I am totally fascinated by the concept of a $100k kitchen renovation. What does that even look like? Where I live you can build a small house for $100k.
The stock kitchen for a middle-class house in suburban USA and a kitchen with $100k of work done to it are functionally identical for 98% of people who buy them, but the one with $100k spent on it looks like $100k was spent on it (if you're in the know).
Less sardonically: "professional-grade" appliances, granite countertops, redone cabinets which were custom-built by artisans out of exotic-but-sustainable wood as opposed to something which came out of a factory in China, etc, will all let you spend arbitrary amounts of money in a kitchen.
If a kitchen is cheap enough, granted, it could be a reasonable strategy to just treat it as disposable and replace the surfaces every few years, if you don't mind it always looking beat-up. I grew up in a home with all linoleum and we did exactly that right before we sold it: put in all-new countertop and floor when we were about to sell and then avoided using it to avoid marring it, so it'd look quite misleadingly nice for the realtor showings. But it wouldn't be my first choice in surface, if I had any spare cash.
... to explain, kinda painfully, that you can't use a sharp knife on a stone counter or you'll dull the knife. You need a cutting board. Or a wood countertop.
I understand the concern about heat but I've cooked with linoleum counters for my entire life, mostly as a baker, and I don't remember damaging one. It's just a question of not getting into the habit of setting hot objects on arbitrary surfaces. I and every cook in my family has a nice little collection of trivets, which cost a few dollars each and often come with college logos or bad jokes on them. Of course, this probably makes us look lower-class. See above under "status symbol".
We also have the confidence that, should we make a mistake, we can always buy a second or even a third linoleum countertop and still be saving money over granite or engineered stone.
That said, there's a good chance I'll end up owning a stone counter someday anyway just because, in the Massachusetts market, status symbols matter, and signals of recent renovations matter even more. We have a lot of lead paint, buried asbestos, hidden knob-and-tube wiring, and sixty-year-old hack-job plumbing around here, and anything you can do to suggest that your kitchen's walls have recently been opened and pronounced up-to-code is worth doing.
I don't cut on countertops, and agree that's bad for knives (I use cutting boards, as is traditional even in countries like Italy and Greece where stone countertops are the norm). But I do often have sharp things in the kitchen. The last time I dinged a counter it wasn't even due to a knife, but because I accidentally dropped a corkscrew. Would've been no problem with stone or tile, but since I don't have those, it caused a permanent mark where the tip hit! With wood countertops I've found myself paranoid about even setting a coffee cup or wine glass down without a coaster, lest it leave stains that are hard to remove. And with linoleum I'm always paranoid that even a bowl taken from reheating in the microwave will leave a ring-shaped heat-mark.
In addition to tile as a stone alternative, I am somewhat curious about the newer generation of synthetic countertops. I have heard that modern Corian countertops (or generic brands making Corian®-style countertops) are quite durable, and somewhere in price between linoleum and stone.
You'd need to be way, way overpaying to end up spending mid-5-figures on countertops.
We were back-and-forth on custom cabinets versus IKEA cabinets. We weren't looking to make a vanity cabinet purchase. We just couldn't get the storage --- particularly the pullouts --- that we wanted from IKEA.
Kitchens are really expensive.
1. We demolished the entire HVAC stack, including knocking out an old chimney, and replaced a furnace and hot water heater. The new appliances were nice bonuses, but were a rounding error compared to the labor. That work got us a range hood sufficient for our new stove.
2. We tore the kitchen down to the studs and replaced the windows and backdoor, and created a pass to our dining room.
3. Cabinets. Holy fuck are cabinets expensive.
[ huge dropoff in expense happens right about here ]
4. We had an architect plan all the details of the renovation, which sounds silly except (a) the kitchen is better as a result, (b) it prevented us from fighting over feasibility of things we wanted in the kitchen, and (c) it made it easy to get permits.
5. New appliances. For normal people, you'd have to work pretty hard to find reasonable appliances that would significantly impact the cost of a new kitchen. It's not the "professional" appliances that make kitchens cost $100k.
6. Countertops (we wanted something cheap that ended up not working out, so this turned out more expensive than we planned).
7. Tile.
We live in a not-particularly-expensive part of town (there's a significant amount of section 8 on our block, which is directly adjacent to the West Side of Chicago). Our house isn't expensive relative to houses in Chicago. But renovation --- real renovation, not just replacing a fixture and putting in new backsplashes --- gets nosebleed expensive fast.
My impression is that people used to be able to do stuff like this regularly by taking out home equity loans, on the premise that improving the house increased its value and so was a little like investing on margin.
Incidentally: to anyone considering improving a kitchen: get a foot pedal sink. The plumbing for them is cheap (like, a couple hundred bucks installed). It makes a huge difference.
If you want a kitchen that looks like it would be at home in Sunset Magazine its going to cost you quite a bit of money. That said, Sear's appliances, linoleum floor and countertops and Home Depot cabinets? You can do the whole thing for probably $20K tops :-).
"dual dish drawer dish washing machines $5,000"
Like what?
My "high end" Bosch dishwasher retailed at $1,500 for ultra-silent, low water consumption operation (but was purchased for just over $950) - http://dishwashers.reviewed.com/features/2013-best-of-year-d...
Even double drawers as far as I could see had an RRP of <$2,000.
Just curious, not argumentative!
How do you like your Bosch dishwasher? I was pretty disappointed using some of their laundry products I didn't even seriously consider their dishwasher when we remodeled.
To me, the sole downside (and it's subjective, because I actually like it) is that the design of the the cutlery try is not particularly flexible - it has an opinion on how it should be loaded.
But everything is great. Low water consumption. Excellent cleaning. Good looks.
You don't have to do any of this silly stuff to rack up huge bills for a kitchen. Like I said: just gut it, and get custom cabinets. Or buy a Lexus. Similar price.