Hello? Anyone out there with laminate countertops?

I've been sick!  Haven't been out of the house in days, bored to tears, carrying around my Kleenex and  Clorox wipes so Jerry wouldn't catch it (so far, so good).

I spent a lot of time collapsed in front of the TV watching HGTV's "House Hunters" because my brain wasn't up to anything else. 

But, honestly,  it wasn't very relaxing,  because this program drives me nuts.  It follows around people looking at houses to buy, and they all want the same thing and they want it right now.

I tell myself that it's generational, that of course it's mostly young people who are out buying houses, and I'm a different generation, but, boy, do I feel old and exasperated (and puzzled) watching this show.

The current crop of house hunters HATES (this requires caps) laminate counters, wall-to-wall carpeting,  wallpaper, anything "dated."    That includes white kitchen appliances, black kitchen appliances, and any bathroom without two sinks and a separate shower stall.  They not only hate it, they won't buy a house because of it.

When did this happen?  Back when my friends and I were buying houses, we all put up with the bad choices of former owners.  Some of us bought houses that were the pits,  but we had to get started somewhere. Really,  I can't think of a single pal who gave up on a house because it had the wrong kitchen counters and appliances. We all thought, "we'll fix it over time."  Down the road.

But today--and I verified this with friends who are realtors--many young buyers want perfect, move-in ready places, and it's always the same checklist:  hardwood floors, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and "open concept" design.  I don't think I saw one buyer deviate from that wish list, except a nerdie young woman in Ann Arbor, and I thought she had courage, big-time.

Has there ever been a time when home-fashion was so hardline?  A kitchen counter material as a deal-breaker?  And the wrong color appliances?

When we bought our house 30 years ago, the kitchen had pale green-yellow Formica counters.  I didn't like them particularly, but I took courage from this photograph.

Katharine Hepburn in the kitchen of her house in Fenwick, Connecticut.  She built the house in 1939, and this picture was published in a book by John Bryson in 1990 (The Private World of Katharine Hepburn).  I'll bet this was the original kitchen, and she was still cooking in it  50+ years later.   And she cooked, despite her status and money:

God knows what the counters were made out of

Of course, I know people who've  remodeled kitchens with granite counters and stainless steel appliances, and they're beautiful spaces that people enjoy working in.  My friend,  Suzanne, for one.  But she bought the house with a pretty impossible kitchen and a non-existent powder room.  She made it her own later.

Update:: here's picture of the Hepburn's former kitchen now, as shown in the recent sales brochure  for the property ($14.8 million):
 

A major overhaul

Okay, it looks cleaner and nicer, but for years it operated just fine for Hepburn.  She had the money to remodel it, but she didn't.  It worked.

Now I'll crawl back in my cave.