The kitchen is fast becoming the most influential room for prospective buyers not only in the U.S. but in England. With a global recession, buyers are sold by a state-of-the-art kitchen. What’s more, the days when women dominated the kitchen are long gone. Men are getting more involved in kitchen renovation than ever as a place to show off, the Telegraph.com reports.
Television presenter Sarah Beeny, founder of Tepilo.com, the property website, attributes the rise of the “power kitchen” to Jamie Oliver.
“Bless Jamie for making it cool for men to cook,” she said. “But he’s also made men think the kitchen is their domain. The kitchen is the new sports car. They spend huge amounts of money on them, not to sit and eat, but to dice and slice, to pan-fry and marinate.”
Modern kitchens in England are no longer single-use rooms, they are renovated with fine cabinetry, and finished in matt, textured or wood with a light gloss. This new leisure center incorporates a cooking zone, dining area and relaxation area. The latest term used to describe this new style is “Living Kitchen.”
What are people spending on these kitchens, if they have the means? Nick Barners of Chesterton Humberts said, “The new three-in-one space is the social hub. It is hard to do a decent kitchen for less than £20,000 ($31,000 USD).”
The Telegraph.com reported that £50,000 to £60,000 ($78,000 to $94,000 USD) is the average people spend on a Plain English design.
Whatever the budget, the kitchen is near the top of many renovation lists. Magnet published a survey this month that found 48 percent of people spend more on it than they do on any other room.
Sarah Beeny fears that things may be going too far. “Home owners are really going to town,” she says. “They have really expensive extensions, creating a space that’s as big as a sports hall. They then fill it with an island as large as a table-tennis table, plus a breakfast bar.”
More gizmos and gadgets are on the English market to fulfill the new male kitchen from teppanyaki hobs to retractable table ventilators, from extendable bars to dishwashers in drawers. There’s no doubt that this kitchen obsession is here to stay.