My current kitchen is DISGUSTING. It's all pine with a blue tiled bench (noice), has no drawers and the highest benches ever. I just about need a step ladder to cook. So we're getting a new one but DH and I can't agree on anything from colour schemes to the layout
Sooo, I'd like to know what you love and/or hate about your kitchens.
I just got a new one, not that I need one, but I didn't really like the colour and layout of the other one.
I have two colours in my cabinets, along one wall it's a woodgrain textured laminate and at each end I have a colour called mountain pepper which is like a latte colour laminate. I have a 90cm SS oven with matching gas top and a really square rangehood. The oven is at one end of the kitchen with the latte around it and at the opposite end in latte is a wine rack and breakfast bar.
The benchtop is white ceasarstone with a square undermounted sink and the splashback tiles are a latte colour with a pearl sheen on them.
Around the oven I have an olive green feature wall painted, which was hard cause it's cathedral ceiling in their LOL..
The best part of my kitchen is that it's all drawers, even the pantry. No more tossing stuff up the back of a cupboard and forgetting it's there.
Hey tinkerbell!
I love my kitchen! I had it extended last year when we moved into our new house, the kitchen was brand new, but me being a pastry chef, wanted it bigger! The only thing I hate is our tiny pantry, it is just one door (bedroom door size) with 4 shelves in it.
The kitchen benches are shaped like a 'G' and all at the same height but the lip of the 'G' is wider so we have a breakfast bar.. and we have cream splotchy coloured laminex benches with a white splashback. lol, probably sounds a bit confusing. Its great to have lots of bench space though! 3 people could easily be cooking in the kitchen without getting in other peoples ways. our fridge had to be put in the dining room though, but it's right next to the kitchen but not on the tiles.
I could go on and on about my kitchen. I'm so proud of it, yet it's not one of the greatest kitchens I've seen, but it's mine!
Good luck with your reno!
If I was redoing our kitchen here are some things i would think about:
pantry that is one of those slide in and out ones so you can see everything that's in it.
2 small ovens - saves power to use a small on when doing small cookin gand can use 2 at diff temps etc when you need to
we have 2 sinks which i wouldl keep
oven with a warming shelf/drawer
we have a hatch that closes - so i can keep appliances (kettle, toaster) ion there and all our cereal etc and it doesnt look messy
our benches are caeserstone which i love
We're booked to get our kitchen renovated next year and i'd be interested to hear some ideas also.
I actually had a look at some ovens today and was surprised at how small some of them were on the inside. My current old style oven has much more room inside, but that's got to go so hopefully i'll find something i like to replace it. ANy good oven reccomendations?
The guy we have booked to do out kitchen said he has a book that he will loan to us closer to the time that has HEAPS of ideas in it.
I'll remember the all drawers idea. I'm currently taking notice of splash backs, floor tiles, colours, sinks.
I don't like my current kitchen at all so i can't wait...
I love my walk in pantry, my microwave that's in the pantry and not taking up valuable bench space, my single sink (we never used the second one in other houses so opted for a single), my 900mm oven, my 5hob cooktop (long one in the middle great for grilling), my pot drawers. I also love my cupborads that go all the wat to the ceiling (no dusting on top of them) and my huge glossy splaskback tiles that look like glass at a fraction of the price.
I hate my island bench. Great if you have an enormous kitchen but I wish I'd just closed off one side and had extra bench space instead.
I hate the lack of appropriately located powerpoints (especially on the island where I do most of my prep).
eta myboys I have an omega oven that I think is great. Bit wider.
I haven't thought about this much... but this is what I want...
Butlers Pantry w inbuilt ladder
Island bench with second sink and second dishwasher
2 ovens
Crockery Drawers
Pots & Pans Drawers
Bain Marie Drawer or at least a plate warming drawer
A cooking L so fridge, sink oven in L shape so that when cooking you don't need to go from one side of the kitchen to the other
Wine Fridge
Powerpoint strip with slidable powerpoints to be where you want them
We have a U shaped kitchen. On one long side, theres: oven with inbuilt micrwave oven, then stove with huge range, then bench with double powerpoint.
On short side is the double sink (with window above)
Then next long side, double powerpoint then long bench space. Bench is stone.
Opposite the sick is the wall with fridge and pantry.
What I like:
Glass splashback. I hate tiles (and grout), so this is great. You can get different colors, so if you want to update the kitchen cheaply, just change the splashback and the cupboard handles!
Lots of space.
Lots of storage space
The tap is an extendable hose - great for cleaning chopping blocks.
There are deep drawers under the stove wear we store the pots and pans - love it being in a drawer, where I don't have to bend down to much.
The range has an automatic sensor for steam.smoke and increases with need.
It's open plan with dining area
One of the most important things for me is that the area where you stand to prepare meals is not where the cutlery drawers are. It drives me insane when you're standing there chopping things and someone wants to get into the drawers. Mum has a kitchen island with a sink next to the drawers. It is the worst design - the spare bench space is above the drawers and people are trying to either get into the drawers or the sink
What I don't like:
Oven is too small. Would like 2 ovens, one on top of each other
Not enough powerpoints - for coffee machine, griller, micorwave, toaster, kettle etc
It came with the microwave, but we use our own, so it takes up bench space and powerpoint.
Wow it sounds like there are some beautiful kitchens between us all (and in our imaginations).
Kim, we are planning an island bench on wheels but never considered the powerpoint situation. Thanks for the heads up. The splash back sounds great and i'll look out for the oven you mentioned.
I'll be extending our kitchen into the family meals area that isn't used because of an extension. I just want a fully functional place for me to cook for my family and where they can also sit and be comfy, discuss their day (when their old enough) and enjoy the food i prepare for them.
The guys can have their sheds we can have our kitchens
our kitchen is awful - dark brown laminate cupboards, ORANGE benchtops (matched by the lime green in the laundry - and the red toilet...)
it lacks storage space for everything. we're getting a new one - when the shed goes up (which will likely have a kitchenette so we can still eat while the kitchen is being done - and so i can kick DH and his mates out there lol)
i think i'm going to push for all drawers - i'm sick on not being able to get to things!
want a narrow cupboard with lots of shelves for appliances so they're easy to access - not one behind another kinda thing
have a six burner gas cooktop, rangehood and electric stove.
apart from that - well, i have the panels to assemble it (bought for a previous house) - everything else is still up in the air. we've talked about turning the windows into french door kinda things so we can pass food/drinks outside to the bbq area we have out there. not sure - have to check on the expense. there is no major remodelling - just changing the windows over....
My kitchen is fabulous - my DH made it entirely himself. It has solid American Oak benchtops on one side and granite on the other, a nice shiny oven and glass splashbacks. But the best design feature is that it has NO CUPBOARDS - even the under sink part is a drawer and it is fantastic. I have two shallow drawers next to my oven for all my spices and utensils so I have nothing clogging up my benchtops.
Seriously, all drawers with good quality, 100%-opening drawer runners are the bomb.
I'm with Rory - drawers are the BEST. Especially the depth that takes spices.
Think seriously about cabinetry colour. We did our kitchen 8 years ago - I tossed up beween timber or white laminate for ages and chose the timber with black granite-look laminex. We moved a few years ago and did another kitchen and this time did white laminate and "real granite". I loved the white heaps more - it just always looks clean and bright and fresh. We have moved back to the house with the timber laminate house now and I miss my gorgeous white kitchen I have never seen a white kitchen that doesn't look "classy".
ETA - Also if you like to have things on your benchtop think about having deeper benches. I think the standard is 600 which is not that deep if you like to have a cook book or utensils always at the back of the bench. We have 2 long benches in our kitchen and one is the standard 600 but the one on which we do our preparation is 700 deep.
Last edited by anney; October 5th, 2009 at 07:37 PM.
We're building soon, and I've spent hours and hours and HOURS working on my kitchen I used to work for a cabinetmaker, so got lots of insider tips as well
*SABA benchtops - its a homogenous acrylic, manufactured in one single piece, so you don't have any lines or cracks for germs. It'll also be used for the splashbacks - again, no cracks. Its the same quality as Corian, at 10% of the price! In fact, its only very slightly more expensive than regular Laminex tops, so we'll be using it in the bathrooms and laundry as well
*Hettich pull out pantry - I can't remember what model it is, but its long and skinny, and you can pull it completely out and sit it long ways against the next cupboards/wall, depending on where you place it. So you can have a full sized pantry taking up the size of a broom cupboard!
*Soft close hinges on everything - These are the ones that catch BEFORE the drawer/door slams, and slowly guide themselves in, to prevent damage caused by angry housewives
*Two door dishwasher - because I'm sick of doing the dishes
*2 ovens - I definitely need more than a standard oven, but not ALL the time, so this way I'm not using up unneccessary energy.
*Pigeon pair fridges - so I can buy a decent amount of meat in bulk, and still make meals in advance!
*NOT all drawers - Don't get me wrong, as many drawers as possible is great, but by putting drawers EVERYWHERE you can actually have a fair amount of dead space at the back of your cupboards. We're looking at Lazy Susans, or Hettich LS style pull out shelves, as they actually sit in like a shelf would in the corner, except you can pull them all the way out, so everythings still accessible.
Caesarstone benchtops in Ivory
Other benchtops in stainless steel
Splashback (curved so there's no hard edge) in stainless steel
Drawers everywhere - no cupboards
An under sink drawer with little compartments to put washing up liquid and other bits n bobs in
An appliance cupboard to hideaway the kettle/toaster with a couple of shelves for mugs
A herb/condiment pull-out thingy
A pantry with shelves
Most of kitchen will be white except for pantry and a few panels in timber laminate for contrast
Plan on adding a little more colour by painting wall above splashback in a subdued green and adding stools in similar colour for breakfast bar.
(Went quite conservative because we may be selling in near future but didn't want totally white kitchen)
Now, I'd advise against a pull-out pantry. I've got one of those at the moment and it sucks. Maybe ours is just too small but we end up piling tins on tins and you actually can't see what you've got.
I love these types of discussions!! Should have had one when we were picking out the kitchen for the house we are now building.
For us, we got the tip about lots of drawers and have that and think it will be great. Although, I don't want all drawers- I need space to store larger things like my mixmaster, slow cooker, deep fryer, etc.
We've gone the white look, which at the moment is a bit stark, but we're yet to get flooring or move in, so I'm sure it will improve. We've gone with mocha splashback tiles with a white grout, which I think looks fab (not sure how long the grout will stay that way!)
We too are having a 900 wide oven, our current one is 600 and it barely seems to fit some of the dishes I use in there (some I can't use because the oven's too small). My mum has two ovens, one smaller than the other and she uses the small one normally, but both of them together are great for entertaining.
We are having a walk in pantry- just the space will be fantastic.
We have high ceilings and the cupboards go all the way up, although I can't see me being able to reach or use the top areas.
Get a really good extraction fan.
Allow plenty of room for the fridge! Some people I know are restricted to what fridges they could buy by the size of the space they had allowed. To me it's not important if for a while we have some space around the fridge. When we get a new side by side we know it will fit.
We have a microwave shelf under the cupboards, rather than it taking up room on the bench. I'm not sure how this will go, as I tend to burn myself pulling hot food out of the microwave straight onto a bench! But the cabinet maker insisted it was a good idea, and I agreed in the end!
Look at lots of magazines / websites / display homes to decide what you like, particularly colour wise.
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I used to work for a cabinetmaker, so got lots of insider tips as well 
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