New kitchen advice please anyone.

I really wish I'd had one of those pull out, bendy, extendable taps like they have in commercial kitchens. My friend has one and they're ace for rinsing dishes and getting round the edges of the sink.

I have a Quooker boiling water tap, and a built-in Neff Slide & Hide oven (along with a built-in Neff microwave with grill) and like them all! The tap, particularly, I wouldn't want to be without now.

If you have room, a walk in larder is fabulous. I had one before, but don't have space now, so I have a larder unit with pull out drawers in my new kitchen and love it to bits. It's only 50cm wide, but holds so much, and it's so easy to find everything.

On a similar note, drawers rather than cupboards wherever possible.

If you don't need them, I'd do without wall cupboards, but that's mainly personal choice as a very short person, plus I think they make kitchens look smaller.

As a short person, when we finally choose our final house, I will have one area of lowered work surface, as I find, for example, rubbing in for pastry, or mixing things in large bowls and such like quite difficult on a normal height one.

Double, or at least 1.5, sinks are very useful if you have space.

Get lots of people to come round and design things with you, and then go to somewhere like DIY Kitchens and buy it for a quarter the price. You can show them a design and they will tell you what to buy, and it's all done online.

Get a really really good fitter, because that's what makes real difference to how it looks and works.

Alternatively, get a local independent company to work with on the whole process.

Oh how exciting! ? Make a list of the things that are important to you. We closed off a doorway so that we could have floor to ceiling units across one whole wall and opted not to have wall hung units to avoid the kitchen feeling closed in and knocked down the wall between kitchen and dining room for a more usable space.
We’ve gone for integrated units and gloss handle less so that they are easy to wipe down. Whilst I love the cottage kitchen design, I don’t want to spend my life forever cleaning so this works for us. We have Amtico flooring which runs through kitchen, dining room and hallway.
The kitchen is definitely the worse room to get done and I had a makeshift kitchen in a bedroom and washed up dishes etc in the bath for about a month whilst this work was going on.
We opted for granite worktops and wall stands including window cills in the kitchen. I love them, don’t get me wrong, but in hindsight, wish I had opted for a light colour rather than black with bronze flecks in.

I would have loved to have had a Quooker but we live in a very hard water area so probably wouldn’t have been practical.
Having said that, we did spend (to us anyway) a horrendous amount of money but our bungalow was VERY dated (think 1960s/1970s) and had not been lived in for over a year and it was the first (and only) time I had ever had a new kitchen.

One thing I would say is that quite often there are so called ‘deals’ on kitchen appliances. I didn’t want those and opted to research and choose the ones I wanted. I was then able to negotiate a deal when I came to purchase them.
Good luck x

If you have room think about a bin store cupboard - ours has two large bins inside and is one if the best features of the kitchen! We had plain black granite worktops - the kitchen is about 6 years old and the worktops still look like new. Do your homework too, our kitchen was custom built by a local kitchen company based in the village - the units were solid wood and far superior to Wren, Wilkes, B and Q - yet their quote was only about £2,000 more than the large kitchen companies, despite the difference in quality. Also, the after sales care was superb.

We used DIY Kitchens and we cannot praise them too highly.

I agree have drawers below your worktop, not cupboards. I have a big pullout waste centre with 4 waste containers in two sizes 1) food waste (animal protein), 2) vegetable food wast for composting. 3) recyclables (our council doesn't require any sorting, all recyclables go in the same bin 4) Stuff for black bin.

I wish I had a large enough kitchen to have an eye level oven, drawers instead of cupboards and an island.

In retrospect we should have knocked the wall down and had a kitchen diner, but it was 24 years ago, when we moved in and we wanted a separate room.

So very happy with my hit water tap. I also live in hard water area, but this has its own filter and softener, so no problem,

Yes, lots of drawers instead of cupboards, I really delight in my floor to ceiling pullout larder area. Takes so much and I can see everything. Second small pullout under counter takes all my spices and herbs and also vinegars, oils etc etc.

Lots of choices as to how to treat corner cupboard areas, I have one with two independent pull out kidney shaped type of storage, again I can see everything stored there.

Decide if you want all integrated machines, or some freestanding. I chose to have a free standing fridge/freezer - as small kitchen and the integrated ones have less space inside. Also kept my freestanding washing machine and dish washer.

Think carefully about what sort of extraction fan you have fitted over the hobs - and, of course, what hobs - would strongly recommend induction.

I also chose to have the granite worktops. Very expensive but they look lovely and are so good workhorses. At least a one and half sink, I decided on a black sink to fit in with my black, sparkly worktops. Had some concerns as to how to keep it nice, but is is no problems at all.

Kitchens cost a really obscene amount of money these days. So, it has to be done right. Must say, since mine was finished, never regretted a penny of it. It looks gorgous, is wonderful to work in, and will be a selling point for my flat when that time comes.

My best advice is get an installer who can oversee and have on call the trades required. Ours was gutted and re installed (no building work) in 9 days, usable after 6.

I' d love a boiling water tap - maybe not if there were small children or absent-minded older people (ie older than me) around. DS2 and his family have one and it's so good to have a cup of tea 'on tap'. One thing they have which I feel simply harbours bacteria and food particles is a sink which is a square box with no curves - more difficult to keep clean. I only have a little kitchen in my little house, but when I had a new kitchen (about 16 years ago!) I had it designed to make the maximum use of wall space. I have a very sturdy step stool, having gone through a rather cheap one!

We had our kitchen remodelled a few years ago. It is a fairly small room so space saving was the most important feature. We have long, deep drawers for saucepans and bakery equipment and a corner cupboard with shelves that can slide out.

Oh and I nearly forgot - I’m so glad I decided on an integrated split dual waste bin for separate waste. Hubby disagreed at the time favouring an additional unit but I won ?. So wonderful not to see the bins, they’re hidden away so the dog can’t get at it!

We have deep drawers and pull out shelves in all our cupboards = invaluable. An induction hob is instant heat like gas and easy cleaning. We chose a microwave built in instead of a double oven. We also got the biggest freezer and fridge - both floor to ceiling so heaps of room.

Btw love the Quooker tap.

And be wary of composite sinks as they stain.

Definitely the Neff oven, it’s great. We have the microwave oven too.
Have doors that are flat no indents to get dirty or dusty.
Pull out shelves and drawers make good use of space and easier to get into cupboards.
A classic colour that won’t date.
Last of all Have Fun choosing!

Thank you everyone. We have some cupboards and deep drawers currently and I'm aiming to have all drawers.

There was a bin in the cupboard when we moved here. Too small, smelly and a real issue to clean around. We went for free standing bins in the utility room.
We have three sets of wide drawers, opposite the sink and dishwasher island. It’s so easy to empty the dishwasher straight into the drawers.
Glass induction hob - SO easy! It cleans instantly and is quick and responsive. I was a gas girl but no longer!
Enjoy your kitchen Kitty!

We have a boiling water tap Kitty. We like it although it’s our third in 3 years. With us it’s limescale why they’ve gone wrong we are in a hard water area. We wouldn’t be without it now.

Has anyone got a steam oven? Is it worth it?

We are in a funny position in that we are mainly just,2 but can be (at Ch*****as) up to 23 and counting!

And avoid handles which can catch in pockets etc!

It is fun kitty but I found also stressful primarily because some kitchen designers, aka sales persons, can be incredibly pushy. I found it helped to have a good idea of the look I wanted (plain and shiny) before talking to them. We had plans from four and then did a mix and match job before asking for a final plan from our chosen supplier.

It seemed to help that the kitchen company arranged fitting and plumbing as coordination just happened. Our kitchen is tiny, it was put in 9 years ago and I’d not change a thing so guess we got it right. Gloss handle less units and what I call a crumb friendly worktop, ie crumbs are very difficult to spot.

Can’t advise on boiling water taps other than to share that a family member with one was away for a few weeks and discovered the under sink part of it had been leaking - new units and a replacement floor followed. They kept the tap as they love it and now turn off the water supply to it when they go away.

We set up an alternative kitchen in the conservatory. Microwave, remoska oven, kettle, toaster, basic cutlery and crockery. The existing fridge freezer too. We had a stock of bottled water as sometimes the water was turned off for a few hours. The rest of the kitchen contents were boxed and stacked.

Make sure you will be able to reach everything. Although we are both tall the even taller kitchen fitter has to be convinced that our necessary top cupboards still needed to be in our reach rather than his. Fitted ovens also need to be the right height for the user for safety. Slide away doors are excellent. Pull out larder type units are wonderful.

Good luck with it. You will enjoy most of if not all the process, it is very satisfying to see something considered and planned being put into action. Have fun .

Drawers, deep and strong enough to take crockery, pans etc.
A walk-in larder if you have room
If you have a utility room keep all laundry out of the kitchen, if not, put it in a separate area away from food preparation, dishwashing etc.
Cupboards that go right up to the ceiling - even just a false cupboard front so that there are no cupboard tops to get dirty or to attract grease.
Lighting under the wall cupboards.

There was a bin in the cupboard when we moved here. Too small, smelly and a real issue to clean around. We went for free standing bins in the utility room
I agree, although it's 'next door' I prefer to have the bins in the utility room.

As many have advised,
drawers, handle less gloss finish, pullout corner cupboard on rails , matching worktops and splashbacks ( no tiles ), boiling water tap,
and my special treat was my wine chiller!!

? Enjoy, Kitty!