I don’t think that the stainless/ granite/ wood combos will become dated themselves, but more the styling and features of the appliances and the design of the cabinetry is what will become dated.
I personally don’t ever see granite/ stone counter tops being “un-cool” or out of style… mostly because I am such a rock nerd. I look at floor tiles counter tops with a hand lens… yes, sometimes even in public.
The best idea would be to choose classically styled cabinetry- stuff that will look good (not hatefully ugly) in 10, 20 or even 30 years. Appliances only last so long anyways and can be changed out more inexpensively than cabinetry.
For example…my grandmothers kitchen, in ranch house on a ranch/farm in Nebraska, is like this. The house was built in the 1960’s (the house replaced the original house that was built with no indoor plumbing, well I guess it had plumbing if you counted the hand pump at the kitchen sink :eek: ) The only things she has had replaced over the years were the refrigerator, the stove (slide in range) and the oven (double oven on the wall). Heck the flecked Formica counter tops is even still the original install. Still looks contemporary, not dated, even after 40+ years.
Will someone please explain to me this modern fashion??
It is not only ugly… it is also just plain STUPID.
'Cause, you see, a sink is designed to catch and hold water. And water flows DOWNWARD, right? So when you have splashes on the counter top, you just push the excess water into the sink, right? No, lets try it a different way–make the sink stick up 12 inches above the counter. That makes it nice and easy to clean up the water spills, right? HUH???
Heh, when I looked at a Christmas picture recently from our home in the mid-70s – I was too young to remember it but young enough to be there – my exclamation to my mom was “are those colors REAL, or has the photo faded?” “Nope, they’re real.” So 70’s colors, at least, already look faded!
What i don’t understand-the mania for restaurant -style ranges for home kitchens-the VIKING plant (in MS) is backlogged with orders. this despite the fact that these things (restaurant ranges) cost like 4X the price, use gobs of energy, and pump out so much heat that you need a high-capacity exhaust fan-why? most people aren’t cooking for more than 3-4 people!
I admire the gorgeousness of some of the handcrafted vessels, but I’d display or use them as bowls. I agree with you–I have enough trouble with mildew without a continual ring of water up under the edge of the vessel.
Damn it. I’m trying not to think about it. My stainless fridge came Tuesday, which completes the stainless appliance trifecta and I guess immediately dates my kitchen. I just got them because I didn’t want white, and I didn’t want black, and…? They’ll fit in better when I get around to remodeling and get rid of the black and white floor and the white cabinets. Stainless doesn’t look good with white, IMHO. I think it looks fine with wood, though. When I do remodel I’m going to go with natural maple cabinets and maybe green linoleum on the floor.
One of the HGTV shows (the one with the horrible mother/daughter real estate agents who try to suggest ways to fix up your home so someone will buy it) said that the investment in stainless steel appliances doesn’t pay off, but granite does.
I don’t really care for the cold stainless look, and even though I love wood, the wood cabinet facing you can put on some appliances to make them look like cabinets does nothing for me. If I had a big kitchen where light wasn’t an issue, I might go with black appliances. I have a tiny kitchen though, so white is it.
I prefer stainless sinks to porcelain though. I hate the way the porcelain scratches.
And there is some gorgeous granite out there. I love when they tour the stone yard and look at all the amazing slabs available. I just know I would be too lazy to treat the granite on a schedule, even a yearly one.
My fantasy (no idea how practical it is, that is, whether it is the right kind of stone) would be to get stone with little fossils imbedded in it for countertops. I just think that would be very cool.
My opinion on the matter: unless you are doing up a house for resale, just get what appeals to you, and if possible something that is kind to the style of your house, is of good quality, and works well with the flow of your space; don’t be concerned about how well it will “date” because there is nothing you can do about that.
I wish I’d gotten porcelain. We went with thermocast - and within a couple of months, I got a big chip on the divider between the two sinks. I bumped it with a glass baking dish - not even metal, fercryinoutloud!! It’s now covered by an attractive rubber thingy. When I have a couple hundred dollars I don’t know what to do with, I’m getting a new sink.
That’s the way I approached it. We intend to be in this house a long time, and chances are, the kitchen will be redone at least once before we sell (or die) so why would I design it for some theoretical future buyer? It’d be different if we were looking to move in a couple of years, but that is highly unlikely.
I would love to have a boomerang countertop or anything that is dated and retro.
My aunt moved into a house that had a bathroom vanity that was something I’ve never seen before or since. It looked like purple stones sunk in grape jello laminate countertop. (the floor was something non-matching.)
She hated it, as one can imagine. I adored it. Naturally, it was the first thing to go, but it was wonderfully horrid.
My kitchen countertops are a boring white. I hate them and wanted to go over to stainless steel, but decided it wasn’t me/us. We were thinking of doing concrete countertops, but I would rather have new cupboards more than anything else.
You mean like the three panels, finished on each side in a different color so my mom’s dishwasher that was installed in 1976 or so could wear any of six colors?
When we replaced it a few years ago, they were all still in there. Looking back, I should have tried to eBay them, but I didn’t know there was such a renewed madness for avocado and harvest gold.
We replaced the counter tops in our kitchen two years ago and went with Corian. It was somewhat cheaper than granite, and it is pretty much indestructible. It can scratch but you can put hot pans directly on it and you don’t have to treat it.
If I could redo a kitchen, I would go with white cabinets, a black and white tile on the floor and backsplash and maybe a black granite countertop. I would also get white appliances.
When I do finally renovate I’m going to do soapstone countertops. A lot of granite is pretty ugly (although the stuff my parents got is nice) and it can have a lot of problems. Soapstone is what those biology lab tables used to be made out of, I think. I love the look of it.
