My Dream Kitchen

My husband and I are very aware that we will not be able to have our dream kitchen in our current home. If we did, it would use up a huge budget and not really add much value onto our house.

That doesn’t stop me from planning what our kitchen could look like in our next house when we manage to get there one day.

My Checklist

The Snug

I think it is important to only have an open plan kitchen diner if you have a separate snug to shut off from the rest of the space. This can be your cosy room for settling in in the evenings to watch a film or where you tidy away the children to watch their shows without disturbing you whilst you cook or work.

The Sink

For me, you can only have your sink overlooking your back garden. For me it doesn’t really work to have it facing any other direction. This might not be possible if you have decided to have bifolding doors along the whole length of your back wall but it is certainly something that I would want in my dream home.

The Island

The island is what makes the kitchen. Different people have different ideas about what the island should be used for. Some people think it’s the perfect spot for your sink whilst others think it’s the perfect place to cook your meals on the hob. For me, however, I would want a kitchen island that is completely clear of anything. Hence why I like the idea of my sink being on the back wall facing the garden with a beautiful window above it.

Leaving your kitchen island completely free gives you a huge workspace for anything you would need. Whether that is entertaining your friends and giving them somewhere to sit with some nibbles and a drink whilst you cook your meal and chat to them or if you need a wide surface for baking with children or simply a nice wide space for chopping up your veg.

This is where the island becomes extra useful. You can have pull-out bins underneath your island so that you can put your choppings away as you prepare your veg straight into the compost bin. You can have your chopping knives and boards stowed away under the island. You could even have a handy little wine fridge to make entertaining a guests just a little bit easier.

The Oven Situation

We’ve all been there. Getting close to Christmas day and you realise that you’re cooking Christmas dinner for eight people and you can’t fit a turkey in the oven alongside all of the vegetables. This is why people like to have two ovens. Or a large aga or range cooker.

I grew up with an aga in our kitchen and I think it is the most perfect thing. I have really missed it. It was a little bit of a learning curve when I went to university and I had to teach myself how to use the ovens. The majority of people do not have Agas. An aga is just a much easier way to cook. I think it’s actually why I am quite a good cook and I never time my food when it’s in the oven or on the hob. I always know when something is ready because I know roughly in my head how long it’s been cooking for and I know what it will look like when it is ready.

The reason being that is an aga is constantly on. You have a hot oven and a warm oven. And a hot hob and a warm hob. It obviously heats your kitchen because it’s always on so there’s no need for a separate radiator or underfloor heating, though of course you may prefer to have underfloor heating as well.

More importantly for me, it gives a cosy English countryside feel to any home. That is the most important thing for me.

I must admit, however, that my perfect kitchen would not only have an aga but also a separate oven and hob. There may be times when you would prefer to turn off the aga or other times when you have a huge number of people around the house expecting to be well fed and you just need that little bit of extra oven space.

Dishwashers

I would want 2 dishwashers. It might sound odd and a bit unnecessary but if you were designing your perfect kitchen, why not? If you are big on entertaining and you happen to have this amazing large kitchen that is suitable for having all of your family over for not only Christmas but Easter and anyone’s birthdays and just getting together as often as possible, would you not want to have the most efficient kitchen possible? Therefore two dishwashers would be perfect.

Fridge Freezer

A lot of people are content with having your fridge below the countertop. I think this is great as an addition to a large fridge freezer. Let’s face it, we always need more space especially if you have a family or are planning on entertaining a lot.

I’m also a big fan of incorporating different heights and textures and materials into a space.

Open Shelves

I’ve included this in my list because I do absolutely love open shelves. There is, however, a very big BUT to this. Open shelves in the kitchen are a lot of high maintenance in terms of dusting and keeping the items clean. Especially if they happen to be quite close to your hob or oven as I have noticed that I get a bit of an oily dusty residue on the surfaces of some of my items that I keep nearby my oven. Therefore, I would suggest making sure that if you have open shelves, you keep them as clutter free as possible for easy cleaning. This would only be possible if you also happen to have a huge amount of storage elsewhere in your kitchen.

Another option would be to have your open shelves in an area of the kitchen where you can encase it in some glass cabinets.

The Pantry

Speaking of open shelves and glass cabinets, I would love a walk in pantry. It’s a great way to keep everything clutter free in the main kitchen whilst having easy access to everything and being able to see everything in one go. Of course, it wouldn’t have to be a walk-in, it could just be a floor-to-ceiling cupboard with various sections to help you keep all of your different items organised.

Doors to the Garden

I know that bifold doors are very popular at the moment, but I must admit, they are not for me. I think that they look amazing and let in a huge amount of light but I’m simply more of a French door sort of person. I also think that delicate French doors would look beautiful alongside my idea of having my kitchen sink looking out over the garden with a beautiful window above it.

If you like the idea of bifold doors, I’ve recently discovered that you can get bifold doors with blinds within the glass so that you don’t have to have separate blinds across each of your sections of the doors.

Utility Room

My perfect kitchen is clearly a large open plan kitchen diner space. Therefore, you cannot have your washing machine constantly on in this space. This space is the heart of the home and therefore you do not want the noise of the washing machine to constantly interrupt it. Therefore, you should have a separate utility room. Let’s face it, if you are able to have your perfect kitchen with an aga, 2 dishwashers and loads of space, then you’re probably planning on putting in a separate utility room. This is just my reminder.

Mud Room

I would probably just combine the mudroom, boot room, which ever you’d like to call it, with the utility room. But if you want to have the space separate, I would also put in a little doggy shower for cleaning off those muddy paws (and potentially coat) on those muddy pups. It’s also pretty handy for getting muddy wellies off!

The View

Not only do you want a beautiful view across your garden from your kitchen, but you will want a gorgeous view into your kitchen.

When you enter your home I love the idea of being able to see directly down through the hallway, through the house, through the kitchen and into the garden. I feel like this allows as much light as possible to flood through the centre of the house and it helps you feel like the house is this beautiful, big, grand house.

This of course would be my dream kitchen. It may not be realistic in terms of costs and space. These are the things that I want to think about when, hopefully one day, I come to design my own kitchen.