My kitchen will be ready any day now so I haven't actually used it yet. But---I started reading this forum when I had already made all the decisions. I got an Asko dishwasher and after reading here I would have purchased a Miele. Hopefully my Asko will be ok though. I also might have tried to find space for an under counter paper towel holder. I love the drawers I have, but I think I would have added ALL drawers.

Not to dissuade you from asking, but I'll link a few past threads on this same topic.

(click on the text for link)

Biggest regrets?

Do you have any regrets?

What do you wish you had done differently?

As for my regrets, I don't have many. My biggest regret is that there wasn't a way to fit 2 dishwashers into my space. I mean my space is large enough for two, but it would have meant losing the door to the deck, which was not a viable option. Or, I could have put the cleanup sink very offset from the center of the window, AND lost my beloved dish hutch, AND had a blind corner base cab. I really wanted the sink centered on the window, and I love my dish hutch. So, two DWs really weren't going to work. I curse that everyday as I run about two loads a day, sometimes more.

I also wish I had put a small bar sink in the DR side of my cabs in my beverage service area. Besides working well for parties, I would have easier access to a water source for filling glasses, cleaning the table after a meal, and wiping down DD after a meal. We eat all our weekday dinners and all weekend meals in the DR so it gets old walking around the peninsula and through the kitchen to get to the sink. I did have the notion to do this early in the planning, but decided to let it go for budgetary and timing issues. Plus, my rough plumber was a cranky nightmare to deal with so I wanted to minimize our battles. Now, I wish I had just gone ahead and done it.

Finally, I regret not having enough space for a 42" or larger fridge in the kitchen. I have a BI 36", which is fine most of the time as I do have an overflow fridge in the garage. I just sometimes kick myself for not having the 42" when I have to trudge out to the garage for the fourth time during meal prep because the artichokes don't fit in the kitchen fridge. Or I ran out of butter again and need to grab from the Costco pack in the garage. Or I used more milk during dinner than I thought I would so have to run to the garage for another gallon. Etc. For my kitchen, it came down to a choice between a larger fridge or a peninsula large enough to serve as buffet space during parties. We entertain very often so I chose the buffet space. Now I see I could have given up the extra 6" to get a 42" fridge. Oh well, I love, love, love having a single door, bottom freezer configuration. A 42" fridge would have meant a side by side, which I hate.

This post was edited by breezygirl on Sun, Jan 13, 13 at 22:46

Thanks breezygirl for the links. When I tried to find a similar thread, I did not use the best search words and that's why I came up with nada.

kate618 - I wish I had room for an under counter paper towel holder but the footprint for my kitchen is too small. I would have to give up a drawer and I think I need the drawer to make my kitchen more functional.

I would put in a MW drawer instead of a normal MW under the counter and I would have done a 36" range instead of a 30" range. We were moving a wall so I had the room to do so. What I didn't realize was how much more I would enjoy cooking and baking in the new kitchen and so could really use a bigger stove. mainly for fun, but still....

I also would have done the microwave differently. Instead of the over the range type, I'd put it somewhere else, so to have a range hood. I just love the look of those. They really class-up a kitchen.

1)Put the DW between the sink and stove. I THINK the PIA factor would have been outweighed by the extra 12" or so prep space gained. FWIW, very small kitchen.
2)Would have coughed up the extra $$$ for LED under cab lighting, xenon gets very warm!
3) Stood my ground about deeper counters, again more prep space in small kitchen!

I love my kitchen (or will once the KD gets me my trash pullouts). I would have made sure I picked which direction the cabinets opened.

Higher ceiling

Read the plans from the cabinet maker more closely and not assume they know what I mean. I saw the 2D view of the cabinetry and missed that the plan showed the fridge and the freexer drawer bumping out by 6 inches instead being flush and in the same line as the rest of the cabinets in that run. The cabinet maker apparently always does this for paneled appliances and this is totally unnecessary for my fully integrated Miele fridge and SZ freezer drawers. I also wanted full pane of glass on the upper door with wood shelves inside and not divided doors and glass shelves. I am trying to work with the cabinet maker on this and both of us are not happy. I had already compromised on the oven section of the cabinet being deeper than necessary.

Make sure you print and show the installaton requirements for your appliances in person and understand what is required. The plumbing work for the steam oven had to be redone twice despite detailed emails.

Everything!! I had no real vision. I just hated our kitchen. We jumped in and did it and now that its finished I hate it. I now know what I want it to look like and it isn't the way it looks now. Oh well I guess... Good luck!

I love our renovated kitchen...it's been over 5 years, and it still makes me smile! Though, if I'd been on GW sooner, I would have seriously considered having my two greenhouse windows (which I love) installed right at counter depth. It may have been a logisitcal nightmare organizing that (I was the general contractor), but that's about the only thing I would change.

OOOH, I would have a garden window. The GC, whom I love, said the window was plenty big. It is. He said the extra six or seen inches in height and the span of countertop out through the window sill would not make a difference. It would have.

I really regret not doing this. But of all the decisions, that's about it.