I think some people expect too much and don’t realise what ‘premium’ means and costs.
As others have said, in peak holiday weeks, £1k won’t be buying you a premium cottage for a large group. People often pay that for a caravan on a park. It might get you a fairly average cottage for 4. You can easily be looking at £2-3k for a luxury place to sleep 8 in a prime location.
Even at top prices, places won’t look as if no-one has ever stayed in them before. Towels won’t always look brand new and never washed. Sofas won’t look as if no-one has ever sat on them, or carpets just laid. Even in things are replaced regularly, these places can be used hard and simply won’t look brand new for very long, although substantial wear shouldn’t be evident.
Regarding consumables, I think it’s extremely non-green to want full bottles of stuff you might use a tiny bit of, or no part used loo roll or kitchen roll. What’s wrong with a loo roll that has the end folded to show someone has checked it, plus a spare or two. What’s wrong with a half used bottle of washing up liquid?
And we are talking about self catering places. SELF is a key word here and unless it is specified that there will be lots of consumables, you shouldn’t expect somewhere to provide you with all the items you’d provide yourself. Of course, if that is important to you, look for places that do provide some of those and offer a service to pay for, or it’s included in a welcome hamper, or local produce hamper, etc.
I think that if people are wanting food to be there on arrival, all consumables etc, then a hotel, or possibly daily service etc property is what they want and not a self catering cottage. Sometimes people have stayed in hotels or serviced properties previously and forget the differences.
And I agree there are cheapskate holiday cottage owners out there. They can be in fab locations or rubbish ones and be providing rubbish beds, or anxient bedding, or properties not decorated since the 70s, or shabby and worn furniture and facilities. It’s not really good enough.
For those who want the best, go with a named company that vets and sets very high standards for those who let with them. English Country Cottages has a rigorous checklist and won’t be tolerating 1980s shagpile carpet, or beds from the 1970s. They will have Minimum standards about matching furniture in bedrooms etc for their different star ratings. Even then, the properties are self catering, and whilst you will probably get towels and bedding, you’ll still be expected to provide tea towels, beach towels etc. They are not hotels.