I LOVE the idea of work station sinks.

If you ask me, marble imitations, so quartz, porcelain tiles and similia are the winners. You get the look without the fuss of maintenance. Quartz underrated.

I didn’t like farmhouse sinks till I bought a house with one and my back feels so much better. Also I love one big sink

I think quartz is really underrated, and the fact that people who’ve never had it think it’s overrated is proof 😂 They are the most easy care countertops I’ve ever had, and I’ve had marble, granite, laminate, soapstone, wood, and tile. Quartz looks like stone with none of the issues. It also doesn’t have seams like tile and laminate. Go with a plain color. I’m doing white next.

I don't like the sconces that were in your video, but I LOVE sconces on either side of a mirror in a bathroom. They are so much more flattering than the over-the-mirror light that causes shadows on your face.

I just tore down my wall 2 weeks ago, and I'm still without new cabinets. Feels like a nightmare I'm in now & don't know when it's gonna be done... so looking in KZfaq for ideas to tips to avoid bad decisions.. glad I happened upon your channel!

Purpose for a waterfall is because I have English bulldogs and it’s easier to clean off mess from them. Easier than the cabinet finish. Waterfall does have a purpose sometimes!😊

The curtain sink. Throw back to 1950s prefab homes built for postwar boom in UK. I remember my parents apartment. Good for circulation and hiding cleaning products. True story, I brought home a little chick that I traded for my mom’s best suit jacket. Bosco grew up under the sink behind the curtain until we emigrated to Canada

- My top underrated thing that I put in all my kitchens: Deep, not too wide drawers, near to the sink, one drawer assigned to each family member, to hide away all their rinsed glasses/spoons/bowls that don't need the dishwasher yet and things like sports bottles they grab constantly and don't want to put away. This can save marriages!!! (A high cabinet for each is an alternative, but the drawer with a plastic bin inside is perfect.) - The problem with sconces is people change their kitchens too much and the sconces will never be in the right place again. Overhead lights work fine. - I installed 2 workstation sinks but my house is a year late so I haven't had a chance to use it yet. I admit that for all the gizmos you need a really large one, but I just love the idea of having the strainer sit right there, the cutting board, etc. - I don't understand the appeal of the waterfall islands, other than to show you have money to waste. - I love the one shallow shelf fairly low to keep things off the counter but quickly accessible. I think it looks cool and is functional. Currently I have a bar from which I hang shelves, but IKEA discontinued that :-( - I always thought the Samsung screen panel was stupid and then I became totally obsessed with it within 2 minutes at the store lol. I did not buy one though because it seems dumb to integrate technology which changes all the time with a fridge that lasts a long time. - Pot fillers are dumb because you still have to carry the pot back to the sink at the end. - Drawers everywhere! - Love my induction cooktop! - The glass rinse is good for sports water bottles, but for regular glasses I don't get it. The outside of my glasses seem to get dirtier than the inside, fingerprints etc.

I agree closed kitchen is underrated. Also as I was watching it dawned on me that the more open the kitchen the more lighting is needed (unless you don’t have enough windows) because your lights don’t have the walls to bounce light off of - it’s dissipated over the whole house!

All of these particular trends should be looked at from a wheelchair or a D a perspective. The curtain works well for those who don’t want anything under the sink so they can pull their wheelchair up to it. Some of the other items you mentioned it might apply as well.

Contemplating a BIG kitchen renovation and looking at lessons learned in other kitchen renovations. My goal is to have a great functional layout that works and provides tons more storage and workspace than I have. I did a cosmetic makeover 10-12 years ago that isn’t wearing well - laminate flooring warping, etc. I want to front load costs if I can so I have a perfectly functional kitchen for the rest of my life. Currently, I’m in my early 50s with no grandkids, yet. I love cooking, canning, and entertaining. My parents did a big kitchen reno when they retired 8 years ago. They got cabinets with shelves for all base cabinets and have 3 blind corners 😱 in their kitchen post reno. 8 years later their white custom cabinets are getting scuffed in places like in front of the sink, where my dad as the primary dish-doer’s jeans rivets scrape against the cabinets. I want to set up a kitchen which is super functional for the rest of my life and will be either something my kids want to fight over or will be viewed as a timeless functional kitchen when they inherit and sell it and will serve me well for the rest of my life.

Have you seen the induction cooktop UNDER the countertop? It's amazing!

Slab backsplash. GREAT! Ease of cleaning is top priority. I want a granite backsplash to contrast with the countertop.

44:15 What do you need with a pot filler? If it's too inconvenient to carry a pot of cold water from the sink to the gas hob, how will you carry the pot of boiling pasta to the sink to drain through the colander?

Pulldowns, definitely underrated. Even tall cooks have trouble reaching the top run of caninets.

If you get a solid slab backsplash, the electrical outlets could be mounted under the cabinets.

Had to catch replay...👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻I was so very late🤐. Loved the mason jar at beginning of show...anyway, fun show😃!!! hate I missed the live...Your opinions are so incredibly humble🤗 yet very valuable. Your talent seems to be expanding and unfolding brilliantly 🌅 every week...Your channel is growing...and yes I will be a broken record I want Gammy on (⏰🕑⏳ still waiting 😊) for an amazingly fun show (with a lil mix of wisdom and experience). Of course your beautiful wife was a wonderful compliment to your expertise...keep up the good work...looking forward to more creative ( head and shoulders, knees and toes😅) ideas as well as broadening your audience which in return will bring great business to you and your family (Booming, thriving, and prosperous). Great blessing to the Tobin Crew 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻& Gammy too💖

Will be building. On the list are the work station sink and the slab backsplash. The solution to the electrical outlets for our design are electrical strip outlets tucked under the cabinets at the back and light strips at the front of the undercabinents; where the light should be directed.

Counter top pop up electrical receptacles.

Workstation sinks -- I don't have one, however, judging from the fact they came around, there must be some need. Imo, I have purchased so many things and use so many things (gadget to dry dishes over sink, gadget to strain in, gadget just to set things in like vegetables that I am working on getting to as I am prepping, gadget to hold sponges and other things, bowls and crocks to sort silverware and other utensils that I am out of space in my dish drainer or trying to sort if I am washing a ton of things at once for one reason or another, etc). For me, I am thinking a strainer that can double to dry a few items, I have an acrylic one that stretches over one side of the sink, when needed, may be enough. What I think I could use more but am afraid it will make my kitchen look too cluttered and block light is an over the sink shelf that can be multipurposed for drying and plants (none fit with my tall faucet, so I have not tried it), OR a fancy double level dish dryer so I never have any dishes in the sink that are dirty, but that takes up counter space and happen to be too tall to fit under my cabinets, so I have not tried one. I am about to renovate my kitchen because it is so inefficiently arranged, I think it is original from the very early 80's. Found your channel somehow when searching for videos about refrigerators (counter vs standard depth), because mine went out and I don't have my renovation planned but am forced to pick one out NOW. Terrified I will regret my choice, but I think I am gonna go for counter depth because my kids and I always lost food in old deeper one, but it currently slides into a cut out in the wall next to the pantry I want redone SOMEHOW. That cut out is deep! ugh this is stressful. Bright side, love your channel, and you have helped me make so many choices for the upcoming renovation.

It's not the gadgets. It's the depth of the sink, and the ability to have enough room to wash larger items like trays. I like the cutting board and drain, and low double sink option.

To me what you showed are lights over head lights… sconces are on the side generally used for task lighting in bathrooms… two in the side of some thing like a mirror or a fireplace or in a bedroom next to the bed sides… lights and lighting is never overrated…

The thing about sconces is: easy to change the bulbs and to clean . I am elderly and those traits are quite important.

When you put trash cans into cabinets,there is no easy way to open those without touching the cabinet handles. I only found one KZfaq video of someone who made a custom pedal to open the cabinet. But shouldn’t that come as a common option for cabinets that hide trash cans? What does everyone think?

Toekick storage is a good idea for seldom-used flat items or hiding Grandma's silver from burglars, I'd say underrated, but is it practical?

New subscriber here...I only like open shelving if there is enough storage in the base cabinets. We're renovating our 1967 kitchen and even w/o upper cabinets, there will be more useful/ accessible storage for all the necessities in the base cabinets (mostly drawers)....leaving room for my herb garden on open shelves. I can't wait! And I hate grout. I want as little grout as possible throughout the house. So im looking for slab backsplash ideas that won't break the wallet and still look nice. I'll have to look up what a "pot filler" is lol I've never heard of it. When our microwave broke, we never bothered replacing it, so it's not part of the renovation. I couldn't go more than 2 days w/o a dishwasher and I toyed w the idea of buying 2 lol. If the kitchen footprint allowed it, I'd definitely choose to have 2 dishwashers 😂🤣

At mark 25:00, I could definitely not reach the corner cabinet beside the stove, b/c it is in the corner and tucked away from the edge. I like Waterfalls in Nature. Nowadays, it seems to put a huge amount of cost into something that is a highly usable, durable working surface. Thank you for this video, Mark. Watched from Texas on You Tube, as this is how I "found" you!

I like one small open shelf near the stove for plating.

in a small kitchen workstation-sinks are really the deal. i think they are underrated by a lot

I like sconces better, you can reach the light bulbs without needing a ladder to reach the lights, these are a bit too high though. I also use my floor lamp that has survived for the majority of my life, its been a good ten to twenty years and the floor lamp still works.

Closed kitchen. I have a galley with enough space to get appliances in at one end and a 27-inch-wide door at the other, trying to work with the architect for an affordable way to open the 32 inch door to 48 inches and the 27 out to 32.

Curtain sink- I visited a genuine tuscan farmhouse and it had several of these

workstation sink gives you flexibility of a double/1.5 sink using add on things like colanders/strainers but with the core functionality of a big single for pots etc. Good compromise if you have limited counter space but want a big sink

Love my sink workspace, double with slated rack and cutting board no over large

Microwaves ... overrated?! Seriously? Re-warming food, re-warming coffee, 12 minute jacket potatoes x2, ready meals for microwaving (when cooking's the last thing I want to do - we've all been there, right?), two minute oatmeal, in-the-bag 2 minute popcorn, etc etc. If microwave units are overrated then so too are spoons! 😆 Other than that, very useful video. Thanks.

I put 2 black carriage sconces above my window and LOVE them.

I’m really sorry IKEA discontinued their farmhouse sink that went to to back of the counter with the hole for the faucet. I have a U shape kitchen and have to have a counter seam. I had hoped to use flat stock laminate and use the sink as the break between the two panels. But now that they’ve changed it that doesn’t work. I LOVE the look of white farmhouse sinks and of curtains under counters. But I do worry about breaking dishes in a farmhouse sink (if I go stainless I won’t go farmhouse) and curtains at the sink make it impossible to store most used items in a basket on the inside of the door as I’ve always done. But curtains under a counter in a pantry area 👍🏻!

I am putting in Marble counter and back splash, the plugs (2) cut intone the stone looks poor. Would they be better placed low and next too the counter.

Ikea looks way more expensive then it is and if you are on a budget it's very tempting to give your kitchen a premium look. It fits together great, but it is quite fragile though and especially the countertops aren't that awesome. It's like 50/50 where some parts of an Ikea kitchen are absolute cheap trash and other parts are very good or well designed.

For new construction and structural remodels get as much window space as you can. I'm planning a remodel to reframe the exterior kitchen wall and replacing two 32-inch-wide windows with three 24s. Problem is, my windows look out into the next-door neighbors' kitchen. Maybe blinds on just the lower sashes to allow the natural light in.

Gas cooktop UNDERRATED! Electric would be great, but the frequency of power outages in my neighborhood (in the middle of a major metropolitan area) can make preparing a meal, even in calm weather, an exercise in frustration. In addition, the electric grid capacity may be able to support the so-called carbon free pipedream someday, but the infrastructure just isn't there.

The cutting board over the sink is great if you’re using a garbage disposal. My scraps go to the chickens so it doesn’t matter where I chop. Where do you store all that stuff when you’re doing dishes?

10:20 Maybe the outlets could be less offensive with a more pronounced contrast and not the 79-cent bargain line cover plates? I have seen outlets that pop up out of the countertop, but they may not meet code in some locations. Maybe mount the outlets high near the wall cabinets where they won't draw the eye?

You may consider that some of these things you think are overrated are overrated until you have one or a good one. I thought gas was overrated until I got a Thermador. Had Jenn Air for 16 years and didn't like gas. But the old kitchen had a glass cooktop and I had forgotten how much the glass would scratch. Also, I love my pot filler which I wouldn't have gotten if we hadn't moved our cooktop to where the fridge was. I wouldn't go without a pot filler anymore unless the kitchen was really small.

I don't want things sitting on my sink. However I would like a raised colander just not stored there. I have plug in sconces as it was the only way to get more light without getting an electrician. I could use pull out shelves above my stove. It is hard to access.

On the glass washer push disc….what do you want clean? The bottom of the glass, or where someone’s lips were? Hand wash and dishwasher clean both, not just the bottom

Curtains under the 'farmhouse sink' look better than doors with water damage.

Hey Mark, don’t think this was mentioned but would appreciate your thoughts on double dishwashers. 👍 or 👎

I have a small lamp on my table, looks like I’m sitting in a quaint little restaurant

I go to ikea for ideas and for the cabinet inserts.

Super easy to keep clean, no dirty grout

Another pet hate... Cabinets which do not go up to the ceiling.. that grease space is so dated.

What is the point of those scones? I prefer to have wall cabinets and under cabinet lighting.

I left all social media platforms except LinkedIn. However, I would rejoin Pinterest if Mark started to post there.

Instagram rocks! Wood countertops are HIGH maintenance if you are using it as the prep area. Induction is the way to go...gas as a natural resource is environmentally unsound and gas gives off more fumes and needs extra venting and air return. Love the show.

No grout to clean un slab backslash. And easy to clean

Would have been nice if you could speak about pans and pots/ustensils hanging above from the ceiling...

Take my stove but leave the microwave!

The thing about sconces: easy to reach to replace the bulbs.

I know this is an old video, but I actually think sconces are underrated. Firstly, I don't think any lighting is over-rated, especially if that lighting option isn't redundant and allows for more layering with your lighting. Sconces offer variety in task lighting styles to certain interior design styles that might look better with sconces over under-mount lights. Generally speaking, I think under-mount lighting CAN work anywhere, but sconces offer a different task lighting option that might be more cohesive in an interior design project.

Why is quartz overrated just genuinely curious . I haven’t heard his opinion on it yet and planning a kitchen remodel. Thank you 😊

Two tone? What do you think of a white kitchen with a dark granite countertop?

Get a soft mute pedal so we can see you sip but not hear you. High-end media operations all have them. Love the show

Why do they always show stainless steel sinks. I love brass faucets in the kitchen but dislike stainless for a sink. What do you recommend for a sink with brass faucets and quartz countertop.

Do I remember correctly that you have a barn door for your kitchen, or is that one of the other influencers? If I do the 48-inch wide opening from the kitchen to the dining room, I will have to use two 24 barn doors, maybe glass panels to give an open look, meeting in the middle.

You said you think Quartz is overrated, but what about Quartzite? I feel like quartzite has been on the rise and replacing marble and granite for that look and appeal. Thoughts?

Are you in Nova Scotia near Halifax? I'm in New Germany and am in need of a kitchen reno. Do you recommend anyone locally?

Replay. Great video. H8 my induction stovetop. Miss my gas

4:45 for tiny kitchens I can see it. But i can’t imagine it being practical for two people working in a kitchen and needing to share access to the sink. It just isn’t that much of a benefit over prepping on the counter nearby

Hidden outlets maybe??? What do you think, Mark? I only use KZfaq, I'm a dinosaurus, sorry ROFL. Love from Pinkie

Litteraly over the top and down the side!

I didn't know pull downs existed. I know a couple people that have base curtains. I didn't know it was a trend. I thought people just did it when the door breaks and they can't afford a new cabinet.

Appliance storage! Underrated

My mom always said, the moment it is 100% available to everyone it becomes trashy. Stick with classics and you wont make a fuss, but you also wont waste money.

10:27 more grease-space above the cabinets.

I always thought the curtain under the sink was an accident or like desperate times call for desperate measures type thing. I am surprised to see them in kitchens where there is clearly a budget not to do it. I don't like it at all, it looks a mess in the kitchens you show. If it were a farmhouse or cottage type kitchen, maybe country, and the kitchen looked a certain way, this could look pretty, but I don't think for upscale kitchens it fits, at all.

Mark 😮where’s the live chat gone 😢so funny to read as you do the livestream 😂

All of the pull down units I’ve seen were too high for me to operate!

Don’t know where the poll is but I ONLY use FB. I’ve never used any of the others and have no desire to.

bullnose, halfbullnose counter tops?

Wood countertops? Why is that even a thing? I have a teak cutting board and an assortment of plastic boards I can pull out of the baking sheet cubby when I need it.

I was at ikea in Halifax Saturday…there is a huge kitchen with a hidden fridge. I couldn’t even reach the top two shelves in the fridge. Who puts a fridge up high so only people who are over six for tall can use it?

1st photo of workstation sink looks like a pet feeding/washing station

Agree OTR UNDERRATED. OTR is where God intended Chef Mike to live!

Barn doors or pocket doors?

Sconces catch grime and dust, releasing it at the most inopportune time into your delicate special-occasion showpiece dessert...

20:00 The fridge doors have to open.

Lamps? No. More tchochkes to catch grime and grease, properly positioned general and task lighting and you won't have to deal with unnecessary plugs and cables cluttering your work space. Lamp at 35:36 is ugly, and so low they had to use a cookbook as a stand to get adequate height. 37:00 Lamp is cute, but do you really want to waste real estate on it? "I have too much counter space," said nobody ever in the history of cooking! Lamps are definitely overrated.

People could hit their knees getting in or out of a chair that is next to the ends of waterfall counters. An annoying obstacle.

Sconces depends on space. Generally I’d rather have pendants. I’d NEVER want pot lights.

Curtain sink base? Irredeemable! Probably the stupidest idea since the Edsel! How do you install childproof latches? Don't tell me it's all right if you don't have kids. I still remember Aunt Betty and Uncle Hank swooping up in their '48 Packard Station Sedan (think of the _Emergency!_ episode where Chet offers to drive the guys to the basketball tournament in "the wagon") and ten kids (three with chicken pox) spilling out literally just as Mom and Dad and I were backing out of the driveway for a long-planned cross-country road trip. Kids, like cockroaches WILL find their way into your kitchen. Oh ,and you can be sure your cat will decide the sink base is the prefect place to have her kittens and you thought it was a neutered male.

Keep hearing that turmeric stains on Quartz, is that true?

The only thing to do with those plastic outlets is it "faux-finish" the plates to match the surrounding marble. Anything else will detract. A tacky solution but what else would not detract from the slab???

About a pull down microwave?

44:08 Statement hoods OVERRATED! Where could I put the microwave?

I wouldn't of been any good to the team with the quiz ..sorry I missed it though.

Poor people in Alabama use to do this

Bocci 22 Outlets or Undercabinet Electrical

Soda taps?