To think a kitchen should last more that 12 years?

[TinklyLittleLaugh]

I live on a small (a dozen houses or so) estate. And i'm a nosy cow, so every time someone puts their house up for sale, I have a look at it on rightmove. Every single house that has been up in the last few years has upgraded their kitchen and often their bathrooms from the original.

Our houses are top end 4 and 5 bed houses. They didn't have cheap fittings put in them, there was a decent choice of finishes. I have raised four kids in my house and, honestly, my kitchen is in really good nick. I have one travertine style bathroom that looks a bit dated, but not badly enough to rip the whole thing out.

Some people just seem to spend money for the sake of it.

My kitchen is 21yrs old. But in the that time it's needed all applicances replaced (every single one), it's had flooring replaced, been repainted twice and 3 cupboards and a tap have been repaired and new blinds put in. I can see why people would pull the whole thing out. I don't want the expense of pulling the whole thing out so mine is struggling on with fairly frequent repairs. Things on new estates aren't built to last, nothing is these days, high end or not. It's shameful. Everything has built in obsolescence. Many of my neighbors have replaced their kitchens by now.

Also when houses change hands, estate agents so glibly write "in need of modernisation" when things just look dated with nothing wrong with them.

I hate the expense, hassle, mess and waste of replacing. But we have home fashion now as well as clothing fashion!

TinklyLittleLaugh - if the quality and finish of a kitchen is very good to excellent then it will definitely last longer than 12 years! The kitchen in my parents' house dates from 1972 and is back in fashion now. It was a very trendy kitchen for the 70s, then went out of fashion and now it's popular again. It's like a circle. Whenever I have or wear something that's old and out of fashion I say to people that it's 'retro or vintage'!

Ours is a Shreiber kitchen from MFI, I do miss that shop

Put our kitchen in when we moved here 31 years ago. Still got it.

My kitchen is 30 plus years old and crap while the bathroom is the original 1963 bathroom from when the house was built. I'd like to replace both, but suspect I will have a long wait. It does seem like a waste of money if people redecorate every five minutes but it's none of my business.

I changed the kitchen when I moved into this house, it was only 10 years old (that's how old the house was). It was sturdy and good quality, but I didn't like the finish (rustic oak) and the layout was terrible, the U-shape meant there were too many internal corners and all the appliances were in the wrong place, for instance the oven door opened into the path across the kitchen. Now I have an L-shaped kitchen with bottom cabinets in high-shine latte colour and, on a separate wall, floor-to-ceiling duck egg blue cabinets. There aren't any top cabinets anymore which makes the kitchen look so much bigger. I think kitchen companies generally do a standard 'ergonomic' layout, but that won't suit the working style of some.

My kitchen was in the house when we bought it, it's lasted for over 20 treats, and that's just us, don't know how long it was in before that.

I had to change the appliances, one by one, but the cabinets are absolutely fine.

People like to put their own stamp on the home they buy. Kitchens are an important room for most families. I don't see the big deal.

Also there's a difference between your own 12 year old kitchen and someone else's. I'd want to rip that out too to be honest.

Barbaraofseville I think you and I have the same bathroom!!! OP I think many people want the latest this that and another and I guess thats up to them. Im kinda make do and mend person so rarely replace something unless it's no longer functional.

YANBU

But when I have bought my houses (one at a time!) I put a new kitchen in both. I love to cook and I spend most of my time in it so I want it perfect for me.

Both previous owners had their cooking triangle all wrong

Whooo I cant do any of it. I have skills, they aren’t home renovation ones. I work long hours and don’t have time to learn - or resources to spend on learning/waste on projects I get wrong. The bathroom is functional. It’ll have to wait indefinitely I’m afraid. It’s not realistic to think everyone can just do it themselves. Congratulations on being so practical though.

Maybe they sold the units?

Why do you even care?

Although some people seem to have more money than sense. We've had the same kitchen for over 27 years, and it's only recently started to get slightly shabby. It is a good quality one though.

I think generally things should be built to last. I find it odd that people regularly replace furniture, carpets and curtains that are still perfectly good because of changes in fashion. Of course if you move into a new house and don't like what's there you might want to change things but to go all the trouble and expense of changing your own choice of kitchen within a few years seems odd to me.

Odd coincidence that you mention 12 years. Our kitchen units were put in about 12 years ago, replacing the kitchen we'd inherited about a decade earlier (which was probably a few years old by then, and not in great nick by that stage). This year we had some major work done in the house that was going to affect the kitchen. Our first thought was that we would have to replace the units and I said to the builder what a shame that was as they were still perfectly good. He said there was no need, he could move them as required, which he did. They look great. We did have to get a new worktop but that was all. I think they are good for another 12 years easily. They weren't bottom of the range originally but certainly didn't cost megabucks.

Yanbu. Our kitchen isn't one I would have picked but there is nothing wrong with it. There is no way I could justify plonking it in landfill and buying a new one. I'll just wait until it eventually wears out.

Mine was definitely built to last, hand made, wood.

In fact I'd feel guilty and wasteful if I were to rip it out, even now.

Ours was put in in 1978. Still looks good. Solid oak in a light tone. I'll bet it cost a fair bit back then but it has lasted well.

We're hoping to be here another 20 years so the kitchen will be 60 years old by then and presumably the new owners will fancy a change at that point. Or maybe not if they are as tight as us.

We sold our kitchen on Gumtree. It was lovely, solid maple and quartz worktops. I could have sold it 10 times over.

When we moved in we replaced our kitchen and bathrooms but they were 30+yrs old and literally falling off the walls as well as being quite grim.
Our new kitchen is handmade wood and we expect it to be the only kitchen we have in this house. Same goes for the bathrooms. We expect to stay here for 20+years.
My clients are replacing a charming pine kitchen from the late 80's in the refurbishment we are doing for them.
In our previous homes we did replace kitchens but again one was a lovely 70's snot green number and the other was so old it wasn't fitted! We tend to buy older properties and do them up though so it's kinda inevitable.
My main reason for not replacing things like that isn't cost or the waste (although I'm not a big fan of that either) it's the upheaval and inconvenience.

Personally, I think it should.

But then my idea of cooking is making a sandwich with a side of crisps

I think it's both, Cracker, at least that's how I see it.

My kitchen is 23 years old and is beginning to look a bit shabby. It's wood, and dirt gets in the cracks which I clean out quite successfully with a toothbrush. Probably doesn't do it much good though.

This thread has decided me. I'm going to get a new kitchen with easy wipe clean doors, and knobs that don't fall off, and those tall easy access cupboards with pull-outable shelves.. Oh yes indeedy!

My kitchen is nearly 20 years old. It was cheap when the builders put it in and it is looking it's age, both in terms of wear and tear (it has had a hard life) and in a world where everyone else in Essex has hyper high gloss, sleek kitchens (I still prefer my tatty one though).
One day we will replace it, it will be a few years yet. When we do, I expect it to see me out.

In our third house our kitchen was a right mess. But we had no money so I painted the kitchen units and we bought work surfaces from b&q and fitted them ourselves. It looked fine to be honest. Not great but got us through.

When we bought this house the kitchen was 34 years old and we replaced it, first time I’ve done it. I can honestly say it had done its job and it was time.

The layout was terrible, with upper units only on one of the four walls , and the built in oven was also 34 years old and in a size they don’t make any more so replacing it would have been a nightmare. The whole thing also stank. A sort of musty smell that no amount of cleaning got rid of.

No cooker hood meant the walls and windowsills had deep grease embedded as did the units. The dishwasher and fridge were slimline becayse that was the space within the units left available. I did hum and haw about having it sanded and replacing work tops, and then trying to put new units in to fix the layout , but ultimately we just bit the bullet and got rid.

We might be twenty grand worse off, but it was totally the right decision. The kitchen fitters agreed as they did thr filthy job of ripping it out. especially when they found dead mice behind the units..,