Over coffee a few weeks ago, my friend and I ended up comparing kitchens. We renovated within months of each other, just over a year ago, and we’d always assumed we’d gone in completely different directions. Mine is dark and moody, with navy Shaker cabinets and a patterned tile splashback. Hers is sleek and modern, with oak-effect slab doors and a waterfall island.
Ten minutes in, we realised our kitchen renovations had far more in common than we’d thought, and not in a good way. We’d both signed off on layouts that looked perfect on the plans and turned out to be a pain to cook in, and we’d both picked worktops we now wish we hadn’t.
Neither of us would rip our kitchen out tomorrow, but a year of cooking, cleaning and living in them has taught us plenty. Here’s what we’d keep, and what we’d do differently next time.
1. Use a kitchen company to fit it, not a general contractor
There’s plenty of advice out there on kitchen renovation mistakes to avoid before you start, but something that somehow slipped past both of us was who should fit the kitchen.
We both used the general contractors already working on our wider renovations, as it felt like the sensible choice. After all, they were already on site, we trusted them, and it saved coordinating another trade. But fitting a kitchen is its own skill, and a good builder isn’t automatically a good kitchen fitter.
In my kitchen, it shows in the small details. For example, it’s hard to clean my washing machine filter properly because the kickboards are a complete pain to remove. My friend’s issues are more obvious. Her fridge doesn’t sit flush with the cabinetry because of the water filter at the back, and some of the seams along her worktops show whenever the light catches them. When we raised these problems, neither of us really knew whose job it was to put them right, because the contractor hadn’t designed the kitchen and the supplier hadn’t fitted it.
What would I/we do differently? Next time, we’d both go to a kitchen company that designs, supplies and fits the whole thing. It costs more upfront, but you get one team responsible for everything, so if a door doesn’t line up or the measurements are out, there’s no arguing over whose fault it is.
2. Plan the layout around real life
The kitchen triangle is one of the first things you read about when planning a kitchen: the idea that your hob, sink and fridge should be spaced so you can move easily between them. In my kitchen, the triangle is really a line, with everything squeezed along one short run.
On its own, that would be fine. The problem is that the whole layout assumes only one person is in there at a time. If I’m cooking and my partner is setting the table, we’re constantly in each other’s way.
“It’s important when setting up your kitchen to actually step back and think about how you live your life,” says Laura Townsend, CAD and design manager at Magnet. “Every space in your kitchen should have a purpose.”
That might mean adapting the triangle to suit your own habits. “Maybe your most-used points are the coffee machine and the fridge,” she says. Where things go matters too. Laura recommends putting the fridge at the end of a run of cabinetry, so the open door doesn’t block the main prep area or the walkway.
What would I do differently? I’d walk through a typical evening, cooking, setting the table and washing up, with my partner before signing off the plan.
Laura Townsend is CAD & Design Manager at Magnet, leading the development of design tools, showroom concepts and customer experiences across the business. With more than 12 years' experience in interiors, Laura combines trend forecasting with practical kitchen design, helping transform emerging ideas into products, displays and showroom experiences.
3. Don't overlook internal storage
Concealed kitchen storage caught us both out, too. I have a tall cupboard built for the vacuum cleaner, but inside it’s just an empty box, so everything gets leaned in and topples straight back out. A few hooks, a rail or a pull-out would have fixed that. My friend’s situation is worse: she can barely reach a whole corner cupboard because nobody planned how to get into it.
Kiran Noonan, managing director of Eden Browne Interiors, says the fittings worth paying for are often the simplest: deep drawer dividers to stop heavy pots and lids rattling, full-extension soft-close runners and “simple pull-out larder units that bring deep pantry items forward”. She’s wary of fancier corner systems like carousels, which she says: “sacrifice significant cabinet space to mechanism hardware and are notoriously hard to clean when items drop off the back."
What would I/we do differently? I’d plan the kitchen for two people and decide what goes inside every cupboard before choosing the cupboards. My friend would definitely add some pull out storage solutions for that corner unit.
Handy kitchen storage solutions
This blind corner cupboard organiser has two tiers and each tray swings independently
Make your kitchen drawers more manageable with these wooden, adjustable drawer dividers
Use this handy iron and ironing board hanger to turn tall cupboards into functional utility-style storage
Kiran Noonan is managing director of Eden Browne, which has designed, made and installed bespoke kitchens from its Oxfordshire workshop for more than 50 years. A board-level director with listed plc experience, Kiran leads teams across sales, production and operations.
4. Swap some fitted units for freestanding pieces
If there’s one part of my kitchen I’d happily show off, it’s the old pine sideboard I picked up for a steal on Facebook Marketplace. It’s scuffed and well worn, but that’s exactly why I love it. It adds period charm to the kitchen in a way new cabinetry simply couldn't compete with, and it doubles as my coffee station.
Looking back, I wish more of my kitchen had been freestanding. The fitted units are practical, but it’s the sideboard that really elevates the scheme and makes the room feel lived in rather than installed.
“Freestanding pieces make sense when the aim is to bring character into a room and avoid it feeling too much like a kitchen showroom,” says Sebastian Aronowitz, founder of The London Kitchen Company. “For homeowners wanting a kitchen that feels as though it’s grown organically over the years, freestanding pieces help achieve that.”
It’s worth weighing up freestanding or fitted kitchens carefully, though. “Freestanding pieces work well once a kitchen is large enough to accommodate all the cabinetry needed for the basics first: cooking utensils and equipment, cold and dry food storage, cutlery and crockery, cleaning equipment, bins, and all the appliances,” says Sebastian.
“Once that’s covered, something like a freestanding antique dresser or pantry can be a lovely addition, and it can also serve a specific purpose, such as storing tablecloths, crockery and cutlery for the dining table, with a bit of display alongside.”
As for the trade-offs, “the disadvantage is the entire rationale behind fitted, made-to-measure units: fitted cabinetry uses space as efficiently as possible, while freestanding pieces never fit the space exactly, leaving gaps that waste space and are hard to keep clean.”
What would I do differently? I’d keep the hardworking areas fitted, then swap a run of wall units for another freestanding piece or two.
Sebastian Aronowitz is the founder of The London Kitchen Company, known for his refined, design-led approach to creating functional, beautifully crafted kitchens tailored to how homeowners truly live and cook.
5. Budget for the worktops you want from the start
My friend’s biggest regret is her worktops. She chose a thin marble-effect laminate, and a year on, it’s already looking tired in places. The fitting doesn’t help either – the seams on her waterfall island are just visible enough to spoil the clean look she was after. If she could do it again, she’d stretch the budget to quartz worktops.
I feel much the same, even though I went for the thickest laminate worktop I could find. It’s held up better than most, but it still doesn’t have the finish of quartz or natural stone. In the end, it came down to money. By the time everything else was paid for, the kitchen worktops I really wanted were out of reach.
And it’s not only about looks. “Marble or quartz worktops that stay cool to the touch can make it easier to roll out pastry or work with chocolate without your ingredients softening too quickly,” says Laura Townsend. “It’s actively suited to the way you cook.”
What would I/we do differently? We’d both factor stone or quartz into the kitchen renovation cost from day one, rather than treating worktops as somewhere to save once the budget starts to stretch.
6. Choose the paint for how it wears, not just how it looks
I still love the colour of my kitchen. The deep navy is the first thing people notice, and a year on, I’d choose it again. What I’d change is everything underneath it. My cabinets are painted laminate, so every chip shows up as a bright white mark. When I tried to touch them up, I chose a “nice” paint rather than a tough one, and the patches looked worse than the chips.
“The starting principle is that a kitchen finish has to accommodate real life,” says Sebastian Aronowitz. “A finish that demands excessive care isn’t practical for most households. Darker colours show marks and chips far more visibly, particularly since the undercoat beneath is almost always white, so a chip reveals a stark white mark. It’s worth finding a painter willing to colour-match the undercoat to the topcoat, so any damage is far less obvious.”
Factory-sprayed finishes are harder but more brittle, Sebastian explains, so they chip more easily, and, “because the factory finish is perfectly smooth and uniform, touch-ups tend to be highly noticeable”. A hand-painted finish, by contrast, “may mark slightly more easily but is less prone to chipping, and chipping tends to be the bigger practical problem. Touch-ups just need the leftover tin of paint and a brush.”
Sheen makes a difference as well. Kiran Noonan advises against ultra-flat matt on high-touch doors, recommending, “a satin or low-sheen eggshell designed for cabinetry that allows spot touch-ups without leaving visible patches”. If only I’d known that before reaching for my touch-up brush!
What would I do differently? I’d keep the navy, but choose a hard-wearing kitchen cabinet paint in a low-sheen finish with a colour-matched undercoat, and keep a tin ready for touch-ups. These
Matt paint has a reputation for being hard to clean, but this Rust-Oleum finish stands up to water, scuffs and stains, so a quick wipe is all it needs
Pop your leftover paint in these paint pens and be confident you can colour match any scrapes or scratches in the future
Planning a kitchen renovation of your own? It’s worth reading about the emotional impact of decision fatigue before you start. With hundreds of choices to make, from layout to choosing paint colours, knowing what to expect can help you stay focused on what matters most.
