why do so many expensive homes lack a high end kitchen?
B D
4 years ago
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B D
4 years agoifoco
4 years agoRelated Discussions
OT: Why do I need so many tomatoes?
Comments (34)OH, I get Annies Catalog but will have to go to her website and look for the tomato seedlings! I did order already from Wild Boar. I never been one to have any patience, I ordered the tomato seeds from Wild Boar Farms that I wanted. I read on their website that tomato seeds are good for ten years so I guess mine will be fine until I start them next spring! I ordered - Black And Brown Boar Red Boar Pink Boar Sweet Carneros Pink Pink Berkley Tie Dye I really have to start seeds next spring as I want to grow these. Plus there is another type of tomatoes that I want to grow and those are The New Dwarfs. I know plants of those will not be available locally so seeds it is. It seems to me that this dwarf tomato project is the most exciting thing to hit the tomato world in years! Here is a link that might be useful: The Dwarf Tomato Project...See MoreWhy prescription drugs are so expensive
Comments (47)Ladytexan, you are spot-on, as usual! There is so much that needs fixing I just shudder to think of it all. So many dishonest politicians and officials that think anything's OK as long as they don't get caught. So much out-and-out fraud by those who can afford to hire slick attorneys. So much indulgence by large corporations. And our schools have become little more than 12-year babysitting programs -- I see disillusioned teachers all the time -- can't discipline, some of the kids are practically animals by the time they reach mid-high, disrupting class, making it impossible to teach, bullying the ones who are trying to get an education, in the halls and on the busses and sometimes right there in the classroom. If I had it all to do over again I'd home school. Kids graduate now knowing so little. Then they go off to college if they're lucky and so many of them party for at least the first two years. I blame the real estate problems on the realtors and loan institutions. Sorry, folks, but when you get a commission on a sale you're going to want the highest sale price, it's just basic math. And greed. I bought my first home for $30,000. Lived in it for 20 years, kept the property well cared-for, and made improvements along the way, here and there. Worked by backside off to get it paid off early. Sold it for $75,000. Good for me, right? Not really. Had to pay almost all of that for another house in a near-by town that wasn't probably worth more than $30,000 considering all the work it ended up needing. My real-estate taxes doubled and my insurance company insisted on insuring it for $125,000, which is what they say it would cost to replace it. My situation is on a small scale as compared to other places, where you can't buy even a simple little frame home for less that a couple hundred thousand dollars. What's up with that? Of course the seller wants as much as the market will bear. But really. And the LOAN COMPANIES! Young couples taking on a debt of 100,000 on an ADJUSTABLE loan? That's the biggest rip-off in all history and it ought to be illegal. Then we have these individuals who buy a house on a loan that is structured to start out with low payments, with the payments increasing gradually with time -- the thinking being that the homeowner's income will increase with time. So the homeowner gets this bright idea to live in the house while the payment is low and then when it starts to climb, sell it at an appreciated price, thus actually living there for free and getting out of the loan before the payments get too high. Then the bottom falls out of the economy and they can't sell that house for any price. Not according to plan, huh? That's when they walk off from it, leave the keys in the mailbox. Banks need to go back to the conventional way of loaning money. Now many people can't even pay off their home early without paying some kind of penalty. Paying a PENALTY for paying off your debt ahead of time? Unreal. And folks, for heaven's sake, live within your means. If you don't plan to have 8 kids, do you really need 10 bedrooms? Fifty years ago, we only needed three bedrooms regardless of how many kids we had. All the boys in one bedroom. All the girls in another. If we fought, we were disciplined. I watch that home channel and I see so many couples say, "Well, we NEED a pool. We NEED two living areas. We NEED four bathrooms. We NEED granite counter-tops." (*snort*) And the auto industry! The average car shouldn't cost as much as the average house did. It costs this much to build a car or truck because those auto workers make goooooood money and have great benefits. If we all made what those auto workers make, maybe we could afford to buy one of those vehicles every couple of years to keep them afloat. But we don't. And their company officials are paid outrageous salaries. So they want a bailout without wanting to change their ways. Wouldn't we all. If politicians, corporations (including drug companies), physicians and banks cannot govern themselves with honor and integrity (and obviously they can't) then they need to be forced to do so somehow. I agree, being regulated by the Government is like getting a fox to guard the hen-house. And that's something else that really gets my goat. When a bill is passed in the H of R, it shoudn't have other provisions tacked onto it as a way of getting enough votes. It should stand on it's own merit. If it doesn't get approved, then let those who voted against it be known and be accountable for it. It's just dirty to withhold your vote till they tack on something that will benefit you personally, or the state you come from, or some lobbyist who is paying you under the table. The founders of our country must be literally spinning in their graves....See MoreConsumer Reports decry expensive, high-end sinks
Comments (23)My recollection has been that the Kohler cast iron enamel sinks are guaranteed. Their advertising shows someone heaving a frying pan into the sink from some feet away and leaving no mark or dent. But, here's the latest version of the guarantee, which sez that Feb 10, 2000 rewrote the guarantee. They're more cautious than previously, but if I read this correctly I think that the chip/dent is still covered and the example above is proof of it. Surface scratches, dullness, and stains and etching from cleaning products are not covered. http://www.us.kohler.com/general/warranty.jsp#ci Joaniepoanie, Kenmore items are usually rated individually by CR, aren't they? Could this be an indication that Kenmore outsources wisely, choosing the better or best products of various manufacturers and/or that it sets certain stern requirements in order to be a Kenmore supplier? Either way, it's not a bad thing. Yes, we all know Kenmore items which have failed, but we also know some good ones that are still a-chugging along. When the CR annual kitchen issue came out two years ago, my range hood got totally blackballed. I was very hurt, as if this were a personal slam. It's important not to take CR stuff personally. (fyi: I now know that this hood is a hard one to install and there is a good likelihood that the test model may not have been properly installed. I'm happy with my product and it's done what I want, but I'm also sure, in hindsight, that the "winner" product must have been a good one. It took me 2 years to come to this wisdom.) [soapbox mode on] I find the tone of this thread interesting. Naturally, being me, I believe it speaks to the defensiveness that comes with splurging on high-end choices. But then, I am not in a high income bracket and my home is not in a pricey enough neighborhood to have been able to allow me to even consider high-end choices. Yeah, I'm frankly defensive about my situation just as posters above feel insulted by CR. Those of us who have modest projects cannot help but feel that there is a prejudice against moderate projects and products on the GW Kitchens forum. Prejudice may not be conscious but it's there. Most recently, there was commentary about it on the "this forum is a drug" thread and I couldn't just giggle when I read it because I believe it's true that we can get addicted to ratcheting up the costs. Put it another way: this thread is in part about peer pressure and the pressure is overt. If stuff is shown in the magazines and the promo pamphlets, does that make it better? Are publicists likely to show excellent low-end products in their photo spreads? Should we use "predominance in publicity" as a symptom of excellence? Think of how an 8th grade teacher could use this thread as a critical thinking exercise. [soap box mode off]...See MoreKitchens in high-end homes
Comments (85)@nosoccermom - Gosh, you're right! Not much in the way of high-end finishes in those photos. I'm guessing that folks who are paying mortgages of $2-4k/mo don't have a lot left over for more expensive finishes in remodels? I dunno, then. Must be housing demand then, I guess? Out of curiosity, I just googled for median wages in cities like SFO, LA, NYC and Boston and it's clear most people living in those areas don't make enough to make the payments necessary to buy the properties in those cities much less disposable income for theater, concerts, fancy dinners, museum outings and expensive remodels. I don't get it. Things aren't really adding up for me with all this....See Moreifoco
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