When did all kitchens in London/property mags start looking like this?

[AsparagusFern]

I'm a bit slow so bear with me but do all kitchens now suddenly seem to look like this?

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52431113.html

Huge knocked through kitchen, velux windows, bifold doors, kitchen island.

Nothing wrong with the look - I just suddenly realised that they seem to be everywhere.

I guess there does also seem to be a slight conformity to the look though, too. Just musing. Slow Sunday

[echt]

One thing I've always wondered is do people actually sit on those breakfast bar stools? I'm sure it could be a thread in itself. They look very uncomfortable, and are quite often to be seen on nature strips when it's time for the hard rubbish collections (Australia).

Worth noting that most new builds (and here it's cheaper to demolish and start again) have that look - open plan, the island, neutral shades, shiny, and a garden that's mostly hard standing.

[merrymouse]

I think lots of Victorian/Edwardian houses dont have side windows - who wants to look at an alley? Where I used to live in southwest London it was becoming more common to build into the side return on three stories to enable a loft conversion.

On the one hand it's clever use of space. On the other all this gentrification means fewer and fewer 'normal' family homes are available.

Although I suppose even normal scruffy homes sell for ridiculous amounts of money.

[Lollipopgirl8]

Me too Asparagus but looking at the price and comparing to London it's great value for money

[VolumniaDedlock]

i guess people like the character properties, but not the proportions.

we live at the other end of the country, in a very much smaller Victorian Semi. I am refusing to get an extension even though we need more space, as we'd lose fireplaces, cornicing and the original sash windows in the back of the house if we did, and TBH the original features were the reason we bought the place.

the other problem with these kitchen extensions on Victorian semis and terraces is that the gardens are exactly large to start off with. Often the extension then leaves a large family sized house with a teeny square of courtyard garden.

[VolumniaDedlock]

gardens aren't exactly large

[minipie]

Yep, all the houses near me look like that (the "done" ones anyway). I think it works and have plans to do something similar to ours layout wise. I like being in the same room with the whole family, as long as there is a separate room to retreat for quiet space.

We have separate smaller rooms at the moment and spend a lot of our time calling to each other from whichever room we are in. And it's much harder to keep an eye on the toddler, I have to constantly nip from the kitchen to the sitting room where she is playing.

of course by the time we can actually afford to do the knock through if ever, the DC will be a lot older so my views may have changed by then!

Interested to hear ideas for what else could be done with the standard Victorian terrace layout that would be better?

[JuanPotatoTwo]

We're considering an extension at the minute and I have to say I really like that look. I know it's ubiquitous but I can't think of anything I'd like better. I've done the Aga thing and the freestanding thing but I'm so sick of mess and clutter and tricky corners that I want to go as modern as I can get, with as much storage as humanely possible.

What would any of you suggest bearing in mind the above? Other than selling the dc. I'm so crap at ideas. We currently have 2 reception rooms apart from the kitchen/diner, so would keep one of those. Any ideas and pics gratefully received.

[slicedfinger]

We did that 15 years ago. Everyone thought we were mad at the time. I soooo miss that kitchen.

[Ragusa]

I agree, it's a really boring look, but probably quite functional.

However I don't think it's about the open-plan space itself but the way it's being used. Some clever use of tiling and different textures/ surfaces to zone the space, and something other than an in-line handleless kitchen, would make it look much less greige.

[Belleview]

That's exactly what I meant, Ragusa.

echt the bar stools are horrendous. I remember first having to perch politely at a friends house over ten years ago after her extension and refit and just being sooo dismayed. Deeply uncomfortable and just not nice at all.

[Marmitelover55]

I think bar stools must vary a lot! Ours (from john lewis) are very comfortable and guests like to perch ther while we are cooking. I sit there to eat breakfast. The DC often eat their tea there, or do homework. We used to have ikea bar stools in our old house and they were very uncomfortable.

[Rosalie43]

The house is lovely from the outside, but the kitchen is beyond awful - has the sterility of an operating theatre; those slabby kitchen "islands" make me think of something you'd conduct a post mortem on. Horrible bland colours, no soul, nasty hard surfaces even in the garden (which, surely, should be antithesis of hard..)

Reckon the look will date fast and all those slabby granite blocks will end up in landfill...I love my scrubbed pine kitchen table and bright colours

[NotCitrus]

The grey kitchen wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the entire house being done to match, and that mass of flat gloss units round the wall oven by the back door. At least it could be brightened up with a few tea towels and probably some Le Cruset pots on show, or painting/replacing the cupboard doors. Actually a funky coloured Corian/Silestone/recycled glass worktop would be great there.

I've got the half-width version so you walk through the dining area to get to the kitchen which has units on each side, and planning sage grey units, white walls and wood floor, but we have more than enough clutter to brighten up the place! And Shaker-style doors on the units rather than a large flat expanse.

[Donatellalymanmoss]

Wow, that really isn't a lot of house for the money, even by London standards I'd have thought!

As others have said it's a very practical layout, but the decor is a bit show home/ interiors magazine for my taste, but then a quirky, personalised, lived in look isn't what you go for when you're trying to sell a house. People know this, so you end up with a lot of the houses on the property sites looking very similar, but they aren't necessarily representative of what you'd see if you opened up the front doors of a house that's not up for sale.

[Millymollymama]

In the original picture, the table and chairs can easily be replaced by something brighter! They are not fixtures. Light, bright and airy is way better than dingy and small in my view. This house has been extended and £1.7 m is not that much for London!! I like kitchens that are streamlined and colour is easily added if you want it by accessories.

I have bar stools for my circular breakfast table which is built into the work top of my island. They are used all the time! We sit in the kitchen and talk to each other! The person cooking is not shut away from everyone else. We like having a more open plan house but have kept a separate room for cosy dining and a family room with a bigger TV and music set up. A larger open plan space means you can see what children are doing whilst you are in the kitchen area.

[Donatellalymanmoss]

Ok, you just tell yourself that £1.7m isn't a lot of money for a fairly standard house

[BeaufortBelle]

It's actually not for the style and location. Remember a three bed small terrace goes for about a million unextended.

[Donatellalymanmoss]

it shouldn't be normal for a 3 bed house that needs work to cost £1 million pounds, I don't live in London but even my very well paid friends who do would struggle to buy this without substantial family assistance. Thinking this is normal is part of the problem.

[BeaufortBelle]

But it isn't the house that commands the price, it's the location and it's determined by supply and demand. Remember too this is a relatively expensive part of London and is in zone 2.

[Donatellalymanmoss]

i just don't understand why anyone who buy a fairly ordinary house with no garden for nearly £2 million pounds, Battersea is nice enough but still. Anyway each to their own, I'll just sulk in my much larger, much cheaper house

[Donatellalymanmoss]

property market economics aren't just about supply and demand though, you also need to include availability of finance and speculation. It's the speculation that makes this a silly price not supply and demand.

[BeaufortBelle]

Because a less ordinary house with a bigger garden would cost more than three million, possibly more than four.

[Donatellalymanmoss]

but you can buy bigger nicer houses for less, in nice locations.

[BeaufortBelle]

But not in London! A cab ride home from the theatre or after a late night at work. Not in a leading world capital city.

[Donatellalymanmoss]

In all honestly that still doesn't make it for money.