The industry has managed to convince homeowners that we have to re-do our kitchen and baths every 10 years. HA, and again I say HA. Not this one. Good design will last many decades. I replaced my Levitt steel kitchen with Hickory and 20 years later when I sold it, the lookers loved it. My "new" house has , gasp, white kitchen cabinets. So they will at least get painted an off-white and tope. Nice granite counters and very expensive tile backsplash. Only good thing about the paint is I can make some minor adjustments for functionality easily.
IMHO, the only thing worse than the white kitchens is silver cars and black interiors. Well, maybe not as bad as painting Koa.
Good for you, I’ve been in the industry for almost 35 years, in many capacities, and have never noted the trend of replacing it every ten years. That said, many of the countertop products out there are not designed to last as long as I have seen or in my case worked with past it’s prime. Like cars though, things do have a life span. Especially when folks go cheap on the cabinet products they put in their homes. I have a manufactured cabinet product in my home and it’s not the best, however with my skill set I have managed to extend its life span. This is not our final home so they will have to do.
Now as for what I install for a living, it’s a mid to high end manufactured product with a custom department that can build what ever we need. The designers I work with attempt to design with the timeless in mind, however, some customers are hell bent on the latest fad. There is nothing anyone can do about that if you want to eat, for example, we had a customer who wanted black painted cabinets, and oh yes I’ve installed a lot of black lately, they wanted it in Cherry. It made my stomach hurt to think of it, we could have and did suggested they use Birch or paint grade Maple, they demanded Cherry and they paid for It.
as for the industry, getting folks to part with their money, it’s all industry developing a need from a want. I walk into a lot homes that are just bad design and the home owner is unhappy with it and ”they” want it improved. This is where I like to be the home owner who wants to improve their living space and improve their quality of life in it. They love the house it’s location their neighbors, but want a little different look, or a better quality of product or simply have the space function better. Let’s face it if you have seen the budget percentages from the mortgage companies you would be appalled, for cabinets for an average home being built from the early 90s too present is a poultry 2% of the entire budget. Most homes end up with a cabinet budget of 10% and some are more. That in itself makes it hard on the home owners, builders , and the cabinet companies to make a living. Now if you have the skill set to build your own, then by all means please build them, and show them off I want to see it and enjoy someone else’s craftsmanship. I enjoy it and cherish the fact that there are other makers out there,
Now as for the Koa, I would probably shoot someone for that one, cause that ain’t right.
