Will my kitchen remodel make our house hard to sell? (Austin: buyers, school)

[texdav]

Persdoanlly I thnik teh second kiltchen look like a well doen for a coutry style house. The first even withoput the title loks to cramed for my taste. Too much for a small area which is common. But of copurse alot depends on your personal taste as it will with a buyer. Some l;ike ****e cabinet;some light wood and other darker wood.One reason they make them all.

[FueledByBlueBell]

I LOVE it and am looking to do the same thing in our potential remodel. I believe that this style look appropriate in a central ATX home, vs. something in the 'burbs where a darker kitchen seems to go with the style of house there.

[eichlerfan]

Originally Posted by CATXTransplant

I don't agree that white cabinets and light counters are timeless. It depends on where your house is. What part of Austin are you in? I work mainly in NW Austin and I'd say that only about 10% of my buyers would buy a house with white cabinets. When I was a broker in CA, it was more like 50%.

I still live in CA (as soon as house sells we are moving to Austin), and I would never buy a house with white cabinets unless it was a much older home and it went with the style. If I was buying a 1950's or older home I would say go for the white cabinets and subway tile, but anything newer than that I would forget about it. I read somewhere recently that the kitchen sells a home, and I have to agree with that 100%. If your home is a modern architecture style then pick a kitchen style that mirrors that look.

Those are attractive kitchen pictures you posted, although not my style. That would be a beautiful kitchen in a vintage looking home, but if I were a buyer looking at a newer home I would move on to the next home because it just wouldn't fit the style of the home.

[Exiled Texan]

I would prefer your reno to what is already there.

[homeinatx]

ditto to what exiled Texan said. What will constitute resale prices in 5 to 6 years or so will be determined by a huge range of uncontrollable factors - houses rarely appreciate, the land under them might. It is your home as well as your investment. I would not spend huge money to make a dream kitchen in a non dream house, but I would totally change out the backsplash, countertops, cabinet fronts and fixtures to make the kitchen more in line with your aesthetic - add some variety to the homogeneity of your subdivision and perhaps help raise the taste-level as well. Who knows - when your neighbors want to sell in 5 years, their realtors might very well be telling them - get rid of the dark wood and granite - it looks so 2005!! I thought the pictures you offered were much more aesthetically pleasing and sophisticated than the kitchens in most new construction in Central Texas.

[ladylonghorn2]

Originally Posted by FuledbyBlueBell

I LOVE it and am looking to do the same thing in our potential remodel. I believe that this style look appropriate in a central ATX home, vs. something in the 'burbs where a darker kitchen seems to go with the style of house there.

Therein lies my problem! I live in the suburbs but am a bungalow in the city gal at heart. ;-)

[ladylonghorn2]

Originally Posted by eichlerfan

Those are attractive kitchen pictures you posted, although not my style. That would be a beautiful kitchen in a vintage looking home, but if I were a buyer looking at a newer home I would move on to the next home because it just wouldn't fit the style of the home.

The problem with most of the newer construction we saw in the burbs was that they had no particular style of their own. So the kitchen not matching the style of the rest of the house doesn't really seem like a problem. All the houses were generic, almost blank slates that could be decorated however you like.

If anything, the architectural details lend themselves to a sort of traditional look (definitely not contemporary / loftlike / urban) so a traditional kitchen doesn't seem that weird to me.

[Trainwreck20]

Bah! Do what you want and will be happy with. It isn't like you are taking out the sink and putting a bathtub in the middle of the kitchen, or putting a camping stove in instead of a range. The fact that your house is different than those around it will attract certain buyers and repell others. I think lighter kitchens are definitely more popular now than what they used to be, but all superficial appearances aside - a well constructed 'solid' kitchen will do better than a poorly constructed one.

[Driftwood1]

I HAVE to rep that! There will certainly come a time where granite will be seen as SO y2K
A great product for sure but once every residence in the entire suburban world has it, people will go off it. I also find it humorous that ALOT of perfectly gorgeous, functioning kitchens get torn out just because "the granite just wasnt my color"
Cheers

Originally Posted by homeinatx

ditto to what exiled Texan said. What will constitute resale prices in 5 to 6 years or so will be determined by a huge range of uncontrollable factors - houses rarely appreciate, the land under them might. It is your home as well as your investment. I would not spend huge money to make a dream kitchen in a non dream house, but I would totally change out the backsplash, countertops, cabinet fronts and fixtures to make the kitchen more in line with your aesthetic - add some variety to the homogeneity of your subdivision and perhaps help raise the taste-level as well. Who knows - when your neighbors want to sell in 5 years, their realtors might very well be telling them - get rid of the dark wood and granite - it looks so 2005!! I thought the pictures you offered were much more aesthetically pleasing and sophisticated than the kitchens in most new construction in Central Texas.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by ladylonghorn2

don't you think that dark wood and granite look is going to seem dated very quickly? and that the more timeless look of the white cabinets and lighter counters won't?

i happen to agree, in fact all trends become dated. The granite look today might be slump stone in 5 years, only an example btw.

If someone wants to change the kitchen to what they can live with and if it isn't too far out, enjoy. Who knows. those white cabinets may be the in thing when you are ready to move on. If not, you may have to think about making some changes, but you may have to anyway.

I hate white tile but I love white cabinets. I am not a lover of granite either. When we moved from NM last year we had while tile floors in the kitchen, the sitting area next to the kitchen and the service porch. We had ugle cabinets that at one time were nice (the off white or light wood finish) but it was a cheap job, you couldn't get them clean etc. We couldn't afford to replace the floor but wanted to do something. First we had one wall in the little sitting area painted in a marine blue (I can't think of another color to discribe it) maybe slate, anyway it was between blue and grey..We had the cabinets painted the same color around the edges and the middle white. Our stove and fridge were already white. Our kitchen became the selling feature of the house, it sold to the second person who looked at it and the first family almost made an offer: why? because of the kitchen. It is looks cute and clean people will not care so much about it being the exact in thing at the time.

Nita