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My latest sink is a stainless. The thing that was a must for me was a double sink, not a sink and a half. So it's stainless and it's great.

I have had ceramic and those dear 'plastic' ones in the past. I am very happy with my new sink. I suspect that if I had a belfast sink there would soon be awful black around the joint that you don't see under the work surface, only you do when you stand back. And I've seen it in the black stuff, at other people's homes. No thanks to that.

 

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[quote user="sweet 17"] wouldn't it be just brilliant to have a blank canvas where the living-room is now?
YES, the sink!  Ceramic or stainless steel?  If ceramic, Belfast type or double? 
Q and Chance, do you mean that  you don't have tiled splashbacks?  In fact, apart from where the hob is and where the sink is, is there any need for splashbacks?

I am not sure I want tiles on the floor.  They are so cold and unkind to dropped crockery.  Perhaps a vinyl cushion type?  A cinch to clean would be good![:D]

BTW, no granite, marble or other "stone" work tops for me.  Wood if not too much work to look after but I have always found that the laminates are both practical and can also look nice.  Also, as someone has pointed, it's a bonus when you can put hot pans and dishes down and the top is not affected.

 [/quote]

John is just the man to replan, in the UK house I'm in now we replanned the entire ground floor to great effect, The dining room became the kitchen, the kitchen became a kind of breakfast room/family seating area for those who congregate in the kitchen area, but not actually in the kitchen and also a new entrance to the sitting room, while the dining area was moved into the conservatory, it all works so much better, and as you note we could carry on using the old kitchen til the new one was fitted.

Sink definitely ceramic two bowl, no to stainless except behind the stainless cooker, and no need for tiled splashbacks, I used mdf T&G boards, painted to match or contrast (burnt earth with cream shaker), a few Chinese slates around the sink.
Kitchen floor is laminated board 'tile effect', I had to get something down quick and they have been unbelievably brilliant, easy to clean, crocks bounce, and still looking good a few years on. I had problems with laminate worktops so now the worktops are real beech wood, really good to look at and work with, marks are rare and sand out. I have used a marble tile as a pot stand/chopping board.
Though .  .  . in the house I'm working on now it is all set to change with black granite work tops (to match the black granite fire place surround[:P])

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Hey, JJ, that site for used kitchens you recommended is absolutely brilliant!

Some very real savings.  Only trouble is, I suppose, getting one to fit your own spaces though I suppose you could adapt if you are clever enough (like you are, of course![:P])

So much to think about and I spent ages looking at your link......[blink]

I must say some of the kitchens are truly scrumptious.

Id, I agree about the belfast sinks, I'd worry about the bits under the draining boards that I can't clean.

BTW, with these corner pull-out shelves....is it a problem crawling under the shelves to clean out the cupboard itself or do the shelves come off so that you can clean them as well as clean the cupboard in which they are housed?

Please, somebody, answer this one because it's one of the things that is really, really worrying me....[geek]

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If you cram enough stuff on the baskets (shelves) you cant see all the cochonneries that drop through them, thats my tried and trusted method.

For those of you that take your hygiene more seriously than I do, who agonise about the tops of your cupboards, you know you are, the baskets do lift out so you can clean up.

I only have a small kitchen and stuff started getting put on top of the wall units, it started to look a bordel so I bought some large wicker baskets with lacy cotton liners as une cahe misére and they go really well with the kitchen.

One very economic way to do a kitchen is when Brico-depot have a good looking well priced cuisine equipée, the units are pre-built and very strong 18mm carcasses, they need to be to resist being transported with ovens and fridge freezers inside, mine was only €800 with a vitro-ceramic hob. Probably the only bit of electromaneger remaining is the fridge freezer and the sink tap but all the bits removed will be used elsewhere.

I customised it by making it into an L shape, basically the door on the left was moved around 90 degrees, this allowed me to have the sink/drainer at right angles to the main run of units and to have a bar top counter, I chucked the worktop and mitred a beech one, I used a round stainless sink underslung and routed grooves for a draining area, this increased the worktop area which is pretty non existant on a cuisine equipée, I also swooped the handles for some better ones, recently I took the oven out and replaced it with a pull out storage unit, I wanted casseroliers but could not find them in a 60cm width in a matching finish, I will try to post a photo tomorrow.

One downside of Brico-depot and many other french kitchens is the lack of different widths, they only do 40cm and 60cm units, in the UK you can get 15, 30, 40, 50 and 60 widths with much more choice of door and drawer heights, infill panels etc.

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Ceramic sinks and pricey plastic ones, well, when I have to wash my big baking bowls as I sometimes make up a lot of dough up maybe 4kgs of flour, the baking bowl is too big to fit in the sink and pivots on the edges and actually scratches my sinks to hell. I used to have to put a tea towel on the sink edges to protect them and I object to having to do that. For all I cook a lot, I am intrinsically lazy and anything that causes one iota of extra work to other than I am prepared to do annoys me beyond words.

Sounds like you all have neat tidy kitchens, worrying about the sink being bright and shiny, as if. Mine is clean, but squeaky clean and shiny, it  isn't? I really would never do that. Well maybe if I was selling the house.  I doubt if I was so 'kitchen proud' whether I would just go in there and start a load of cooking or baking.

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[quote user="idun"]Pads [:D] I meant the drawers near the ceiling, not the ones lower down. So what do you keep in those high ones.[/quote]

 

Ah.... I use alot of herbs and spices and other small pots and jars , stock cubes etc...but the very top one has all the spare keys to everything , so we know where to find them when hubby loses one !! The right hand side is false and hides pipes ....

 

Sweets ... after having my ceramic sink I would never go back its so pleasing to the eye and practical ...its so deep I can do hand washing , and wash the dog, plus all the veg from the garden...

Im a wood/ stone person ..never comfortable with plastic or metal , if any thing i would like a double one .. but it would of looked to big for the size of kitchem...but will have a double in my next kitchen....  

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Yes, RH, our units are Caple (we had looked at Optiplan, much dearer), and our floor is also Karndean; the shop is just round the corner, which is useful. Yes, it’s supposed to be better than budget Amtico, which is what we have in the bathroom.  It’s ordered in square metres Sweet, so there are spares, depending on the size of the kitchen obviously. We have a lot spare in the garage, which would be lovely in the utility room, but I’m not certain they’d cope with the washer being pulled out over them for cleaning – something to think about for summer maybe. I suppose I could think about some of those things we used to have the fridge freezer on to pull it out easily.

 

I find it generally very forgiving when something is dropped on it, apart from the bottle of olive oil I dropped! I actually thought it was a bottle of brandy I was getting out! [:D]

 

The Karndean floor is an excellent substitute for my ceramic-tiled floor in France, much warmer to the touch, and like my ceramic tiles, I just put an ecloth mop over it. Which is what I intend to do when I think my serpent in the corner has made too many droppings - emop to the rescue! 

 

It’s a great idea to have another room converted to a kitchen, Sweet; we spent about a fortnight last summer camping out, using the Remoska as a summer kitchen, eating lots of M&S sandwiches and ready meals (a tiny food only M&S is also just round the corner – a different corner!), so we were so glad the weather was so good. It came to almost a fortnight because we had the floor prepared and sealed with several coats of something or other waterproof, not because the kitchen fitting took so long. 

 

I just have a couple of rows of plain grey tiles around the sink as a splashback and into the corners; I don’t like tiles etc, and haven’t put anything there in France yet; a quick extra lick of paint if it looks grubby is enough there.

 

Johnson’s baby oil isn’t a good idea for stainless steel, although even John Lewis used to suggest it for their stainless steel sales at one time. Nothing more than a wipe over with a damp ecloth is needed, then I quickly wipe it with the tea towel before it can dry; half a minute at most. No streaks in either kitchen, and one’s been installed for 4 years (which I suppose is 2 ordinary years to be fair).

 

My sinks are both pretend stone and pretty good, both reasonably deep and 1½ bowls, although I prefer 2½. I had a stainless steel one previously in the UK kitchen, and 2 kitchen planners suggested keeping it, as it was in such good condition; it was 20 years old and beautiful, but hard work in a hard water area! I'm not particularly houseproud, but I can't bear stainless steel to look grubby. The UK one retains more marks, but they quickly come off with a bit of a soak with cleaner or bleach as suggested by the manufacturers. I was daft and bought an off-white one of course! The French one is grey, and rather smart.

 

 

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The thing about sinks is that they have to be deep. I have a 'normal' one and a half Ikea stainless steel one which is quite functional and ok to look at but I have the luxury of a scullery behind the kitchen with a double deep and very old ceramic sink so I can wash pots and pans and dogs there.

The flooring that Chancer has is great and I have it in my bathroom. It really does look like real parquet and cleans beautifully. As your kitchen will look so fabulous Sweets, no-one will be interested in the floor[:D]

Back to the hood question, if you have the spondoodles to spare and you have the space then I would recommend a hood with the motor in the attic (or at least away from the kitchen).  I have one and even when it's on max, I can't hear a thing and it works brilliantly.

What a clever idea to change the disposition of your rooms as you will gain so much kitchen space. Can't wait to see piccys when it's done!

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More fantastic ideas, tips, etc!

I love y'all!

The sink question I have sort of half answered myself insofar as I want a big, deep one and 2 big deep ones will be even better!  As we have no utility room and no other sink in the house, I don't know how the woman managed, who lived here.  Grrrr....the one thing I hate is when OH comes wandering in, wanting to wash something or other, and I have a load of veg in the sink!  He is rapidly and often nastily re-directed to wash whatever it is elsewhere (that's not as harsh as it sounds as the bathroom is just next door).

So then, initial research all done (the pleasurable bit) and the next stage is to try and match measurements of units to room.

AFTER that will be the really, really hard bit and I can see that it might boil down to seriously expensive so a wait to sell house No 1 or just bog-standard expensive which will involve no more than small sacrifices like eating only every other day......

Got to get this one right.  It's the only chance I will have of starting a kitchen from scratch; never had the luxury of a nice-sized room with lovely tall glass doors, no big distortions of walls and floor, and few restrictions as to what goes where.

Wish me luck, everybody!

Gem, I hope you will be along to make a final inspection and not just look at the photos?[:D]

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Such fun designing a kitchen, but so many variables. [:-))]

I know you said you wanted to get rid of your cooker, but what will you replace it with. Have you thought of a built in oven at waist height. Three of my  houses have had kitchens with these, and whilst they took up space, it saved having to bend down to take things in and out of the oven.

Would definately have an induction hob. Lidl and Aldi often have small portable ones on promo at about 35 euros. You could buy one and see how you get on with it, before splashing out a large one. (TBH I very rarely use more than 2 rings at any one time, as I have a steamer etc.)

One of the mistakes I made in my present kitchen was to have a plate rack in one of the wall units. If it could have been fitted behind a door it would have been perfect. As it is it's a dust trap, and very hard to clean between the slats.[:(]

Look forward to your progress reports.[:)]

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I also love having a waist-height cooker, although I had one before in UK house. This one has lovely shelves which are telescopic, so they pull quite a long way out and can't tip up. This time I've gone for a pull-down door, which is possible with these shelves, otherwise my tum would get roasted on the door!

I had to opt for a low level oven in France, as it's a tiny, narrow kitchen, and both my knees and back suffer, plus it's easieer to burn wrists etc when trying to get quiches, casseroles out.

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Floors in kitchens, well I think that they are important, something easy to keep clean and hard wearing and nice looking. I have ceramic tiles in our kitchen and that suits me just fine. I have what was supposed to be 'good' lino in our utility room/spare kitchen, but I am not impressed. I wouldn't have it again, and may not have it much longer.
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Yes partout, that is something else to think about that is very important.

In my french house I had a west facing kitchen which was a nightmare in summer as we always have our main meal on an evening and it was so hot, even with the shutters shut and a fan working, when cooking it could be about 40° in that kitchen[:-))].

In my last house in England I also had a west facing kitchen, big mistake, this one is on a wing off the north side of the house and facing east. Wonderful.

 

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GG, I WAS thinking of a waist height oven but didn't think of roasting my stomach when the door is opened![:-))]  Just thought it'd be easier to clean and I wouldn't have to go down on hands and knees and peer into the dark recesses!

Hells Bells, partout, good job you came on!  Gotta consult with OH about the HEAT!!!  South-facing French doors...and on to a glass verandah.  Could have been a recipe (no not a cooking one) for disaster!

Some quick re-thinking might be required..........[:$]

Wish we don't have to talk about being too warm tonight, however.  The snow is looking set to stay and my French class is cancelled for tomorrow afternoon and I daresay the Keep-Fit for tomorrow night will be off also.

So, I think I will put on warm clothes and walk the dog in the morning and think about what I should do about the new kitchen.

What a good job it was that I thought I'd ask you quick thinking folk on the Forum....[:)]

 

 

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[quote user="gardengirl "]

Well, carousel units might be 80s(!) but I didn't have one then and I do now, since last summer when we had a new UK kitchen fitted, using RH's contact. It's a serpent one, and snakes all the way out so easily with just a finger - perfect for somebody who's always had to go scrabbling on her knees into the far reaches of cupboards - or who used to give up and use something else as the knees and back deteriorated! That was one definite requirement.

[/quote]

A serpent unit isn't a carousel it's a magic/blind cupboard so there you are bang up to date.

Well thanks to you and Chancer for the induction hob update I will look again

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Mine is a Bosch, it was on E bay as a plain vitro-ceramic hob and that was what I was bidding on, then the guy realised but couldnt change the title, the result was I bought an induction hob very cheap, it was intended for one of the flats, I had already bought several others but as it fitted the hole in my worktop I decided to give it a try and became hooked.

Since then I have been buying 2 ring dominoe induction hobs when they appear in Lidl or Aldi, I have also trialled them and they are as good as the Bosch one IMO, they have a temp setting rather than a power setting of 1 to 10 in half unit increments, I tested a pan of water set to various temperatures using an infra red heat monitor (it was part of my paddock kit when I raced) the results were astounding, the cheap induction hobs held the contents of the saucepan at exactly the programmed temperature.

I find apart from its speed and swift reaction the induction hob is the absolute best for mijouter, simmering (forgot the word) as the heat is completely spread across the whole pan area not at all concentrated as with gas or other electric hobs.

Now I have 3 or 4 vitro-ceramic hobs to sell, I have forgotten what they are called in English, they are not the halogen type just radiant rings under black glass, what are they called please?

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[quote user="Théière"][quote user="gardengirl "]

Well, carousel units might be 80s(!) but I didn't have one then and I do now, since last summer when we had a new UK kitchen fitted, using RH's contact. It's a serpent one, and snakes all the way out so easily with just a finger - perfect for somebody who's always had to go scrabbling on her knees into the far reaches of cupboards - or who used to give up and use something else as the knees and back deteriorated! That was one definite requirement.

[/quote]

A serpent unit isn't a carousel it's a magic/blind cupboard so there you are bang up to date.

Well thanks to you and Chancer for the induction hob update I will look again

[/quote]

Well, Théière, you amaze me that I'm bang up to date with anything!  Must be a first! [:D]

Sweet, I never used to scorch my tum on my waist-height oven with the sideways opening door. It was the one with the downwards opening door I was concerned about. But having these telescopic shelves means I don't need to get anywhere near the heat - tum stays safe!  [:D] I'd really recommend a waist-height one especially if you have back or knee problems - or even for those who haven't, as we all hope to age and may have these probems around the corner!

You do bring us some interesting threads - it's fun reading about what everyone thinks, what they have in their kitchens, what colours/styles we all like.

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[quote user="Chancer"]

Now I have 3 or 4 vitro-ceramic hobs to sell, I have forgotten what they are called in English, they are not the halogen type just radiant rings under black glass, what are they called please?

[/quote]

I just know them as ceramic hobs, The induction hob we looked at, again German but not Bosch as I said Atul was having problems with and I spoke to him privately after his demo, maybe it was faulty. I once viewed and induction heater for work, their demo was to heat a 1" dia copper rod to cherry red in a fish tank of water (no fish were harmed in the demo) [:)] we bought one for soldering metal components which it could do in 0.3 sec compared to gas at 10 sec, always been impressed with the tech but thought it had been made boring for the domestic market. I will definitely take another look.

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Bonjour, everybody!

After last night's "set-back", I had another long, hard look at the present set-up and, because we have been talking kitchens in such depth here, I could see that, stuck as I am with the present room arrangements, I am, however, not stuck with the present kitchen! Yeah, I know, dead dull woman with very little brain.....

That's the good news![:D]  The bad news is the space is very restricted![+o(]  However, it does mean that some ingenuity will have to be brought to bear on the design;  er....is that good news?[8-)]  OTOH, some designer somewhere (with lots of input from me and minimal input from 'im indoors) will have to come up with a real neat idea for a kitchen that is radically different from my present one...........OK, gotta leave this good news/bad news equation as I can't distinguish the good from the bad any more.

At the mo, the layout is unimaginative and unpractical:  you know, the usual L-shaped run of units with a breakfast type bar thingie separating eating from cooking areas..  The kitchen is not "galley" enough to take advantage of a galley configuration and it's difficult to install a dishwasher (on account of the fall, waste outlet, etc)

So, since our discussion, I am looking at a total new layout with a largish island because, after all, there's no reason to restrict the width of the cooking area and it's possible to push an island out to take up some of the space in the dining area.

But, that's as far as I have got!  No idea yet what I want on this island (sink? hob? just for food prep?).  So I am waiting for inspiration to strike.  Failing that, for some cracking ideas from my fellow kitchen afficionados (afficionadas?)[:D]

A real moral I have taken on board:  NEVER but NEVER plan a kitchen when it's minus 10 outside and it's late at night and you are thinking of what you can do to brighten up your life!  But for good old partout, coming here to point out the heat problem, I'd have spent lots and lots more hours looking at kitchens that could never have been installed in our living-room.

But please don't think your comments are wasted!  Indeed, I have lots and lots of notes written up from your comments and they will all be given due weight when the plans are put in place.

Thank you again and let's carry on talking kitchens, that is, if everyone isn't fed up to the back teeth with this topic already![:D][:P] 

 

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Have had to abandon that, RH!

Kicked into touch completely last night after partout pointed out about keeping the kitchen COOL!  Of course, in these freezing temperatures, I forgot totally how warm the proposed room is in the summer.  In fact, apart from in the evenings, we hardly use that room in summer.

It's a nice-shaped room and has lovely full length French doors onto the verandah but would have been disastrous as a kitchen![:(]

So, you see, it's back to the drawing board......but keep the comments coming, RH![:)]

Edit:  PS, back later for Part Two; no, not partout (whose perspicacity I shall always be grateful for)

Edit 2:  changed a glaring grammatical error, I was rushing to go out and my brain was still in neutral!

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 Ah - that's a shame...could you give the dimensions of the space you have at present or better still draw a plan, scan it as a jpeg and post it onto the forum ? Or take pics of your present set up.

As regards heat - when our kitchen was fitted we had 9 down lighters fitted into an lathe and plaster ceiling. Not only was changing the bulbs a nightmare (the ceiling seemed to crumble around the lamp holder each time), but they also gave off quite a bit of heat. We have just have them changed to low energy bulbs which were £10 or £11 each but are far more economical, should last 30,000 hours each and do not heat up the kitchen. The downside is that its a slightly different intesity of light, but its fine - and we do have under cupboard lighting if we feel the need.

For heat all we have is a tall heated towel rail, but the kitchen opens onto a dining/family room with 2 other rads

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[quote user="sweet 17"]

 Of course, in these freezing temperatures, I forgot totally how warm the proposed room is in the summer. 

[/quote]

In these freezing temperatures,  I have totally forgotten how nice and warm I was last summer[:-))][:-))] to think we moved here for the climate[blink]

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