea). Quality of Ikea units and worktop pretty good as are MFI now. Use MFI and Ikeas online planning service and they will plan it for you giving several suggestions and then you can choose! (i do this when planning fitting friends kitchens) use an independant fitter, way cheaper.

I now think tall units are a must. Corner carousels will be a lot better than what I have now, kitchen was designed in 1988!! Not having a built in oven this time, although making a mental note that we will next time. I agree with lights, lights, lights as with being blind in one eye and partially sighted in the other, lights are a must. Sink is going in front of window, not sure which one yet though. Utilities on outside wall, yip.

What are drawers essential for in your opinion? Why are wire pull out trays excellent, never had them so don't know? Thakns for letting me know about MFI and Ikeas online planning service, didn't know about it. Are those wooden baskets any good for keeping veg in or what do people keep in them?

Jo4

poppet wrote:

We knocked own a wall to make our pokey kitchen inot a light and spacious kitchen/diner.
We then set about redesiging the kitchen space and decided to free up wall space by blocking up a little-used door.

MY top tips for things to include in a new kitchen are:
1 Taps that are tall enough to fit under the kettle - ours were too low and had to fill kettle up with a jug! Eventually we changed ours for one of those taps with a pull out spray hose.
2 a pull out larder or 2
3 somewhere to sit in the kitchen, even if its a small breakfast bar and stool
4 a tall cupboard to put away the brooms and mop and bucket
5 somewhere to put the bin, in a cupboard or a under a worktop out of the way
6 loads of worktops...we have 4 children so needed a worktop run long enough to accomodate 6 dinner plates laid out ready to dish up.....think about how many plates you will be dishing up.


when deciding what kind of cupboard conformation to have, i sat with a pen and paper and wrote down what would go in said cupboards, that way i could easily see how many wall units and floor units i needed to squeeze in.
pots and pans and lids, crockery and casserole dishes, glasses and mugs, food, cleaning stuffs etc etc.

Ive got a photo loaded onto yahoo photos if you'd like to see - they show the un-painted and un-tiled version.
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/happyfamillies/album?.dir=260e

We want a place to eat in the kitchen because at the moment although there is a table in it, it cannot be used as it is boxed in.

1 Agree.
2 Pull out larder, can you elaborate on this please?
3 I really what this badly, we have a table and 4 chairs but cannot use them.
4 Brillant idea, this is a must.
5 Considering this one as the kitchen would look tidier.
6 Only 2 plates to dish up, me and hubby, although this might change in 2007, all being well!

Good idea about sitting down with pen and paper, must do that. Thanks for your photos and taking the time to upload them all, your kitchen looks fab. Well done!

Jo4

td wrote:

Are you doing it yourselves? We just knocked a wall down - fantastic fun by the way - if you know it's safe do it yourself. Get some large plastic sheets and tape them (or staple them) to anything around wall you're knocking down to minimise dirt and dust.

As someone said about kitchen fitters - get your own not a company's - it's much cheaper - same for carpet fitters plumbers etc.

Try to plan how what you're taking out might be used for what you're putting in - eg we knocked the wall down between our kitchen and hall but kept the bricks to brick up an outside cupboard and make an indoor one.

If you're pulling up any old lino keep big bits to work on in the garden when it gets wet or it's really godd for mixing cement on.

Buy a tent or a gazebo to put up in the garden to work under if it rains or to store things under.

td x

No we are not doing it ourselves, we are just trying to think of what we want at the moment. Hoping to contact architect in the next week to get the ball rolling. Thanks for your very useful suggestions

Jo4

Doozergirl wrote:

The fridge with built in units looks great but costs a fortune (well over £1000) because the hot bit has to go underneath with ventilation at the front instead of at the back in case it causes a fire. (yawn)

You can get a great american style fridge for £400 or even less and spend the change on my must have but don't need item: a wine fridge with a glass door and a little blue light that you can turn on when your friends come round, to show off!

Hope a built in fridge wont cost that much, perhaps I am dreaming, though I hope not. I like the American style fridge freezers but don't have the space this time so hopefully our old fridge freezer will do the job. Wine fridge would probably look good but as I am a t totaller and hubby doesn't drink very often and we don't have the space I wil have to give that one a miss. Although Dad and sister would love it and never leave the kitchen, lol!!

Jo4

We had been hoping to totally renovate the house this year but we have to wait now until 2008. Although we are putting in a new kitchen we are hoping to reuse these units for the utility room next time.

cath-w

I have a large kitchen, but in a bad state (house needs extensive renovation). I do all my own cooking (including bread made by hand) and so I need a lot of worktop space. You should also ensure that the sink, cooker and fridge and close together to make cooking easier. Think about how much space you need at the side of the sink or near the dishwasher so you have somewhere to stack the dirty pots. Do you need a double sink? Heat resistant worktops? Somewhere for recycling to go, somewhere to feed the dog? Think about all the things you need to use the kitchen for an try and plan accordingly.

You can use designers online such as http://www.bobvila.com/DesignTools/ These can help you work on the layout, but they can be a bit basic. Also, sometimes they need to download software onto your pc in order to work.