Hello,

Kitchen has become more of an entertainment space. Storage is important and a pantry style cabinet is very useful!
For healthy eating a steam oven is a must as you can cook and re-heat the food without loosing its taste and texture.

Hope this is useful!

Just looking through this thread and someone recommended Mowlem & Co. I'd like to unrecommend them. They were phenomenally expensive for what we got and their aftercare was rubbish once the kitchen was installed - it was months before the designer bothered to come and see it and that was only after we'd complained about numerous things. The most annoying thing was that the oven trays don't fit in the sink. Makes me furious every time I have to wash them. Oh and I wanted a steam oven that was plumbed in but we got one which isn't and you have to fill up a container of water and empty the other one incessantly. Pain in the butt - I hardly ever use it now. Again this was in a new refurbishment and I assumed they would put a plumbed one in. They also gave us a drawer that was about an inch deep, i.e. total waste of space. It's a huge kitchen and we don't have enough cupboard space. I wouldn't touch them again with a bargepole.

If you have enough space, you can consider putting your crockery in deep drawers rather than on shelves, so you don't have to move the front row items on the shelf to reach those at the back row.

Hot water tap is absolutely useful. You can do without a kettle, which is one less thing on the kitchen surface. Plus imagine if you want to cook pasta or boil vegetables or eggs in the morning, you don't have to wait forever for the water to boil. There are also version of taps which come with instant hot water and filter water.

If you like to eat healthy steam food, like steam your vegetable, a steam oven is quite handy. You can discard the microwave in this case. It may not heat food as fast but certainly healthier and safer.

Dishwashers is a must, don't think I can ever survive without one.

Good luck with your kitchen renovation. You can also look up for ex-display designer kitchen which come with all the branded appliances at a fraction of normal price if your kitchen is flexible in size and layout. Usually the appliances on display are hardly ever used if at all, but mostly the more expensive range of the made which is very good value.

Hidden bins, granite worktops and induction hob - all great!

my toaster and waffle iron!!

Hard to say for me but it would have to be the Kettle

I've just gone through the same thing and been very lucky to have ours done by http://www.mowlemandco.com

A decent sized fridge/freezer - whilst expensive Sub Zero is amazing.

Hob with four inductions and two gas - makes life so easy cooking in induction especially if little fingers wander.

Underfloor heating which works really well with stone, otherwise the stone is cold/cool.

A larder hidden away and when you open it everything is there that you need such as herbs in nice shelving, treats, sauces.

A wine/champagne cooler - a one to store red wine in too.

Two ovens at chest height - so much easier than bending down all of the time and again much safer with little ones around.

Steam ovens are great but you will find that you won't use it much. The size inside the steam ovens is really small for the size of the unit. Have you seen a demo? Even if you don't want Subzero/Wolff stuff poop into their store in Knightsbridge to see how it all works. You far better have a microwave built in.

Hot/cold water tap.

Built in bins x 2 (one for recycling)

Best of luck with it all - very exciting

Hard water softener

Great lighting

I could go on and on really. Loved every minute of doing the kitchen design.

Thank you, Bush Girl, for your very kind recommendation; we enjoyed working with you, too.

Hello everyone, we're West London Kitchens and we supply family kitchens at very friendly prices as we don't run traditional showrooms. Instead, you can see our kitchens in our studio office plus we take you to see kitchens we've installed so you can see real kitchens working in real homes.

We design German, Italian and traditional English kitchens in a huge variety of colours and finishes. We're a small company and pay huge attention to customer service. Find out more at http://www.westlondonkitchens.com

Please give us a ring to have a chat about what you're looking for. Our design and quotation process is free.

Keith Patterson 020 8741 1981 or 07904 374 319

Oh ...wineys will come up with all sorts of reasons - I will wait for one to reply - here the cellar is a pretty good place ... just as long as you are not my hubby who keeps putting any white liquid including champagne into the freezer because he's forgotten to cool it .....yes - you have guessed - he forgets and it freezes .....yuck...and he presumes its my job to clean it up !

I'm off the Howdens and Magnet and to see whether I can remove any trace of their name on the kitchen when its finished ....snobby or what ???!!

Ha Ha Magnificentseven!! I didn't actually ring but peered into their shop to look for evidence of cheaper kitchens and looked online and came to the conclusion nothing looked v cheap! Just been to Neptune on Wandsworth Bridge Road. Very nice. Pricey but not that pricey . . . I hope! Got a Howdens brochure too.

As mentioned above, I love my Schuller kitchen from West London Kitchens. Sleek, modern, crisp, and MUCH cheaper than 35K!!

Just been into DTL kitchens as asked politely about economically priced kitchens. I was politely told they start at £35,000!!!!! I'm off to look at Howdens & Magnet - can anyone recommend anyone for the modern sleek look ?

How about a wine fridge? My husband loved it and felt he got his say and didn't mind what I did with the rest of the design.

All fabulous ideas. I don't really have more to add but just wanted to recommend the company I used. I love my kitchen! When we moved into our house, there were just four bare walls. West London Kitchens advised on design, units, worktops, accessories. They took all the hard work out of fitting a new kitchen. They were fast, pleasant and professional - a joy to work with. I now have a beautiful kitchen that everyone admires.

We desperately need a new kitchen so I'm following all of this and adding to the plans in my head! My biggest issue with our current kitchen is lack of food storage space. This being London, unless you have a cat, mice are always a potential issue so I use upper cupboards a lot more. Our current cupboards are far too shallow and there just aren't enough of them. I also really want one of those cupboards you can pull out with shelves all the way up for tins, jars and spices, such a great space saver. Because all of our limited number of cupboards are full we have so much crap dumped on counters which I hate but can do nothing about, there's nowhere for it to go! I would say look at the storage space you're creating, designate them all and if you have some spare, you'll probably have enough!