The New Kitchen

Give me roll out drawers for absolutely everything. Wall oven, definitely. And a preparation bench and hotplates that aren't under the ducted gas heater outlet (stoopid heater installer people who didn't listen to what I told them).

The kitchen in your picture looks mucho nice, Bron. I'd settle for that at my place :-)

Jennie
 

Make sure you get enough electrical outlets and light fixtures!
 

Yep, we got drawers everywhere instead of cupboards. Even for the pantry. Check. Wall oven. Check. Good point about the heater outlet, Jen. *g*

Susan -- lighting. Yikes. Adds to list.

Thanks, guys.

Oh, and the picture -- just a random one for illustration purposes.
 

Drawer and cupboard edges in white, and avocado green in the centre :) Oh, and a paler version for the walls and skirtings. Also, Better Homes and Gardens tell me for efficient workspace, you need a 'triangle' axis - sink/bench, cooker and fridge are the triangle points.

I love Ikea - have you checked out their Aussie site, Bron? (bummer is it's a huge drive for you :-(

Detrimental for kitchens are lazy susans in the corner cupboards. Oh, and make sure you have plenty of bench space (put that microwave on a shelf!). Hooks for your dish towels. A wall-mounted roller for your Handee paper kitchen towels. And a ceiling fan for those hot Christmas meals ;-)
 

Hi Bron

Well I have to say that I love my 900mm oven. You can fit so much into it. It's a free standing oven. We have 6 gas hotplates on the top. Don't forget to get the rangehood as well. Even if you go 600mm hot plates a 900mm rangehood is a good size.

We have really funky tiles as our splash back but I do like the look of a glass splashback. We have cupboards but the idea of drawers is a great one.

Light colours on walls will give the impression of space. Dark colours will close the room in.

Good luck with the renos!!

Cheers
Nicki
 

I say white appliances because stainless steel ones show fingerprints so much and I'm not into wiping/cleaning all the time.
I would love a convection oven along with a regular oven and a self cleaning oven.
Give me an island and I'm in heaven, a desk with a laptop or computer in the kitchen and a spot for a TV to watch the news and I'm extra happy.

robynl
 

Ooh, cool ideas AND colour tips. Thank you, Paula and Nicki and Robyn. Adding more notes to The Kitchen Notebook. Re the finger-marks on stainless steel -- would love to hear some more nays or yays on this. The salespeople tell me the new material is supposed to be mark-free but they're the salespeople. Am weighing up on the wider oven. And the microwave has its own shelf. Tick. Good stuff; keep it coming.
 

My parents recently redid their kitcen. They went to Ikea to get cupboards. They have this program for the computer so they figured out exactly how many cupboards they needed. They also have a lot of cupboards with sliding shelves so they can find things easier(especially the pantry and pots and pans). Since there are usually only the two of them they also got one of those smaller convection oven for the counter. Yes Outlets are very important in the kitchen. I live in an apartment and where the longest counter is, Where I need to plug in the microwave, the coffee maker and a grill. I only have one plug with two outlets so I'm forever unplugging something.
Also a great way of increasing counter space is to mount as many thing as possible. I have my toaster oven mounted under the counter. My parents have their microwave and coffee maker mounted.
As for stainless steel, I worked in the kitchen of a nursing home and we had a lot of stainless steel(the counters, appliances) We would alalways get complaints because it didn't look clean even though we scrubbed it down but there were always streeks but if it is wiped down and then dried right after we didn't have streeks. Same principle for glass.
I'm sure your kitchen will look gorgeous but then I'm already evious because it looks to be able 3x the size of mine.
 

Christa, thanks, that's great information. Making more notes. And, yes, our kitchen is going to be pretty large. At the moment it isn't, but I'm extending and will have a lot more storage space. At the moment all my good (special occasion) crockery and bowls and such are stored in another room. Hate that.

Oh, and I made another decision today. The countertop. Not my first choice, but a compromise both me and the dh have agreed on.
 

I also noticed that when my sister dedid her kitchen that lighter color made her kitchen look bigger and brighter. For extra lighting while prepping food they put in recessed lighting under the cabinets. They used a tile floor because there are only the two of them. My parents first used a tile floor but because there was more traffic and things were dropped two of the tiles were cracked. Now they have linoleum. Also my sister used this this product from Granite Transformation for her counters in the kitchen and bathroom. Apparently it looks like granite but is compressed so it's not as heavy as a slab of granite and easier to cut. Since she has a dishwasher she went for one of those sink that is only a half sink. So instead of a regular sink with 2 full size sinks she has one sink that is smaller than a regular sink and a half sink. I found this isn't very practical because pots and pans still need to be washed.
 

Thanks for bringing back the extra info, Christa. That's fantastic. The tips for extra lighting onot the benchtop is excellent. For the moment I'm keeping the floor we have -- it's linoleum -- because it's still in pretty good condition. And I need some corners to cut as this is a way expensive exercise. As much as I love real granite, that's not within our budget either so we will have "the look" reproduced. I've chosen a pattern which will disguise scattered crumbs (I live in a male household, what can I say?)