Kitchens what do you like and dislike?

[feeb]

Ok so DH has said we can get some quotes to do a kitchen reno!!!!!!

We dont have a big space at all (open plan kitchen/dining/lounge) minimal cupboards so lots of crap on bench and no pantry!!!. Plan on leaving stove and oven where they are as only 5 years old so that will save money!

So what I want to know is:

What do you like and dislike?

What was a waste on money?

What do you wish you had got?

How much was reno?

How long did it take?

Thanks

[Mildez]

My lasy Kitchen in 2006 cost me $15000. It was a large kitchen and I had to have the walls Gyprocked and floor tiled so that was the cost for a complete makeover (including $700 for the electrician etc) I designed it myself and I loved how the cutlery draw was near the sink as when packing away I didn't half to walk to the other side. I didn't have a dishwasher.
I also loved the deep pots and pans draw. I couldn't live without those if I were building another kitchen.
I had a few midget cupboards which were not really used and had wall cupboards with glass which cost alot more then plain cupboards. I wouldn't have glass again I dont think which would save on costs.
Our new house needs a new kitchen and DH had it quoted for $3000 as we dont plan on staying here he is using a cheaper product (malinite I think its called) it doesn't look as nice and it much much cheaper but we will stiill have a nice kitchen. As we have a galley style kitchen we plan on doing one half 6-12months before the 2nd half so we will only have to come up with $1500-$2000 at a time. It will look abit odd for a while but never mind. I definately want my pot draws but. And if you want more storage wall cupboards are good.
For the cupboards alone in 2006 I paid $7000 and that was cash (it was $8000 if not cash) so I saved abit there. I am impressed with the price for the new kitchen although maliminte isn't a favourite of mine. We plan on selling the house in a few years so it should still look new then.
My new kitchen took a week. The whole thing had to be gutted (walls and all) the walls were done over 2-3days (drying time of plaster) the kitchen which took 8weeks to make went in in a few hours after the walls were done and the floor was tiled last (another 2days allowing drying times) it was about 6days all up and I was away at uni then so I left a scabby kitchen and came home to a grogeous new one and no mess.

[Lily Dust]

Hi feeb!

Our kitchen was put in 6 years ago, about $10 000 and fully installed by a tradesman in 2 days. Had an Island Bench put in with drawers and I LOVE IT, it is my absolute favourite! Wish I had those pantrys that have the slide out racks to put food in but they were only around after the kitchen went in. Also wish now that we had a corner pantry because they take up little room but have oodles of space.

Im sure what ever you decide you will love, going into a new kitchen always seems so 'extravagant'!

Good luck and enjoy!

[Olive]

i quiet like my kitchen, i love my dishwasher and all the cupboard space, love the really wide cutlery drawer, but HATE the black granite benchtops! would love caeser stone (in my dreams )

[Cally]

We also have black granite, I quite like it although I wouldn't have as much shine on it next time as we can see every sponge wipe across it.

I love drawers - would do that for as much as possible, ie pots, plates etc. Have a thin cupboard for putting baking trays, muffin tins etc in, much easier to manage than on top of each other. Definitely dividers in the drawer that has all those cooking utensils (big spoon, kitchen scissors, egg slice etc) - we don't and it drives me mental that it is always a disaster in there.

And I love the idea of an appliance cupboard..... We have one power point spot so all our appliances and bunched together which irritates me no end.

[Mildez]

My old kitchen has a corner pantry also. It was huge inside was only the size of a door to look at from the outside.
Cally I love your idea about an appliance cupboard also.

[alicia]

When we did our kitchen we put in lots of drawers (for pots and pans but also for plates and glasses). I find them so much better than cupboards as it is easy to see everything that is in there. We also have one deep drawer where we keep the things like sandwich toaster, blender and slow cooker in so that they aren't taking up bench space all the time.

[Nicambhar]

we did our kitchen about 8 months ago and the best thing I did was put drawers in everywhere instead of cupboards and shelves, even did the pantry in drawers. Amazing how much space is wasted without them.
The worst thing I think we did was getting white ceasarstone. I love it and it looks great but it stains so easily, cordial, coffee wine, you name it.. Quite upsetting when you spend $4K on it..
Ours was a big kitchen, nearly 9 meters in length and cost about $17k all up.

[Loula]

When we did our kitchen we put in lots of drawers (for pots and pans but also for plates and glasses). I find them so much better than cupboards as it is easy to see everything that is in there. We also have one deep drawer where we keep the things like sandwich toaster, blender and slow cooker in so that they aren't taking up bench space all the time.

We put in draws too but hid some behind cupboard doors as we didnt want to look at so many not linning up (i know!) we also have stone bench tops and glass splash back the later i can not live without so easy to clean. we have our microwave hidden in our pantry as i have looking at them and our dishwasher is also hidden behind a cupboard door! we also have a huge matching unit opp the other end of the kitchen which houses this pc and TV and heaps of other stuff too.

Our kitchen reno was not cheap with the bench tops costing alone $10000 and the splash back $2000 walls unit was $4000 and kitchen itself was $10000. i have seen on the telly recently you can get a stone that is really thin but they make the sides bigger for around $2000 wish it was around when we did ours but no regrets

[~Kim~]

lol i have a corner walk in pantry....I love it. It fits all of my appliances as well as food so we didn't need an appliance cupboard.

I agree with the big deep drawers as opposed to cupboards.
Lots of powerpoints.
I have an isalnd that I hate. Mine has the sink in it, but no powerpoint (like where could it go anyway) but it's the place I do most of my cooking/prep.
I don't have a sit down bench/breakfast bar and I love that. No extra things to keep tidy (stools) nowhere for little climbers to scale the bench.
My microwave is in my pantry (there's a powerpoint in there specifically) so it doesn't take up valuable bench space (my kitchen isn't huge).

[mrsmac]

I can vouch for how awesome loula's kitchen looks!!

I love deep drawers for pots and pans and also a big pantry that is not too far to the back so you lose stuff.
In my best ever kitchen I had an island bench which I loved, lots of bench space is very important to me as i cook with the kids a lot, I also love a breakfast bar type thing where you have bar stools.

[Loula]

I can vouch for how awesome loula's kitchen looks!!

.

LOL mrsmac! and my matching pantry that J would just die for lol

[jackrose]

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.

[feeb]

Thanks Taking all of these ideas and suggestions to DH.

Have someone coming to do a quote next week woo hoo how exciting!!!

[Nelle]

Yay Feeb!

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.

[rosie77]

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.

[Sopdet]

Think about how much storage space you need and then double it. If I could re-do the kitchen in this place (which I cannot as it is a rental), then I would put in more storage.

Last house, when we re-did the kitchen, it took 2 days for the whole thing to go in, we also ended up putting a two way pantry door in.

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

OK, this are my likes and dislikes:

Glass-fronted top cupboards for glasswear.
Corner display units - I have two, one for vases and the biscuit jar, the other for tea and coffee pots.
Sink with workspace next to it and the drainer next to a tall cupboard (for the boiler): can stack dirty dishes in that space, and no wasted space next to the draining board.
Window in front of the sink! When we moved in you were staring at cupboards at head-hitting height.
As many sockets as possible. You can NEVER have enough sockets!
I love a pantry: we lost ours when we renovated and it's a nicer kitchen but I do love a pantry.
I also love cupboards with little baskets on rollers that come out, like drawers inside a cupboard.
One thing I hate about my mother's kitchen is that you have about 2" of worktop then clutter - be it the hob, sink, kettle, microwave, fruit bowl... everything stationary (eg hob, sink) is plonked in the middle of the worktop with space either side. Enough space to put something there, but not enough space to use to cook IYKWIM.
Wine rack. Everyone needs a wine rack. And a shelf for their cookery books.
I love that the worktops are higher than normal - I'm quite tall (about 6') so it helps my back not bending over to chop food up.