New kitchen ideas and thoughts...

[LondonMix]

Anyone had underfloor heating installed in their kitchen? If you don't mind me asking, roughly how much does the wet-system cost and did you find it heats the room well (particularly if you have engineered wood floors vs tiles)?

[Guest]

Does anyone have recommendations for worktops and where to source them?

I'm thinking of getting a composite one as it's cheaper than granite and I've been told it's fairly decent quality.

[Pickle]

One thing I forgot to add (seeing this thread bumped up reminded me) - one of the most useful gadgets in our kitchen is an Insinkerator - means no messing about putting food waste in the council bags to go in the bin, the majority of it can go in the Insinkerator. My Mum always had one in her kitchens when we were growing up, so it was top of my list when we had ours remodelled.

[david_carnell]

What happens then? I've always wondered. Does it "digest" the waste to such an extent it ends up in the normal waste water system or do you have to empty the gizmo once every so often?

[Pickle]

Yes, it digests it... Chops it into teeny tiny pieces and down the waste water system it goes. I put pretty much everything except fruit stones and bones down it (plus the odd teaspoon and baby wipe by mistake).

[david_carnell]

Interesting.

I guess it's neat and tidy but I think I rather like the fact that my plate scrapings make compost that is then used by the council for municipal use.

Randomly, when selecting a colour for our kitchen, I took the lid of our compost bin to B&Q and they colour matched it. Voila. A lovely pale green.

Are Family Room inhabitants kitchen equipment geeks? Blenders, processors, knives, pans etc. I keep wondering whether I could justify buying one of these:

http://www.ukthermomix.com/

[newtoedf]

Our kitchen came with the (new build) house and it looks like the developer worked through some sort of modern kitchen check list as we've got:

induction hob - brilliant - so fast to heat up and really child friendly - the rings themselves are not hot unless a pot is on them. Haven't had any issues keeping it clean. We've got a built in electric oven and a large built in microwave that can also be used as an oven which helps with capacity.

white corian work top - still looks good after 2 years, love that it is seamless

high gloss cupboards - don't seem to have an issue with sticky finger prints

built in fridge and freezer - avoid! The freezer is tiny!

Deep drawers - great but would also love a pullout larder/pantry.

woodfloor with underfloor heating - lovely but temperature changes take a long time

[newtoedf]

ooh also meant to add - we had wooden worktops in our last kitchen and it was a disaster, we just didn't get round to oiling them often enough and they looked pretty ropey as a result.

Also if you want to waste a lot of time try looking at kitchen photos on Houzz.com

[treehugger]

I echo the big fridge with tiny freezer. We went for Miele, a great brand and overall a nice big size. But the freezer is far too small. Very annoying. We went for a zinc work top, which was expensive, but given that our kitchen refit was just painting our ikea cupboards and replacing tiles, we felt we could justify it. We are very pleased with it indeed.

[motorbird83]

Anyone opted for triple glazed bi-fold doors? I'm concerned they might be too heavy to move easily!

[melbourne groover]

If I was doing it again I would definitely add a boiling water tap!

[windpower]

Hi

Aris stone works who are based in bellenden avenue did my composite surfaces. They were brilliant, very friendly, tidy, efficient and the cheapest I've found. The worksurfaces are gorgeous. you can find them on line at

www.arisstonework.com - can't remember thier phone number.

Good luck

[motorbird83]

Hi all. I am going to install glass doors in our kitchen and have looked at various companies. Sunseeker have new ultraslim pivoting sliding doors that look great but I don't know anyone who's used the company - [www.sunseekerdoors.co.uk]

If you've used them it would be great to hear your opinions good or bad or recommendation for other ultra slim doors from other companies.