It wasn't my kitchen - it was the bathroom. We had to have body sprays, and neither one of us ever used them, or even really liked them.

In the kitchen, we hated our gas Viking cooktop, which we coveted, but as it turns out it was more for looks than function (and it did look great, but it functioned horribly).

I bought drawer organizers at the same time as the cabinets. Should have waited until after everything was installed because I ended up moving some things from where I thought I'd want them. Now have 30" drawer organizers that would be perfect for the stuff that's in the 27" drawer across the room. Not a big deal, but makes me wish I'd waited.

I also have a convection microwave where the convection is never used, but mine came from Craigs list so it was no big deal.

I had to have a pull out cutting board. I used the one in my old kitchen constantly. The old one had been at the end of a cab run, under a window and out of the way. The only place for the new one was in the middle of a cab run. Not sure why I didn't realize it at the time, but this makes it totally inconvenient and I never use it. It also makes the drawer below much shallower and in my very small kitchen, that makes a difference.

daisychain01, I have a pull-out cutting board that came with the kitchen and got upgraded when I remodeled. Most unused, pointless thing in my kitchen. And thanks to you, I just measured and found out the two drawers underneath are 5/8" shallower than others, but since they're in a different run I never realized it. Curse you, pull-out cutting board!!!

I had to have a TapMaster but I never really use it (mostly because I'm sure my elderly mother won't figure out how to turn on the faucet when she is visiting).

And I have to give a conflicting opinion about pull-out cutting boards. I have 2 in my small kitchen (one next to the stove and one on the peninsula). I use both constantly...definitely one of the best things I did in my kitchen along with frameless cabinets to maximize space in drawers.

daisychain==great advice about the drawer inserts.

Great thread!

Toe kick drawers. DH had to have them and I didn't feel like arguing. The pictures of them on Gardenweb were made by better cabinetmakers. Ours are very tiny and very shallow. We barely use them, and really don't need them.

Garbage disposal. I never use it. The garbage pails are stored outside and garbage pickup is curbside 2x/week so the disposal is really unnecessary. I could use the storage space in the cabinet that the gd is taking up.

Ditto the pull out cutting board. I had one in my old kitchen and used it constantly. Of course I did, my old kitchen had very little counter space and my new kitchen has an abundance! I never, ever use it and it just takes up space. The cabinet maker talked me into it because he didn't want to do the toe kick drawers I wanted. (Not that the tradeoff made any sense!) I now wish I'd have insisted on them, because they'd have been the perfect size for the extra oven racks.

Cj

sjhockeyfan- What don't you like about your Viking cooktop?

Judney- Funny, I love my garbage disposal and I'm going to miss it at the lake cottage. Garbage p/u twice weekly--you must be in a city?

Too many pre-installed drawer dividers. I had a big drawer in my old kitchen with no dividers with everything thrown In it. That drawer was dangerous. I had them put permanent dividers in most of my top drawers. I have a few items that are not in the optimal spot because of the dividers. Not a big deal but I should have waited.
I have a pull out cutting board but I'm still moving in. Whether or not I regret that, TBD.

Re the Viking cooktop - simmer was horrible even after it was calibrated (actually there was no burner that would simmer, ever (even when I added a simmer plate)), the grates were too high so the amount of heat and the spread of the flames was less than optimum, and the markings wore off on the dials. I also didn't like the arrangement of the burners, although I know that's personal to the cook - with the highest burner in the front, steam and smoke wasn't captured by our hood (which may be more of a hood issue than a cooktop issue). The picture is the current model of the one we had.

We loved the look though!

Believe it or not, I really think that I could have done without the undercabinet lights! My previous version of this kitchen had just 2 circular fluorescent ceiling fixtures, and one undercab fluorescent plug-in bar -- woefully inadequate. I had no idea that the new ceiling lights would be so good. I have no problem with the counters not being well lit, and have only turned on the UCLs for effect so far.
Keep in mind, my kitchen is smaller.

The other thing is, the 15" base cabinet by the frig. It takes up floor space that I could have used for the pets' bowls even though I designed it to hold their food! I should have gone with a slimmer cabinet, or a design like someone here had (don't remember who) that made a little alcove under the counter.

under cabinet power strips were my only mistake. seems like a small thing, but to me they are a disaster. i cannot stand the way the black cords hang down. i only have the problem in one area where our phone is, but it catches my attention every time i walk into my otherwise perfect (to me!) kitchen. i still haven't committed to a backsplash so i'm hoping i'll be able to convince dh to let me move the phone into the baking armoire (which is basically a fancy appliance garage).

i was surprised to see someone posted that they regret they're tapmaster. i have two (hot, warm, cold); and they are at the top of the list of things i LOVE about my kitchen.

Sounds like some regrets are usage based...especially the pull-out cutting board one - we had one in the old kitchen and it was rather helpful due to lack of counter, but we aren't putting one in the new kitchen because I will have A LOT more usable counter space. I agonized over if I wanted to put one in the new kitchen or not, but the places that I could have put it, wouldn't have worked very well, so I nixed it. So, if you have a kitchen with limited counters, a pull out cutting board might be a great idea depending on where it's getting located.

The power strips that kateskouros mentioned sounds like it's a usage based thing also...if you keep some things plugged in on the counter all the time, then plugmold might not be the best idea. Or perhaps you want to get a mixture - we are putting in one standard plug (where our phone will reside) and everything else will be plugmold. My KA is going in a cabinet with a lift and there will be a plug in the cabinet for the mixer. Other small appliances that stay plugged in (like the coffeepot) are going in an appliance garage and the plugs won't show in there.

since you mentioned a lift stand for your KA, i had one in our old house and i really didn't like it. i always felt like it could topple over so i eventually just used it to move the mixer over onto the counter. i wished i had that cabinet for other purposes, but once it was fitted with the lift it couldn't really be used for anything else.

i'm sure you've read about them here, just thought i'd mention. good luck on your new kitchen!

I sunk a lot of money in those pegs and peg boards for my china drawers. Hateful, useless things. A rubber mat was all I needed. But I thought they looked useful and wanted them desperately.

MizLizzie-That is interesting about the pegs..I wondered about that.

Pegs for dishes just unnecessarily take up room, don't they?

I just set up my dish drawer with the pegs today. I like the pegs. I have 4-5 stacks of smaller bowls and I think they could tip over if too many of the dishes surrounding them were in the dishwasher. It was a pain getting the pegs set up. I got tired of loading and unloading the dishes from the drawer until the pegs were just right.

this is my every day dish drawer. i didn't want to stack the dishes one on top of the other because i was afraid the kids would just plop them down, and they might chip ...or worse.

i'm guessing there is probably more flexibility with the pegs, but this works well for us.

{{gwi:1562043}}

The pot filler. I barely remember to use it. And because it is on a perimeter wall of out 100+ year old house, the recent polar vortex froze the pipe. Since its over our stove you can't run it to prevent freezing like faucets that drain into a sink. Needless to say, we will likely be removing it, it's too much of a liability if it leaks and we are not home.

Romy718, where did you get your peg board ? I am putting my dishes in a drawer and am looking into that! Kraftmaid , ( that's where my cabinets are from) wanted way to much , $210.00 for the system for my one drawer!

Definitely the 12 in pull out spice cabinet between the wall and hood. Had to have it. I thought a regular cabinet there would be too small and hard to get in to be useful.

Well, I will say it fits a lot of stuff for the space it uses. BUT it is very hard to access because the hood is 22 in deep and blocks some of the storage. Everyone missed that, me, cabinet guy, GW, etc. Plus it doesn't like to cooperate, I think being 36 in tall and 12 in wide is not an optimal combination. I can see where skinny pull outs might work better, but this size is awkward. My pull out pantry is great though, even though it is skinny it is deeper and taller, so I think that keeps it better balanced.

It the only regret so far.

So far there is nothing I had to have and now could live without.

I wanted to add that my dishes are stacked in a drawer with no pegs or dividers and they stay in place just fine.

My ridiculously expensive Franke Peake sink. I'm happy with stainless steel but could have been much happier with a much less expensive SS sink or another Silgranit.

I considered putting in a pull up shelf to hold my big mixer but I am losing one full 36" cabinet as it is lessening the length of my island so I am opting to buy a kitchen utility cart instead. I feel that way it can hold my mixer, my blender and my food processor which I rarely use. They all take up cabinet space right now.
I never thought of a pull out cutting board but I have mine stored in a cabinet as well and just pull them out when needed.
I find some convenience oriented things take up too much valuable space.
Love all the answers given. Very interesting thread.

Interior lighting and clear glass doors on the uppers of my double stacked cabinets. I wanted to display pretty things up there and light the cabinets up, but could never get the glass to look streak free. So I never turned on the lights or put anything up there. It was also expensive as the cabinet interior boxes had to be stained to match the exteriors. New house will also have double stacked cabinets, but solid fronts and no glass or lighting.

I am another person that does not use the pegs. It has been 17 months and everything is working fine without them.

My do over list:

Design of the island - I would change the eating section to a small table that seats 4 persons. We rarely use the island seating unless the grandkids are home.

In cabinet lighting - I have inset cabinets and with a minimal clearance the light still shows around the door. It is like a halo. :-) Annoys me every time I turn on the lights.

TV cabinet above the ovens - the kitchen is open to the main TV and I would never have 2 going at the same time. This cabinet doors recess so dividers are not possible without changing the door swing. I do store larger items in the area so it is not wasted space.

What I wish I had done:

- added a 2nd garbage disposal to the prep sink. The water butler takes up too much room for a GD.

- purchased a prep sink faucet rather than full height. Too much splashing.

xc60 posted: "Interior lighting and clear glass doors on the uppers of my double stacked cabinets. I wanted to display pretty things up there and light the cabinets up, but could never get the glass to look streak free. So I never turned on the lights or put anything up there. It was also expensive as the cabinet interior boxes had to be stained to match the exteriors. New house will also have double stacked cabinets, but solid fronts and no glass or lighting."

This makes me feel better about our choice. Oh how I loved that look but my GC appealed to my practical side and disuaded me and I'm glad. He pointed out, not only do they have to look tidy, but only the first few inches of depth is viewable so you either lose the back half by leaving it empty or fill it up, negating the pretty display purpose.

Onto the question - I never remember to turn on my UCL. It's almost too much light and I'm not doing that much detail work to need that much light.

We put very little specialized cabinetry and that has been ok for us. I sometimes see things on here that I wish I had but only when I see them, not when I'm in my kitchen working, lol. I do wish our spices were better organized. That is probably my only beef with our new kitchen. Still looking for the perfect system to organize in our upper cabs. We like them where they are vs in a drawer, but we haven't found a way to organize them neatly.

kateskouros - thanks for the heads up about the KA lift...and yes, absolutely, I read about them quite a bit before deciding to pull the trigger.

And it may not be the "perfect" solution...but, the mixer isn't living on the countertop and I have this crazy fear every time that I lock the head and go to move it that the lock is going to give way and I'm going to drop the whole thing...mind you, that's NEVER happened to me, it's just one of those crazy phobias. It may turn out that the mixer gets transferred to the countertop during use like you mentioned, but it will be more of a "slide" movement than an up/down if I need to move it off the lift and that movement will help to keep my fear at bay! Luckily, I think we will have enough storage overall in our kitchen that mostly devoting the one cabinet to it isn't going to bother me too much. And if it does come to the point where it does, I can always remove it.

Our built-in cutting board is DH's favorite part of our new kitchen, and he wishes we had put in another.

I'm feeling a little smug - I love everything about our new kitchen!

Hmm.... I think I must have cut back so much I'm not left with any major regrets. Rather the opposite, I think about opportunities lost to spend a bit more or adjust a choice after seeing something new.

I too get light leakage on my inset cabinets with glass fronts; I have LED tape lighting. I took some white weather stripping and lined the inner edge; the halo is mostly gone.

I have no slide out cutting boards; my KD recommended against it and I quickly agreed -- they were the first things to break in my old kitchen.

thank you gooster! great idea for the tape lighting issue.