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Comment by verelo | Hacker News Reader

So I live in Canada, but grew up in Australia. In Canada, you inherit the fridge and washer/dryer of the apartment when you move in. Back in Australia, fridges and washer/dryers are often things you need to bring along on your own. They're big items, I much prefer them coming with the property (if they don't suck, which in places I've lived, often they have!)

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I visited a friend who had moved to Europe when I was in high school. I was astounded when I learned that German apartments came with no appliances, and if I recall correctly, things like counters were also brought with.

It makes sense if you are planning on living somewhere for a long time, but it blew my mind. In my experience people didn't even move their appliances when they sold their house and moved to a new one.

Yeah, everything in Germany seems to be set so that you don't move (and I'm not just talking about houses, but pretty much every other type of contract) for a long time.

Also for some reason they love integrated appliances. It seems their biggest fear is someone walking into their kitchen and finding a fridge there.

In German cities with tense housing markets you are usually required to buy off the kitchen furniture and appliances from the previous tenant, who usually overcharges insanely. Otherwise you would just not be forwarded to the landlord.

Also, these days a nice kitchen is an important status symbol for when you have guests over. So many Germans prefer to get new and personalized kitchen equipment when they move in. Knowing of course that later they will be able to sell it at little loss.

Kitchen cabinets and all the light fixtures too.

That sounds crazy. Can you bring kitchen cabinets with you, or are they re-installed brand new each time you move?

If the latter, sounds like good business for installers!

Is there a rationale or just habit?

It's not a general thing.

My place had a kitchen with fridge when I moved in. A lot of places on the market now have too. New and renovated places often don't have a kitchen, but there are some that do. When you rent a place that had a former Tennant you often buy the installed kitchen from them.

That's the situation I experienced in Munich since 2009 - may be different in other places and may be changing from how it was before.

There is definitely a growing amount of places coming with a complete set of furniture - but that's just a trick to increase rent. It circumvents a law that regulates how much more expensive you can make a place for a new Tennant. Everybody hates those places.

Agreed... I got screwed in Amsterdam over that. In NL you can lease the furniture for 20% it’s value yearly - and the actual contract was worded such that the furniture should have been Vitsoe collection rather than IKEA. The worst was that the landlord couldn’t be bothered to fix isolation and the boiler thermostat because we’d be paying for the energy regardless; the final settlement was brutal (always take over the energy contracts, always.)

Wow, wild. On the plus side i bet IKEA is killing it on the kitchen sales.

Newer apartments these days come with a kitchen, especially in areas where people move frequently.

But even with a kitchen, apartments are very bare indeed, no built-in cabinets or wardrobes, no curtain roads, ...

>things like counters were also brought with.

Are you from the midwest? This construction seems to be regional. Say this in much of the country and they'll wait expectantly for you to finish your sentence.

> Back in Australia, fridges and washer/dryers are often things you need to bring along on your own.

Note though that a lot of apartments come with dryers. Apartment buildings' bylaws often preventing hanging washing on balconies, so I suspect they're legally required to offer an alternative.

Interesting! I’m not shocked to hear it, as an owner of a unit i wouldn’t want people banging up walls with these items every time they move.

I'm an Aussie also living in Canada. Out of curiosity, where are you? I'm in Whitehorse. Every time I go back to Australia it feels dull in comparison to Western Canada.

Toronto, and agreed. Although I’m shocked to hear Whitehorse isn’t dull. Where were you in Australia?

Another Aussie in Toronto. I’ve found the driving here quite a contrast to back home. Drivers tend to veer all over the road, and don’t really indicate. Love the relatively small number of speed cameras though, Australia is getting a bit out of control with the whole multinova thing.

Was in Melbourne.

I have never found anywhere more exciting than Whitehorse on the planet - IF you LOVE the outdoors. It's paradise.

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