I am a real estate agent so get to see more "neighbors'" houses than most. Almost all are as you described, but some have the off white with chocolate glaze look as well as the other elements you mention. There are very few I would consider GW worthy, lol, and I am talking about in homes that over a million $ in some cases.

They seem to be all done like sheep with the same features and colors. Every now and then we see something different and it is like a breath of fresh air.

BTW - our area has few white kitchens, but if you only go by GW, you'd think half the houses would. I also see only granite being used, but mostly it is the speckled and not movement variety. Bo-oring!

Neighbor #1- White Home Depot cabinets, boring brownish-gold Home Depot granite, white appliances (These people are really nauseating penny-pinchers who constantly remind everyone of how much they save, and by inference, how much money everyone else wastes)

Neighbor #2- New white European cabinets, butcher block/ marble, stainless high-end appliances, wallpaper (!). These neighbors are more sophisticated and affluent.

Neighbor #3- White contractor cabinets (20+ years old), white and stainless appliances, really loud white/red/gold granite. Didn't change their floors ( still a seafoam green tile- yuck). This woman has little taste and buys stuff like a magpie. Current theme is somewhat "Tuscan" although she needs editing in a major way.

I've never been in any of my neighbors' houses. And we've been here three years(!) But, it's a semi-rural, wooded neighborhood. Most of the houses were custom-built in the 1970s and 1980s, with a few from the late 1990s. The house styles are mainly "country with the front porch all the way across and a couple dormers above. The neighborhood, I think, is more about privacy and horses and gardens than about kitchens. I would venture a guess and say that 75% or more have their original kitchens.

As for current builder kitchens and standard local big-box redos, I would say our local trend is for mid-tone wood cabinets with raised panels and maybe a glaze, common granite, and travertine backsplashes. OTR microwaves are still pretty common unless you get into a more custom, pricy environment.

I currently live in a historical district of a small town in NJ. We all live in various versions of the 4 square built around the same time, 1895-ish. Some have decks, additions and only ONE has a new kitchen! The new kitchen belongs to a kitchen designer whose affluent client gave her an "old kitchen" complete with a 1.5 year old Subzero frig. Her cabs are off-white, distressed, light granite, very french-country.
My other neighbor, I've known since I was 6. She's my best friend's older sister, 10 years older than me. She painted her old cabs white, put in a slate floor, bead board wainscoting and light green walls + an area painted in chalkboard. So, I obviously still copy my best friend's older sister after all these years! lol. She used to have the coolest clothes, now she has the coolest kitchen....... I used a similar color scheme in my new kitchen.
My other neighbor has red painted cabs, charmingly beat-up wood countertops and wood floors. LOVE it. It's cozy and messy and she makes goodies in there all the time. Red-kitchen owner's mom lives on the street too. None of us know what her house looks like because she has every inch of her house covered in carefully placed, meticulously dusted, "country clutter". We tease her about it on occasion. My 4 year old can knock on her door any time of day and she answers with a lolli-pop or popsicle.
All of us have white appliances, except the KDs kitchen. None are properly insulated and we wear heavy sweaters or jackets when we crowd the red kitchen to make Christmas goodies every year. I love my neighbors and their kitchens but will be moving into our new build on a farm over the next couple of weeks.

Medium toned wood finishes with paneled doors, or very dark shaker or slab doors.

With the medium toned doors, rustic-y hardware, orangey-brown granites and travertine/travertine-look floors and backsplashes.

With the dark cabinets brushed chrome hardware, glass tile backsplashes and earthtoned granite.

Stainless steel appliances with black a distant second. Not a lot of room for pendants and such but if so, they tend to be of the modernish "art glass" variety.

This neighborhood is mostly condos, but the same holds pretty true at all price points. All pretty much big box type kitchens. Three of the $4-5M houses in the neighborhood fall within this style too, just a higher quality of stuff. The fourth $5M property probably has an ultramodern white kitchen since the interior is a cement-floored white and glass box. Haven't seen pictures of that one. (note these are all asking prices: the record in the downtown zipcodes is $5M+ so these houses are reaching).

The only recent white shaker and soapstone kitchen I have seen was one I designed for a client and I see lots of houses. My kitchen is pale blue and slate grey.

I live on huge lake and many homes are very expensive. The former owner of a major kitchen cabinet company has just finished their retirment summer home. I haven't seen the kitchen. There is a local publication that features several of these homes every month and they usually include the kitchen. I'm watching for this particular home to be featured and I'll scan it if I can... You will all recognize the cabinet company name. I've been by the house in the boat, it's one you either love or hate. It's huge, prolly at least 10,000 sq ft and a soft red color on the outside...including the roof!

We have had threads like this many times, and they are always fun.

For our area in the middle class arena, there is a clear dilination: neighborhoods 10 years and older all have honey oak cabinets, formica or tile counters, and white or SS appliances, no backplash other than the 4" rise of counter along the wall. Even custom kitchens will usually have the same thing just better quality. I just described my mom's custom kitchen to a T.

For newer neighborhoods, it's stained maple cabs, tile backsplash, pendants, granite, and ss appliances.

White is almost unheard of.

I am afraid that when I FINALLY get to post my finished kitchen photos here, the response in people's heads might be "um, builder gradish looking? Boring? Outdated?" It fits SO well in our demographic and we love it, but is SO behind the times for Garden Web kitchens. I think we here in the PNW take many, many years to catch up with what's going on over in the East Coast and other areas of the US. Obviously Seattle city folk tend to be more with it than us suburbians. I saw all the gorgeous kitchens here, but it's such a drastic leap from what's common to our area, I just couldn't do it. Familiarity brings comfort :-).

Our neighborhood is a mix of 40 year old homes and 15-20 year old homes. Nice, but fairly modest 2200-2800 sq. ft--most have 4 bedrooms, LR, DR, FR, 2-story. I've only been in 2 houses that have had their kitchens redone.

First one just extended the island, changed countertops to granite, and put the cooktop in it and switched to SS appliances. Big mistake IMO not to switch out or paint honey oak cabs (basically builder grade with a little fancier front).

Second one put in all new Kraftmaid cabs medium stain (very pretty) with some glass fronts, Saint Cecelia granite, SS appliances (including FD CD refrig). One pendant over sink. Nice update, nothing too trendy but a very nice update for $20k IMO. Don't know what they ended up using for BS. Were considering subway . . . Also don't recall what they used for hood or if they kept OTR microwave.

Someone up the block a ways started kitchen reno about 2 weeks ago. Wish I knew them so I could take a look.

Our neighborhood is mostly 1850's - 1910's homes but the dates range from late 1600's to 1940's. Prices $500K for 1200 sf 1940 cape to $2M+. Many larger homes have been turned into condos. The latest condos are cherry, granite and stainless appliances. Most of the homes have 20 to 50 year old kitchens (I'm updating a 60 year old kitchen in our 1825 home). Maybe one out of 10 homes have updated the kitchens in the last 5 years. On my street 2 houses have updated their kitchens in the last 10 years including me. I chose cherry cabinets and granite along with the Victorian across the street. Many homes have wood floors in the kitchen. Very few have islands - no space. Some homes do the Sears cabinet refacing with new laminate countertops ($500K - $700K homes). Forget about marble or soapstone unless it's original. My kitchen is a real "wow" for the neighborhood. Many of the houses use saturated colors on the walls - reds, yellows, blues, greens... I love color too.

I live on a street with homes built in the early 30's. Family neighborhood. Most homes have 3 br 2 baths. Some have "maids rooms" and very small baths off the kitchen with tiny tubs.

Just about everyone that has moved in over the last 10 years has redone their kitchens. (these would be families with generally 2-3 kids and are remodeling the 70's/80's kitchen that was in the house when they bought it.

Some do additions or consolidate rooms, and some just do straight remodel.

Ours had a maid's room that was being used as a breakfast room, and the 1/2 bath had no tub (removed in the 70's remodel) Had a lovely butler's pantry between the DR and 70's era very small galley kitchen.
We didn't change a think in the butler's pantry. It ironocally had been done in the 70s with grasscloth wallpaper, fruitwood cabinets, and black granite. It's very cute.

We did addition to enlarge the main kitchen space. Incorporated the maid's room, original kitchen, and added on from the backyard. Squared up the space. We have dark cherry cabinets, boos block maple island, banquette seating for the table, porcelain tile 12x12 for main counters and backsplash. Ours is one of the larger kitchens in the block. We have 2 daughters and wanted a kitchen that would serve well for 4 people prepping and cooking.

Most of the neighbors have slightly different layout, and don't have space to add on. Most have incorporated their breakfast room and kitchen into 1 larger kitchen, and kept maids room as a home office. Kitchens all have eat in space, either small table, or have a pinnenusla at table height. Most don't have islands, but do have pinenuslas. Most have stainless, one has custom painted burgundy fridge (her favorite color--just a regular GE fridge) Many have duller waxy-looking wood cabinets with medium stains and granite counters. With rubbed metal hardware.

All have wood floors (our houses all have wood everywhere else too).

Some have white wood cabinets, but most seem to have stained.

All (except me) have granite or quartz counters.

Appliances are usually stainless, but usually not the Subzero level, and nicer than standard GE level. I will say that just about everyone cooks here too.

It's really a neat block, because no 2 houses are the same. And great neighbors.

Fun! We're semirural South, mix of original farms, modest working class, new subdivisions, and new lake and "estate" homes.

Our Bible belt neighbors, so designated because lives center on the church and they don't tend to spend a lot on material things even if they can, tend to keep their older and badly designed but well maintained kitchens from the 1960s on, golden oak, appliances any color. Standard old tract house style even if it never was, separate from living room, not much natural light. Some remodeling with modest but decent cabinetry and granite or Corian. Here and there is a refreshingly old and larger kitchen, but not common enough.

Town-folk locals also rein in their acquisitiveness, but you're seeing remodeled kitchens of standard style, stainless appliances, granite, opened up walls. Lake folk and outsiders the same but more expensive, like more expensive cabinetry brochures. Here and there some fine design.

Colors are most typically some variation of the browns-beiges-warm reds-rusts-golds-muted greens range. The usual window treatment styles of the past 15 years or so.

Now, I'm a low-end new kitchen with plain white cabs (not Shaker) and custom wood fan cover, cream-white walls with paintings and plates on them, butcher block counters, 2 walls of windows instead of uppers, white appliances (by choice!), knotty pine floors, and cafe curtains that change with the seasons or just come down. Sometimes I've had to guess at response by the degree of politeness, effusive compliments, or silence. It is different. :)

I didn't realize this kind of thread has been done before but I always like to see what's going on elsewhere : )

As I was at my daughter's soccer practice, I thought of a few more things common to my neighborhood.

As I said, our subdivision is only 12 years old. As recently as 15 years ago, it was all cornfields as far as the eye can see. There are still some farms left but it's amazing to see how the area has built up the last few years.

The subdivision next to us is about 5 years old and still has new houses being built in it. Lots of young families moving out here b/c of the great school system. The builders are offering granite countertops as standard, along with stainless appliances. My friends that built their homes there 3 years ago are pretty ticked off as those were big upgrades for them.

Granite is the rage here. Everyone still does the 4 inch backsplash too. Stainless steel undermount sinks are the rage; I told someone today I am considering a Silgranit sink and I got a blank look. No Sub-Zero or Wolf ranges here, but instead the higher end GE or KA. Oak floors are popular in kitchens too as well as islands with seating for 3-4 people (no peninsulas).

I guess you can say my area is pretty much cookie cutter homes. But the layouts are very open and inviting. I go to a lot of open houses for fun and even there the kitchens are all the same.

Rosie said, "Sometimes I've had to guess at response by the degree of politeness, effusive compliments, or silence. It is different."

Thanks for the laugh! I can SO totally relate to that.

We live outside of Boston...hey Bostonpam...in an originally blue collar area that seeing a good amount of gentrification. Most of what is in my hood is turn of the century; two family, three family and single family modest homes (1000-1500 square feet per unit, unless a single with a finished third floor) with some original detail, if you are lucky. I spent a lot of time looking at homes before we bought our four years ago. Much of what is there is older. If they weren't super old (no counters, large sink with cabinet below and freestanding appliances), it was 70 dark stained wood or 80's oak.

The newly renovated are often wood - cherry with stainless and dark counters is popular and 'safe' choice for a higher end condo conversion of a 2 or three family. Shaker is very popular - styles tend to range from simple/clean transitional to contemporary. People often paint their walls fun colors. My friends have all different kinds of kitchens - maple with dark, somewhat contemporary with stained slabs and stainless, European style, concrete counters and the most recent was a white "somethings gotta give" kitchen.

You never know what to expect around here - which is fun, but I have seen almost none of the Tuscan, warm brown, travertine, or the more ornate kitchens that I have seen in the magazines. That may be a function of the size of kitchens (mine at 14x15' is on the larger size.)

Funny to follow behind Sparklekitty as I too live in a suburb of Boston about 15 min. south..

My neighborhood is brand new -at least my section of the road. Our street was two dead end streets with a ton of land in the middle- which is now our home!

WE just built in January and were the FIRST to close on the street- our house was used as the model home so I would like to say I started the trend on my street... LOL..

OUt of the 8 new homes, we all used the same custom cabinet maker (the builder's choice), but the kitchens are all very different which I must give Kudos to the cabinet maker for making each unique..
1 home has creamy white cabs. with a choc. glaze (good friends of ours actually).. All the rest have a stained cab. but we are the only with our particular stain.

I feel like I fit into Chocolatebunny's neighbors molds- we have cinnamon/cherry color stained cabs on the perimeter with DARK granite travertine backsplash our island is different granite and painted black cabs.

WE are the only one with two different color granites (everyone else has more speckled granite and our island has tons of movement while the permiter does not). And we are the only one's who chose a chimney hood vs. a vent hood or OTR microwave..

I think all of us have SS appliances but completely different finishes on light fixtures, and everything else.

Everyone's kitchens are beautiful. I think we all put all of our $$ into our kitchens and so the rest of our homes were neglected..(not really but sort of true..)

Our neighborhood is really a mixed bag---homes are a mix of 2-3 BR single-family houses built between 1910 and 1925 and multi-family buildings built between 1907 and 1960 (with a few of the older multi-family buildings originally designed as mansions, and later carved up into smaller units; none of them are still used as single-family homes so those original kitchens, which must have been elaborate, are long gone!)

So, consequently, there's a real range of kitchens depending on when they were last remodeled. The newer ones (remodeled in the last ten years, say) tend to be light-stained wood cabinets, Shaker style, with granite or granite-look counters and tile backsplashes. Then there are a bunch of late 60s remodeled kitchens (some of which are pretty awesome!) which tend to be colored painted cabinets with formica counters, sometimes replaced with granite. Every now and then you see what I call the "Home Depot" kitchen, which is just the normal oak cabinets with granite or laminate counters. And then you also see some IKEA kitchens if they've been done in the past ten years (when an IKEA opened two miles away); all the ones I've seen have been one of the two white styles they have, with butcherblock or granite counters.

So I'm not really sure we have a "style" as a neighborhood. A lot of this comes down to the neighborhood history, too. It started out life as an elite area for the wealthy (mansions era), then because a middle-income area where families were building modest homes in the 1910s and 1920s and remained that until the mid 1960s, when white flight started and freeways came in. During the 70s and 80s, few of the homes were owner-occupied, with lots of absentee landlords. The area hit an economic low point in the early 80s during the crack epidemic, and then began to climb back up, with lots of gentrification in the late 90s/early 2000s. The families here now are, with a couple of exceptions, Gentrification 2.0---we all moved into a neighborhood that had already stabilized, homes that had already been restored, etc. You can pretty much track the kitchen remodels to those periods, which I find really interesting---kitchens remodeled in 1960 will be of a very different finish level/quality than those done in 1980. Not true for every house---a couple of the original families stayed here through the 1980s, and one couple from the 60s is still here---but there are definitely some trends.

However, I can safely say that our kitchen will not look like any of our neighbors' kitchens, for now at least! So I guess that's good for keeping it diverse...

Downtown (Ottawa, ON, Canada) resident. Condo market is (might be was) pretty hot so there are a number of new high-rise condos in a couple of block radius. In our building (mid 80's vintage high-rise) a lot of units still have the horrible original kitchens (as does my own). I've slipped into a few open houses and check out MLS to see what's up. Mostly stainless (almost all with OTR micro) and lower end granite. Art deco building up the block has mostly Shaker cabs painted white or mid-tone stained maple. More modern building on the same block has mostly slab doors with dark stain. Both would be considered higher-end buildings and neither blew me away (very nice but not super posh). I don't think either building has a single floor plan with an enclosed kitchen - all have an island\peninsula on one side open to the main living\dining space.

Suburb of Denver ... most kitchens are very brown, hickory or cherry or the like, especially in new builds near me. Granite, stainless, etc. Most of the kitchens in my immediate neighborhood were redone 10 years ago or more, actually lots of maple. Appliances often black.

But the two done on my street right before I did mine are cream with a very light glaze and absolute black granite. One has a black island with a contrasting granite with lots of movement. Appliances are fairly high end: Wolf range and built-in Kitchen Aid fridge in one, and Electrolux Icon in the other. They look very GW.

My neighborhood is an odd one, with houses built in a period spanning from 1940 to 2010. Probably half were built before 1960, another 40% were built before 1980, and the remaining 10% were built more recently. Ours was the second house in the neighborhood, and it was finished in 1942.

Most kitchens that I've seen in my neighborhood are sorely in need of remodeling. Kitchens in many of the original homes were redone in the 1970s and 80s, and are way beyond needing another facelift. One that was done recently was fairly generic, except that the cabinets were a particularly nice wood. My neighbor across the street has what I'm sure is the original kitchen (late 1950s/early 1960s), but it has been kept up beautifully and fits the style of the home very well.

Outside of my immediate neighborhood, I've seen a lot of other recently redone (or newly built) kitchens around town lately, and only one of them used dark wood. That one also had very light granite and the entire house had travertine-like porcelain tiled floors. One other one had white cabinets, soapstone-like granite, higher end appliances, etc. It was in a historic neighborhood, and it fit the house beautifully. Another one had light maple cabinets with black granite counters.

All the rest have used wood cabinets in the mid-range of stains or finishes. One friend redid hers in a very nice contemporary style, with horizontal uppers, zero-radius sink, big industrial faucet, and kind of sparkly silestone counters. Another friend has absolutely beautiful quartersawn oak cabinets that her husband built himself.

Another friend has what is possibly the most expensive home in town. Her kitchen was done in a grand scale with a humongous island and high-end appliances, but it is still comfortable for her rather large family and very large number of visitors. The style is somewhat traditional, somewhat "old world", and somewhat casual, if that makes any sense.

All the rest I've seen have belonged to friends who used the same cabinet maker I used, so of course they were all beautifully done. :)

St. Paul 1st tier suburb here. Most of the 1950s houses in our neighborhood still show their early roots. One family has expanded the space and installed granite countertops-- they're the fodder for gossip. There's one kitchen that, until 2005, was so well preserved that it could have gone directly into a museum and there's another that I assume is in that condition also. And the houses are all twins, or at least started life that way.

OUr addition-kitchen, on the other hand, is entirely new now. All it takes is money, which we have in limited supply, so my GW'ness is somewhat abridged. But in the greater neighborhood, the 80's honey oak kitchen with white laminate countertops and bright brass trimmings is a big deal. Bundt cake, anyone?

We live in a 1930s-1950s neighborhood of individually-built homes in a small college town. Houses on our street are either owner-occupied or (increasingly) student rentals. Most kitchens are small and quirky and, I think, often quite charming. All have had various changes made over the years.

Here's one of my favorites in the neighborhood, in an architect-built midcentury-modern home. It wasn't dressed up or edited for picture taking, but I think you can still see its wonderful bones: The open uppers on the left side of the picture run all the way to the front wall, with a beautiful wood peninsula underneath. I should have taken a picture of them from the kitchen-side; they're filled with everyday china, glasses, and antique dishes and bowls.

Hey caryscott, I'm your neighbour!

Our neighbourhood is Ottawa's first "suburb", but now is an urban neighbourhood, mostly built 1850-1920. With several notable exceptions, the houses are on narrow lots and were workers homes (we are a couple of hundred meters from an old paper mill). Despite the size of the lots and most homes, it is a pretty pricey neighbourhood.

There are a full range of kitchens here - most of the newer kitchen renos are white cabinets, shaker cabinets (3 friends/neighbours have gone with white/shaker). One of my neighbours (my old house) has a dark cherry kitchen with slab cabinets, that kitchen is six years old. Honestly though most kitchens are unremarkable (to my eye anyway), even in the million $ plus homes in the neighbourhood. Granite is still king, but I think that *may* start to die off soon - I hope so. The granite I typically see here is nothing to write home about. Very rarely do I see Corian counters now (except in 15 year old kitchens), I'm starting to see Quartz (in one of those 3 white/shaker kitchens I mentioned). Still lots of laminate.

I really see very few remarkable kitchens here. I've seen some pretty kitchens, but with terrible lay out problems. Most kitchens in my neighbourhood are quite small. Almost every kitchen reno I've seen sees the kitchen opened up to the family room or the entire ground floor. Open concept reigns (except in the large estate homes in the neighbourhood).

My neighborhood was built between the 20's to 40's with a few 60's split levels thrown in. A mix of housing styles, smaller colonials, capes and bungalows. Most have had additions put on over the years. In the last 10 years there has been a building boom where many of the capes were turned into colonials. Either through add-a-level or full knock down/rebuild. A few of the original owners are still around and I assume their houses haven't been updated in many, many years. I've been in one of those houses and the kitchen was pretty sparse with just a few plywood cabinets.

My house and my immediate neighbor's houses are 1938 colonials that have all had additions. The original kitchens are were 9 x 11. Some of us still have that size, others have been expanded. My kitchen was last updated in the 50's.

My neighbor on one side has a dark oak kitchen redone by the PO about 20 years ago. White appliances, laminate counter tops. Another neighbor has a large kitchen because the PO built an addition which doubled the size of the kitchen. Its also from the 80's, but the cabinets are a painted maple or pine. They replaced all the appliances with stainless last year, but kept the laminate counter top.

My neighbor on the other side redid her kitchen 2 years ago. They have doubled the size of their house over the years. She kept the same footprint which is very small, but put in very nice stained cabinets with stainless appliances and a granite counter top.

My neighborhood is in a suburb very close to Boston. House prices are high because of location. Homes date from the 1930s and later. Lately, we're getting more teardowns and gargantuan new homes. Many kitchens have not been redone since the 1970s or 1980s. Of the redone ones, there are some white and/or painted kitchens. A couple of darker cherry kitchens. Even in $1m+ houses, kitchens tend to be modest. Appliances are stainless (though not generally the very high end brands). Counters are granite (though I know one Corian counter). I don't think I've seen soapstone or marble.

Small midwest community here. Most homes are nearly 100 years old, and vary from large (ours is 6500'), to modest little bungalows. We are about the only one with a totally renovated kitchen (QS oak cabinets, silestone counters, SS appliances, QS white oak floor, etc). Many of my neighbors are like family, and I would never, ever criticize their kitchen, or their personalities or spending habits, especially in an open forum like this.

Many of my neighbors are elderly, and it is such delight to visit some of them who their original kitchens...still in excellent condition. It's like going back in time. Brings back many fond memories of visiting my grandmother when I was a child. The tall white cabinets to the ceiling that came down to within 12' of the counter, yellow linoleum counters, the adorable cafe curtains in red gingham, and a couple even have shelf paper with the fancy edging. Lots of pull-out bread board, nooks and crannies. These are such happy kitchens!! And extremely functional.