New kitchen kit - which would you buy and NOT buy again?
Discussion
vladcjelli said:
I like vimto (northerner).
Could I fit a vimto tap that works a bit like the post mix dispensers in bars and restaurants?
My imagination suggests a reservoir where you empty your favourite cordial in, then it dispenses a preset strength mixture straight into your glass, drawing water straight from the mains.
My dream kitchen would have this.
That should be possible. I have just fitted a new sink in my downstairs loo and had to balance hot and cold water flow with some inline valves, don't see why this would not work with Vimto (invented at UMIST my alma mater) as long as you could find a way to gravity feed the Vimto / pressurise it.Could I fit a vimto tap that works a bit like the post mix dispensers in bars and restaurants?
My imagination suggests a reservoir where you empty your favourite cordial in, then it dispenses a preset strength mixture straight into your glass, drawing water straight from the mains.
My dream kitchen would have this.
Wozy68 said:
Yup ....... madness the tat you can empty your wallet for, that will at best lose you space within the furniture or at worse, be a total and utter pain that is of no use to man or beasty and never used.
Pull-out ironing board anyone?
finnily enough I can still remember fitting one of those, about 12 years ago and just spoke to the originasl customer last week who has sincemoved house.She still said it was brilliant!.... personally when i originally installed it I only gave it a week before I thought it would end up broken. Never sold or fitted one since.Pull-out ironing board anyone?
Install 2 dishwashers, they work like self cleaning cupboards, you don;t have to do very much dishwasher emptying that way.
Do not instll a recirculating extractor
Try and avoid NEFF the timers ALWAYS fail and have done since the 1980's
Do install vlever corner cupboards so you can get to stuff at the back more often than once every 10 years
Do install a tall pull out larder cupboard
Do not get ripped off on the prices of taps (it pays to shop around)
Do fit at least 2 more cupboards than the maximum you think you will ever need
Do not instll a recirculating extractor
Try and avoid NEFF the timers ALWAYS fail and have done since the 1980's
Do install vlever corner cupboards so you can get to stuff at the back more often than once every 10 years
Do install a tall pull out larder cupboard
Do not get ripped off on the prices of taps (it pays to shop around)
Do fit at least 2 more cupboards than the maximum you think you will ever need
Tiggsy said:
I retro fitted a waste disposal and it's the best thing in the kitchen.
Large family so we get through a LOT of food waste....going in the bins is messy, stinks and attracts animals...so sink it!
Get a good one...ours will do a roast chicken carcass in seconds.
+1, we had one at our old house and it's the thing I miss the most. It was only a cheap one and the only thing that blocked it was banana peel, oddly. You could drop bones in there, all sorts of things and it just vaporised the lot. It made recycling easier as you could just rinse everything and sort it straight into the right bin and unlike every other house I've ever lived in the bin didn't stink as there was absolutely no food waste. Everything went down the waste disposal. We're definitely getting one in our self build. Large family so we get through a LOT of food waste....going in the bins is messy, stinks and attracts animals...so sink it!
Get a good one...ours will do a roast chicken carcass in seconds.
A couple of other points - a friend of ours has a built in Miele coffee machine (uses ground, not Nespresso/Krups) and it may be down to user error (she is a dufus) but the coffee it makes is quite awful. Finally my wife is from country stock (orf my land etc) and it's quite usual in farms to have an old school style clothes airer/pulley thing. We're house sitting my brother in law's cottage right now and he has one in the laundry room where the UFH boiler is and it's bloody brilliant for hoisting up damp towels and bedding on etc.
blueg33 said:
mildmannered said:
It's actually, simplistic genius!
Thankyou I have had two dishwashers for 20 years.
Integrated coffee machine is a godsend and saves having yet another thing stuck on the worktop, wish the same could be said for Toaster.
Considered a Quoooooker thing, but speaking to several friends who have them they complained "tea wasn't the same" and wife lives for tea so that went out.
Warming drawers - bought on a whim, thought it was ridiculous at the time, but when ovens are full or you just quickly want to warm a couple of plates it's cheaper, quicker, controllable and very very neat indeed. Also like the way the cup / small plate warmer turns on automatically with the coffee machine. Warm mug of coffee
Wine cooler - actually used more as a warmer here as the cool wine is the pantry.
Induction hob - very definitely, we have a massive Miele one and it's pure witchcraft, oh and water boils in a matter of seconds!
Pyro oven - hell yes!
Pan drawers - hell yes too.
Combination microwave, worth it just for jacket spuds in 20 mins, let alone how good it is at reheating pies and cooking pizza.
Full height fridge and freezer, we have under counter ones and they're so full we have another freezer in the garage. I'd also get a fridge with 2 big shelves in the door for milk/juice/bottles rather than one big shelf and several small ones which are useless for keeping anything other bigger than a pack of butter in.
Recently got a Kenwood chef, takes up a bit of worktop space but gives us dough hooks, blender, spice grinder, mincer, sausage stuffer, pasta maker, and loads of others all in one.
Full height fridge and freezer, we have under counter ones and they're so full we have another freezer in the garage. I'd also get a fridge with 2 big shelves in the door for milk/juice/bottles rather than one big shelf and several small ones which are useless for keeping anything other bigger than a pack of butter in.
Recently got a Kenwood chef, takes up a bit of worktop space but gives us dough hooks, blender, spice grinder, mincer, sausage stuffer, pasta maker, and loads of others all in one.
mildmannered said:
CorradoTDI said:
I'm liking the 2 dishwasher idea if you have room... especially for keeping worktops and sinks clear at all times!
It's actually, simplistic genius!http://www.johnlewis.com/fisher-paykel-dd60dchx7-b...
In fact that will be the first purchase in my renovated kitchen, folks have one and its so simple and a great idea.
blueg33 said:
Install 2 dishwashers, they work like self cleaning cupboards, you don;t have to do very much dishwasher emptying that way.
Do not instll a recirculating extractor
Try and avoid NEFF the timers ALWAYS fail and have done since the 1980's
Do install vlever corner cupboards so you can get to stuff at the back more often than once every 10 years
Do install a tall pull out larder cupboard
Do not get ripped off on the prices of taps (it pays to shop around)
Do fit at least 2 more cupboards than the maximum you think you will ever need
Yes, yes, yes and yes. Avoid Neff American F/Freezer at least. I always try and spec P&R for the taps though.Do not instll a recirculating extractor
Try and avoid NEFF the timers ALWAYS fail and have done since the 1980's
Do install vlever corner cupboards so you can get to stuff at the back more often than once every 10 years
Do install a tall pull out larder cupboard
Do not get ripped off on the prices of taps (it pays to shop around)
Do fit at least 2 more cupboards than the maximum you think you will ever need
Especially good is the 2x dishwashers. Some see it an extravagance, the rest of us see it as a great way of not having to put anything away
Du1point8 said:
mildmannered said:
CorradoTDI said:
I'm liking the 2 dishwasher idea if you have room... especially for keeping worktops and sinks clear at all times!
It's actually, simplistic genius!http://www.johnlewis.com/fisher-paykel-dd60dchx7-b...
In fact that will be the first purchase in my renovated kitchen, folks have one and its so simple and a great idea.
If you want a lifetime of poorly cleaned plates and pulling the damn thing out every three months to clear the waste pipe then go ahead.
Bloody awful things, I refuse to recomend them.
Du1point8 said:
My folks have used one for 6 years and never had any issues in a hard water area.
I've installed well over 10. Only one has not either been replaced with something else or not gone wrong in some way. It does seem though, that they either work or they don't. I've found the bigger the family, the worse they are. I have a feeling its alot down to how much foodstuff you clear off the plates before loading.
The biggest issue though is cleaning, in just about every case, if something is packed into the corners (again maybe a large family issue) then they do not often clean well enough.
5potTurbo said:
Having just moved in to a newly built house and having a brand new kitchen,
DO's:
- induction hob
- decent extractor
- 'Le Mans' style magic corners; they're massive!
- drawers for pans, crockery
- American fridge freezer - we've a new LG one with the small door to get milk, juice, beer, quickly
- built in microwave
- I'd suggest having 2 ovens; we have one and we should have bought 2
- pull out 'pharmacy' cabinet
- more power points than you think you'll need (aside from those permanently in use for appliances, we have 11 sockets for other stuff)
- drawer containing bins/recycling boxes under sink
- easy knock on/off tap; we have one from Blanco. It's very useful when you've dirty hands.
- quiet dishwasher
- good lighting; we took invaluable advice from E36GUY and we're very pleased.....recessed spots and LED task and coloured lighting
- if you live in a hard water area, a Brita filter on the sink taps, rather than a water softener
DON'Ts:
- quooker: seem expensive and aren't used as much as you think
- pop up sockets: they fill up with crumbs!
- waste disposal, unless you're at risk from grizzly bears attacking your bins!
This is just why these lists are so subjective and, as a consequence, pointless.DO's:
- induction hob
- decent extractor
- 'Le Mans' style magic corners; they're massive!
- drawers for pans, crockery
- American fridge freezer - we've a new LG one with the small door to get milk, juice, beer, quickly
- built in microwave
- I'd suggest having 2 ovens; we have one and we should have bought 2
- pull out 'pharmacy' cabinet
- more power points than you think you'll need (aside from those permanently in use for appliances, we have 11 sockets for other stuff)
- drawer containing bins/recycling boxes under sink
- easy knock on/off tap; we have one from Blanco. It's very useful when you've dirty hands.
- quiet dishwasher
- good lighting; we took invaluable advice from E36GUY and we're very pleased.....recessed spots and LED task and coloured lighting
- if you live in a hard water area, a Brita filter on the sink taps, rather than a water softener
DON'Ts:
- quooker: seem expensive and aren't used as much as you think
- pop up sockets: they fill up with crumbs!
- waste disposal, unless you're at risk from grizzly bears attacking your bins!
In my last house my Quooker was probably the most used device in the entire house. Every cup of tea, coffee, bolied vegetable, cooked egg and so on was started with the water from the Quooker. I would never be without again.
I suggest to anyone planning a new kitchen - take your time and really analyse what it is YOU do and YOU need.
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