I disagree with many, maybe even most, of what you've listed on both ins and outs. Sorry. I think these kinds of lists are a pretty useless exercise. Not only are "ins" and "outs" often regional, but they are also often in the eye of the beholder. And in any case, what is the objective for this list? If you are designing a kitchen around these lists, then the list will be outdated within 5 years or sooner - will you re-do your kitchen again then? As you inferred, sometimes these lists are made by KDs, appliance manufacturers, cabinet manufacturers, etc. to goad people in a slow market to feel their kitchens are inadequate and need updating. If you are re-doing your kitchen for immediate re-sale, then some of these items might be a useful reference, but again, they are regional, and in the eye of the beholder.

I always find it interesting to read these kinds of lists even though I never follow them. I didn't do any "outs" in my new kitchen, the only ins were no hardware and quartz. I just like the clean look of no hardware

Beige is in? As in wall paint color or cabinets? Interesting you didn't note white cabinets in either your "in" or "out" list. We certainly didn't follow trend when we installed our medium stain wood cabinets. A few weeks ago we had our new quartz countertops installed, and the installer said, "Oh wow, this is the first non-white or grey kitchen I've seen in a long time and I love it!".

I agree that marketers drive trends. Another factor is the next generation. I've been going to Parade Homes for years with my daughters, now in their 20's. Neither likes the gray everywhere. I don't think they would mind it in smaller doses, but every house begins to look the same - and both daughter's referred to the Parade Homes of the last three years as "dreary" and "boring". I am pretty sure they will not have gray and white homes someday.

I like the home I grew up in a lot - 1960's slightly country, but I don't paint my walls sage green because I saw it too much at home. I have tiled my bathrooms part way up the walls because I love that look - and grew up with it. I disliked some wallpaper my mom got in the 70's which looks similar to some of the patterns big in the last few years - and I still don't like them. I loved my grandmother's home - 1920 craftsman, and I have been drawn to the "old house" look all my life.

I think some version of the farmhouse sink will stick around because almost everyone I know who has one loves them. They are a take off on the "butler" sinks in Europe and my short apron Whitehaven reminds me of my grandmother's cast iron sink. My grandmother and my mother had cast iron sinks in various styles, and I will stick with cast iron too.

I think farmhouse sinks will stick around because they function very well and protect the lower doors from water damage. Time will tell how the fireclay ones hold up. They may change from being called "farmhouse" to "apron front" when farmhouse style fades. It seems though that there is always some version of "country" - call it what you will. I think that some form of a style that evokes feelings of family, natural materials, and coziness will always be "in" just done up in different ways.

Granite is not going anywhere. Natural surfaces from the good earth make people happy. I have quartz but think many granites are lovely.

I have seen a return to warmer tones in the newer design picks - lots of cream - haven't seen much beige, but the grays are much lighter so they can work with the warmer woods. White quarter sawn oak is showing up a lot - not surprised because it stains well and is a sturdy wood. "Oak" got so slammed for a while that other woods, many of which have their own problems were pushed instead - maple and alder, both which can stain poorly, and cherry which I love but also has red undertones - and can get knocked for that - even though it is really lovely.

Region certainly plays a role. Climates with cool, gray winters will want a warmer home, while hot area like Florida and Texas will favor cooler interiors.

I wonder if the reason people got "tired of the way it looks" (in the poll noted above) was because they heard over and over that there kitchen was "dated". Sometimes when people post their kitchen, they apologize for it - like they have committed some sin by not keeping their home properly "on trend".

I think brushed brass/gold hardware is still in and I think it will really date a kitchen/bathroom in a couple of years. That being said, when I built a house 9 years ago, I was inspired by Connecticut colonial homes and put in brass door handles. My current house, which is 50+ years old has brass door handles. I like brass for door knobs. I think it will be out for bathroom and kitchen faucets in a couple of years.

Beige tones

Never a huge fan of this one except purely monochromatic, tint-matched beige as an entire envelope.

tiled kitchen island - this one perplexed me.

I have tiled or used flooring a several times on the backs of peninsulas because when there is seating there people scuff them. I think this is a good idea, I did it ten years ago.

Hidden range hoods

I have done this in most kitchens I have designed

gray cabinets - I was with trends without knowing it.

2004.

monochrome

Yep. Do this a lot. Doing it now, did it in design school for an entire 4000 sq foot project. Every finish matched except wood paneling that ran through the entire center of the house. 2003. (The menu was that they had an art collection and skyline views). But people have been doing monochrome since like 1920.

no hardware

Yep. Kitchen in 2004 and in a house now.

farmhouse style - shiplap - blame it on Waco

Never a bad look if you live in the country or in the outer suburbs. Not so great in a city or car parked out front townhouse complex.

furniture feet for cabinets to look like stand alone cabs

I think these get in the way of cleaning. Never a fan of simulated free-standing

black appliances

It's an option. Personally I think they are too black and shiny.

hidden appliances

Yep, if I have the money.

MY CALLS - Quartz countertop- 90% of the countertop being fabricated in my area is Quartz.

Quartzite- it's up and coming. Visual feel like marble bit sturdier. The stone yards gave me their fast moving products.

Thick countertop look

Thick or thin. People want something different. Since most people buy something being built on spec and only have limited options, rarely see this one here.

plugmolds - my local builders tells me that they automatically use plugmolds in all their model homes and push it as an extra.

I have never worked with an electrician that liked them or would install them. This must be location based.

OUT:

brass hardware - overkill

I don't even think this one has trickled down all the way yet. This is still aspirational for some people. And what's next, supposedly?

gray - yes it's in but it's also out. People are buying gray cabinets now but the designers are phasing it out.

See above.

Copper - too much copper

On what? I haven't seen much of this. I wonder if this is "out" because a number of manufacturers floated "coppertone" and "rose gold" around that never made it into production, so they are killing it.

Chevron

Still? They have been saying this is "out" for a couple of years but there are still zig zags being introduced. But maybe this is skewing flamestitch.

Distressed wood

Murdered by pages of pallets on Pinterest.

farmhouse sink

Meh. Too many manufacturers are making these now for them to go quietly.

granite - designers and NBKA said granite is out and trending down. Houzz said it's up.

It's probably cycling up in volume on some level because it is now a "Builder level finish" in new construction in many areas.

Bottomline - numbers and stats can be manipulated to say anything in either directions. We can be manipulated by making us feel bad.

Well, it's up to the individual to not feel bad. The main way to not get into this trap is to not do every room, especially a kitchen, like a checklist of what's current. Your choices will be limited somewhat by trends because of what's available, but there is also so much available that is off trend that you could use that as a part of the mix. People set themselves up for this one, not the marketers.

Per a recent Houzz survey, the TOP reason that people remodel is because they got tired of how their kitchen looks.

See above. I think this is a terrible reason to remodel. Being tired of how something looks is a good reason to get a haircut or lose weight or reupholster or repaint. It's not a good reason to take out a loan and spend $50,000.

My kitchen is pretty trend forward, though, not really according to your list, but more in the lifestyle blogs I follow.

In my past life, I would've done brass hardware, subway tiles with dark grout, butcher block countertops, dark base cabs—what I think of as sort of Brit-insipred. I do not think these are dated whatsoever, but my tastes have changed over the years.

Instead, I skewed Scandinavian (which, in my world, is crazy popular right now)—matte black fixtures, no backsplash other than 4" countertop material, light gray quartz, white cabinets and open shelving. Do I worry about this looking dated or too trendy in the future? Sorta, I guess. But I also think given my market (Brooklyn) and my competency in staging my apartment, I'm not really too worried when it comes time for resale.

I guess the thing that my past references and current references have in common is they're all very minimal. The finishing touches might have shifted, but the foundation is in the same family.

@freidajune I'm someone who is oblivious to trends but I thought it would make a fun topic for the weekly discussion. You brought up a good point about regional tastes.

@mtnmom I believe it was beige all over. For the discussion, I pulled about 20 lists for 2017.

White is standard so it's not an out or in trend at the moment. The numbers have been steady at around 40% for white cabinets.

@palimpsest LOL "murdered by pallets". I didn't know gray has been in for so long. I never read or look at design material and had no clue. I wanted gray because it goes well with chocolate and I don't like white.

@jhmarie jewel tones cabinets especially green and blue are "in" for some lists. I tried to pull only the ones that lands on several lists. It will be interesting if it goes mainstream.

This is a fun topic. Very few people I talk to even know what quartzite is, so I agree that that's still up and coming. I'm hoping to do aged brass hardware whenever I muster the courage and clarity of purpose to do my kitchen. Aged brass looks timeless and nautical to me. I'm already tired of the grey. I painted my family room revere pewter and will change it to a lighter Greige whenever we do the kitchen.

I am finishing up three grey rooms right now. (Two are bathrooms). But it's a midcentury house and 1965 was sort of the last gasp of grey, pink, pale blue etc., Gold and Avocado started in 1966-67 and there was a dramatic shift to more intense earth tones immediately after.

I think that grey will peak and fluctuate especially for things like kitchen cabinets but I am not sure that grey has been "out" for an entire decade, or anything. It probably fell out of favor in the late 1960s, but by about 1975 or so it was coming back with Art Deco revival and the Loft/Industrial look.

my thoughts are-how blessed am I, having spent three quarters of my life being totally oblivious to trends. well of course I noticed something, but as it usually were other people's kitchens..and I saw them at different times lol..

very liberating. I have my likes and dislikes, and they're allover the map..and I love so many kitchens it's crazy..they can be wildly different. the thing is-they should go with the house. the moment they do, your essay..if to compare design or an attept at design to an essay..becomes one that is coherent at least and wonderful to read at best

so I do what a house dictates..well, I remodeled kitchens twice in my life and changed many many homes my own and rentals, so it's not like I have a big experience. but houses are capricious creatures and they want this and that, and I tend to listen.

then of course I'd be partially limited anyway, for some reasons(say budget, upkeep, etc), or will be free to still do something I love on a smaller scale, if it doesn't contradict the general context

I love both stained caabinets(but I have favorites..favorite lghts, favorite darks..) and painted(also have favorites), modern and rustic and cottage, and whatnot

I love tiles. More than stones. But I do have favorite stones.

I like hardware that's either antiqued(nickel, brass, silver) or copper..love iron as well

I think I tend to like warm or/and muted, and probably reflects in my love for certain metals as well

Don't like kitchens that are too monumental, or very minimalistic, extremely so

Don't like chevron. Love herringbone))

appliances..should be colored or hidden in my ideal world, but as I don't have money for neither, stainless steel it is..))

ok..tried to make it a sensible post but it seems I'm not succeeding..

I had to look up what "plugmold"s were -- that's how out of fashion I am, LOL. I do know people who pay attention to trends, but I'm not one of them. At least not consciously (though my personal choice will be coloured by what I see around me, for better or worse). I put off re-doing my peeling, cracking kitchen for a while, because I didn't want to spend the money for just cosmetics.......I didn't do it until I had a distinct functional advantage (and then the cosmetic overhaul came along for the ride). I hate farmhouse sinks and hidden appliances.......OK, a farmhouse sink would look great in a truly old- or retro-kitchen, but adding one to an otherwise ordinary (i.e. modern) kitchen - which is how it's usually used - does not make it look retro or classic.

beacham: I am ashamed to admit there is a tiny part of me that wishes your reno never ends as I enjoy your weekly topical posts! I find them amusing; thought-provoking; challenging; and inspiring. Thank you!

Not long ago I read an article on how apron-front sinks were ‘out’, and the next article declared them ‘in’ trend. For the heck of it I just ran a google search on shag carpeting… seems in some 2016-17 articles it’s making a comeback! Not sure I believe that one! I think one can find almost anything is either in or out of fashion simultaneously.

Though we are not going with stainless steel sinks, that perhaps is the one kitchen item I might consider timeless.

At the end of the day, choose what you love and stick with it. I think, in most cases, that’s the best advice. It’s what we’re doing. I care very little about trends, or keeping up with the Jones’s, or what anyone advises is ‘the best quality’ or ‘the best looking’, although I will say hearing other’s views/opinions is often enlightening and can be very helpful in making up my own mind.

Interesting discussion. When one discusses home/kitchen trends, I think there are three relevant polling groups....

1. Designers

2. What *most* people are actually buying (i.e., people who are going to HD or standard kitchen design centers, or new build on spec people with limited builders grade options)

3. Non-professionals who enjoy design (i.e., bloggers and their audiences)

It seems that these groups often have very different answers to polling questions. Let's take an innocuous question from a few years back: What's the trend in appliances? And the groups' responses, in order, were:

1. Slate

2. Stainless steel

3. "Other" (white dishwashers, flush induction stoves, slide in ranges)

Let's take wall colors. Remember when the designer color was "masala"?? And regular joes were still painting their walls yellow, beige and sage (all decidedly off trend since the 2000s) and category 3 were doing almost all plain white.

I think category 2 (i.e., what most people are actually buying) is still painting their walls beige, doing SS appliances, granite busy countertops and glass tile backsplashes. So by sheer sales volume, I'm sure those are all very "trendy". But designers aren't pushing any of those things as trends, and category 3 haven't used those styles in 10 years. In fact, category 3 trends are often near impossible to find in actual stores! Think minimalist natural wood slab cabinets, which show up in tons of Houzz pics and are inevitably custom made because no store is actually selling this very "trendy" option. So the cabinets are super trendy, but no one is actually buying them.

well I think..no I feel lol..trendy can be beautiful or not, and thus be very short lived or not.

say glass tile backsplashes can be beautiful but the ones that are beautiful won't be installed in 99% of homes because they'll cost too much..the regural machine produced glass mosaic doesn't have plain simplicity of say, ceramic tile, that lets ceramic tile stay.. yet has pretense..thus it fails right away. Its pretence is not well supported so to say. So I didn't care for it since the first day I saw it in some open house, and continue not to care for it now. I understand the thought behind it, but sometimes one can have great thoughts without much fruition. It's like me after I wake up-you've no idea how talented I am when I'm dreaming.. novels, poems, you name it..then I open my eyes, and it all fades away:) So this glass mosaic would be me trying to write down my dreams lol.

Slate appliances? I think designers bashed them right away? well at least a couple whom I read

I prefer books to blogs, so books obviously don't expore these things, they either go deeper, or showcase one's work.

Masala is a great color for bags and shoes:) Loved it all my life..but I had no idea it's called "masala"

but there were colors that influenced me deeply. say emerald. (even though I learned it was the color of the year in January of the next year lol) Started seeing it more-loved it more-started liking all the jewel tones more..

I love all the colors out there, but the quantity and combos I'll go for when applying them in a house, will be different, and will depend on the house, and on what stage I'm in, in terms of life, mood, etcetera

Ah, and I did paint my cabinets gray. Not bought-asked to paint them gray, they're custom so I could choose anything (my idee fix was aubergine plus fuschia..)) I let it go because I understood I didn't have enough uppers to support two tone look..all aubergine would be too dark..all fuschia would be too bright, even for me)). This is custom mixed gray-very very warm..it's light warm greige, warm to the point it looks oatmeal in certain light. I love how it changes throughout the day. It's a beautiful color, and I'm not sorry for a moment I chose it. I don't care whether it's trendy or not..I cared to choose something that I love and that will work with walnut floors and be a great background to our yard.

(if not the floor-I'd go with stained cabinets. But then it would be slab, not shaker.

and if not our cabinetmaker that convinced us not to do butcherblock-I'd do butcherblock not Quartz))

And of course I wanted handmade tile since I'm crazy about handmade tile. My deep love was for the patterned tile(flowers of course!) 70 $ pers sq f, after 30% contractor's discount..:)

Had to go with another love..:) a bit more reasonable..

you know though how many wonderful wonderful things I found and discovered while looking for tiles etc? one needs to drive around quite a lot..from LA to SD, I saw only three or four stores where tiles left me breathless..but there I forgot all my worries..could stare at them for hours. I couldn't have them all, couldn't have the most wonderful ones-but what a great testament to craftsmanship and artistry. And if I suddenly win the lottery(not a lot of chance since I never played lottery yet)-I know where to go..:)

In short one constraint brings another constraint..one decision influences another decision..one new material changes the trends sometimes..one color that you see more and happen to love -shows you plenty of other colors..

it's never just bullet points.

it's a weaving with many threads..

and it's lovely when all weavings are different. even if they have certain threads that are the same, the pattern is still unique.

(I love beige and sage, and purple, and mauve, and teal and off white and greige and emerald and scarlet and brick red and cobalt and coral..I even lived for six years with yellow walls-love yellow but a bit less than other colors-and was quite happy-that was a good yellow..lots of light so it looked good..very enveloping..

I rarely tire of colors. Unless I didn't like them in a certain space from the beginning I"m unlikely to repaint. I don't get rid of colors I love but I introduce more new ones.

Right now I'm into everything plus a bit more of black plus white that I avoided for years..so I'm trying to connect it all.

I'm so sorry about these long posts but some topics are just too interesting to stop one from thinking out loud..

I think one's personal history explains a lot too. What are we drawn to, and why. So trends...or styles..or colors even.. are a bit like grains..some soils will be good for them, and some won't.

When we sold our 3600 sq ft house in 2011, I started emptying our large 'storeroom of discarded decorative objects'. I found the faux southwestern trend (I'm still using one of the ceramic, brightly colored running horse switchplates); the green and maroon faux British fox hunting/country house trend; the Pottery Barn trend, (still going strong); and the American 'Country' trend (ditto).

I thought I agreed with Pal's comment that getting tired of a kitchen is not the best rationale for a $50,000 renovation. But then I thought of all the critical posts and stories I see, usually about house purchases, that snark that the owner hadn't redecorated or touched the kitchen in 50 years.

Here's a photo from this site Design Through the Decades. The caption states "Door handles were not important in the 1970's". ( also IN on Beacham's list). And unless your most recently purchased sink faucet looks like the one in this photo, and mine sure doesn't, it's possible you may be more trend driven than you think.

"unless your most recently purchased sink faucet looks like the one in
this photo, and mine sure doesn't, it's possible you may be more trend
driven than you think."

In many things it can be hard to buy things that aren't in fashion........Most of the kitchen faucets around look kind of the same, and trying to find a faucet that looks like the one in the photo wouldn't really offer many - if any - quality options (i.e. if you want a well-made faucet, it will look "in fashion" and the only way to get one that looks like that will have you buying a piece of crap that won't last very long). I looked hard to find a well made faucet that didn't look like everyone else's but still had the spray feature I wanted (and didn't cost $3000). Similarly, it was hard to find a reasonable-quality bottom-freezer fridge without a water or ice dispenser (I still had to get an ice maker, but I've never hooked it up).......it's easy to find French-door fridges, they're everywhere. Before I invested in induction, I had to "special order" a coil-top electric range, because the only electrics they had in stock were smooth radiant top (which I hate). And so on.......

That Design through the Decades kitchen was never a real winner though.

My faucet doesn't look like the the photo, but it doesn't look like the faucet I wanted either..:)

I don't have very warm personal relationships with faucets..actually anything really functional-and I'm already at the point "well ok as long as it's healthy" lol

if I truly like something like a faucet or an appliance-you can be sure it's totally out of my price range..so I'm very unlikely to have it in the end

and I have some weird prejudices..I dislike toilets that look like captains in their captain caps lol..probably because they're more like people then, and i feel bad?..and I dislike hardware shapes that remind me of hospitals(?) because I start thinking sad thoughts..and I have strange thing against almost all things on pedestals because probably they remind me of pedestals? lol. pedestals-monuments-they died. I have very strange associative chains..)) they probably will govern me more than anything..trends pale, next to my own weird mind workings.

but as I said I'm blessed to a degree..I never saw tiles in homes until I was already a young adult..never saw stones in homes...I don't recall any choice of hardware that was available..actually I don't remember any choice at all. you had what you had. and it was very hard to get too. and no we didn't have any kitchens like that one..some free standing cabinets(ours were very pale yellow Formica and were considered like "wow" and it was seventies and eighties..and when we sold them in 1991 the buyer who saw them still said "wow!" ..and the sink was just hanging on the wall..and the stoves weren't built in..and no backsplashes anywhere nothing like that..the walls were just painted, same with bathrooms..

on the other hand we had really really great subway stations..:)like have you recently been to JFK , with its huge mosaic and all? so almost every station would have granites and mosaics and what not...

subway tiles were not in subways. sadly they were in public restrooms..)) (thus strong opposition of my DH to them..until I was able to show him one that won his heart, because it looks so obviously custom, with its burnt edge and all)

after Soviet subway, nothing can impress you in terms of granite lol.

so maybe that's the reason why I'm rarely taken with granites..even though I like the ones that don't remind me of subways..:)

marble and limestone and onyx and quartzite-them I do love, since I associate them differently...

unless your most recently purchased sink faucet looks like the one in this photo, and mine sure doesn't, it's possible you may be more trend driven than you think

Finding faucets is the design bane of my existence.

When something in the kitchen wears out, why not get something newer and possibly better functioning? I put in quartz counters and a farm sink last year. The older laminate was 18 years old and worn. The old cast iron sink was reused in the basement kitchenette. It is sensible to replace worn out with as nice as you can afford, though sometimes tricky to blend old with new, especially when the newer models are geared towards a totally different color palette. This is a dilemma I see frequently - trying to blend warm toned cabinetry with cool grays. The poster feels they must use gray. They love gray. We must find a way to make a weathered gray floor work with the cherry cabinets! Sigh.

I also understand the difficulty of trying to live with something that is totally not your style - and usually my thought is: don't buy a house which is not at least amendable to your style. Again, some people are stuck needing to buy a home quickly, tying to move close to a new job or such. At least hopefully in such a case the fine, but "not my style" surfaces can be donated.

Remodeling because one is tired how the kitchen looks - troubling if the influence was marketing ploys and a need to fit in with what is being shown on HGTV or design sites. Sometimes I feel the adults in our society suffer from "peer pressure" more then the kids do.

True that, Pal and Toronto.

And april, laughed at "if I truly like something like a faucet...you can be sure that it's totally out of my price range."

there's a lot of peer pressure yes..i'd say other spheres worry me more than design and decor..because the pressure comes from different points, and one's to please both sides of the argument, which makes it into some impossible strive to perfection(which is rarely needed in life to say the truth)..say working mothers..they're strongly expected to be both exemplary mothers, and exemplary workers..you're bound to feel like a failure up to several times a week:)

When something in the kitchen wears out, why not get something newer and possibly better functioning?

Well, this makes sense. In the house I grew up in the kitchen was 45 years old when the house sold. It had:

4 dishwashers

3 refrigerators

3-4 faucets

3 window treatments

3 refrigerators

2 range hoods

2 cooktops

2 wallpapers

2 floors

2 sets of hardware

1 set of cabinets

1 countertop

1 set of double ovens

With the exception of the wallpaper, window treatments and hardware which were cosmetic, things got replaced when they needed to be. The flooring was only replaced because of a leaky icemaker, and my father replaced the second refrigerator at 90 y.o. under duress.

But I know a number of people who completely remodeled their kitchens for cosmetic purposes and essentially replaced item per item and did not change the layout or the function. I think the two big shifts have been whatever countertops to granite (because granite is actually probably the cheapest now, too) and whatever flooring for prefinished wood or laminate. I think this probably describes most remodels outside of GW. People remodeling primarily for esthetics and not so much for improved function.

all my friends and family whom i remember to remodel kitchens, did it because the kitchen was like 40 years old and/or poorly functioned..but then I guess we're all of the same mentality, more or less. "don't fix what ain't broken" blah blah. even me-they consider me a very aesthetical type, not a very sensible one(urban legends))-I'm actually very much about function. should be well organized, not cluttered, etc. I function the best when things are tidy. my chaos is inside. the outside should balance it out.

ah, and should be cozy of course. at the same time. because I have enough of thoughts that are very not cozy..

so if you put me if some functional kitchen be it old etc, that somehow is making sense within the house-I can be there for years. Even if I dislike every element of it taken separately..if it makes sense together and it works, I'll leave it be until it doesn't. That was our previous kitchen btw. Didn't like granite, black appliances, cabinets, backsplash, faucet..you name it I didn't like it. Yet for a moment I didn't think of remodeling it. Since it somehow worked.

This one in the new house was shiny and new and put clearly for resale..wow that WAS irritating. Because exactly-"buyers want white cabinets and granite"

but no, I don't want white cabinets and granite..not where they don't make any sense.

@h202 that's interesting about the 3rd category you brought up. I think I'll be sort of in that category once I'm done because I DIY/self built and everything is patchwork from using what's available at best prices from clearances, Craigslist, eBay and Restore. It won't match the conventional design.

I was forced to remodel because of a flood and couldn't imagine choosing to do so for looks. I lived with a disfunctional kitchen with colors that I hated for 18 yrs and would have continued to do so. Remodeling never even entered my mind once.

The Design Through the Decades kitchen looks higher end than the original 1978 kitchen we remodeled (changed floorplan, gutted the entire space).

I think the changing trends cycle is multi -faceted, but the role marketing plays is to stoke consumer desire. Marketing is what turns something into a trend. hgtv seems nothing more than marketing marketed as tv shows. could it be more insidious? After we bought our house I watched a ton of hgtv, thinking I was being educated. Now I realize I was just being re-programmed to be dissatisfied and unrealistic (house hunters budgets LOL).

We've been looking to move; most homes with newer kitchens look very trendy, it's a bit disappointing because I'm looking for function over form but it seems most re-dos only updated the form.

When people complain about others redoing "perfectly good" 20 year old kitchens for aesthetic reasons, I think they're ignoring that while a kitchen may still function to its original use, kitchen ideas are constantly improving and/or evolving. So while the cabinets and countertops may still be in good shape, and the appliances work fine, some people may nonetheless want to redo that kitchen. And you say that it's purely for looks and staying trendy, but I think it's a find line between improving for "trendiness" and improving for function. For instance, the 20 year old kitchen may have a perfectly functioning low-end electric range. But you have more money than you had 20 years ago when you bought it, and add to that the joy of induction cooking.... and why shouldn't you upgrade to induction? And sure, the cabinets are in perfectly good condition, but they have zero pull outs in the base cabinets so are frustrating to navigate on a daily basis. Or maybe your countertop is tile -- a big 1980s trend, but it drives you batty on a daily basis because of all that grout. And maybe your peninsula has a big wall of upper cabinets hanging from the ceiling. Perfectly functional and in style in 1995, when moms all cooked dinner solitarily in the kitchen while the family watched tv in the family room. But habits have changed and now everyone wants to be in the kitchen or at least able to see each other, so wouldn't it be nice to scrap that peninsula and header with an island? Or maybe you just inherited a kitchen that is perfectly functional but that the previous owners did on the cheap without much forethought and you just REALLY hate it and want a new kitchen.

Everything I listed above are totally functional, working and in good shape kitchens from 20-30 years ago. And the improvements are not necessary, and while they are improvements in function, it's not like the kitchen didn't function before. The improvements are really a grey area between a true improvement versus an aesthetic update.

Point is that people like to get so sanctimonious that "other people" are wasting money on unnecessary kitchen upgrades or hgtv generation, but it's a little like ranting about "kids today".

Sure, I would redo the kitchen in the house I grew up in because I don't care for the way it functions for multiple cooks. And even time capsule kitchens rarely have all the original appliances.

What the Houzz article seems to state is that the top reason people remodel is looks. I don't know whether that's true or not, and I would imagine that there may be some improvement in function picked up along the way whether it's only secondary or not.

But GW excepted, I think, a lot of people remodel without changing anything substantially. I have friends and clients who've remodeled kitchens that are identical in every way except materials. I had a kitchen designer friend who had near identical befores and afters in her portfolio down to the same color palettes in the before and after because the clients wanted new but not different or new and improved. A friend of my mother had three kitchens in the same house. All oak cabinets with changing door styles and a change from laminate to Corian to granite. We are a diifferent population in GW because I think our primary focus is change in function. I try not to judge people who change things just for looks, and I know some people are awfully hard on things and wear them out, --I had one client who was damaging things before the kitchen was 100% finished-- but I dont really get the change for the sake of change mentality when it comes to things like this.

A 20 to 30 year old kitchen probably has lots of areas of wear and appliances on their deathbed:) Even when I added countertops and new sink to my older cabinets, I refinished the cabinets first - many paint instead. They are the homes second kitchen cabinets. My home's original cabinets were falling apart when I bought the house in 1990 - and they were only 13 years old. The inner door panels would pop out and fall on me. I did manage to fix and reuse them elsewhere.

I don't think anyone here would fault someone for changing out a 20 year old kitchen. For the sake of the environment and people's pocketbook, It would be great for cabinets to last 50 years and appliances much longer than they do now. Then redoing the kitchen would be more cosmetic then gut job. Hopefully, designers and architects are building more functional kitchens. I do feel bad when someone just wants new countertops - but the layout is so bad that new counters is not the answer. What is with the stovetop in the tiny island - I've seen that three times this week. One positive aspect of Houzz and Gardenweb is how they help educate the consumer, which can lead to more well thought out kitchens.

that's interesting about open concept kitchens..I, for one, think that people always wanted to be in the kitchen together..for many years almost every kitchen I've seen was an eat in kitchen..fully or partially separated from the main living areas, either smaller or bigger, but always with the eating area, and family hanging there a lot(and no, not only moms did the cooking..whoever could do more cooking that day did the cooking)

(I must add that it wasn't in the US so of course can't speak for all the countries allover the world, just the two where I lived )

I think what brought change might be less desire of people to be more together in the kitchen, since they already historically were..well, most of them..but more desire of these people to watch the TV without being majorly inconvenienced lol

then of course that open concept-that can be well thought-out and beautifully applied- becomes major trend and as such sometimes is most absurdly developed in new construction, with layouts so poor that one wants to weep. so no, jnmarie, I think you're too optimistic hoping that that architects are beilding more functional kitchen..maybe they do, in their thoughts, but at least around here, new construction (that seems very nice and all until you go inside) doesn't attest to it. It does get better in new houses that reach a million dollar or something.

Many dubious things have been sold to people in the name of women's convenience (processed food) or empowerment (smoking). I am not suggesting any woman would wish to toil in a kitchen for hours on end, cut off from human contact, but I am not sure anyone spends hours on end preparing food in America today (or Europe for that matter.) So all this talk about being in the kitchen and not cut-off from the rest of the family-- ??? The only time I spend hours in the kitchen (and I do cook from scratch regularly) is when I am preparing large meals for special occasions or entertaining- and who do I have to blame if I am stuck in there all by myself? Day-to-day, I spend an hour, total, in the kitchen. I see open kitchens as encouraging grazing behavior more than anything else.

Perhaps as people become more educated as to what makes a good functioning kitchen, they will pass on the homes built without - causing the builder to rethink his plan. I do not mean all the points which are lovely but not absolutely necessary - like drawers rather than cabinets for the lowers, but just a reasonable placement of fridge, sink, range and prep space - with a thought to good work flow and safety.

As to open or closed plan - they should build both because some life styles are better suited to one or the other. My kitchen is closed which is fine with me because I don't watch TV much and would rather have my quiet, peaceful space. Others like to watch TV or have lots going on around them. It is good we are all not the same.

I think there's merit to both closed and open ended. I would like a combination of both. We need open ended because my dad used to spend hours daily in the kitchen making whatever my mom wants and she's in a wheelchair so she sits in the dining room to keep him company.

However, I would like to close off those two room because our cooking can stink. Imagine waking up at 7am to cabbage cooking. Just yuk. Love cabbage soup but the cooking smells, not so much. All the smells permeate thru the living and family room up the stairs and down a hallway to my bedroom.

An air lock seal would be lovely. Hmm must figure out how to DIY one.

oh of course they should build both..and many others as well if others exist..that's the whole beauty of it. that's sad when everything is the same because it doesn't reflect the world and people in it..it just can't.

the question is how they go about it..how they plan, how they execute..how much thought is put into the plan whatever it is..hopefully it will be as you suggest-they will rethink it since the market will make them to..I'm a bit sceptical..

sadly the more I learn here- the easier it's for me to guess, by looking at a listing, when was the house built..and usually if it's beautiful and well planned and was built relatively recently -means there was an architect involved, or the community got awards for architecture or something

(our previous community is said to get some award..but I must say that I couldn't dig anything about it as much as I googled:) But it was the most beautiful, cleverly planned, and clearly thought-out townhouse community, from what I saw when house hounting in our area for a year or so..)

I completely agree with palimpsest's last post. I live in a townhouse development built in 1979 with terribly designed kitchens. They were built on the idea that they were just for winter visitors who would make breakfast at home, then eat out the rest of the time, but now are lived in primarily by year-round owners.

Most people have redone the kitchens and almost every single one is exactly the same kitchen as before, in more currently trendy finishes, or not. My next door neighbor just put in white cathedral-arched doors because he likes them.

A 20 to 30 year old kitchen probably has lots of areas of wear and appliances on their deathbed----original cabinets were falling apart when I bought the house in 1990 - and they were only 13 years old---I don't think anyone here would fault someone for changing out a 20 year old kitchen

I agree, especially about appliances. And I think all these statements are true, but I've got to wonder why.

I think it's become a cycle, I think it's planned, and I think that it is something that a lot of people buy into, and this cycle happens because it has to happen.

Appliances don't last that long, and energy efficiency has gotten better. The reason that appliances are mostly available in standard sizes is because now it's expected that they will wear out faster than the kitchen does, and new ones will need to fit.

But I am not sure why something like kitchen cabinets should fall apart in 13 years, I know they do in some cases, but why is that? I know in my current house the cabinets are about that old and to some extent they have been falling apart for several years, as are the appliances. And this kitchen was remodeled and the kitchen was virtually unused for several years. There was cardboard, styrofoam and plastic wrapped accessories in both the oven and the dishwasher and they were several years old when I bought the house. It still fell apart. Of course it is all really cheap and poorly done, too. (And I demolished a 2.5 year old bathroom that was put in to sell the house. It was falling apart too, but the point is that I talk about keeping things for decades and I tore out a two year old bathroom, one that is about 5 years old and the kitchen won't be ten before it goes. I'm guilty. But the replacements will be there when I die, if everything goes as planned).

But I don't know why cabinetry of even medium quality should be falling apart at 20 years, unless it's engineered to do so, so people are forced to replace it.

And now that people are putting in granite and man made quartz countertops, what's going to be the excuse for replacing that in 13-20 years? Granite sits outside for a hundred years and little happens to it.

I think that the consumer has gotten used to the idea, and I know a number of people who only buy low-investment stuff, because strategically they already know they are going to get rid of it. I've seen people in this forum who are in the early stages of building this kitchen and they are already talking about what happens when they update it, remodel it or completely replace it next time. Heck I know people who buy new toaster ovens, microwaves and blenders and stuff when the one they have gets dirty.

The funny thing about the cabinets that were falling apart is the boxes were the plywood boxes that are supposed to be the sign of a well built cabinet. The problem was the inner door panel was held in by something like mirror clips. Possible this was to give the option to flip the panel for a different style. The panels warped a bit which put pressure on the plastic clips and that would break them - and the panel would randomly fall out. I replaced the clips with better ones, painted some of the uppers and put them in my laundry room. Actually, they were easier to paint since the panels came out.

I had stored the lowers in the garage and used some last summer in my basement kitchenette - the ones I didn't run into with the car - oops. I refinished them - which is when I discovered the panels were veneer -oops again. Only one door was salvageable, so I improvised:

[https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~65270573[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~65270573)

My present cabinets are 20 years old and look the same as when I bought them. I figure if they haven't collapsed after 20 years, they won't anytime soon. They are the dreaded oak cabinets with the solid oak doors. They are not shaker or full overlay. I will survive:) I also have soffits. For myself I don't need to the ceiling cabinets. I like the look of the cabinets to the ceiling, but it is not in the budget to do something like that when I don't need the storage. I can't reach the third shelf anyway. I don't want to break my neck falling off a step trying to reach something I use so rarely I should have given it away a long time ago. I don't entertain often, so don't have extras that might merit extra storage in a tall cabinet.

Main kitchen:

[https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~93784356[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~93784356)

Unfortunately there is the problem of shoddy workmanship, both in the production of some products and the install. That is probably a main reason something that looks new ends up being redone. I am always wary of things done to help sell a house - the owner is not worried about quality, just getting a cosmetic upgrade.

At Parade Homes I have seen cabinetry that looks solid, but also some that does not. I feel like an over exuberant slam might crack the door. I am hoping to be around to see how some of the newer kitchens hold up. I am afraid that "planned obsolescence" is part of the plan to keep people buying stuff.

as for the plan..sometimes we "credit" people for having a plan(me included)..sometimes I have a feeling though there's not much of thinking overall, not enough for a plan even a bad one..:)

I try not to judge how other people prioritize their spending - we all have different circumstances and life experiences, so who am I to judge. Also, I was just reading that while millenials are latecomers (compared to previous generations) to home ownership, they are skipping the starter homes and going right into their 30yr homes. I imagine after 15yrs of renting they are more interested in living in a home finished to their liking than 25yr olds of a generation ago who just saw their home as the first rung of the property ladder.