Fairy is a must. But I buy the commercial Fairy Professional one which cleans in a fifth of the time. I whole heartedly agree with Miele. I regard Staub much higher than Le Creuset myself. E. Dehillerin and Mauviel for cookware and future heirlooms really. David Austin for roses. Felco for secateurs. For most things a bit of research really turns up the best products, some that you will never known existed that will become a staple in your life that you will use and use again.

I personally would not use any brand of eggshell paint on a kitchen cupboard, it is not robust enough for the job. Gloss or satinwood is what you should be looking at. I've always used Dulux, but have recently defected to Valspar ( crown ) at B&Q due to issues with colour mixing, colour matching. We have just painted our utility room using this including plastic pipework. It's holding up great. ( Valspar for wood and metal is what i've used ) - Just get a good all round primer which will be dictated to by the type of cupboard door you have - The Armstead range of primers at Dulux trade centres is great paint.

If you’re looking to replace just the frontals then look for a kitchen company who offer made to measure sizes. You don’t need to have the same brand because any of them will fit to the carcase as the supplier will order them in without hinge hole drillings and then put them in for you in exactly the same position.

I've looked at various german brands when i've been to kitchen trade shows and there are certain features about them that i like, for example their ergonomic design based on the height of the individual user, this is why you have 780 cabinets with various height plinths as these cater to the height of the individual user, they consider the optimal height for your worktop is 15cm below the height of your elbow bent at 90 degrees, so for someone whose 180cm tall, you may need a 95cm worktop height but if you're 160cm tall then you have a 90cm worktop height. They also tend to work on a 125mm to 130mm drawer size matrix and the big manufacturers will buy/make their doors in these combinations [ie schuller who have 3 different cabinet heights] and various plinth heights. Here in the uk we limit ourselves to 720/730 heights and 150/160 plinths mainly. We also limit our cabinet depths to suit 600 deep worktops which not all german kitchen do, again this is a waste of space as if you have a quartz worktop the depth of this is much more flexable as its templated to suit the required depth, Another feature is the size of the void at the back of the cabinet, a uk kitchen will have a 40 to 50mm void for pipework whether you need it or not, again another waste of space, this also resticts the depth of the drawers to only 450 deep, whereas with a 20-30mm void you could have deeper 500mm drawers which is popular with higher end german kitchens. Looking at the construction of the cabinets, the german kitchens do say that they are made of a 'higher' density particle board [chipboard] and 19mm thick, in the uk though we use a lot of chipboard [to various density] with the most popular being from egger, this can come in a much wider range of colours/woodgrains than i've seen offered by any german manufacturer, i also think the construction of the backboard is important, having a thin hardboard back panel, slotted in a groove and stapled doesn't offer any structural strength, it doesn't guarentee the cabinet is square, you can't fix a back box to it for a socket and overtime i've seen these start to bow and fall out [tall larders], a sold 18mm backboard will keep the cabinet rigid and square, prevent the unit from twisting and racking so when you come to fit the doors these will be all level and in line. I get all my cabinets made to order and made from 18mm egger board including the backs, with the limiting factor being the doors i can get, for me to make cabinets at 780 tall instead of 720 would incurr a small surcharge per unit, to make them extra deep wouldn't be a problem, made with a 20mm void not a problem, 500mm deep legrabox comes as standard from my carcase supplier, true handleless isn't a problem, i also tend to only have the handle rail at the top only, i don't really like the mid rails on the drawers and instead offer 'tip on' push to open lower drawers but thats up to the client. Any wireworks can be prefitted at the factory for you and can be supplied by any of the quality manufacturers [kessebohmer or vauth sagel]. For doors, if you opt for something like fenix, this is supplied as a laminate sheet which is then bonded to a substrata, this can be anything like mdf [so it would need to be edged] or something like birch ply and the edge is polished up and lacquered/stained, looks really smart. These are all pretty easy to do, not overly complicated to design and depending on the size of the kitchen a lot less than 40k, for me to do this i've come out with fenix doors a bit more than a top price wren kitchen. if you have something like a Serica [supermatt 18mm mdf edged door] or acrylic faced door then it would be cheaper. If you want to discuss further your kitchen requirements feel free to contact me as what you describe you want from your kitchen is something that I could easily supply.