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

[Devora]

There are of course choices to be made over where to live, even in London. But they're not great choices, to my mind: you can live somewhere grottier, or smaller, or with a longer commute. I choose to live in a nice area and to have a fair bit of space, the compromises are that my house is fugly and on an A road and that I spend 3 hours a day commuting and so missing out on time with my children.

And before the inevitable, "Well, why choose to live in London" post: this is my hometown. it is where my work is based (and I can't do my career elsewhere). It's where my family and friends are and where my dd's dad lives. I'm not going to give it up to the avaricious maw of international capitalism without a good fight.

Which is why, madness though it is, people spend silly money to live in zone 2.

[Donatellalymanmoss]

Whoops missed out the value.

[tootsietoo]

Grey is the new beige. You could buy a house in Crewe which would probably cost less than that kitchen. Only an hour and a half on the train from London.

[Donatellalymanmoss]

Of course their are choices to be made, mine would be to wait until the London property bubble burst in your circumstances.

[Lollipopgirl8]

Bubble might never really burst
True it's a world capital and everyone wants to live in London
Also really expensive area to be fair
Life is unfair!

[BeaufortBelle]

So, when's the bubble going to burst then? It burst in 1990 and we stretched ourselves to buy beyond our means. Then it burst in 2002'after 9/11 and then again in 2009/10. It reached a high peak in 2014 and we sold the 1990 house post major refurb.

Come play it Donatella if you think all those who have lived there are mad. Looks out at rolling grounds "thanks, mad SW London - you served us well, but crikey we took some chances and held our breath at times". And ultimately fitted a bleddy awful kitchen with bifold doors and wine fridge, beige marble, pearl grey and white beige paint.

[Donatellalymanmoss]

I wish I knew! I'm just someone who bought and got burned in a different bubble who has quite a cautious approach to buying property.

[Donatellalymanmoss]

You were just lucky that you got to sell at a peak what if you'd needed to move at point where the market had dropped, or lost your job at that point and had to sell for less than you'd paid. For every winner there is a looser and continuing growth in property prices without wage inflation is economically unsound in the long term

[Donatellalymanmoss]

I never said people who live there are mad btw. Just that 1.7 million for that house should be no ones idea of value for money, and that my opinion on that will not be changed.

[BeaufortBelle]

Donatella, I think the market has already turned. There will in my opinion be negative growth in and around London for the next 5-7 years, interest rates are on the rise, wages have been held for too long, the world economies are in or heading towards turmoil. I'd only buy property now if I had to have somewhere to live and I could live more cheaply on a mortgage than paying rent. Buy to let is pretty saturated and good tenants are hard to find.

My advice right now. Pack into your pension, have an ISA, put a couple of grand in premium bonds, save hard to toe into the next rising market after 2020. Everyone in their early 30s is ignoring me and who knows, they may be right.

I may be very wrong of course but now is not the time to be highly geared.

I/we have never bought a house we couldn't also see as a home. I am in the 5th right now. I owned the second for eight years and just about broke even. It wasn't a good investment over those eight years but had I played the long game it would have been.

Never borrow more than you can afford to pay back and have a back up plan. Insurance, renting, lodgers, etc.

[DelBoyImNot]

I agree the market has turned Beaufort but 5-7 years negative growth? I've always figured there is so much demand waiting that for a slump that when there is one it will begin to grow again after 2-3 years.

[Wishful80smontage]

I like the kitchen but those chair covers are bloody awful!

[cressetmama]

Our kitchen has a similar layout, and is very practical. However, it was built that way in the 1970s... and the units are original tatty. But we have a terracotta tile Karndean floor which makes it friendly and warm.