ᐅ Beautiful new L-shaped kitchen in a newly built home, with no prior experience

Hello everyone!

I have been following your forum closely during our house construction, and now we are facing the decision of how to design our kitchen.

Originally, we wanted a walk-in pantry, but in our opinion, that no longer seems feasible. So, we have designed the kitchen in an L-shape with plenty of storage space. The water connection and electrical planning are still pending.

We had an initial design made (3D images; floor plan recreated by me), but since we have no experience buying a kitchen yet, we are looking forward to your suggestions! Thanks in advance...

Best regards

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Regarding the appliances, we are still undecided, but we could imagine the following:

Range hood: Siemens iQ500 LC81KAN60

Cooktop: Siemens iQ700 EX845HVC1E

Oven: Siemens iQ700 HB774G1B1

Dishwasher: Siemens iQ500 SN65EX12CE

For the sink, we are considering:

Franke Maris MRG 611-78 (as shown in the picture)

I have read quite a bit of criticism about durability and food discoloration.

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About the kitchen itself, here is some information:

Manufacturer: Nobilia

Fronts: Touch 336 lacquer laminate Magnolia super matte

Countertop: 149 Concrete Terragrau

Carcass: 120 Magnolia

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Brief explanation of the layout (based on the floor plan and 3D renderings):

General
We will probably have a direct passage from the hallway into the kitchen, which will remain open.
We are still unsure whether the kitchen should be 240 cm (about 94 inches) high at all (possibly too tall) and/or if a panel should be installed all the way up to the ceiling to enclose it. With friends, a fully enclosed kitchen up to the ceiling looked very good.
All handles should be centered, whether on drawers or regular doors.
We have not decided yet what to use as backsplash decoration (on the wall).

Wall next to the door

• Possibly a French door refrigerator will be placed centered on the wall next to the door
• To the left of the fridge will be the stove, and to the right the raised dishwasher
• We are undecided whether the cabinet on the left should have just one door or multiple doors
• It would be nice if the dishwasher is the same height as the stove, but that would make it very tall and the planner says this is not possible with the manufacturer

Wall to the left of the floor-to-ceiling window

• In the L-shape, the left side will provide storage for everything, since we no longer have a pantry
• The cabinets can only be 40 cm (about 16 inches) deep due to the window
• We are undecided whether these should have one, two, or three doors

Wall to the right of the floor-to-ceiling window

• The standard width of the drawers should be 60 cm (about 24 inches)
• The height including the countertop is approximately 90 cm (about 35 inches), with a 10 cm (about 4 inches) plinth, but I am not entirely sure
• The stove will be 90 cm (about 35 inches) wide, and we chose a range hood because a cooktop with integrated extractor would be more expensive and louder
• The sink should be centered under the window
• We are unsure whether to choose a Franke sink made of ceramic or a simpler material
• The sink should be in a cashmere color or similar
• At the end of the L-shape, we have a cabinet with a carousel

NeuDabei2025 schrieb:

Originally, we wanted a walk-in storage closet. However, in our opinion, that no longer seems feasible,

Sorry, I’m not a kitchen expert, but why wouldn't that be possible?

We dealt with the kitchen topic last autumn (installation is in two weeks).
What helped us:

• There is a great forum on this topic where you can get excellent advice.
• We visited a large kitchen showroom in a furniture store. Not to buy directly there (though the consultation was good), but to get an overview of what is possible and to understand the differences between manufacturers and materials.
In smaller kitchen studios (where we finally bought), the display area is limited, so there is less to see and fewer options to customize.
• There is no limit when it comes to kitchens. However, you need to set a budget! You will always find a manufacturer that does it better and makes it look even more stylish. But mid-range kitchens don’t just wear out after 5 years.
• Once you have agreed on a plan, get a second quote based on your desired layout.

Island extended by 60cm (24 inches) and only the refrigerator planned at the top, instead of the tall cabinets, with workspace and storage area. Or something similar. The upper area with the tall cabinets in the original plan can be separated with a simple (very simple) sliding door (since there are tall cabinets on one side and workspace on the other) to make the kitchen look more appealing. The sliding door can be left open while working and only closed when guests are present.
Maybe Kerstin has some ideas? @kbt09

A few additional points regarding your planning:

• Check if the countertop height suits you. We (173cm/165cm) find 91cm (36 inches) quite comfortable.
• A cooktop including a downdraft extractor is not necessarily more expensive. You just need to avoid comparing apples and oranges—for example, switching from Siemens to Bora. Both have their pros and cons.
• You can save a lot on appliances without compromising functionality. For instance, we chose the most basic oven model from Neff. We don’t need a color display with hundreds of programs. The oven should simply cook food with basic functions (grill, convection, top and bottom heat) and keep it warm.
• For the oven and microwave, I would recommend choosing devices from the same manufacturer to ensure a consistent look. For other appliances, functionality and price-performance ratio matter more than matching brands.
• If the range hood is placed too close to the wall cabinets, cleaning behind it becomes nearly impossible, and over the years, there is a risk that the cabinets may swell.
• I would opt for larger drawers than 60cm (24 inches) if it visually fits with the wall cabinets. This reduces the number of handles and creates a calmer appearance. You can always divide the drawers internally.
• Center-mounted handles on doors are difficult to open. Have you tried this?
• Do you really need such tall drawers everywhere? They can only be filled with tall kitchen appliances unless you want to stack everything on top of each other. This is not optimal in terms of storage space. With Nobilia, there are other options.

And one more general note:

• At least take some time to familiarize yourselves with the materials, so you won’t regret it later. For example, Nobilia offers few lacquered fronts, but rather lacquered foil.
• We now have a lazy Susan and find it annoying because things constantly fall out and it’s hard to reach them afterward. That’s why we chose a “dead corner” for our new kitchen. It saves money, and the loss of storage space is manageable.