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Kitchen design

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Kitchen design

Postby Pepper Pig » Fri Apr 09, 2021 11:12 am

If you were moving house or rejigging your kitchen is there anything you’ve had in the past that you absolutely wouldn’t have again?

I’ve been looking online at refurbished properties and I absolutely would never have a breakfast bar again. We had one for years. I had a permanent bad back from sitting at it and the kids always ate breakfast on the hoof and never used it.

This was the specific property I was looking at. As it’s open plan I’d have thought the dining table would be enough.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/ ... 79c15a5f#/

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Re: Kitchen design

Postby Pampy » Fri Apr 09, 2021 11:33 am

I wouldn't have granite working surfaces again. The one I've got has loads of different patterns (I can't think of any other way to describe the bits that are in the granite) and whilst the granite is incredibly strong, a few of the very small "bits" have come out on the edges. It's impossible to see where they've come out but you can feel the slightly rough edge if you run your finger along it. I think it looks lovely but over £7k is a lot to pay for just worktops!

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Re: Kitchen design

Postby Stokey Sue » Fri Apr 09, 2021 11:47 am

That’s a nice property, I think the only time the bar would be used would be someone sitting with a glass or a cuppa to chat to cook

My other problems with that kitchen are the wooden or laminate floor - never again, I want something you can really scrub; I currently have very posh recycled teak block (here when I moved in) and won’t again. It also doesn’t have nearly enough drawers and as I haven’t spotted the oven I guess it’s below waist height which doesn’t suit me, or many of us as we get less bendy


Also people think you need smaller sinks if you have a dishwasher - no! The 2 categories of things you can’t put in a dishwasher are things too delicate and things that are too big

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Re: Kitchen design

Postby KeenCook2 » Fri Apr 09, 2021 11:55 am

I agree with Sue, it looks nice, PP, very spacious, airy and bright. Do you live in a very large house at the moment? We've never had a breakfast bar, maybe its best use is being able to sit down while you're preparing food? Chopping etc? Or, as Sue says, chatting while you're cooking.

In our old house we had three separate rooms and a hall on the ground floor and I must say I do like the feeling of space you get with just one large / open-plan room, although it would probably have been a lot less practical when the boys were young and needing to do different things at the same time!

I've always had a thing about kitchen cupboards going all the way up to the ceiling, avoiding that ledge at the top that just gets filthy. I've never understood why the "short" cupboard with a huge gap at the top to the ceiling always seemed to be the norm.

I've no idea what happens now as it's been so long since we've thought about that sort of thing.

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Re: Kitchen design

Postby Stokey Sue » Fri Apr 09, 2021 12:04 pm

With you on the short cupboards KC2 - it’s like sock gaps

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Re: Kitchen design

Postby cherrytree » Fri Apr 09, 2021 12:22 pm

I would have no cupboards at all, just deep drawers. Two of my friends, both short like me did this so I copied the idea for our French house. I have never ever regretted it for one minute. I can see everything, nothing comes falling out onto my head and it’s wonderful. We got an Ikea kitchen and the kitchen is so intelligent. I dislike my Cumbrian kitchen intensely.

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Re: Kitchen design

Postby herbidacious » Fri Apr 09, 2021 12:36 pm

if we ever get round to replacing out falling-apart kitchen, the granite surfaces are the one things I would probably keep. (Albeit partly for economy's sake and also not wanting to waste things. However I have the only problem I have with them is that scale from the water shows and accumulates around the taps.)

Other than that, it's moer a matter of things I would like to have that I don't - shelves that pull out and the like, a proper larder cupboard with shelves in the doors. And I'd love a dedicated herb cupboard.

I would hate to have an open plan sitting room/kitchen. I don't want food smells in the sitting room (extraction fans may avoid that but they are noisy.) I also like to escape to the kitchen. Next door but one have done this. (You can see through their window right to the back of the house.)

I think cupboards with gaps at the top were are undoing, as we put heavy things on them...

Our French ktichen is... let's say, very big, but not a cook's kitchen.

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Re: Kitchen design

Postby liketocook » Fri Apr 09, 2021 12:38 pm

I love my breakfast bar/island though it's never really been used for eating at. I sit at it daily to prep food or to chat to my son if he's cooking (and vice versa). The thing I would change though is to add some sockets to it.
I'm not sure I'd have all wooden work tops again, they're lovely but quite a bit of upkeep especially around the sink. I'd also get a deeper sink if redoing, my current one isn't tiny but not deep enough and I'd forego the half sink beside it to get a slightly wider one. That said I've no plans to change it as it's a minor niggle.

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Re: Kitchen design

Postby Busybee » Fri Apr 09, 2021 12:49 pm

I wouldn’t have cupboards with no handles.............looks good but the blasted things open every time you lean against them. Wouldn’t bother with a boiling tap, I only ever use it when having parties, I’m obsessed that someone might scold themselves plus the wasted electric keeping the water constantly hot.

I’m with Sue re flooring, height of oven and cupboards to ceiling.

If I had free reign, I would push for a walk in larder and have less cupboards.

Things I love, an American fridge with a cold water and ice dispenser (sadly left in the Manchester house , no room here) an aga/Rayburn (as long as you also have electric for summer use).

Whilst I like the idea of open plan, I don’t like having cooked a meal looking at the pile of washing up in the kitchen area whilst I’m eating, sometimes it’s nice to have a separate dining room. This is especially apparent at Christmas and Easter when everyone is sat at the farmhouse table and the cooking debris is on display by the sink area. You also notice cooking smells much more when eating in the same space.

PP - I actually think that bungalow looks gorgeous. Are you tempted?

BB

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Re: Kitchen design

Postby Earthmaiden » Fri Apr 09, 2021 12:55 pm

There has been room for improvement in most kitchens I've had and rarely anything I wanted to get rid of, only add! I don't care for breakfast bars but similar structures without a place for stools do make good room dividers. I like that aspect of the one in the picture. I think that the island has taken over in modern kitchens. It amuses me on TV programmes where people don't seem to care what a house looks like as long as there's an island.

Although not always possible in a small house I like a utility room (once known as a scullery) as I hate washing machines/dryers in the kitchen and like a separate sink for washing dirty things. I'm torn on open plan kitchens too as it would be impossible for me to have a pristine kitchen all the time and I don't want guests to see any disasters and all the dirty pans when I'm cooking :lol:. It's great for larger families or when you have small children but I'd want a separate sitting room. I very much dislike eating in the kitchen unless the room is divided.

(BTW, in case you think I sound like Lady Muck, I live in a very small terraced house :lol:).

I agree about drawers, Cherrytree but would like some shelves. Agree about cupboards too, KC2. I suppose rooms are different heights though so they'd have to be bespoke.

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Re: Kitchen design

Postby scullion » Fri Apr 09, 2021 1:11 pm

i have 'open planned' and gone for no wall cupboards but reconfigured to have a walk-in pantry instead. i chose a really quiet, very efficient and energy efficient cooker hood (really pleased with it), the units are moveable, the counters are 'absolute black' granite and the floor is tiled throughout.
i did decide on a smaller sink but if there's anything very big that needs washing we have a tap just outside the back door! it hasn't been a problem so far.
i too, chose not to have a boiling tap - for the same reasons but i do have a combined mixer/filter tap. with less than perfectly flavoured water i think it's a must.

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Re: Kitchen design

Postby Pepper Pig » Fri Apr 09, 2021 1:17 pm

BB - I would be tempted if this house was in anything like a saleable condition but alas it’s not.

KC2, we too have three downstairs rooms. The house is an Edwardian terrace, not huge but certainly not poky.

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Re: Kitchen design

Postby scullion » Fri Apr 09, 2021 1:38 pm

the thing about houses in 'saleable condition' is that people still, usually, change the kitchen, bathroom and decoration etc when or before they move in.
it's usually a false economy to do it up properly just to sell it. brightening it up and removing/hiding personal stuff - and 'blanding' is probably all it needs.

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Re: Kitchen design

Postby Earthmaiden » Fri Apr 09, 2021 2:00 pm

The thing is, you usually have to adapt a house to your needs which are not necessary those of the seller. The first thing I noticed about the OP house was all the exterior steps!

I once went to look at a house where the guy had modernised the kitchen and was very proud of it, had removed the bannisters from the stairs and added polished wood to the steps (lethal!) and not touched the very dated and shabby pink bathroom upstairs. If he'd modernised the bathroom and left the stairs and kitchen (I'd have had to have made so many adjustments for my appliances it would have ruined the new one) I would almost certainly have made an offer.

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Re: Kitchen design

Postby Busybee » Fri Apr 09, 2021 2:05 pm

Pepper Pig wrote:BB - I would be tempted if this house was in anything like a saleable condition but alas it’s not.

y.


You may be very surprised PP, what is, or is not saleable condition varies hugely on the buyer. I’d suggest getting an estate agent in to value, at least then you will have an idea of it’s value as it stands.

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

BB

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Re: Kitchen design

Postby Pepper Pig » Fri Apr 09, 2021 2:16 pm

I’m on the case BB. We had valuations pre Covid and they said more or less what Scully says about not doing more than necessary. However the box room is kitted out as a bespoke workshop and both agents said to turn it back into a bedroom which certainly requires more work than I can do on my own.

And also house prices are not stable round here at present as Kodak have built a massive, ugly estate on their old factory site about 400 metres from here. With that, Covid uncertainties and OH’s health problems it’s not quite the right time. But I am doing daily rain checks.

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Re: Kitchen design

Postby Gillthepainter » Fri Apr 09, 2021 2:36 pm

One day you'll get there, PP.

The no-no for me in that kitchen is such limited counter space.
The actual area of the kitchen is fairly OK, but too compact to actually cook and work, by the time you have your coffee machine, toaster and microwave on the counter.
Unless you include the breakfast bar as counter space, which I don't.

What I love about my new kitchen is easy shut drawers.
What I don't like is the ceramic hob. The brand rather than the appliance (Lamona).
It just looks marked all the time, one little splash and I've got to get a product out, as a simple wipe down won't remove it.

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Re: Kitchen design

Postby Badger's Mate » Fri Apr 09, 2021 4:08 pm

I rejigged the kitchen here about 12 years ago, so can't complain too much about the current setup, but I did make one ricket.

Choosing an overly large extractor in the hope that it would be more effective than the standard model at dealing with odours, fumes and steam. In reality we just hit our heads on it more frequently.

The rest seems fine. Mrs B wanted granite worktops and apart from the inevitability of shrapnel if Pyrex lands on it I don't mind. The laminate floor cleans up OK. I strip and repolish from time to time. In a former life I formulated strippable floor polish. I would like a utility room but that would have required a major rebuild. We keep the freezer in the shed (brick-built ex garage) and the washing machine in the kitchen. Mrs B doesn't believe in dryers. We've got a little breakfast bar down the end which is where we have lunch and look down the garden. I wouldn't like an open plan arrangement for the reasons that have already been mentioned.

It's not a big kitchen and workspace is a bit limited. The breadmaker earns its place, the IP lives in a cupboard, but they get used as often as one another. I appreciate the larder cupboard

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Re: Kitchen design

Postby KeenCook2 » Fri Apr 09, 2021 4:38 pm

Yes, i agree that one of the big problems with open plan is cooking smells. We just avoid as much really smelly cooking as possible! In our old house I always used to shut the kitchen door.

We use candles and try to keep fresh air coming in if it's not too cold for that. At least we can open the double doors to the back and blast air in!

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Re: Kitchen design

Postby Pampy » Fri Apr 09, 2021 6:30 pm

I modernised my whole house a few years ago so did the kitchen exactly as I wanted it. It's reasonably big and has a mix of deep drawers and cupboards. The corner cupboards have wire baskets which swing out when you open them which means you don't have to almost crawl in them to get to things at the back! The wall cupboards go up to the ceiling and the dishwasher, washing machine and dryer are integrated. The ovens are built in so no bending to use them. The flooring is quartz tiles. As said earlier, the work tops are granite as is the sink. I have a pull out tap on the sink and also a water filter tap. All in all, it works very well for me.
I have 3 separate rooms downstairs which I much prefer. If I'm entertaining, I like to be able to close the kitchen door on the mess when I've finished cooking, then later close the dining room door on the mess after finishing eating!

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