Essentials for a new kitchen

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you have a small space to work with but single best thing I have is a walk-in pantry right off the kitchen.

Drawers everywhere
Appliance garage
Interesting to see someone not liking the built in garbage/recycling. I would never want a trash can sitting out in my kitchen. Just goes to show so much of this is personal. Design what YOU like and how YOU want to live.

Do not do open shelves. You will regret it. Everything will get dusty and too much pressure to keep everything neat.

[Anonymous]

And as a PP stated, plan where everything is going to go and then mentally walk through your common scenarios. Now I'm making breakfast, now I'm baking, now I'm cooking dinner while a kid is grabbing a snack behind me, now I'm doing dishes while someone else is packing up the kids' lunch, etc.

This mental exercise helped me a lot.

[Anonymous]

Do you have small kids? Like toddler age? Because I wouldn’t want my dishes counter height at that age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think undercabinet lighting is a necessity. I often think it looks cheesy.

You must not appreciate a well-illuminated work surface in the kitchen. Maybe you don't cook a lot? Under cabinet lighting is a matter of function, not aesthetics, so "cheesy" isn't really a criterium.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you have small kids? Like toddler age? Because I wouldn’t want my dishes counter height at that age.

Our kids are a bit older than toddler and we love having the dishes where they can reach them to get them themselves, unload the dishwasher, set the table, etc... Our glasses are on open shelving above the counter, which look great but the little one can't reach the glasses on her own, and I always worry that the bigger one will knock over a stack of glasses trying to reach the top one. I wish we had one more drawer for glasses.

[Anonymous]

Get the largest single basin sink that will fit.

[Anonymous]

Can you take your cabinets to the ceiling? Do that.

Also a pantry with pull out shelves.

[Anonymous]

I'm short so I prefer a drawers under the counter to put my dishes away. This reaching high will be a challenge as you age.

[Anonymous]

No open shelves instead of upper cabinets! Everything will get dusty and sticky unless you have a professional grade vent hood (or you never cook, and clean constantly).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No open shelves instead of upper cabinets! Everything will get dusty and sticky unless you have a professional grade vent hood (or you never cook, and clean constantly).

We cook every day and don’t clean constantly but have open shelves that aren’t close to our stove that we love for glasses, canisters of coffee/tea, etc. I agree that right next to the stove is a sticky disaster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No open shelves instead of upper cabinets! Everything will get dusty and sticky unless you have a professional grade vent hood (or you never cook, and clean constantly).

We cook every day and don’t clean constantly but have open shelves that aren’t close to our stove that we love for glasses, canisters of coffee/tea, etc. I agree that right next to the stove is a sticky disaster.

Over time everywhere is a sticky disaster, but if the shelved items are in constant circulation it’s fine. Go into an old kitchen, that’s been really used, there will be grease sediment on the far side of the room, too, but not inside cupboards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think undercabinet lighting is a necessity. I often think it looks cheesy.

You must not appreciate a well-illuminated work surface in the kitchen. Maybe you don't cook a lot? Under cabinet lighting is a matter of function, not aesthetics, so "cheesy" isn't really a criterium.

Eh. I don't have a lot of upper cabinets and don't use the space underneath as a work surface.

Not everyone's kitchen layout requires a lot of uppers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think undercabinet lighting is a necessity. I often think it looks cheesy.

You must not appreciate a well-illuminated work surface in the kitchen. Maybe you don't cook a lot? Under cabinet lighting is a matter of function, not aesthetics, so "cheesy" isn't really a criterium.

Eh. I don't have a lot of upper cabinets and don't use the space underneath as a work surface.

Not everyone's kitchen layout requires a lot of uppers.

Well, so under cabinet lights are not really an option or a need in your kitchen. The point is that if you do have uppers over your counters, under cabinet lights serve an important function, no matter how “cheesy” you think they look. Any time I use my counters for anything, even if it’s just making coffee, I want the counter well lit.

[Anonymous]

My neighbor just redid and they have a drawer with USB ports in the back for charging. I thought that was great! I prefer my stand alone hands free garbage to under the sink. Much cleaner and easier. It looks fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think undercabinet lighting is a necessity. I often think it looks cheesy.

You must not appreciate a well-illuminated work surface in the kitchen. Maybe you don't cook a lot? Under cabinet lighting is a matter of function, not aesthetics, so "cheesy" isn't really a criterium.

Eh. I don't have a lot of upper cabinets and don't use the space underneath as a work surface.

Not everyone's kitchen layout requires a lot of uppers.

Well, so under cabinet lights are not really an option or a need in your kitchen. The point is that if you do have uppers over your counters, under cabinet lights serve an important function, no matter how “cheesy” you think they look. Any time I use my counters for anything, even if it’s just making coffee, I want the counter well lit.

NP. I cook a lot and rarely use the under cabinet lights. Our kitchen is fairly well lit and I just don’t think they add much. I find them functionally irritating because our outlets are also under the cabinets (I guess to avoid having outlets that break up the backsplash) and every time I plug in the appiianxe I have to swivel my neck down to angle the plug beyond the lights under the cabinet. So don’t do that.
We also have lights above the cabinets which I feel like are also stupid. They looked cool when the house was on the market because the kitchen was so lit up and it highlighted our very tall ceilings but I’ve never used them and they seem wasteful.