Fun article and nice perspective. There are a number of "outdated" kitchens that I enjoy simply for the love and time shared in them.

The one thing I thought of is that the stainless and granite kitchen is now available on a reasonable budget if you choose wisely and not limited to the high end.

Love that article! And I can totally relate! That was my story for most of my life. Until I hit my mid-50's and empty nester status. Around that same time is when I reflected on my never-remodeled kitchen that was probably installed in my house sometime back in the late 1930's - early 1940's, got tired of congratulating myself on making do in it, realized that I had never ever had a dream kitchen and finally decided it was time to have one!

My new kitchen is now my favorite room in the house. Next to my bedroom, I probably spend more time in my kitchen now than in any other room of the house. Especially after I became single again, I used to treat my kitchen as the room you go to make a cup of coffee, nuke a leftover dinner and, occasionally, cook a meal. Now, I've taken up cooking again with gusto and I'm having a ball! One day it might be steamed sea bass with ginger and black bean sauce, on another it could be Chicken Cacciatore, and on another it's soul food turkey wings with collard greens and biscuits. But that's not all! I'm now using my new kitchen for watching TV, surfing the web and chatting (like right now), talking on the phone, gazing out the window at the backyard garden, and entertaining friends over a cup of joe, or glass of wine. For sure, my new kitchen says a lot about me. And, most days the song it's singing is "Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

Granted, my new kitchen is not a "magazine kitchen" for our time. It's too small. There's no island. There are no granite countertops or stainless steel appliances. But it's got an "are you crazy?" ("yes, I am") red range and hood, creamy cabs, soapstone counters, and marble backsplash that make the memories of my old kitchen feel like just the ones I want to remain in my photo album for reminiscing and sighing.

Sometimes, it's not about the money or trying to impress others with a kitchen remodel. Sometimes, it's just about reaching that point in time and circumstances when you get that it's ok to turn an " I want" into an "I have." So you just do it! Now, as to the rest of the house. . . . :-)

What I don't understand is the all or nothing attitude. The pictured kitchen is basically cute. A very little money could make it hip and designed and kind of wonderful. It may be that the author is just happy to have enough time to clean it enough to take the pictures, which I do get. But if it's about attitude and money, hers seems narrow to me. I can't have granite and stainless so I won't organize the post up clutter on my refrigerator? Put a little design sense into it and a display of cafeteria menus, baseball schedules, photos, kid drawings, recipes and shopping lists can actually looke interesting instead of messy.

I liked the article. It's a lot like my thoughts. I had hoped to declutter and mostly it's working. Yes, I was able to function in my old kitchen but my NEW kitchen is such a great place I am spending more time there than ever before. The bad news is I've packed on a few pounds! I'm getting back to cooking and baking and having a blast!

Vampiressrn touches on the emotional side of kitchen remodeling. She works in the industry and can see the new industry standards & current trends. If we the consumers find ourselves getting emotional about our kitchens' shortcomings, we will be motivated to remove, remodel, renovate. The sad thing is that the kitchens that are redone today will receive a sigh of condecension from the same kitchen gurus 15 years from now.
Another sad truth is that the materials our current kitchens are made of have been meant to last for 40 -50 years. The kitchen designers as well as fashion designers want us to look at our older stuff as too old.

That's where some common sense comes in. Look at your neighborhood to see if your ideal kitchen fits in the style of the neighborhood--not that we shouldn't do our kitchen to suit ourselves, but not overspend the area. Also, if we remodel our kitchens when the rest of the house hasn't been updated since we moved in 20 years ago or the roof needs replacing, we should put first things first.
What is our stewardship level? Are we going to toss perfectly good cabinets because they aren't in style? Are we at least donating them to Habitat?
A way of doing our remodeling could be for vampiressrn would be to start combing the antique shops for that farm table she wants; when she needs to replace an appliance, choose one that fits her ideal kitchen. Also, there are some nice granite-looking laminates that are available at the big box stores that could update her kitchen in addition to her new door pulls. We call that a Swiss cheese approach--putting enough holes in the project little by little.
Another truth is that there is always one more thing out there that is going to glitter. And it's going to be BIG & popular & we've just finished. We sometimes need to learn to be content with what we have, because truly we have so much more than others do. Remember that not too long ago there was a thread about "What is the one thing you HAD to HAVE that you don't use at all?"
Thanks for letting me add to your essay.

I didn't have time to read every word but I think your kitchen is beautiful and it's HOME. Even tho I am certifiably tko, I am getting sick and bored with perfect kitchens. Lately, I am loving home-y kitchens where families grow and people bump into each other and coffee spills are not wiped up instantly. When I think of my future of polishing my new, huge stainless sink on a daily basis, hmmmm. Is this what I am on the planet for?

Actually it isn't my article or kitchen...the writer is Judi Ketteler. I just found it so interesting and think she is probably the kind of person that does put a leaky roof first over updating cabinets or a counter top that is still functional.

When I lived in my first house, it was a very 70-80's track home. The kitchen was small and shut off from the large dining room. After I got divorced and kept the house, I decided to get a low budget ($8,000 back in the 90's) kitchen make-over. I knew what I wanted, got a contractor (suggested by a friend-he was awful) bought ready made cabinets, vinyl floor tiles, paint, etc. at Home Depot. Bought a beautiful retro stove and modest fridge. I bumped out the space into my dining room and was fairly happy with the outcome, it was more functional and decoratively appeasing...but certainly NOT a dream kitchen. Still it was new to me and I loved it. Shortly after the market peaked, I sold that house for 7 times more than the original price...and I really think it was the kitchen that helped sell the house. Funny thing though...several months after it was sold and the new residents had done some renovation, I went back to visit my next door neighbor. He said the new neighbors had added on to the back of the house and had gutted the kitchen...I thought that was interesting...but sadly, they had just trashed the brand new cabinets in their dumpster. My neighbor and I were horrified by that. as they didn't even offer to recycle those new cabinets at the curb...my neighbor would have loved them for his garage. I guess my whole point here is that some people are still living in a throw-away society and it may all be about the "looks" yet some folks are great about recycling or re-purposing and also maintaining historical architecture. I think you can keep your "old" kitchen and still bring it up to date to make it functional and appealing...so gotta agree with plllog, that the all or nothing attitude can be stifling.

I loved this article. It made me even more excited about the prospect of someday (actually fairly soon) being able to post pictures of my modestly re-done kitchen at less than $5000. I do not for one minute fault anyone that puts a boat load of money into their kitchen just as I feel fairly certain most would not fault me for not doing so with mine.

I am just frugal and stingy by nature and nurture and am having more fun working with those qualities of me, instead of fighting them. Now it is just an enjoyable game and challenge I do with myself and for myself. To each their own. :-)

Link below

The all or nothing attitude is a very real problem and with a kitchen like that pictured, unless you do almost nothing, it becomes difficult to stop because it is so far away from the current concept of kitchen design.

And you know we have scared people away from this forum by the same all or nothing statements: "don't spend $$ to put a new countertop on cabinets that are a)in not good enough condition; b)have a poor layout; c)are unattractive; d) all of the above. --etc. (when all these things are really in the eye of the beholder unless the cabinets are literally falling apart.)

I know: I had a $30K new dishwasher in my first place (That was in livable condition when I bought it, so I thought) --by the time I finished the kitchen and the entire 1st floor to my liking...and that was just practice: my current place got a $100K plus stack washer and dryer. Luckily I buy run-down enough to get a return on my investment.

Interestingly, the things I *don't like about that kitchen are the color, with the orange textiles, and that table. All things done by a design critic/commentator. I wonder what the message is in that?

I'm feeling the need to take issue with some of these comments about the author's "all or nothing" attitude. IMO, that comes off sounding a bit judgmental. How do you know that her kitchen is "nothing" to her? Because it looks old, worn and tacky to us TKOs? Chances are, that's not exactly the way the kitchen looked when she and her family acquired the house. And, apparently, some very modest personal touches have been added to it (artwork, curtains, paint perhaps?). Doesn't make for much by TKO standards, but I'm sure to the author, it's "something."

I raise this because, as I've already mentioned, I lived with my very old, inherited kitchen for nearly 20 years before I embarked on a major reno. Truth is, for most of that time, XH and I were doing good just to be able to keep the mortgage paid and the roof over our heads! Between home maintenance, insurance, taxes, child raising costs (including college tuition) there just wasn't enough money in the budget to do much extra! Now, it's true that, over the course of time, we did make a few changes to the "antique" kitchen we inherited. In fact, we removed the horrendous blue and white wallpaper from all the walls and the ceiling; we got rid of the awful red and black lineoleum that covered up the original oak parquet floors and restored them; we painted the walls, hung art work of our choosing and switched out a flush-mount fixture with a great Casablanca ceiling fan. And, gee, when the ancient fridge finally died, I went out and bought a modern Maytag to replace it! Still I swear, when I finally get around to posting the "before" and "after" photos of my remodel, you will probably think this author's kitchen looks like a dream kitchen in comparison to my own "before" kitchen! And, yet, for all the years I/we lived with that kitchen, I never thought my attitude about it to be "all or nothing." The kitchen was just the place that meals got cooked. Period. Of course the fact that we never saw our small kitchen that was physically segregated away from other rooms in the back of the house, to be a site for family dining and entertaining guests.

It wasn't until I got to my midlife and finances improved, along with my return to living solo (and, perhaps, a quest for new identity), that I began to think more seriously of giving my kitchen a "facelift." But, even so, I had no idea how "nothing" my kitchen really was until I discovered the GW and became a TKO. Hmmmmm.

I'm hoping by these comments I haven't offended anyone. Please know that's not my intent in posting. Quite possibly, I've even misinterpreted some comments and have now submitted a post that will take us way off track here. ( I hope not!) But, somewhere along the way, I guess a raw nerve got touched and I just felt the need to add 2 cents of a different kind to the discussion.

Palimpsest, I was thinking the same thing as your last paragraph but didn't have the guts to say so. The dinette might be what they had previously, though, and it's from Value City (so might be the best looking of what would fit for the price), and she may have already had the orange fabric, which makes the shade on the wall make sense.

But that's what I meant about rearranging the refrigerator papers. That is, if you want a designed kitchen you can design it with just a few touches. She says that the kitchen is functional. And I, at least, think it's cute in its bones. I'm not even suggesting the labor to strip and repaint the cabinets to make them go better with the appliances. The mismatched paint isn't making the kitchen un-cute. It's the attitude to do nothing, including arranging the possessions attractively if one can't have new that puzzles me.

My old kitchen was a problem from the day I moved in. The appliances were half dead (though I liked the DW), the workflow was nigh on impossible, the pantry was a joke, there weren't enough uppers, and there were some rot problems in the lowers. I might never have done a remodel at all if it weren't so bad! But before I could undertake the remodel I added a hood, because I won't cook without one, and it was inexpensive, even though by Modern Aire. I painted a mural on the blank wall using leftover paint. My father put up some shelves I owned for my canisters (just had to buy the stanchions at the hardware store). And I bought a couple of inexpensive counter stools.

The old kitchen was often cluttered since I was using a section of the counter for pantry storage, and had breakfast table detritus on the peninsula, but it basically looked good. And other than the stools and hood cost me maybe $100.

A friend of mine made a similar kitchen to the author's look very sharp with some contact paper MCM geometrics applied to a fresh coat of paint on the cabinets, pulling the colors from the old blue lino and the black trim tiles. Instant designed kitchen.

Maybe the author was just looking for something to fill column inches?

marthavila,

I think you did misinterpret...the the gist of the article as I see it is that the design columnist to whom this kitchen belongs has done "nothing" substantial to change the kitchen because she can't have it "all", in her opinion, because trying to do it all (a full on 2000s TKO kitchen like she writes about) is too daunting. She says in the article that she is content with its function--its not the the kitchen is nothing, just that she has done nothing to improve it, and she is someone in the industry.

Okay, Palimpsest and Plllog, I guess I hear you both and trust the spirit of your remarks. Maybe this is a case similar to that of the cobbler's children who have no shoes? Or, that of the master GC whose own home is in a perpetual state of projects to-be-done that never get done? Unlike the two of you who have closer ties to the industry, I guess, as a layperson, I found myself identifying with the irony of the writer's perspective against the backdrop of her extremely modest kitchen. :-)

Could be she takes this approach to her kitchen because it is so different from the ones she writes about. A reaction to the "school uniform" look? "I'm keeping it this way even though I don't have to."

The stainless/granite kitchen is no longer limited to the high end and it's standard at all levels now. Trying to write about another one so it stands out would be a task.

I do see her perspective, but the all or nothing approach is limiting and there are so many simple things that will improve your surroundings on any budget.

I identify with it completely. I lived in a place I owned for 7 years and never hung a picture, not one. Before that, my excuse was that I was renting. I often get the paralysis that, if I can't do it "right" (whatever that is) I won't do it at all...this is why I lived with a bathroom sink that only ran hot water for several years, and then no sink at all for over a year...because why fix the faucet on that ugly vanity, and why change the vanity in that bathroom that needs to be redone, and why redo the bathroom if you can't sledgehammer the floor?. I *finally renovated it because I was going to go onto the market, not because I wanted to enjoy a nice bathroom for myself. I am a psychological counterpart to the author, but the part I did take exception to that the changes she *did make...not so good IMO, and she is critiquing the work of others in her columns.

Oh, MV, I was just riffing on my own thoughts, started by the question of why that color yellow. I know you know how to spread around color and make your home a designed place without having to buy into a trend or waste your resources.

I think I get what you were saying about being judgmental. I think that comes from the culture of this forum, where we take such care with others' feelings that we gang up on anyone who offends them. It becomes a relief outlet to say what we feel like about published and publicly out there stuff.

I think the irony is what the writer was trying to develop. And maybe the phrase that comes to mind should be changed for the era of the blogosphere: Those who can, do; those who can't, write about it. Maybe this woman is a journalist who has no background at all in design and to her this is just a gig, and perhaps the only exposure she's had is to go out and buy one of these kitchens she sees daily. Maybe she doesn't know that she can make paper frames for the school menu and baseball schedule, or how to tie together the motley colors and design elements in her kitchen.

I don't know. It wasn't the impression I got, especially since she was critiquing the lesser aspects of the espensive kitchens' features that she was seeing. But maybe that's the real problem.

I don't know. Maybe it's me who's odd. I'm perfectly capable of throwing money at a problem, but also perfectly capable of just living with something that's good enough. My house needed new floors everywhere there was carpet when I bought it, so I did that. This included replacing the cheap floor tiles that satisfied code instead of proper hearths (i.e., off center, and not tying into anything--just non-flamable). I had a piece of granite left over so had them replace the '80's plastic counter in the powder room with it. The cabinet isn't pretty, but it's not hideous and was in fine shape, so I kept that. Put in a new toilet (which was needed) in bone for design's sake so also got a new sink. Kept the faucet set. Nothing wrong with it. Easy to grip cut crystal handles. Good quality antique brass. Went with the eventual design of the room. People didn't understand it. I also kept the oak mirror, light, towel rack and tissue holder. They weren't pretty but functioned. I did find the perfect mirror this year, so replaced it and the light just now, but that was because I found them, not because I was looking. And my GC's office, which had none, was the beneficiary of the perfectly fine originals.

I am thrilled with the function of my new kitchen. Including the grout, btw. I thought maybe I wasn't paying enough attention to grout. There was a dried on mess. It came up with a damp sponge. I don't understand why people think it's hard to clean grout. At least, not the smooth stuff (sanded might be harder). It was worth everything I put into it. And it looks pretty. But the looks are the least of it, and I guess that's what really makes me weird. I'm an artist who's big into function, and who looks for the visual appeal in things as they are, rather than thinking everything has to be the latest style.

Just to be clear, this was a cross post. I was writing it while Palimpsest was posting and it's not about her... !!!

To get beautifully written posts like that out of the two of you was totally worth it to me to post as I did!

Here's another thing that I'm moved to admit here and now: I'm a totally split personality when it comes to this kitchen business! I lust after magazine-quality, high-end, droolworthy kitchens and homey, comfortable, funky, "modest-but-creative" kitchens alike! On the one hand, I secretly fantasize about owning a showplace kitchen and, on the other, I know that I could never be truly comfortable trying to live on a "movie set." I grit my teeth over folk who enjoy bragging about much they have spent on their kitchens but I don't mind telling you guys over and over about how much I love my not-very-cheap Aga range and hood. So, from one moment, one day, one phase of my life to another, I can be as desirous as having it "all" or completely at peace with having "nothing" (relatively speaking, of course) :-) In short, I am that author but, after hearing your take on this article, I am her critic as well. Thanks for mind bump!

MV - To be content either way is a wonderful thing! The story of your red Aga range and how you got there is inspiring. We can't wait to see it finished with that special piece of art you are waiting for. It certainly looks like a showplace kitchen to me. The fact that you love to spend time there also makes it warm and homey, the best of both.

I love showroom kitchens too, especially the euro sleek look. Yet my kitchen update will not resemble those in any way. That look doesn't work with my house, I don't need that kitchen, and I know that the best kitchen for us is warm and slightly funky. I have spent hours searching for inspiration on the internet and studying the movie kitchens everyone loves for ideas to incorporate.

It is difficult to commit to a project and a certain style when there are so many options and you have done it beautifully.

".... I often get the paralysis that, if I can't do it "right" (whatever that is) I won't do it at all...this is why I lived with a bathroom sink that only ran hot water for several years, and then no sink at all for over a year...because why fix the faucet on that ugly vanity, and why change...."

oh, palimpsest ... I have been showering in my children's bathroom because the tiles are falling off the wall in the master bath shower, but I have grand ideas of completely redoing the master bath (moving stuff around), so why fix the shower ... etc. It's been 8 years, though -- ridiculous. EIGHT years. Tiling wouldn't have been a waste, would it? :-)

".... I often get the paralysis that, if I can't do it "right" (whatever that is) I won't do it at all...this is why I lived with a bathroom sink that only ran hot water for several years, and then no sink at all for over a year...because why fix the faucet on that ugly vanity, and why change...."

the perfect description of the updating process of my entire home. For years, no updating has taken place because everything has revolved around "getting the kitchen done". Couldn't change fixtures because I didn't know what was going in. Couldn't change the carpet because I hadn't decided on the color scheme. Couldn't do the laundry room makeover because I'm going to be using the old cabinetry from the kitchen. Etc, etc, etc.
On top of that I was working 60-70 hours a week which certainly didn't give me a chance to think any of these things out.
We have done a few things to the house over the years, but I have never really felt it was MY home as much as my previous homes were. Something has always been missing. So I haven't taken the time to decorate and am not as particular as I used to be. It's no fun if you don't really care for it. My husband picked out and bought this house because of a job change between states.
My mother laughs that I am remodeling the kitchen, when I hardly even cook! But for our family, the kitchen is where we all hang out and I don't mind cooking if it isn't so inconvenient, as it is now. I think this remodel is just what this house needs to finally feel like MY home!
And sometimes, even if the curtains are orange, there isn't motivation to change it if it all feels like home.

two cents here...

I appreciate the frankly ironic insight within the GW commentary that admits the humble purchase of a new appliance launched a multi-thousand dollar project. I also appreciate the insights which say that a kitchen can invigorate a life, especially a life that is experiencing a change

The comments about the yellow and orange are revealing in a different way...this happy and lively color pattern is clearly not "in", which gets spun by the GW commentary into a fixable situation--change the paint and the fabrics.

The laminate can be "fixed" using the option for a luxury-on-a-budget rock countertop.

The eating area can be "fixed" using a different thrift store find, or whatever.

The detritus of everyday life, including refrigerator magnets, is defined as "messy."

It's so easy to look at something and make some quickie recommendations. Fixing! Fixing! There is a "better" and you can achieve it!

But there are some things going on here that commentators may have missed....
--The author notes that the husband is the cook. She is not.
--There is a small child.
--There is a paying job in an industry that is driven by sales of fashionable, expensive, attractive stuff.
--There is the irony of what the author terms "level jumping," that is that kitchens are attached to economic status now and that she is not in the economic group that needs high-end kitchens as a part of self-definition. She likes good kitchen objects and designs because she appreciates the aesthetics, but this is not sufficient for unnecessary financial expenditures or an interruption of everyday functional activities of the real people who live there and share the space and define her life.

What a fabulous insight! Her point about the kitchen being a real kitchen that does what it should is what we all need to review, over and over. Yes, the refrigerator keeps the food cold!

'Twould be interesting to get her husband's perspective, since he's the cook in the family. The author says that she can live with the basic functionality because, after all, he/they still turn out meals every day. Wonder if the one who churns out all those meals agrees with that?

If you read my posts in other threads, you will see that I am often a proponent of "leave well enough alone."

I like this kitchen and if I moved into this house, I might even leave it mostly alone except I hate that refrigerator: It hangs out too far and the freezer is way too narrow. There are small repairs to be made, sure: the owners (my parents) are in their mid 80s.

I would get rid of the 80s puffy thing, but I would leave the wooden scalloped valance and shelves.

But other than that, this kitchen has worked for 41 years and it could probably work for another 41 if you did maintence type repairs.

{{gwi:1769199}}

Florantha, I have orange walls. We were criticizing the colors not because of what's stylish but because of the exact shades used. That particular yellow is very aggressive and the orange stripes going in two directions are a bit day glo. I think the orange fabric could be made to work with the right yellow on the wall. As it is, I find the combination, at least as it shows in the picture, to be painful (As in, ouch! my eyes!). They also don't go with the counter or the floor. The paint and homemade curtains both look fresh and clean, leading to the assumption that the current residents put them in, so the choice of them leads us back to the discussion about what it takes to design a kitchen. And I contend, as I have through this all, that it's little touches like choosing the right paint color, not granite counters.

MV, It's interesting about the "other" kitchens you mention. I have my own big stack of (pre-GW/FKB) kitchen magazines. And while I can't live on a steady diet of Architectural Digest, I pick it up every now and then. I love looking at home and kitchen design, and am as likely to look at it in the background of a personality profile as in a house photo, because then you see real people houses. But I wouldn't want to live in most of them! I love thinking about how life would be in an MCM masterpiece, or the arboreal house with the canopy style copper roof. I love looking at them and thinking about how the way the house works will interact with the way the people live their lives. But I'm honest with myself and know that I want more function than one of those shiny Italian curvopoli where it's more important that the ladle and can opener match the kitchen design than work well, and that I'm too prone to clutter to do justice to an MCM.

Kmsparty, I can definitely attest to the more cooking in a more convenient kitchen thing. I cooked less and less in the old kitchen because it was so awful. Now cooking is so convenient and pleasant in my not-quite-finished new kitchen that I'm actually cooking too much!

I am guilty of holding the author of the article to a higher standard because she writes articles about design, people read those articles and they may make decisions about things based upon it. I am still not critical of the paralysis (the parts she's done nothing about), but I am the one that brought up that paint color, and the textiles originally (but I don't think I was the only one thinking it). Its not any of the elements per se, its that yellow, with that countertop, and that orange (I actually like the textiles) --that particular combination was intentional (unless I missed that she had the paint and those window treatments lying around)--and as an intentional combination, hmph. I do expect more from someone who is a design writer.

Its kind of like, I don't care if my next door neighbors are doing webcasts straight from their bed, but I wouldn't be happy to find my local representative running a p orn website and running an anti smut campaign at the same time.

I would just expect that someone who might write a commentary on my work if it were published somewhere would have a bit of design cred.