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They seem to have been popular in the 80s, 90s and well into the 200x too. My house built in 1997 had them. My sister's house built in 2007 still had them. Was this just a timeless look? First thing I did with mine was refinishing them.
My last house had natural finished maple cabinets. I thought they were beautiful in 1992, and I still thought so when I moved. My current house has factory painted cupboards and some of them are chipping.
Classic is classic, and TV shows only influence the young and impressionable.
Bigger question is why are they suddenly hideous and unacceptable by all who watch HGTV now?
People are nothing if not fickle.
The typical oak cabinets installed by builders were bottom-rung quality often with no pulls, and they tend to fall apart in ten years or less. When the time comes to renovate a kitchen it just makes sense to get rid of all the worn-out cruft.
I remember my early days in Chicago. Its Northwest and Southwest sides were built in the late 50s/early 60s. They all had Platinum or Blonde woodwork trim throughout and Kitchen Cabinets and Bathroom vanities. Most originally had pale pink appliances too.
This sight shows a intact Chicago home of that era and its kitchen preserved when found.
The difference is I remember then a bit lighter then the pictures here show and oak grain. My relatives homes I remember were a bit simpler then the pictured example above but even the cast iron sink, tub and toilet were pale pink.
Full plaster walls and full basements too. Even the exterior main brick was PINK. I kid you not. The exist there in thousands today. Fronts got additional brick combinations and these home owners who chose the deluxe package got stainless steel storm windows (yes called that) and screen doors. Much better in it looked like shiny chrome vs aluminum tat pitted in time.
Oak cabs were in style for a long time, yes. And I got thoroughly sick of them. I think they were part of a country look, and old oak furniture was also popular. People are painting old oak furniture now. In past decades, people stripped and refinished old oak.
Just a thought, but in the '80's and '90's there were a lot less outlets - less TV channels, the internet was in it's infancy, etc. - to influence everybody's idea of style. If people had less other people telling them what they should want, and a lot less people telling them that their style was "out" and they needed to spend money to update everything, then maybe they were more likely to do what they wanted back then.
They seem to have been popular in the 80s, 90s and well into the 200x too. My house built in 1997 had them. My sister's house built in 2007 still had them. Was this just a timeless look? First thing I did with mine was refinishing them.
The same reason marble countertops are popular now, a trend.
Marble will go the way of honey cabinets....will be passe in the future.
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