2 dishwashers, 2 usable sinks, a Big island!!

Pots and pans drawers. I should have put in pullouts (with doors attached) for spices, small appliances, etc. I did put pullout trays (deep and shallow - would have been better all deep), but you still have to open the doors and then pull them out. All drawers/pullouts would have been better.

A FD fridge, and a Bosch DW.

I also like my recycling center (pullout with 2 trash cans). If I had room I'd do another for deposit bottles/cans and trash. Maybe we'll convert the other 18" cabinet next to it some time when I no longer need that one (with shallow pullout trays) for Tupperware sandwich containers, lunchboxes and Thermoses (sp?).

One thing I hate, that I didn't pay attention to was door swing. I got double door wall cabinets on either side of rage hood and the hood has sharp corners that I promptly opened the doors into. I keep latches on those doors now to remind myself to open them carefully. Also didn't do increased depth in corner b/c it would have required 3" more wall to either side - but I could have asked builder to pull standard corner cabinet out farther to make it easier to run crown molding at the top of lower cabinets and still let the corner door open.

I got a super susan but the cabinet is curved on the inside so no more storage than just what's on the LS shelves. I like the shelves rotating separately, with hinged door rather than the ones that are attached to the door. In fact, that's what they put in and I made them change it since it wasn't what I ordered. But I think it still would be nicer to have fixed shelves in an L shaped interior with turntable on each shelf instead of the 2 pie cut shelves on a center rod. Then I could stuff things in the corners like I do the upper corner (no LS in that - just lots of room for mixing/serving bowls).

We just put in an induction cooktop that I love. Clean up is such a breeze and induction uses less energy than conventional electric or gas. It's so fast and it has a setting so low as to barely melt chocolate. We got ours from wolf because theirs is the only cooktop with a pattern and we thought that it would hide any scratches. I got a 4 burner cooktop because I have never used more that 3 burners at a time, but they do have a five burner too. Consider having a flat cooktop with no knobs on top. Its GREAT.

My must haves:

-Good layout with room for multiple workers, with adequate storage and work surfaces where needed

-Full-extension drawer glides

-Mostly drawers in the base cabinets rather than shelves or the dreaded pull outs

-Appliances that give the performance that I want/need (I put quality appliances above things like fancy cabinets or granite counters). With a family the size of ours, I was tired of the limitations offered by a 30 inch electric range with its single oven and 2 large burner and 2 small. Now I have an 8-burner rangetop and a dbl oven. WONderful! No more cooking meals in shifts and trying to keep half warm while the rest gets done.

-Pantry...walk-in or closet-style for flexibility and odd-sized items, not cabinet with pullouts, etc. I almost didn't have my 4' x 3 1/2' walk-in pantry, but I don't know how I would manage without it. It's not as big as I would have liked, but it does a great and important job.

-Leave or make room for things like cookbooks, some cool mixing bowls or other fun display items, and some wall space for hanging decorative items

-Unique touches/elements/design choices that make the kitchen mine and reflects who I am/who our family is...Things that make it unlike anyone else's kitchen.

A place for everything!

I'm getting a flat storage cabinet for trays, mats, etc., and a vertical storage cabinet for platters, plus a pull-out for baking boards. A spice pull out. Stemware cupboards. Pegboard cupboards for hanging long things that are hard to put in drawers. A pitchers and vases cupboard. A message center. A place to sit. A place to bake. A place to prep. A place to wash up.

And really good appliances.

WOW! My head is spinning with all these fabulous ideas! If I could just put all these ideas together, I'd have the most phenomenal kitchen on the planet!!!!!!

A dish pantry for the millions of plates, platters, and glassware I have inherited and a great big food pantry since our old kitchen had none!

Kat :)

Can someone show me a picture of their spice pullout tray?

I would definitely say a good range hood is a must have. They now have excellent ventilation systems available that trap grease and the filter is dishwasher safe. It's a must-have for me and I'm fortunate enough to have a beautiful hood one that's become the centerpiece of my kitchen.

Also, if you do a lot of southern cooking, I'd say put in a deep-fryer in the island. My mom absolutely loves it, because it's so easy to use (much better than storing a pot of grease if you deep-fry often) and making appetizers (deep fried mushrooms and seasoned broccoli omg) has become part of every party she has now.

And as mentioned above, pay attention to the way your cabinet doors swing. It's a small detail that's usually overlooked. And on that note, I love my corner lazy susan. It's wonderful for storing spices and dry ingredients and much more convenient than the pantry (which is poorly placed on the other side of my island). Although, mine isn't a full circle like most are, it has 1/4 cut out and is attached directly to the door. In my opinion, that helps cut down on items getting lost in the back.

Another feature for drawers to think about, especially if you have kids (I know I would be smacking myself without this) is drawers that catch themselves before they close. I am so happy I no longer hear slamming drawers from other sections of the house. The only drawback is sometimes they require a little more force to open.

And if you're looking at fridge/freezer combos, avoid the pull-drawer freezers below a double-door fridge. It's a pain to bend over for everything despite the extra space, and if you have older folks around often, it's impractical for them (plus the ice cream can be reached easier by little ones).

I think those are my must-haves and when I think back to the disaster of a kitchen we bought not too long ago, I question how we lived without these features.

Hope this helps a little and good luck!

Eliza, I'm linking a great thread on spice storage with all sorts of photos to check out.

Here is a link that might be useful: Spice storage discussion and pics

A place to store food (e.g., pantry, refrigerator), a place to heat food (e.g., an oven/cooktop or range, MW), and a place to clean up food (running water and places to hold it such as sink and DW). This will help people in realizing that a kitchen has a function of food preparation and is not just another room in the house.

Taking tongue out of cheek, sometimes people get so carried away with having a kitchen look nice that they forget its function.

Blue

A super single Blanco sink. Love mine!

A pull-down faucet - love mine!

I have a pantry with pull-outs, and it's an improvement over my old pantry.

Another great plus - a cabinet full of vertical racks for storing cutting boards, platters, cookie sheets, etc. Mine's above our micro - its great and the kids can still reach it.

Of course, you can't cook without the right appliances. I'd pick those first. Love my gas cooktop.

I also couldn't live without my french door fridge now that I have it!

Dimmers!!! My husband didn't think we needed undercab lights, but we put them in and I love them. I don't care for overhead lighting much. I love the undercab lights and I can work without the recessed on overhead. I put dimmers on everything in the kitchen and I love how it can be 'romantic' in the kitchen! :)

Good luck! Kris

The little things I love in my kitchen:

Never MT -haven't filled a soap bottle in over two years!
Tapmaster - really saves on water usage and makes it so easy to wash hands when they're all gunky

Bigger things
Organized pull out pantry
Big one bowl sink

Biggest
Induction cooktop
Toe Kick drawers
30" deep counters
two DW
Double ovens

Amazingly well laid out floorplan

Out of all the expensive things in my new kitchen my simple bread drawer is one of my favorite things. It keeps the breads and bakery items off of the counter and I don't have to keep it in the fridge. Love it!

One of my favorite *little things* is the under-cabinet molding/trim. WHAT A HUGE DIFFERENCE IT MADE! The cabinets look *framed* and *finished*. Beautiful!

Sunshine! We are rearranging almost all of our main level to get more natural light and a better view, as well as to improve a poor layout.

We found out the small existing kitchen layout worked fairly well, even for our large family, but was lacking serving space and somewhere to sit. Our new kitchen is still relatively small, but has more counter space and an island with seating. Hopefully it will still be efficient!
Highest on my husband's wish list was a 6 burner range with a larger convection oven-he makes pancakes for the kids on Saturdays, so now he has a huge griddle that fits on four burners. And, we can throw six pizzas in at one time.
I got from my wish list a lowered baking counter (I'm 5ft. tall) and a nice big stainless steel apron front sink.
Beautiful finishes that make me happy when I see them are way up at the top of the list, too. That is half of the fun of this whole process!
We are getting pretty close to done, and may even have the sink and dishwasher installed this week! I can't wait to see what features end up being my favorites!

My favorite things are:
granite counters
double wall ovens
cherry butcher block countertop
flat-screen tv, bose sound system
big one bowl siligranite sink
lots of drawers
2-2bin recycling cabinets (1 bin for dog food storage!)
no corners
dimmer switches

The kitchen is a joy to work in because the layout works for me. The island houses the cooktop, pots and pans below; Drawers on either side housing utensils,canned goods, onions and potatoes, silverware, and my most favorite feature a drawer for dishes. I can plate a meal, grab a fork and pass the dish across the island without taking a step~good luck~Jeannie

Garbage disposal switch you can reach from the sink!

My favorites are:

Distinct work zones with relevant tools stored there
No wall cabinets
Plenty of uninterrupted counterspace
10 foot window looking into woods
Induction cooktop
Dish drawer dishwasher
Marble countertops
Double trash pull-out
Drawers, drawers, and more drawers!

I second the motion for INDUCTION. Love my new Bosch 4 burner. It has a very light pattern and no signs of scratching so far.

After 6 months in my new kitchen, the things that still please me daily are:

pot and pan drawers
dish drawers
air switch for disposal
larger island with room to prep and seating for kids
soft close mechanism

There are many many other details I love, but these are the ones that got me the most bang for my buck.

Oh, and the never MT. I forgot all about it...because it is designed to be forgotten...bless it!

Anita

A general quality of the space that makes you want to be there, whether you're cooking or not. For me, it's lots of sunshine, a light airy feeling, and pretty views out the windows. For you, it's...?

I would like to have an appliance garage. I believe that it would be handy to have your counter appliances at the ready so that you aren't constantly bending or reaching to get or put them away. I'm jealous of those that have them. Do you folks that have them like them or am I just dreaming?

Reading this thread has made me so happy - first for all of the wonderful kitchens that everyone has created and second for how much we love our new kitchen!

So many of my favourite features have been mentioned:
- soapstone
- induction (plus my uber powerful Blue Star gas cooktop)
- drawers and tons of wll designed cabinet space
- LIGHT, SUNSHINE AND SPACE. After being cramped in our small kitchen with room for just about 1.5 people, having the ability to actually have dinner in the kitchen at our island with guests is amazing
- a really well designed space that enables both DH and I to cook simultaneously. To that point, the way we have been able to create two distinct cooking zones. We have 2 sets of measuring spoons, cups, bowls, etc, and easy access to a sink and the cooktops so that DH can be studiously making a soup in his methodical way and I can be "jazzing" on the other side of the kitchen cooking three things at once.

Eliza, enjoy the process - whatever you end up with will be amazing!

Eliz

Big deep drawers and a slim cabinet to stand your cookie sheets in, right next to the oven.

I SO appreciate you all! Seriously. What a blessing! I'm going to most certainly be referring back to this thread many times in the upcoming month, as we are designing and planning our new kitchen. It sounds like the deep drawers are a definite must-have! If any of you have pics you want to share, please do!!!!!!!

We're just weeks from moving into our new house, but we built in 2001 and I've reproduced the things I loved most about that house in the new one.

I'm one who loves deep drawers -- I kept my daily dishes -- heavy stoneware -- in one and my shoulders appreciated not having to lift them into a wall cupboard. I hated the two "door" cabinets I had because I had to sit on the floor to dig things out. The new kitchen is almost all drawers -- and the two door cupboards have pullouts this time.

Full extension drawers -- wouldn't be without them.

Under cabinet lighting -- ditto.

The best quality cabinets you can afford. It's easy to fall in love with a look and sacrifice quality. Resist the temptation.

For me, a fridge with a freezer on the bottom. The apartment we're in while building has a top freezer and I curse it every time I have to stand on my head to get something out. My old fridge was a single door, bottom freezer -- I loved it. The new one is a FD bottom freezer. I hope I like the FD as much as my DS and DDIL do.

I know I'm WAY in the minority here, but I've had a ceiling fan in every kitchen since 1977, and I can't imagine not having it. I thought long and hard before sacrificing snazzy over-the-island pendants for a pedestrian fan and light -- but I love having cooling breezes while I'm cooking. The snazzy pendants are going over the sink.

We loved our island in the last house, but found it a bit too small when entertaining. The one in the new house is more of a continent. I'm almost embarrassed . . . but we'll never find it too small!!

Have fun planning!

The link below has a lot of great ideas . . .

Here is a link that might be useful: Maybe more than you wanted to know!

Check out the links in the "Read Me" thread...it links to several similar threads.

Here is a link that might be useful: Read Me If You're New To GW Kitchens!

Eliza, check out this recent thread on dishes in drawers; may give you some additional info on depth size etc, that may be useful.

Do you get the feeling you're going to be spending a lot of time here on GW? :-)

Eliz

Here is a link that might be useful: Dishes in Drawers