Just for fun: how often do you think a bathroom or kitchen should be remodeled?

[Magpie]

I would only remodel if I needed to improve the functionality of something. Seems like everything is outdated every year or two when the next great thing comes along.

Yep, this was my first thought, too.

"When it is no longer functional."

 

[cedricandsophie]

We have lived in our 140 year old home 32 years. We redid kitchen and baths right away because they were a mess. Then redid them again about 13 years ago. The kitchen layout is fine and cabinets. Just redid floors, counters m, paint and appliances. The bathrooms were gutted except we kept old cast iron tubs which I regret. Desperately want a walk in shower. We hope to sell in about 5 years so I'm hoping the buyer can redo them again instead of me.

 

[Dancind]

DH is a remodeling contractor, so our house has been pretty much updated. We did the kitchen three years ago and it's gorgeous, but it's not the all white kitchen that everyone wants now. So updated changes really fast! In five years, the white ones will look dated.

The newer cabinets have some really nice features though, they close themselves, have some nice big lazy susans, big drawers for pots. I love my new kitchen and appliances.

We are in the process of buying a house in Portland OR and it's been interesting. We got into looking at the Craftsman and Mid Century Modern homes there and the house we wound up with (and could afford) is pretty much a 70s house though the kitchen was updated maybe 20 years ago. We will eventually re-do it, and try to capture the feel of the era it was built but with modern appliances etc. Not orange and green, but more light wood, plain fronts etc.

Speaking of orange and green, I found a home in the same neighborhood that sold for $150k over the asking price and estimate. Bidding war, obviously. It has a really "dated" kitchen, some sliding painted cabinet doors, formica, even the original 60s wall oven. The cooktop has one of those stainless covers that lift up. The rest of the house is very MCM too, with high ceilings.

So there you go. Depending on the house, maybe try to update it to look original!

 

[Dancind]

Oh, forgot to add! If you happen to have color bathroom fixtures they sell for a lot! Especially pink!

 

[Nayan]

I'm looking at a kitchen remodel myself. It has the original 1970's pressed-board cabinets and they are literally falling apart, three of my drawers have no bottoms...it's very dated . I've been putting it off due to cost but I don't think I can wait anymore.

 

[Realfoodfans]

Our home was built in 1926 - when I bought it the kitchen was vintage - I would have kept it but it was in a poor state sadly. We managed to save a bank of 9 original small solid wood wall cupboards - I love them! That was 18 years ago and 2 years ago we just replaced the doors on all the other new cupboards but again kept the 1926 ones. Some people would hate them but mostly people think they are great!

 

[JessNewt]

This is exactly the type of thing I was referring to. Things like gold faucets, very dark stained oak cabinets, etc. definitely scream a certain era. My parents built a home in 1985, when I was 15. One of the things really in then was colored bathroom tubs, toilets and sinks. I am not talking white or almond, I am referring to mauve, black or grey colored porcelain. I remember going around with my mom to choose these things and her making a very conscientious choice to not go with these colors as she said a toilet, tub and sink are going to last a heck of a lot longer than the color fad is.

Had to chime in on this! My house was built in 1985. 5 bathrooms, each with a different color sink&toilet, none of them white! We are doing a lot of renovations, currently

I think frequency of renovation really revolves around your preference. If you like the space, then there is no reason to change it. After having trouble selling a home we built just a couple years ago due to some personal preference finishes that were not loved by buyers (We chose to use these dark stained alder wood cabinets in the kitchen. Every potential buyer mentioned they wanted white cabinetry in the kitchen. Whoops!) I am now a bit more thoughtful in my design choices while renovating my 1980s modern home. I still stick with what I like, but I do have "resale" on the back of the brain, even though I have no plans of leaving soon.

As long as you love it, leave it. If you are selling and in a seller's market, leave it. If selling in a buyer's market, look into a reno.

 

[aprilchem]

We remodeled our kitchen 15 years ago and are considering doing it again. Fifteen years ago it was just DH and I, now we have 3 kids and two large dogs and our 9x9 1939 kitchen is just way, way too small. We've talked about blowing out some walls, opening up the floorplan, and adding an island.

 

[disykat]

Our house is 20 years old. It looks like most houses of it's time and I think that's reasonable. We were going to redo the master bath to replace the big tub with a big shower. At that time I was going to stain the cabinets darker and update some fixtures. If it turned out well, I could do the same in the kitchen. However, we've decided to make some financial changes and that is no longer a priority with the new plan. Oh well. Our oak cabinets are very plain, so at least I don't have any weird embellishments on them.

IMO, new cabinets for beauty updates rather than function is only something to do if you have lots of expendable income and no debt. Since our expendable income will be going down, I'd rather spend it on other things!

 

[RedAngie]

If it wasn't so costly and wasteful, I'd like to have a kitchen renovation every five years or so. Not necessarily a complete gut job, just new floors or counter tops or cabinets, etc. But realistically 15 years seems to be a good minimum.

My house was built in 2002, I moved in here in 2007 with the idea of eventually updating the kitchen. It wasn't bad or anything, just not to my taste. Re-did everything in 2013.
I was satisfied with the original baths, but repainted the walls about a year after moving in. They still have a few years before I think about changing anything else.

 

[georgina]

We've been in our house 30 years, just redid the original 60 year old upstairs bathroom a few years ago (I LOVE the new one, though it is still tiny!) Replaced everything - floor, tub, sink, toilet, lights, walls, moved the wall back a foot. It was badly needed.

Redid the 60 year old kitchen last year, tore out the wall between the kitchen & DR, put in an island, new hardwood floors, cabinets, granite countertops, appliances, etc. I love that too, expect to be the last kitchen remodel we will need. Still have one bathroom that could use some help. I guess I'm more int he 30+ year camp in needing remodeling.

 

[wenrob]

2 of my 3 neighbors have the original bathrooms - from 1928! And, what's funny, is that they are still (back?) in style! (White 3"x6" subway tile walls, white small hex floor, all white fixtures, chrome faucets. At least where I am that has basically never gone out of style, and is trendy now.) One of those neighbors also has the original kitchen (newer appliances), and its retro awesome. Everything works, cabinets look fine.

Old is new again. I had to resist the urge to go 100% retro in our kitchen that we are currently remodeling. Instead I plan to haunt the antique stores and decorate vintage/retro. I did go with white, antique glazed cabinets but they are solid maple and can be refinished to a more neutral look if we ever sell. We are seasoned do it yourselfers so it wouldn't cost too much.

Our first house we lived there about ten years when we gutted and remodeled the kitchen. It was original builder grade from the 70's, so ugly and non functional. Had we stayed in that house maybe about now I'd be looking to switch out fixtures, hardware, floor, painting, decor but left the core of the kitchen. It was an awesome kitchen, I miss it to this day. We also did the hall and master bath (was very small, not like the huge one we have now) but did those pretty neutral and used decor for the look I wanted. Same for them, paint, hardware change about now.

Second home, again, builder grade so gut and redo. Once you have nice, functional cabinets with roll out drawers and quality countertops it's hard to go back. We kept the original fixtures and floor, that kitchen didn't cost much at all.

This house (and our last until retirement) also had builder grade with the added bonus of shoddy installation and countertops that didn't match. We bought knowing we'd gut and redo the kitchen, baths, add built in entertainment center and replace the carpet and floors. This past year downstairs, next year upstairs. I am putting retro type cabinet/mirror in the downstairs bathroom but it being so small it wouldn't cost much to replace later if needed. Like PP mentioned I want to pull the big tub (aka the dust collector) from the master and put in a double walk in shower.

 

[North of Mouse]

I am addicted to HGTV home buying and remodeling shows. I'm shocked at what some of those people consider dated. I don't think a 20 year old kitchen or bathroom is that dated if it was kept nicely. What do you think?

Our home is 16 yrs old - doesn't look any more dated than the new homes in our area.
Definitely not ready to do anything different to them - chose everything and love it.
Hate painted cabinets, especially white, and in the homes we've built have always gone with natural hickory. May go 'in & out' of date, but doesn't matter to me. Always get great comments on them.

 

[xlxo]

I'll add.... if I wanted to do a major reno... I would be installing wider 40" doorways and lower light switches.

• I want to think ahead for the day I might be in a wheelchair. Care homes are not cheap.... add up the monthly charges in a year and I can afford to put in that elevator.
• It increases the resale value of a home that can made "accessible".
• Makes moving large appliances in and out of the easier if you have a wider doorway.

 

[tvguy]

DH is a remodeling contractor, so our house has been pretty much updated.

LOL. I asked all 4 remodeling contractors I got bids from on my kitchen/bath remodels what THEY had in their homes, and all 4 said something to the effect of " I do this for a living, the LAST thing I want to do is my house".
Sort of like auto mechanics, THEIR cars are always broken down!

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I am addicted to HGTV home buying and remodeling shows. I'm shocked at what some of those people consider dated. I don't think a 20 year old kitchen or bathroom is that dated if it was kept nicely. What do you think?

I think on many of those shows they pay them to do it. I doubt if some of these home flippers would gut a perfectly good kitchen otherwise. Sure. If you run into an avocado green and baby puke yellow 70s kitchen or a turquoise 50s kitchen they are probably going to change some things out. But failing that, it wouldn't make monetary sense to just gut a good kitchen.

 

[tvguy]

I do have to wonder when.......or if.....stainless steel appliances will go out of style. We we remodeled 3 years ago, we ordered our Sharp Drawer microwave too late, they offered Bisque, White and Stainless Steel, but had discontinued the Bisque and White literally weeks before we ordered so we have a Bisque stove, dishwasher and fridge, and a stainless steel drawer microwave.

 

[ronandannette]

Fashion (in home decor) will completely change over a decade; maybe sooner.

A 20 year-old kitchen likely has raised-panel golden oak cabinets with brass hardware, lino floors, formica or ceramic tile counter tops, a stainless steel double drop-in sink and probably no centre island. A 20 year-old ensuite bathroom will have the same oak cabinets and brass hardware, a big corner tub (possibly jetted), a small acrylic shower stall and moulded cultured marble vanity tops with vertical brass light bars on either side of the mirror. While all that stuff could still be serviceable, you'd have to had reallllly loved the look to still consider it very nice. Gut it and start over if you care about aesthetics.

10 year-old kitchens probably have maple floors and shaker-style maple cabinets with dark stain and brushed steel hardware. Counter tops may be corian or granite and the sink will probably be an under-mount and the kitchen will be designed around a centre island and corner pantry. 10 year-old bathrooms will have the same maple cabinets with ceramic tile floors and a larger shower with tile walls and a glass sliding door. There will probably be double under-mount basins in granite vanity tops. If everything is in good shape I can see being reluctant to put money into a reno, but for sure the fixture styles and colour of counters, cabinet and floors will not look current. If I was going to change just a couple things in a bathroom like this it would be the faucets and light fixtures - going with something really trendy can make a big difference.

Personally, I've never lived in a home that's as old as either of these examples. Ours have always been either built or reno'd as we've acquired them and have been pretty in-style at any given time.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

If everything is still functional I'd never remodel lol.

 

[mrsheppo]

My house is 20 years old and I've done very little in the way of renovations. We bought it 7 years ago. We redid the downstairs half bath because I hated how dark and ugly it was. We painted, replaced the pedestal sink, new bathroom cabinet and lighting. The whole project cost about $500. Other than that, we have only painted the living room, kitchen, master bedroom and bath and replaced the flooring in the 2 upstairs bathrooms (the master bath had carpet, yuck) Everything else is in good shape.