Relatives who just don't get it

[ysette9]

This takes me back to when I was a kid. I remember those fancy hand towels that were stitched with something ghastly kitschy and super scratchy. Next to the bars of soap in pretty shapes that smelled to high heaven. They were in the type of bathroom that had a carpet mat around the base of the toilet and a plastic foam squishy toilet seat.

~shudders~

[markbike528CBX]

This takes me back to when I was a kid. I remember those fancy hand towels that were stitched with something ghastly kitschy and super scratchy. Next to the bars of soap in pretty shapes that smelled to high heaven. They were in the type of bathroom that had a carpet mat around the base of the toilet and a plastic foam squishy toilet seat.

~shudders~

Here is some nightmare fuel for you.
Interior Desecrations: Hideous Homes from the Horrible '70s Lileks, James
And.  https://www.lileks.com/institute/interiors/index.html

[RetiredAt63]

This takes me back to when I was a kid. I remember those fancy hand towels that were stitched with something ghastly kitschy and super scratchy. Next to the bars of soap in pretty shapes that smelled to high heaven. They were in the type of bathroom that had a carpet mat around the base of the toilet and a plastic foam squishy toilet seat.

~shudders~

Here is some nightmare fuel for you.
Interior Desecrations: Hideous Homes from the Horrible '70s Lileks, James
And.  https://www.lileks.com/institute/interiors/index.html

He did find the goodies, those were over the top even back in the day.  But he missed the bathroom of my first house.  Grey everything, enough to give anyone depression.  Bright yellow would have been wonderful in comparison.

 And yes, foil wallpaper was a thing, we did my parent's powder room with it.  It was expensive.

[dcheesi]

This takes me back to when I was a kid. I remember those fancy hand towels that were stitched with something ghastly kitschy and super scratchy. Next to the bars of soap in pretty shapes that smelled to high heaven. They were in the type of bathroom that had a carpet mat around the base of the toilet and a plastic foam squishy toilet seat.

~shudders~

Here is some nightmare fuel for you.
Interior Desecrations: Hideous Homes from the Horrible '70s Lileks, James
And.  https://www.lileks.com/institute/interiors/index.html

The house I grew up in was built in the '70s, and all of the built appliances & fixtures were either "Avocado" or "Harvest Gold" --yes, including the toilets! The guest bathroom was green and white (decorated with pink, for some reason?), and the master bath was all in yellows and browns, with a wooden(?!) seat.

My parents remodeled the kitchen & dining room a couple of times, and eventually replaced all the appliances, but those bathrooms stayed just as hideous as the day they were installed!

Kind of reminds me of the Southern restroom and the decorative hand towels. Growing up, every Southern house's bathroom had at least one very fancy hand towel hanging neatly folded near the sink. But woe be unto anyone who used it! It was purely decorative, and no one was ever supposed to touch it! That was what the (often semi-hidden) plain towel was for.

I think at first, it was a matter of having a "good" towel for guests, and another one for household members. But eventually it evolved to where even guests weren't supposed to use these fancy towels, which were heavily decorated and often not made of absorbent or even moisture-tolerant materials.

Is there a standard location in the southern bathroom where I can find regular hand soap? Always seems wrong to use the fancy decorative soaps of which there are always several on display, but there is no other soap in MIL's guest bathroom that I have ever seen. Along these lines - a few years ago MIL started putting out seasonal paper towels / napkins in the guest bathroom. Reading this, I bet I contributed to that chage after years of using the only towels I could see in there - the fancy linen ones.

Ugh! Sounds like you may be experiencing a further evolution of the phenomenon, in which the entire guest bathroom is only for guests, and off limits to household use? In which case, there may be no practical accommodations, only decorative versions. That's a tough one, made worse by the fact that you're in a grey area as non-resident family-in-law...

Maybe bring your own soap? or gift her a really fancy liquid soap dispenser that matches that decor?

[ysette9]

This takes me back to when I was a kid. I remember those fancy hand towels that were stitched with something ghastly kitschy and super scratchy. Next to the bars of soap in pretty shapes that smelled to high heaven. They were in the type of bathroom that had a carpet mat around the base of the toilet and a plastic foam squishy toilet seat.

~shudders~

Here is some nightmare fuel for you.
Interior Desecrations: Hideous Homes from the Horrible '70s Lileks, James
And.  https://www.lileks.com/institute/interiors/index.html

Oof. That was intense.

We rented a truly crappy rental for five years that had avocado green tile countertops, electric stove, and electric double ovens. Thankfully everything else had been painted white so it wasn’t nearly as bad as you would think. I hate cooking on an electric cooktop but darn, those ovens were always spot on with temperature. Way better than the pieces of junk I have had since. (Can’t wait to do that kitchen remodel and get double convection ovens!)

[ysette9]

This takes me back to when I was a kid. I remember those fancy hand towels that were stitched with something ghastly kitschy and super scratchy. Next to the bars of soap in pretty shapes that smelled to high heaven. They were in the type of bathroom that had a carpet mat around the base of the toilet and a plastic foam squishy toilet seat.

~shudders~

Here is some nightmare fuel for you.
Interior Desecrations: Hideous Homes from the Horrible '70s Lileks, James
And.  https://www.lileks.com/institute/interiors/index.html

He did find the goodies, those were over the top even back in the day.  But he missed the bathroom of my first house.  Grey everything, enough to give anyone depression.  Bright yellow would have been wonderful in comparison.

 And yes, foil wallpaper was a thing, we did my parent's powder room with it.  It was expensive.

The house we bought last summer IN SEATTLE was painted gray everything inside. I’ve spent months painting the ceilings white and the walls pale yellow. It is transformative turning sadepressing room joyful.

[sixwings]

Gray is pretty common when selling a house or for people who want flexibility when decorating because it's quite a neutral color so it can match well with any furniture/picture colors etc. A lot of our rooms have grey walls and white ceilings. It provides a lot of flexibility for decorating. Of course not all shades of gray are equal.

[saguaro]

This takes me back to when I was a kid. I remember those fancy hand towels that were stitched with something ghastly kitschy and super scratchy. Next to the bars of soap in pretty shapes that smelled to high heaven. They were in the type of bathroom that had a carpet mat around the base of the toilet and a plastic foam squishy toilet seat.
~shudders~

Here is some nightmare fuel for you.
Interior Desecrations: Hideous Homes from the Horrible '70s Lileks, James
And.  https://www.lileks.com/institute/interiors/index.html

He did find the goodies, those were over the top even back in the day.  But he missed the bathroom of my first house.  Grey everything, enough to give anyone depression.  Bright yellow would have been wonderful in comparison.

 And yes, foil wallpaper was a thing, we did my parent's powder room with it.  It was expensive.

The house we bought last summer IN SEATTLE was painted gray everything inside. I’ve spent months painting the ceilings white and the walls pale yellow. It is transformative turning sadepressing room joyful.

Speaking of foil wallpaper, that was in the bathroom in our first apartment.  Along with the mustard yellow shag carpet in the living room and one bedroom.  The other bedroom was also shag carpet but chocolate brown.   

We considered ourselves lucky when we saw that the neighbors in the apartment across from us had burnt orange carpet though.   

In our current house, we have kept the walls to white/cream/ivory.  It seems boring but given the orientation of the house, the main rooms are facing northeast with shade so it can get rather dark.  To optimize light we have kept to those wall colors and rely on other decorating to give color. 

Over the years, we have noticed that when neighbors paint walls, be it whatever color, it ultimately reverts to neutral colors usually white / cream before selling or after new owners move in.

[PhilB]

The bathroom of our first house had walls painted fire engine red.  They were so red that it was only when we painted them white that we discovered that the white suite was actually pink!

[Sibley]

My parent's new house had the original 1960s burnt orange carpeting.

That entire house was either 1960s or 1980s. No in between. It was interesting. We got lucky though, the foil wallpaper was the "self peeling" type so it came off fairly easily. It did have about 4x the amount of glue that was needed though.

[ysette9]

The bathroom of our first house had walls painted fire engine red.  They were so red that it was only when we painted them white that we discovered that the white suite was actually pink!

Red is quite the commitment. I painted an accent wall red once and learned it needs 5-6 coats to look good and then is work to cover up again as well.

[onward19]

We keep hoping for improvements, but it never happens. We first started staying at a hotel after MIL tried to smother 6 month old DD by placing her face down on a bed without turning her head to the side, even after we had told her that pediatricians now recommend that babies sleep on their backs. She snuck into the bedroom DD was sleeping in to turn her over, waking her up in the process, and couldn’t get the baby to turn her head to the side, so just kind of left her facedown on the bed. Luckily, I heard her coming out of the bedroom, peeked in to see what she had been doing, and noticed DD snuffling and unable to breathe. We moved to a hotel so she wouldn’t accidentally kill DD while we were sleeping.

She then said she had learnt her lesson the following year. That year, she had an emotional meltdown over a pair of pants, screamed for half an hour in the hallway right outside the room DD was sleeping in, and kicked us out of her house, then got her feelings hurt when we actually left.

After that, we stayed at hotels every year until last year, when she said she had an entire empty apartment we could stay in (she owns a triplex and one of the units was empty). We arrive to find that she had prepared one single bed...for our family of three. This was not so bad — we can handle physical discomfort, and DD slept in a recliner while I slept on a couch. She was obviously walking on eggshells to be extra polite to us, as she had learned that I do not tolerate emotional or verbal abuse, but we still only chose to stay two nights (in contrast to us staying 2.5 weeks at my mom’s).

 I think you are way nicer than me. If my MIL, or heck, even my own mother, had done that, I don't think I could ever speak to them again. If you hadn't noticed, your baby would have died. That's nauseating. Especially because it wasn't just ignorance (like MIL putting baby down herself without you giving instructions). No instead it was deliberate interference that could, and has, killed babies. She went against everything you'd said and left a baby face down on a bed. Common sense should teach her better, no matter that babies were always laid face down back in the day!
 I'd be shaking in anger and fear. Just wow.

[Dicey]

This takes me back to when I was a kid. I remember those fancy hand towels that were stitched with something ghastly kitschy and super scratchy. Next to the bars of soap in pretty shapes that smelled to high heaven. They were in the type of bathroom that had a carpet mat around the base of the toilet and a plastic foam squishy toilet seat.

~shudders~

Here is some nightmare fuel for you.
Interior Desecrations: Hideous Homes from the Horrible '70s Lileks, James
And.  https://www.lileks.com/institute/interiors/index.html

Hilarious! Thanks for that rabbit hole.

[markbike528CBX]

This takes me back to when I was a kid. I remember those fancy hand towels that were stitched with something ghastly kitschy and super scratchy. Next to the bars of soap in pretty shapes that smelled to high heaven. They were in the type of bathroom that had a carpet mat around the base of the toilet and a plastic foam squishy toilet seat.

~shudders~

Here is some nightmare fuel for you.
Interior Desecrations: Hideous Homes from the Horrible '70s Lileks, James
And.  https://www.lileks.com/institute/interiors/index.html

Hilarious! Thanks for that rabbit hole.

You're welcome.
I had a scare when I loaned the book to an opposite-sex colleague and _then_ remembered that it contained...
        "Never buy remnants from nautically-themed glory-hole bars, I say"

How do you answer the question of what that means, and how did I know what that means?  I worried until the book was back in my hands, without any questions.

[OtherJen]

Kind of reminds me of the Southern restroom and the decorative hand towels. Growing up, every Southern house's bathroom had at least one very fancy hand towel hanging neatly folded near the sink. But woe be unto anyone who used it! It was purely decorative, and no one was ever supposed to touch it! That was what the (often semi-hidden) plain towel was for.

I think at first, it was a matter of having a "good" towel for guests, and another one for household members. But eventually it evolved to where even guests weren't supposed to use these fancy towels, which were heavily decorated and often not made of absorbent or even moisture-tolerant materials.

Is there a standard location in the southern bathroom where I can find regular hand soap? Always seems wrong to use the fancy decorative soaps of which there are always several on display, but there is no other soap in MIL's guest bathroom that I have ever seen. Along these lines - a few years ago MIL started putting out seasonal paper towels / napkins in the guest bathroom. Reading this, I bet I contributed to that chage after years of using the only towels I could see in there - the fancy linen ones.

If someone claiming to be a good host invites me over but only puts out a guest towel and fancy soaps, I interpret that to mean that I should use both. Not washing my hands and then touching surfaces and food in someone else's home would be the height of rudeness, no? I suppose you could go digging around in bathroom cabinets, but again, that seems more rude than using the only visible soap and towel.

(Disclaimer: I personally think that decorative soaps and towels are ridiculous, and I grew up in a home that had them. Never understood the point.)

[PhilB]

The bathroom of our first house had walls painted fire engine red.  They were so red that it was only when we painted them white that we discovered that the white suite was actually pink!

Red is quite the commitment. I painted an accent wall red once and learned it needs 5-6 coats to look good and then is work to cover up again as well.

Definitely.  Once we discovered the suite colou,r we abandoned the white and painted the walls oxblood.  When we sold the house, the family that bought it brought their daughter to the second viewing.  She couldn't wait to see the 'red' bathroom and we were like 'You think that's red?'

[SunnyDays]

For all you people shuddering at the yesteryear decor, just give it 10 or 20 years and you'll be looking back at today's decor with the same revulsion!

[Sugaree]

The bathroom of our first house had walls painted fire engine red.  They were so red that it was only when we painted them white that we discovered that the white suite was actually pink!

Red is quite the commitment. I painted an accent wall red once and learned it needs 5-6 coats to look good and then is work to cover up again as well.

I chose red for the bathroom ceiling.  I love it.  Which is good, because I hate painting and don't want to do it again for awhile.

[ixtap]

DH has a roommate who fancied himself an interior decorator. In fact, he was mostly a themed clutterer. DH let him paint walls red, black, dark blue, hunter green... He was too busy packing and moving his hoard to help one iota when it came to painting it all realtor beige to put the house up for sale...

[parkerk]

For all you people shuddering at the yesteryear decor, just give it 10 or 20 years and you'll be looking back at today's decor with the same revulsion!

So true!  I remember moving into a new build townhouse in the late 90s when I was a teenager and thinking, why did people ever decorate like they did in the 80s, this is so nice and timeless and could never look that bad.  Now I think back on all the pastels and seashell tiles in the bathroom and pinky-beige carpet everywhere and ... yup, definitely looks just as tacky as the 80s harvest gold.

[Just Joe]

Gray is pretty common when selling a house or for people who want flexibility when decorating because it's quite a neutral color so it can match well with any furniture/picture colors etc. A lot of our rooms have grey walls and white ceilings. It provides a lot of flexibility for decorating. Of course not all shades of gray are equal.

Ponytail. We've bought two houses entirely painted ponytail inside - a medium beige. Not bad in moderation but the whole house???

Have been shopping houses with friends. They want to move. We've visited SO many Chip and Joanna Gaines themed houses. Something will come along eventually that displaces this. Eventually.

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

[PDXTabs]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

[Dicey]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

[PDXTabs]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

I have not personally seen this, nor would I personally do it.

[bill1827]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

Hm. I think that you'll find that a lot of manufacturing processes go into making a stone work surface. It doesn't leap out of the ground ready to fit.

Quartz worktops are basically sand (a naturally occurring material) embedded in resin to give much better properties than natural stone has. We installed one in the kitchen of our previous house (against my wishes as it was seriously stupidly expensive) but it was a really good work surface. I wouldn't countenance stone as most of them seem to have issues with porosity and staining (and a lot of them have hideous patterns).

Corian is still sold and is useful if you want moulded features like sinks.

[Plina]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

I think you have to separate buildings from kitchens and bathrooms etc. I have encountered some bathrooms in hotels that are in marble or something similar and I can’t help to smile and think Hello 80ies. Extra fun if there is a telephone next to the toilet seat. I actually saw an apartment with an bathroom in some kind of stone material and it looked tacky to me.

[zolotiyeruki]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

St. Petersburg's metro stations are similar, and just as stunning now as they were when they were built.  I've been through most of them.

[Dicey]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

I have not personally seen this, nor would I personally do it.

Do you know what a "Doubting Thomas" is? Just because you haven't seen it "personally" doesn't make it any less true.

[SunnyDays]

 
Corian - out of style.  Rip it out and put in granite. 

Granite - out of style.  Rip it out and put in quartz.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

It’s no wonder most people will be working for the rest of their lives.

[zolotiyeruki]

Corian - out of style.  Rip it out and put in granite. 

Granite - out of style.  Rip it out and put in quartz.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

It’s no wonder most people will be working for the rest of their lives.

Same thing with cell phones. Same thing for cars, clothes, music, and trendy one-hit-wonder food places like Crumbl Cookies, Starbucks, eating out in general).

[JoePublic3.14]

Corian - out of style.  Rip it out and put in granite. 

Granite - out of style.  Rip it out and put in quartz.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

It’s no wonder most people will be working for the rest of their lives.

And no wonder why it makes it so easy to approach FIRE by not falling victim to those trends and holding stock in the system that makes money off those that do.

[ysette9]

The chuckleheads who owned this house before us did a bunch of remodeling. Forever material like tile in the kitchen and bathrooms except they did a terrible job installing it. Tiles are cracked, grout falling out, directional tile all placed in the same direction except for, oops, that one piece where they were too lazy to do it properly and so it got installed at a 90* to the rest of the floor.

[gooki]

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

Corian.

[gooki]

Gray is pretty common when selling a house or for people who want flexibility when decorating because it's quite a neutral color so it can match well with any furniture/picture colors etc. A lot of our rooms have grey walls and white ceilings. It provides a lot of flexibility for decorating. Of course not all shades of gray are equal.

Gray is also an incredibly depressing color to paint the interior of a whole house. People seem afraid of color these days.

[former player]

Gray is pretty common when selling a house or for people who want flexibility when decorating because it's quite a neutral color so it can match well with any furniture/picture colors etc. A lot of our rooms have grey walls and white ceilings. It provides a lot of flexibility for decorating. Of course not all shades of gray are equal.

Gray is also an incredibly depressing color to paint the interior of a whole house. People seem afraid of color these days.

I don't mind grey paint, which is easy to change, it's grey tile and grey flooring that's already starting to look out of date.  It's difficult to decorate around as the only way to cheer it up seems to be a violent shade of pink or orange.  Grey doesn't even photograph well.  Yuck.

[SunnyDays]

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

Corian.

Lol, but true.

My brass taps are now in style again, although the new ones are more of a matte gold, but close enough!

[zolotiyeruki]

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

Corian.

Lol, but true.

My brass taps are now in style again, although the new ones are more of a matte gold, but close enough!

A few minutes with a scotchbrite pad, and you, too, could be chic!

[mm1970]

Corian - out of style.  Rip it out and put in granite. 

Granite - out of style.  Rip it out and put in quartz.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

It’s no wonder most people will be working for the rest of their lives.

Well, shoot, we ripped up the tile and replaced it with tile...

Our house is pretty boring and about as un-styled as you would expect from two engineers.  Wood floors, neutral-ish paint (beige, pale yellow, pale blue, pale green).  Tile.  Black and white bathroom.  But, not fancy black and white.  Just...the floor tile is black and white and the tile is white and the sink is white on a black cabinet.

Does un-stylish go out of style?

[jinga nation]

Corian - out of style.  Rip it out and put in granite. 

Granite - out of style.  Rip it out and put in quartz.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

It’s no wonder most people will be working for the rest of their lives.

Butcher block.

We were house hunting all of 2019 thru 2021, seen so many homes with this. Looks nice in photos, terrible in person. And right next to the stove/range, hence burn marks. And then a few weren't maintained, oiled.

Overheard some comments from other prospective buyers with "we'll rip it out and put in granite or quartz".

[AlanStache]

I put in granite counter tops last fall as part of a kitchen update (room was original from 1960, knotty pine and all), I cant speak to the multi-decade-esthetic of it but the function has been great.  Putting hot pans directly on the counter top and the under-hung sink are very good functional improvements.  And short of taking a hammer to it I dont think I could damage it.  Function has to count for something in esthetics, right?!?!  (Full disclosure I am a male engineer.)

[JoePublic3.14]

I put in granite counter tops last fall as part of a kitchen update (room was original from 1960, knotty pine and all), I cant speak to the multi-decade-esthetic of it but the function has been great.  Putting hot pans directly on the counter top and the under-hung sink are very good functional improvements.  And short of taking a hammer to it I dont think I could damage it.  Function has to count for something in esthetics, right?!?!  (Full disclosure I am a male engineer.)

I’ve heard of mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, industrial engineers, and numerous others, but wtf is a male engineer? Bionic man building? What was the line? 'We can rebuild him, we have the technology, blah blah blah'

[PDXTabs]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

I have not personally seen this, nor would I personally do it.

Do you know what a "Doubting Thomas" is? Just because you haven't seen it "personally" doesn't make it any less true.

Data, I trust data (and my eyes). Do you happen to have any peer reviewed studies on how many people are ripping out perfectly good granite and marble?

[Dicey]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

I have not personally seen this, nor would I personally do it.

Do you know what a "Doubting Thomas" is? Just because you haven't seen it "personally" doesn't make it any less true.

Data, I trust data (and my eyes). Do you happen to have any peer reviewed studies on how many people are ripping out perfectly good granite and marble?

Hahaha, you obviously don't watch HGTV. Every time a sledgehammer hits a granite countertop, I cringe. Such a waste!

[PDXTabs]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

I have not personally seen this, nor would I personally do it.

Do you know what a "Doubting Thomas" is? Just because you haven't seen it "personally" doesn't make it any less true.

Data, I trust data (and my eyes). Do you happen to have any peer reviewed studies on how many people are ripping out perfectly good granite and marble?

Hahaha, you obviously don't watch HGTV. Every time a sledgehammer hits a granite countertop, I cringe. Such a waste!

Fake news.

[DadJokes]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

I have not personally seen this, nor would I personally do it.

Do you know what a "Doubting Thomas" is? Just because you haven't seen it "personally" doesn't make it any less true.

Data, I trust data (and my eyes). Do you happen to have any peer reviewed studies on how many people are ripping out perfectly good granite and marble?

Hahaha, you obviously don't watch HGTV. Every time a sledgehammer hits a granite countertop, I cringe. Such a waste!

Fake news.

Yeah, but some people watch it and do exactly that. I helped my SIL and husband tear out their perfectly acceptable granite countertops and enclosed wooden cabinets so that they could replace them with a quartz countertop and new cabinets. Their house was only like 10 years old at the time, so it's not like anything was outdated.

Exploding volcano of wastefulness

[OtherJen]

Corian - out of style.  Rip it out and put in granite. 

Granite - out of style.  Rip it out and put in quartz.

Quartz - out of style.  Rip it out and put in ?????

It’s no wonder most people will be working for the rest of their lives.

Butcher block.

We were house hunting all of 2019 thru 2021, seen so many homes with this. Looks nice in photos, terrible in person. And right next to the stove/range, hence burn marks. And then a few weren't maintained, oiled.

Overheard some comments from other prospective buyers with "we'll rip it out and put in granite or quartz".

We installed our butcher block countertops 10 years ago and still love it, but yeah, we maintain it, use trivets, etc. They'd look awful otherwise.

[AMandM]

Well, shoot, we ripped up the tile and replaced it with tile...

Our house is pretty boring and about as un-styled as you would expect from two engineers.  Wood floors, neutral-ish paint (beige, pale yellow, pale blue, pale green).  Tile.  Black and white bathroom.  But, not fancy black and white.  Just...the floor tile is black and white and the tile is white and the sink is white on a black cabinet.

Does un-stylish go out of style?

A designer whose blog I read from time to time (Maria Killam) is fond of saying, "Boring now equals timeless later."

[economista]

All this talk about countertops is interesting because we really want to replace ours. Obviously not all houses have granite and quartz. Ours have formica that were installed in 2013 (I have the previous owners receipts) and I wouldn't want to replace them except the house was previously used as a rental and the renters destroyed them. There are chips out of them in lots of places and a few melted spots. Our previous house had quartz and I think that is what we will go with. We can't do granite because of my husband's visual impairment - all of the random colors/patterns makes it impossible for him to see things like knives on the counter. We absolutely loved the quartz at our old house because it was all one solid, light color and you could put hot things or damp things down without worrying about it.

[Dicey]

I just dread seeing all those nice materials going to the landfill - marble and granite for example. "Forever materials" that were in style for a decade at the most.

I don't personally think that this will happen. The Komsomolskaya subway station was opened in 1952 with a bunch of marble. I don't think that it will ever go out of style. How long have humans been crafting marble and granite?

Are you kidding? Granite countertops are already losing ground rapidly to quartz. Yup, they're ripping out something real and replacing it with something manufactured. Anyone remember Corian?

I have not personally seen this, nor would I personally do it.

Do you know what a "Doubting Thomas" is? Just because you haven't seen it "personally" doesn't make it any less true.

Data, I trust data (and my eyes). Do you happen to have any peer reviewed studies on how many people are ripping out perfectly good granite and marble?

Hahaha, you obviously don't watch HGTV. Every time a sledgehammer hits a granite countertop, I cringe. Such a waste!

Fake news.

Doubt·ing Thom·as (noun)
A person who is skeptical and refuses to believe something without proof.
"I was a real doubting Thomas. I didn't believe the stuff would work."

[DadJokes]

All this talk about countertops is interesting because we really want to replace ours. Obviously not all houses have granite and quartz. Ours have formica that were installed in 2013 (I have the previous owners receipts) and I wouldn't want to replace them except the house was previously used as a rental and the renters destroyed them. There are chips out of them in lots of places and a few melted spots. Our previous house had quartz and I think that is what we will go with. We can't do granite because of my husband's visual impairment - all of the random colors/patterns makes it impossible for him to see things like knives on the counter. We absolutely loved the quartz at our old house because it was all one solid, light color and you could put hot things or damp things down without worrying about it.

We have granite countertops, and I lose things like bread ties on them all the time! It's also very difficult to tell how dirty they are or if I missed a spot when wiping them down. Nonetheless, I love our counters; they have so much personality in their colors.