The Mock Turtle

Ooh, it all sounds like it will be so lovely.

I'd definitely get cupboards to the ceiling/as high as possible, I loved them in our old kitchen. It gives you lots of extra storage, even if you just put things up there you don't need often.

Also a big fan of pan drawers but I think that's established to be universally loved.

My only worry about high cupboards is my height but I can see it is useful for storage and given that lack of storage is one of my main gripes about the current kitchen, it makes sense.

Sal, your house is almost exactly the same layout as mine, except I have one bedroom instead of two along the front of the house. HTH

(Except everything is a bit smaller, including the kitchen!)

sally maclennane wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 11:33 am My only worry about high cupboards is my height but I can see it is useful for storage and given that lack of storage is one of my main gripes about the current kitchen, it makes sense.

I just use a step stool.

nineseven wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 11:50 am Sal, your house is almost exactly the same layout as mine, except I have one bedroom instead of two along the front of the house. HTH

More or less, this is The Official British House Layout (if there were such a thing)

Cosmopolitan wrote: ↑Tue Apr 21, 2020 1:10 pm In the utility room, somewhere to store washing baskets. Mine just hang around making the place look untidy (if you're going to have the washing machine in the utility?).

You need a collapsible washing basket!
https://www.dunelm.com/product/addis-fo ... lsrc=aw.ds

nineseven wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 11:52 am

Cosmopolitan wrote: ↑Tue Apr 21, 2020 1:10 pm In the utility room, somewhere to store washing baskets. Mine just hang around making the place look untidy (if you're going to have the washing machine in the utility?).

You need a collapsible washing basket!
https://www.dunelm.com/product/addis-fo ... lsrc=aw.ds

Life changer. But. Do you think it will carry the weight of a cat?

Cosmopolitan wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 12:10 pm

nineseven wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 11:52 am

Cosmopolitan wrote: ↑Tue Apr 21, 2020 1:10 pm In the utility room, somewhere to store washing baskets. Mine just hang around making the place look untidy (if you're going to have the washing machine in the utility?).

You need a collapsible washing basket!
https://www.dunelm.com/product/addis-fo ... lsrc=aw.ds

Life changer. But. Do you think it will carry the weight of a cat?

Yes It's very sturdy. A domestic shorthair weighs less than a load of wet washing (probably)

She's a bit of a chunk (5kgs!) but I would hope less than a load of laundry. And yes, she does like being carried around in it.

I have just ordered some of those collapsible Hay crates to use for laundry. I have a pretty grubby laundry bag in the (tiny) laundry room looking untidy at the moment. I really need to sort it out.

smalex wrote: ↑Tue Apr 21, 2020 2:52 pm You're going to have the kitchen at least 10yrs, so ultimately whatever you chose style-wise is going to date, it's kind of inevitable, so sod it, get what you like and don't worry about it.

I have just had a dark blue kitchen installed and I love it. I did think about the trend (although it was surprisingly hard to find for something so popular!) but decided that, as I'm not particularly fashionable anyway, I would just go with what made me happy. I've aimed for timeless in the past and things still look dated after a while; a lot of what we think is classic actually ends up being of its time. I'm happy to post pictures but it's not tiled yet.

My washing machine and tumble dryer are in the utility room but the dishwasher is integrated. We also ordered an integrated fridge freezer but I hated it. It was tiny and wasted so much space that I decided to cut my losses and buy another, but couldn't find anything of a decent size to fit so my builder put our old (quite new) one back and housed it in. I think it looks fine as it's stainless steel, just like our ovens, hob and hood.

My kitchen is quite dark and not having wall cupboards has lightened it a lot. I have the same amount of storage space thanks to one tall cupboard and the amazing deep drawers, of which I'm also a massive fan. I had some wasted corner space so have also had a pantry built. It currently has white doors as I was worried blue might be too much but actually I think I'm going to change them to match the rest. (My inability to visualise things has cost me fair bit of money, although thankfully my lovely builder doesn't charge me for anything he can re-use!)

I had my old kitchen spray painted and it worked fantastically. So if you go off dark blue, you can easily change it.

Loralei wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 12:20 pm We also ordered an integrated fridge freezer but I hated it. It was tiny and wasted so much space that I decided to cut my losses and buy another, but couldn't find anything of a decent size to fit so my builder put our old (quite new) one back and housed it in.

Oh yes, this. I am so fed up with my f/f but don't have the ££s to change it over at the moment. The outer door on the fridge part is also skew-whiff (sp?) so it doesn't close very well which adds to my

I think there are ways of updating looks too, my sister and BIL went with loads of copper accessories (which have probably already had their peak) but it's easily changed. Tiling can be updated fairly easily for a more contemporary look, respraying or replacing doors as Nine suggests in due course if you really tired of it.

I really like my integrated fridge. It is a 2/3rd 1/3rd arrangement though so it might be taller than most.

nineseven wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 12:24 pm I had my old kitchen spray painted and it worked fantastically. So if you go off dark blue, you can easily change it.

Do you know if they can spray over that sort of wood veneer stuff? (I'm not totally sure what mine are. They look like wood rather than vinyl but they might not be.)

Ella77 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 1:15 pm

nineseven wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 12:24 pm I had my old kitchen spray painted and it worked fantastically. So if you go off dark blue, you can easily change it.

Do you know if they can spray over that sort of wood veneer stuff? (I'm not totally sure what mine are. They look like wood rather than vinyl but they might not be.)

They can, my mum had it done and it turned out really well.

Ooh, good to know, thank you.

Ella77 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 1:15 pm

nineseven wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 12:24 pm I had my old kitchen spray painted and it worked fantastically. So if you go off dark blue, you can easily change it.

Do you know if they can spray over that sort of wood veneer stuff? (I'm not totally sure what mine are. They look like wood rather than vinyl but they might not be.)

Yes - that’s what mine was. I can recommend someone if you want. He was great.

Please do post pictures when you can, Lora!

I have just had an email from the architect with the draft building warrant drawings! They are really hard to make sense of though but I will look at them properly tonight. Once I approve them, they go back to the council for final approval I think, and then I can start contacting builders.

Building warrant is building regulations, yes? They are quite complicated, a lot of it wouldn't make a huge amount of sense to most people!