just bought a house and I am freaking out

[jim]

I glanced at this topic and thought it said "just bought a horse and I am freaking out." I thought "why would you buy a horse on a whim? Do you have any idea how to take care of it? I'd be freaking out too, and that poor horse..." before noticing my error.

Horses are probably worse than houses.

[IMADreamer]

Have kitchens changed much since the 70s?

No, but people gotta have those shiny stainless appliances don't you know.

Your worldview is something to behold at times.

Refrigerators up until the 80's at least are generally too small for families. Especially if you buy a lot of fresh food. It's partly why people like my grandparents had a huge freezer in their basement to handle the surplus. We bought a new fridge when we moved in, and got a bigger one because we like to cook and we spent the previous 10 years shuffling crap around small fridges and forgetting stuff that had been crammed in the back. So yes, kitchens are built to handle larger appliances that for some stylistic reason happen to be stainless steel. Our dishwasher has always opened to only a 45 degree angle because it runs right onto this new fridge.

Until recently there were cabinets that hung all the way over the counters, so there was basically no way to prepare food with proper light and headroom. We finally took those out a few months back. The electrical outlets aren't sufficient and there's no room for the kind of appliances people are used to cooking with these days. We want to use the crock pot, we go get it off the shelf. Same for the mixer or the food processor or the blender.

In general, I'd say old kitchens are just too small and not much thought was put into them. People made them work, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a pain in the ass. It's supposedly the most valuable renovation you can make on your home, assuming it's called for.

Also didn't mention I have a bright yellow linoleum floor, which took me about a year to get used to.

I wonder how my grandmother raised 13 kids in her crappy little 1950s kitchen. It must have been horrible.

[Popeye_Card]

Have kitchens changed much since the 70s?

No, but people gotta have those shiny stainless appliances don't you know.

Your worldview is something to behold at times.

Refrigerators up until the 80's at least are generally too small for families. Especially if you buy a lot of fresh food. It's partly why people like my grandparents had a huge freezer in their basement to handle the surplus. We bought a new fridge when we moved in, and got a bigger one because we like to cook and we spent the previous 10 years shuffling crap around small fridges and forgetting stuff that had been crammed in the back. So yes, kitchens are built to handle larger appliances that for some stylistic reason happen to be stainless steel. Our dishwasher has always opened to only a 45 degree angle because it runs right onto this new fridge.

Until recently there were cabinets that hung all the way over the counters, so there was basically no way to prepare food with proper light and headroom. We finally took those out a few months back. The electrical outlets aren't sufficient and there's no room for the kind of appliances people are used to cooking with these days. We want to use the crock pot, we go get it off the shelf. Same for the mixer or the food processor or the blender.

In general, I'd say old kitchens are just too small and not much thought was put into them. People made them work, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a pain in the ass. It's supposedly the most valuable renovation you can make on your home, assuming it's called for.

Also didn't mention I have a bright yellow linoleum floor, which took me about a year to get used to.

I wonder how my grandmother raised 13 kids in her crappy little 1950s kitchen. It must have been horrible.

If you showed her how awesome modern kitchens are, then yeah--she'd probably say it was awful. After all, her grandmother probably had to go outside and cook on a fire or something.

[JCShutout]

Wow, this thread shocked me. My wife and I bought a house in late Spring/Early Summer and we love it. I like doing the regular maintenance, and setting it up the way we want. Its a mid century home, and the kitchen and bathroom are original. I don't see the problem with this. You just utilize your space well, especially vertical space. Home made pot and pan rack ftw! Less space means less clutter if you stay on top of it. As far as basic maintenance, anyone with an internet connection, some basic tools, and the ability to google well can do most of it themselves.

[jim]

Some people love owning homes. I am not one of these people. And I believe there are a large number of people like me, who bought into the whole "you have to do this or you will miss out on the best investment of your life" argument, and are not unhappy homeowners. But my wife does not want to rent/own a condo, so we have what you call one of them there dilemons.

[ghostrunner]

Have kitchens changed much since the 70s?

No, but people gotta have those shiny stainless appliances don't you know.

Your worldview is something to behold at times.

Refrigerators up until the 80's at least are generally too small for families. Especially if you buy a lot of fresh food. It's partly why people like my grandparents had a huge freezer in their basement to handle the surplus. We bought a new fridge when we moved in, and got a bigger one because we like to cook and we spent the previous 10 years shuffling crap around small fridges and forgetting stuff that had been crammed in the back. So yes, kitchens are built to handle larger appliances that for some stylistic reason happen to be stainless steel. Our dishwasher has always opened to only a 45 degree angle because it runs right onto this new fridge.

Until recently there were cabinets that hung all the way over the counters, so there was basically no way to prepare food with proper light and headroom. We finally took those out a few months back. The electrical outlets aren't sufficient and there's no room for the kind of appliances people are used to cooking with these days. We want to use the crock pot, we go get it off the shelf. Same for the mixer or the food processor or the blender.

In general, I'd say old kitchens are just too small and not much thought was put into them. People made them work, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a pain in the ass. It's supposedly the most valuable renovation you can make on your home, assuming it's called for.

Also didn't mention I have a bright yellow linoleum floor, which took me about a year to get used to.

I wonder how my grandmother raised 13 kids in her crappy little 1950s kitchen. It must have been horrible.

People put up with a lot of [expletive] back in the day, which they later stopped putting up with. But I admit, It's a first world problem.

[IMADreamer]

Some people love owning homes. I am not one of these people. And I believe there are a large number of people like me, who bought into the whole "you have to do this or you will miss out on the best investment of your life" argument, and are not unhappy homeowners. But my wife does not want to rent/own a condo, so we have what you call one of them there dilemons.

More and more of my friends are turning anti home ownership. It just doesn't seem worth the trouble to me. I bought into when I was younger. You go out, get a good job, buy a house. That's just how it goes. It's a terrible idea for me because home values here will never be good and when I want to sell this house I'll be lucky to get what I've got in it. When I leave my house and head to my cabin (best purchase of my life) I have to take three streets to get out of my town. On those three streets which equals about two miles of driving there are 16 houses for sale. Some of them have been for years.

The condo problem here is that those just don't exist. The only thing for rent or lease here are dilapidated [expletive] properties. A few years ago we went down to the ballgame on the Illinois side. We went through Grafton, Illinois which is smaller then my town, but has these amazing condos on the hill and some right on the river. I'd love to live some place like that. Wish my town had something like it.

Ultimately, though I just want to end up out at my cabin full time. It's perfect. No yard, four rooms, amazing view to wake up to every day. It's all I want for the rest of this life. I'd go there now but there is no high speed internet there and my gf likes living in town.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

We went through Grafton, Illinois which is smaller then my town, but has these amazing condos on the hill and some right on the river. I'd love to live some place like that. Wish my town had something like it.

Grafton is an awesome town to visit, but would be godawful to live in. I could spend a weekend there and be in heaven, but by the end of the week it would be hell.

[pioneer98]

Any time you drop a huge sum of cash on something, there's buyer's remorse. But compared to other things you drop a lot of cash on, houses at least retain most of their value. The bigger issue is, houses are a [expletive] time drain to maintain properly, if you do it yourself. Or expensive if you pay someone else to. Since becoming a home owner, virtually all of my hobbies have had to morph into house-related hobbies. Thankfully I still enjoy it, but I do kinda miss some of my old hobbies. I also miss spending all of my vacation time on actual vacations, and not having to take days and weeks off just to work on house projects.

Buying a condo fixes this issue.

My first "house" was a condo. It was a 2 bedroom apartment-style townhouse. I was still responsible for about everything. As far as I could tell, the association used the money to mow the common areas, maintain the swimming pool, basic exterior maintenance, etc. They were also responsible for roofing and siding, but they levied a special assessment on all of us to pay for that when it came time. I got hit with a $1000 special assessment for new siding right before I sold the place.

I still had all the stuff on the inside of the house to take care of - plumbing, electrical, painting, doors, windows, appliances, flooring/carpeting, furnace, AC, etc were all on me 100%.

The monthly dues were low but I think you can see why.

[Jocephus]

Michael Scott: Where are all the hot people? I was told that there would be all these attractive singles.
Realtor: Who told you that?
Michael Scott: As far as I can tell, I'm the best looking person here. [later] There's a basic principle in real estate that you should never be the best-looking person in the development. It's just historic common sense because if you are, then you have no place to go but to go down.

Michael Scott: This, my friends, is the master bedroom. Check out the cathedral ceilings. Those are like seventeen feet high. We have cable readiness. Right there. I am going to totally pimp this place out. I am going to put a surround sound system. I am going to put a plasma screen right against this wall.
Dwight Schrute: Oh. Terrible idea.
Michael Scott: I'm putting my bed right over here.
Dwight Schrute: No, no, no, no, no. This is a shared wall. Neighbor throws his wife into the wall, plasma screen hits the floor. Totally smashed.