This may be the chance I need to get my kitchen frustrations off my chest! We renovated our kitchen 5 years ago and I loved loved loved it. It was designed to within an inch of its life by me as it was super small so had to work well to get all of my kitchen needs in. Now we have moved and the kitchen we are in now is doing my head in with its 'standard' but bad design.
Some things I loved about my old kitchen:
extra wide oven (700 rather than 600) gave us jsut a bit more room to cook on
cupboard on bench for toaster to hide in - also contained all toast related needs, jam, vegimite etc
crockery and glassware in cupboards above rather than below - for me this made sense as it saves bending all the time for the things you use the most
nook for the microwave - I hate them sitting on the bench taking space. It was so out of the way in its little shelf!
Ceasarstone bench top with undermounted sink... divine. We had channel marks in the stone around the sink to drain the water which worked really well
A super deep sink and a tap with a regular and shower flow. It was so handy at times
An island bench with dishwasher in it
Dish drawer rather than dishwasher - so fantastic! I miss it so much
bin in pull out drawer right near food prep area so that food scraps can simply be swept into it. If we didn't get the ceasarstone, I would have had a hole cut into the bench for the bin so it could just be swept in to there. However, the pull out bin was fantastic
Two skinny little cupboards squeezed into the two ends of the island bench. One housed recyclables and the other all of the appliances such as rice cooker, sandwich press, kitchen wizz etc. We had a power point put in there too so that all I had to do was pull an appliance out and I could use it right there on the bench
deep drawers for pots and a pull out drawer for the pantry. I wrote on top of jars to let me know what was in them. No seaching to the back of a cupboard to find stuff
We avoided the pull out panty in full size as I found them too heavy and cumbersome when I tried them out but we did put in a half size one under the bench and I truely loved it. It was near the stove and housed all my cooking oils, sauces etc. It was so easy to just grab stuff as I cooked. We put tins etc on the bottom shelf and they were always easy to grab
Soft closing draws... mmmm
extra draw in tke kickboard was excellent for hiding stuff like platters and baking trays. We really tried to use every bit of space
That is all I can think of at the moment.
What I hate about this kitchen I have now:
The dishwasher is situated too close to the corner cupboard so I can't open the door when I am unloading the dishwasher. I have to pile everything on the bench then place it in the cupboard after. Two steps!
Having a dishwasher rather than a dishdrawer! So much bending, waiting around for the thing to be full enough to run a load, having it at easy access for the toddler and the dog to get at it when open. Argh!
The kitchen sink is around the wrong way logically with the drainer sitting on usable bench space. If it was around the other way it would be more in the corner where we don't use the bench so much anyway. The way it is reduces the bench space so much.
No overhead kitchen lighting. We had down lights in the overhead cupboards in the last kitchen and they were lovely to use, in this kitchen its a bar with 4 lights pointing around the kitchen, this means you stand at the bench and block the light
I do have issues don't I
I hope some of this helps you though!
I can't remember now how much we paid exactly or how long it took. We were not living in the house at the time so we didn't speed through it. I do remember that it didn't take the company long to put it in. I wasn't very happy with the company we used for a few little reasons, but having said that it lived up to daily use really well and still looks really good.
I love our big bench/island - to have lots of space is so cool.
I like that we have a double power point at each end of the bench. And on either side of the stove.
I love that the bench overhangs so people can sit at it and chat to me while I cook (our old kitchen was in a separate room and I demand someone talks to me when I cook these days... abandonment issues much? ).
I love having my hot drinks station. I have the kettle on the bench against the wall and a cupboard with mugs and tea/coffee/stuff overhead. I know for many people it's probably a given but it's so convenient! Milk's the only thing I have to travel for.
The drawers are cool.
We don't have dishdrawers, but we easily do a load a day (plus we have a half load).
A massive clock near the kitchen (okay, that's not a kitchen thing, but I don't often use timers so it's great for good reference).
All the storage! Lots of room. Some drawers, some cupboards. I can't imagine anyone going wrong with all drawers really. (Well, perhaps not for up high, although I've seen wine glasses stored that way, and I imagine cups on hooks would work too...)
What I wish I had:
A walk in pantry, or drawers that pull out. We've only been here 4 months and I have no idea what's at the back of the pantry!
An appliance cupboard with many many powerpoints for the permanent things like toaster and breadmaker that sit on the bench.
A magnetic knife strip, the knife block takes up too much precious room (at least that will be relatively cheap to fix one day!).
Somewhere for the bin! (or a good looking bin at least )
Smooth splashback, like glass. No issues with our cool dimply white tiles, but I can imagine the white grout eventually not being white anymore.
Anyway. It's not a particularly fancy kitchen, and given the kitchen we came from, we are grateful for the small things like a pantry and more than a metre of bench. But those are my thoughts.
Oooh, how exciting. We had ours done a few months ago and I LOVE it! Ours was pretty exxy as we got all new appliances.
Here are the things I love:
*Having a dishwasher at last (but if you do, watch out for the prob JackRose had with it blocking the cupboard door. Our friends had the same design and it drives them made!
*Integrated fridge and freezer - looks so pretty!
*Deep drawers for everything
*Corner pantry with NARROW shelves (our old one had deep shelves and you can't find what is at the back!)
*Pull out bin + recycling bin - keeps it all nice and clean and tucked away.
*Lazy susan in corner cupboard
The only thing I wished we got, that we didn't, was the soft closing drawers. If the drawers are full of heavy things it's quite hard to close them quietly. We didn't get an expensive bench top but I don't miss this.
Reply With Quote
).
Bookmarks