Suggestions for New Kitchen??

SnowyOwl_2

Hi Jo4

Don't forget to cost up for your flooring and your splashback tiles. If you tile the floor you could end up adding an extra grand onto the final price as tiles cost a fortune. Mind you I had my kitchen floor tiled, it was so expensive but OMG it is gorgeous!! It's lots of shades of terracotta/earthy colours, and is made up of 3 different sized tiles - everyone who comes in goes on about it. Oh I digress!

My tiled floor is fabulously easy to keep clean - a quick brush and push the mop over it and it's done. However i dropped a cup on it (the day after it was fitted...) and the cup of course broke and a tile is slightly chipped, so there is a little white bit showing. The downsides of a tiled floor - v.cold in bare feet & can chip if hard things drop. Upsides - it's easy to clean, looks fantastic.

A colleague has slate tiles on her floor, in a v.dark almost black colour. She hates them with a passion - even if they are scrubbed clean they look dirty. However my sister has a slate floor in dark & light brown shades, and it hides the dirt! Guess you take your chances, but it sounds to me like a solid colour on the floor isn't too good. Oh and an ex-colleague had light grey tiles on his floor - looked lovely when clean which was never because people walked on them.

Sorry, I'm going on a bit....you could have laminate, or even vinyl. I had vinyl before - it was very cheap, looked really good and was warm under foot. If you get sick of it it's easy to replace.

Have you been to any show houses in new housing developments? They are wonderful places to get a bit of inspiration for colour schemes, and also to stand there and imagine yourself using the kitchen and figure out what you like.

HTH

Mr_Skint_2

Jo4 wrote:

We are getting a new kitchen next summer and we are looking for suggestions. What is the latest must have gadgets in kitchens? What is the one thing you have in your kitchen that you could not do without, scales built into worktop, sliding drawers that close themselves, bin concealed in cupboard?

Is it a good idea to have your fridge freezer with built in units a round it or does this normally cause more headaches than a free standing fridge freezer?

What would be a good book or magazine to buy to help us decide what colour or kind of a kitchen we want?

We have a small kitchen but we want to make the best use of it, anyone any suggestions for what is absolutely essential in a kitchen and what you really do not need?

A Kettle......................

Iona_Penny

Must have is a sink and a half. You can then have a bowl of water in the sink but somewhere to be washing veg or draining a pan at the same time.

SnowyOwl_2

Lighting underneath the wall cabinets is wonderful.
Once you've got your floor plan think hard about where to put electric sockets (put in more than you think you'll need...), and also where to put the switches for the ceiling light, and if you can incorporate switches for an outside light and other rooms in the house from the back door, eg the hall.
It may not be on your wish list, but a tv aerial point may be useful for you.
An outside tap is incredibly useful - my poor neighbour tries to water her garden with a watering can carried to and from the kitchen as she didn't spend the £20 on an outside tap when the houses were being built.
Regards a fridge/freezer - I've got an integrated one and it's wonderful even though it was one of the cheapest. It was around £450, something like that. Freezer is at the bottom with drawers - nothing gets lost in the fridge as you can see right into it as it's obviously the top half. It might be worth spending a bit more for a frost free one.
I'd recommend a deep drawer for putting saucepans into. I just have a cupboard now and I can't stand it - had a big drawer in my last place, realise now how good it was for finding things and keeping everything tidy. The saucepan cupboard is like a black hole.
I would second the point about a tall cupboard for your broom, ironing board and other long items.

kroome

hello again, finished our kitchen at end of last year with last few touches. I agree with previous post about under cupboard lighting its cool. We have slate tile effect laminate down which looks good, and can be had at reasonable money, and have put down in several other peoples kitchens. cheaper than the real thing and not as cold. we have got some deep drawers as well and invaluable for keeping less well used appliances in ie slow cooker, bread maker. If you go for tiled floor used some underfloor heating its a must.

poppet

Jo4 wrote:

Are these wire baskets strong? What is the advantage of the wire baskets over shelves?

They're much more substantial than wire baskets and they slide out towards you for greater access.

Helen_from_yorkshire

Sorry if it has been previously posted but wouldnt be without my bin that pulls out when you open the door on the cupboard under the sink. Although this bin is fairly small (size of a waste paper basket ish) we use this for tea bags and smaller things and keep the swing bin under the stairs (door to this in the kitchen) for larger things and to empty the smaller bin into.

Also wouldnt be without mixer tap - we had individual taps before and it's so much easier filling a bowl with warm water now.

Make sure you have plenty of electrical sockets as this is not something you could easily get put in afterwards.

Helen_from_yorkshire

Just another thought - before we got our kitchen replaced at the end of last year I watched loads of design programmes on the TV and they do say that, to make your kitchen work best, your cooker/oven/hob, fridge and sink should all be located so you can draw a triangle between them. Hope this makes sense, if not, I am sure others may explain better!

We have black slate looking floor tiles in our kitchen, really easy to keep clean, look clean all the time, they're great!

nearlyrich

This and this is our kitchen which we had done last year, we (or should that really be I) spent hours looking round kitchen shops, checking out appliances so I got exactly what I wanted. I still love it. We went to a specialist who built the units to fit the space and the wall cupboards go up to the ceiling, no dust traps and more storage. The sink is a one and a half bowl with a mixer tap and the draining board is incorporated into the granite worktop.

I went for a built in fridge, we have a huge freezer in the utility room, which is half as big again as the previous one I had. We also have a range style cooker, it's modern stainless steel design with a glass and steel chimney hood.

I could go on about kitchens for hours LOL!!!

Jo4

SnowyOwl wrote:

Hi Jo4

Don't forget to cost up for your flooring and your splashback tiles. If you tile the floor you could end up adding an extra grand onto the final price as tiles cost a fortune. Mind you I had my kitchen floor tiled, it was so expensive but OMG it is gorgeous!! It's lots of shades of terracotta/earthy colours, and is made up of 3 different sized tiles - everyone who comes in goes on about it. Oh I digress!

My tiled floor is fabulously easy to keep clean - a quick brush and push the mop over it and it's done. However i dropped a cup on it (the day after it was fitted...) and the cup of course broke and a tile is slightly chipped, so there is a little white bit showing. The downsides of a tiled floor - v.cold in bare feet & can chip if hard things drop. Upsides - it's easy to clean, looks fantastic.

A colleague has slate tiles on her floor, in a v.dark almost black colour. She hates them with a passion - even if they are scrubbed clean they look dirty. However my sister has a slate floor in dark & light brown shades, and it hides the dirt! Guess you take your chances, but it sounds to me like a solid colour on the floor isn't too good. Oh and an ex-colleague had light grey tiles on his floor - looked lovely when clean which was never because people walked on them.

Sorry, I'm going on a bit....you could have laminate, or even vinyl. I had vinyl before - it was very cheap, looked really good and was warm under foot. If you get sick of it it's easy to replace.

Have you been to any show houses in new housing developments? They are wonderful places to get a bit of inspiration for colour schemes, and also to stand there and imagine yourself using the kitchen and figure out what you like.

HTH

THANKS for responding! Must remember a nice easy cleaned splash back and allow loads for floor and wall tiles. I have not been to show houses in new developments. Must make a point to do so shortly.