Kitchen advice/tips

leonmahon

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We're renovating our first house and I'm currently about to buy a new kitchen for the first time. Been out to a number of showrooms in the Dublin 12 area.. a lot of similar prices and promises.

What should I be looking out for?
Any tips from your previous experiences?
 
(1) if you have room put in a kitchen island, or at least a peninsula unit (otherwise you will spend your kitchen life facing a tiled wall)

(2) All your base units should be drawers /deep drawers

(3) check out Ikea

(4) I'm sure other places do it as well, but Ikea do a pull-out base unit that will fit 4 of their bins so you can keep all your rubbish and recycling out of sight

(5) check out Ikea (yes, it's worth saying twice)
 
Did anyone mention to check out Ikea? :)

Also watch out for the chipboard each company use for their cabinets. The good ones are 18mm thick, cheap ones will be 15mm.

If this will be your life-long home then you will probably want to spend a bit on it. But if you are planning on moving in a few years then do it a bit cheaper.
 
I would vote (strongly!) for deep drawers on the base units too and the pull-out base unit for bins. (I got one that fits under my sink from Ikea and find it excellent.) I have an Ikea kitchen which is only in 6 months so I can't really say how well it will last, but I have found it great until now. I certainly wouldn't buy a kitchen without at least visiting Ikea - it would probably be a help to see so many different types of kitchens anyway.

One other thing to note is that many of the kitchen accessories which Ikea sell fit perfectly into their own kitchens but often don't fit well into other kitchens so if you imagine your future kitchen filled with Ikea kitchen accessories that is something to be aware of!

Oh and I've never heard anyone complaining that they had just "too much countertop"! It just fills up - no matter how much you have!
 
Thanks for the replies so far. OH is dead against Ikea as she thinks it will tie us to Ikea stuff forever. We do plan on staying in the house for a long time but would also envisage changing the kitchen in the future if we ever extend. To that end we're looking as a "compromise" spec kitchen with good solid doors but a formica counter top. Will I regret not going for granite? It'll add minimum 1k+ to the total.
 
Personally, unless you have a big kitchen I wouldn't go for a kitchen island as it takes up a lot of room, it's just a personal choice of course, some people use them to also eat at, but I prefer sitting at a kitchen table.
 
OH is dead against Ikea as she thinks it will tie us to Ikea stuff forever. We do plan on staying in the house for a long time but would also envisage changing the kitchen in the future if we ever extend.

Not quite sure why your OH is worried about being tied to Ikea stuff forever - it is possible to just buy a kitchen from them. And is she not worried about being tied to some other kitchen supplier forever?

Anyway, Ikea are market leaders for a reason. And their kitchens are made for mainland Europe where people rip them out when they move and reinstall them in their new place, so if you are envisaging extending your kitchen in the future Ikea would be a good option as they stand up to that kind of thing.

My Ikea kitchen is 5 years old and going strong and I love it. (I also had to have it ripped out then reinstalled after a pipe burst, and it stood up brilliantly). Definitely check out the Ikea store and see their kitchens in person before your OH writes them off.

Re the island / peninsula, they don't have to have seating. I too prefer a table for eating and my peninsula doesn't have any room for or overhang for stools, I just use it for counterspace but I wouldn't be without it, it totally changes the useability of the kitchen.
 
Whatever about getting an IKEA kitchen, you should definitely download the IKEA kitchen planner. It's a great piece of free software.

I'd also like to add to the votes for drawers for pots and pan and plates etc. Consider putting your dishwasher at eye level (so you're not stooping to fill or empty it).

Think about everything you will need to store. Where will the brush and mop go? Where will you keep large bags of potatoes/rice etc?

Will the washing machine be in the kitchen?
 
" Consider putting your dishwasher at eye level (so you're not stooping to fill or empty it). "

Also consider raising the fridge for same reason.
 
Our new build was on a budget so we just put in the base units (however we did have a room off the kitchen that we used as a larder initially as had spare room for playroom). As our family grew, we popped up the wall units about three years later. Then the larder became the playroom and so we then got a island made and also purchased a large free standing fridge freezer. we since purchased a huge fridge freezer with a drinks dispenser that everyone is sooo jealous of, cant imagine having the intergated tiny fridge freezer and a chest freezer somewhere else. I know one family who have extra fridge in shed.

I couldn't recommend granite enough, despite the price its worth it durability wise and the look of it. We built the kitchen as we could afford it, buy well and once is the old motto.
 
Not quite sure why your OH is worried about being tied to Ikea stuff forever - it is possible to just buy a kitchen from them. And is she not worried about being tied to some other kitchen supplier forever?

Anyway, Ikea are market leaders for a reason. And their kitchens are made for mainland Europe where people rip them out when they move and reinstall them in their new place, so if you are envisaging extending your kitchen in the future Ikea would be a good option as they stand up to that kind of thing.

She's under the impression that Ikea units have their own standard sizes, so once fitted then everything else in the kitchen will always have to come from Ikea. Is this untrue?

I've also heard that Ikea kitchens don't have solid doors, which would put me off. Am I wrong?
 
She's under the impression that Ikea units have their own standard sizes, so once fitted then everything else in the kitchen will always have to come from Ikea. Is this untrue?

I've also heard that Ikea kitchens don't have solid doors, which would put me off. Am I wrong?

Not sure about the standard sizes, although my units seem to hold a lot more than the units in other peoples non-Ikea kitchens (but it's not like I need special plates or anything). But even if they are different, Ikea have such a huge range that it's hardly limiting.

Re the solid doors question, they do both. But a great thing about an Ikea kitchen is that you can just change the fronts a few years down the line if you fancy a change or an upgrade.

You can have a closer look at the specs etc here http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/catalog/categories/departments/kitchen/
 
She's under the impression that Ikea units have their own standard sizes, so once fitted then everything else in the kitchen will always have to come from Ikea. Is this untrue?

Incidentally, I heard this about Ikea beds (that you'll have to buy their bedclothes as nothing else will fit) and that's not true, my Pennys and Dunnes fitted sheets fit their mattresses fine.
 
While in Australia recently I saw a great idea in a kitchen.

The cupboards to store Kettle, toaster and other small items had
slide up and down fronts. You could use them in position and when finished
just roll down the door.

I think an island unit is great for extra worktop space while allowing for a table and chairs also in your kitchen.
Enjoy your new kitchen Browtal
 
Not sure about the standard sizes, although my units seem to hold a lot more than the units in other peoples non-Ikea kitchens (but it's not like I need special plates or anything). But even if they are different, Ikea have such a huge range that it's hardly limiting.

Re the solid doors question, they do both. But a great thing about an Ikea kitchen is that you can just change the fronts a few years down the line if you fancy a change or an upgrade.

You can have a closer look at the specs etc here http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/catalog/categories/departments/kitchen/

I went to Ikea today to check out their kitchen stuff. The difference between it and standard kitchen stuff is that the void space for service access is below the units in ikea cabinets, and behind in standard cabinets. So, once you get your kitchen wired and plumbed one way, it's going to be extremely expensive to change it. This explains why you have more space in your cupboards; they're 70mm deeper than a standard.

Having now been to five kitchen showrooms (including Ikea), I would think the choice of stuff is better elsewhere, where doors can be painted to order. I will say that the Ikea stuff is considerably cheaper, and they do have some great bits and bobs (eg taps, ceramic sink) that I would rate over and above stuff I have seen elsewhere. However, because all their stuff is pre-made and flat pack, there are far less options for the configuration of the units.
 
I went to Ikea today to check out their kitchen stuff. The difference between it and standard kitchen stuff is that the void space for service access is below the units in ikea cabinets, and behind in standard cabinets. So, once you get your kitchen wired and plumbed one way, it's going to be extremely expensive to change it. This explains why you have more space in your cupboards; they're 70mm deeper than a standard.

Just to clarify, I actually meant that I found the wall cabinets much more spacious than non-Ikea kitchens. I did find my base cabinets more spacious, I just put that down to them having deep drawers, so I thought the perception of space might be at least partly down to that.

My builders didn't seem to think the wiring / plumbing was much different (I got my house rewired at the same time, and the sink was plumbed in to the same place as the old sink). The only thing they commented on was that under the sink there is not a traditional Irish u-bend pipe, it comes with a shallower, flexible pipe that leaves more room in the cabinet under the sink. However it didn't need any special plumbing other than that (which came in the package) and it has worked perfectly as regards drainage, odourlessness, etc.

Having now been to five kitchen showrooms (including Ikea), I would think the choice of stuff is better elsewhere, where doors can be painted to order.

Well I think you can consider your kitchen thoroughly researched! And I'm sure you got some great ideas from those showrooms too. If you have the budget for bespoke then good on you, best of luck with it all :)
 
Consider getting wall cupboards that go up to the ceiling if you can find them. It saves dust gathering on top of the cupboards.
 
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