Re: House Hunters International - kitchens. - Page 3

house_cat · ‎03-09-2010

This is off my original topic, but I'm watching an episode in the Netherlands. The house has lots of bookshelves and ALL the books are backwards - the spines to the wall, rather than facing outward. Is that a European thing?

~ house cat ~

Drythe · ‎07-09-2011

@Vivian wrote:
Househunters International is one of my guilty pleasures. I really enjoy the adjustment that Americans have to make when buying property overseas. The huge, open kitchens of the US do not exist elsewhere. No oven, no dishwasher, certainly no island with multiple seating arrangements...to say nothing of the tiny bathrooms where, if you’re lucky, you may find a washer/dryer.

These are the realities that Americans must face up to when buying or renting properties elsewhere. I admit I get a kick out of watching their reactions. I’ve visited Europe many times and I am familiar with the differences between there and here. It’s surprising that many people featured on Househunters International seem to be clueless when it comes to understanding a culture or a way-of-life other than our own. These are people who are not just visiting but planning to live in these new locales. It may be exaggerated for dramatic purposes but I do believe that we need to know a bit more about how people live in other countries.

@Vivian

I so agree, makes me squirm a bit when one says, ‘this isn’t how we do it in the US.’ Well, surprise, you aren’t in the US, you are here, this is how we do it here. Or they keep looking for a place that is like home, why? They can sound snobbish and dismissive.

People I’ve met in other countries know a great deal more about our geography, history, culture, etc. including speaking English, than I know about theirs. We really aren’t taught much about the rest of the world.

"Animals are not my whole world, but they have made my world whole" ~ Roger Caras

Mj12 · ‎03-09-2010

When we lived in Germany and we were house/apartment hunting - every place we looked at had no kitchen cabinets. We were told that you generally put them in yourself, and take them with you when you leave (at least that's how it was in 2005-7). We finally found a great apartment with kitchen cabinets. However, the fridge was a mini fridge as people shop daily for what they need. So we had to buy a full-size fridge to add to that. I also remember the kitchen had Bosch appliances, I loved that.

ETA - that kitchen had an oven. A built-in oven; it was small in comparison to what we are used to here, but we made it work.

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

@islington wrote:
Born and raised in London at the begining of World War we had to go out into the garden for the toilet and bring in the bathtub in front of the fire for bath night. No running hot water and no electric iron. Just reading all the comments on travel in Europe brought back many memories and I can understand Americans who have never had to experience going without the luxuries we enjoy. It is quite an adjustment but I think it is so good for young people to travel, there is so much to learn from other cultures.

It was not uncommon to find rural small cities and people in the country without running water in this country up into the 1960's. Certainly septic tanks and no municipal sewer system.

Don't judge all of what you see in this country by the big cities.

faeriemoon · ‎03-14-2010

If I were buying a vacation home in another country, the smaller less "professional" kitchen wouldn't bother me that much because I probably wouldn't be doing much cooking.

If I were buying a home in which I'd be staying for long periods of time, I'd want a decent kitchen. I would factor that into the price of the home.

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

Europe is so different and spaces are so different. Lots of us live out too far from town to go get groceries every day, and our agricultural model isn't that we have to eat mostly seasonal produce from nearby (thank goodness for that!).

So we live really differently. Some of the aspects of that are good, some bad. I wouldn't want to have to live in a little town and shop daily or eat out. I like going to the freezer, or driving to the next town for dinner, or cooking something in the instant pot! LOL!!!

Or like the Pioneer Woman looking out over hundreds of acres and thinking "About time for more beef!"

manhattan1950 · ‎10-27-2018

@Sooner wrote:
Europe is so different and spaces are so different. Lots of us live out too far from town to go get groceries every day, and our agricultural model isn't that we have to eat mostly seasonal produce from nearby (thank goodness for that!).

So we live really differently. Some of the aspects of that are good, some bad. I wouldn't want to have to live in a little town and shop daily or eat out. I like going to the freezer, or driving to the next town for dinner, or cooking something in the instant pot! LOL!!!

Or like the Pioneer Woman looking out over hundreds of acres and thinking "About time for more beef!"

She looks "BEEFY."