Can I see your kitchens please

[ncmurray]

I posted on another kitchen thread a few weeks back, and I thought you might be interested in some of the things that came to my mind. I think this is my second time to repost this

Make sure your wall mounted cupboards are as deep as you would like. We moved to this house in 2000, and it had a German kitchen (Keller?) installed, and the cupboards were really deep. They could hold maybe four cups deep. Our new kitchen will only hold two cups deep. In the big scheme of things its not a major problem, but for me I now can't reach the second shelf of the cupboard as they are further away from me. I hope that makes sense!

Pot drawers - don't bother with the 60cm ones... 90cm hold SO much more.

Stainless steel appliances - try to get ones that won't show fingerprints. It will save a LOT of frustration!

I wanted a black granite counter top for ages... so I got Galaxy Gold (?)... it looks fantastic, but I totally regret not getting a lighter granite or quartz. EVERY SINGLE fingerprint... cup... glass... leaves a mark on it and it drives me to distraction!

Quooker Flex tap is fantastic! No kettle needed, and I get so much use from the flex. Im not sure if I would bother with the cooled water or carbonated option.

Get the biggest fridge freezer you can fit. The french door style imho is the best layout, although the cavernous freezer can make it hard to find stuff, but thats more than made up for by the huge fridge!

I have two corner units... one with two swing out shelves, and one where the shelves 'rearrange' themselves as you open the door (I don't know how else to describe it). But the one with two swing out shelves is MUCH better.

I have always cooked on gas...but got an induction hob. I love it, for so many reasons, mostly because of how easy it is to clean, how good it looks, and how rising heat doesn't disperse grease all over the kitchen. But, I can't deny... its not gas. I can't put my finger on exactly what Im not getting about induction. If price is not an issue, you could get some domino hobs.. and configure it with both gas and induction.

Consider a warming drawer. Especially if you bake bread, but its useful for all sorts of things. If you do decide on one, try to get the deep one, rather than the shallow one. You can't prove dough in the shallow one.

If you have a spare wall, think about a built in pantry/larder. All your spices, flours, sugars etc in one place... makes it so easy to bake when everything is in one place, right at your fingertips.

Under your hob, perhaps a wide drawer with no cutlery insert... just a big drawer to hold all your spatulas, wooden spoons, scissors, tongs etc. I also have a knife block in my drawer. It keeps them safe and handy.

I have a 60cm hob, and a 90cm cooker hood... the bigger hood looks better.

I didnt pay attention to the cooker hood, apart from the size... and I SO regret it. I got a New World 90cm hood, with a 'filter' that can go in the dishwasher. It is complete crap! all it does is pull the air out. It doesn't filter the grease, and as a result, I get a drip of grease on the hob most days... just a small drop, but the 'filter' obviously isn't working as you would hope. I regularly run the 'filter' through the dishwasher, at least once a week, but it makes no difference. I would replace it tomorrow, but Ive got a granite backsplash that has been cut to fit it

Definitely get a pyroclean oven... its worth every penny!

I have a microwave/oven combi, and im not sure if I would get it again. Somehow, it doesn't seem as good as a regular microwave. I got the combi because I sometimes might need an extra oven, but Im not convinced. One issue is that the microwave oven is about head height (for me)... so if I use it as a conventional oven, its a little unsafe for me to try to take anything out of it.

I would go for a waste disposal. In our old kitchen, I had an insinkerator, but it was always getting clogged. I got an Astracast (?) in my new kitchen. It was a lot cheaper than an insinkerator, but so far it has been fine. I dont use it for heavy duty disposal... mostly just for light things like lemon peel or veg peelings.

Finally, I think stainless steel plug sockets, tv points etc. look infinitely better than white plastic. Also, plug sockets with a usb connection can be very useful. Pop-up sockets are fantastic, but you lose a lot of cabinet space.

I think I'm done... lol! Best of luck with your new kitchen
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[ncmurray]

[ncmurray]

[Tre85]

Originally Posted by Col&Ali

Beautiful kitchens! Would anyone care to let us know the costs of what you’ve had done?

Apologies if I have gone a step too far but I can dream lol

See more...

All in all ours came to about £12k. That included complete new ceiling, fully re plastered, Karndean flooring, all new appliances, all new electrics, kitchen and fitting!

This is what we had before -

[Orlando 2004]

Ours isn't Howdens or matt but I'll post it for ideas. We also have the same storage in our cupboards as above but where as I think that poster preferred the pull out shelves I prefer the wire pull out.

We also stole this idea after someone posted it on the dibb.

[Col&Ali]

Originally Posted by Tre85

All in all ours came to about £12k. That included complete new ceiling, fully re plastered, Karndean flooring, all new appliances, all new electrics, kitchen and fitting!

See more...

It’s lovely Tracey and I would have thought it was more so that’s good news for me!

[The 2 Minnies]

Not a Howdens kitchen but one we bought from B&Q. Really proud of ourselves as we planned and built it all ourselves. The only help we had was a gas fitter to put the cooker in for us.

Haven’t got a clue what we spent as bought things as we went along. Took us ages to complete though, but worth it in the end.

[colin39]

And the satin black units , never again , they show every fingerprint 🤦

[Myakka17]

We start ours on the 3rd. It’ll be similar to photo

only with a few amendments. The worktop will be the same as the upstand for continuity. It’ll be slate grey base, light grey top units.

[elise]

Mine is a Howdens .
We only have a tiny kitchen but the larder , swing our corner unit and pan drawers have given us lots more space .