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32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Title is misnomer, December 31, 2005
This review is from: Kitchens for the Rest of Us: From the Kitchen You Have to the Kitchen You Love (Hardcover)
On the back cover of this book, it states, "Kitchens for the Rest of Us. If your tastes yearn for granite but your budget calls for laminate, there is still hope for your kitchen makeover dreams." The book, however, includes more kitchens with granite countertops than laminate.
According to the author, most of the kitchens in the book cost $30,000 to $50,000. That, to me, isn't exactly a "laminate" budget.
This is a nice book with beautiful kitchens. It isn't, however, any more helpful to me than all the other designer books and magazines that showcase custom kitchens.
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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"For the Rest of Us" only if the rest of us can afford Sub-Zeroes., January 30, 2006
This review is from: Kitchens for the Rest of Us: From the Kitchen You Have to the Kitchen You Love (Hardcover)
I agree completely with Cate, below. I couldn't find a laminate countertop in the book. Stock cabinets aren't allowed, and Sub Zero is the most common refrigerator in these very high-end remodeled kitchens (yes, really). If you have a big budget and you like the Fine Homebuilding look--expensive plainness--this might be a useful and inspirational resource. These kitchens have a more handcrafted, less ostentatious appearance than do many in the pricey kitchen design magazines. They are handsome rooms, although page after page of the same look put me to sleep. (Almost all the cabinets are unpainted Shaker-style custom cherry or maple; the countertops and room designs aren't special, for the most part, and the text isn't helpful.) It's not a book I'll consult again and again the way I do the This Old House: Kitchens book. Reading it does let me know that money and conventional good taste don't necessarily create interesting and useful rooms, and it is sort of nice to know that there are some pricey things that I don't want. But those side effects aren't enough to make me feel good about being misled by the way the book is described. The title must be a joke about social class. What world do the editors live in where a $50,000 kitchen is for the rest of us? My kitchen overhaul budget is set firmly in the laminate range, and there was very little in the book of use to me.
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31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Typical Taunton dream book with MISLEADING TITLE, September 5, 2006
This review is from: Kitchens for the Rest of Us: From the Kitchen You Have to the Kitchen You Love (Hardcover)
Maybe it's not nice to pile on and hammer how deceptive the title is, but Taunton Press/Fine Homebuilding deserves it. This book, like most Taunton books, has two major problems.
First problem: The misleading title that these are supposed to be mid(?)-level kitchens. Uh, no. Mid-level for Donald Trump, maybe. These completed kitchens have high-end countertops, stainless appliances, high-end flooring, etc. Going from "the kitchen you have to the kitchen you love" always seems to involve knocking down a wall and completely relocating plumbing or gas lines. Not to mention incorporating all the latest gizmos and color schemes that, 20 years from now, will be as in-fashion as those slate-blue-and-mauve country kitchens from 20 years ago. You're going from the Kitchen You Have to Some Designer's Trendy Kitchen that Takes Up Your Whole House. And for supposedly being cost-concious, I saw precious little text addressing how much the components (not to mention the de$igner'S time), actually cost.
Second Problem: is a peeve I have with these Taunton Dream books in general, of which this book another example. I've flipped through a lot of their books, and once you've seen one, you've seen them all. This book offers no general design hints for the homeowner. Kitchens for the Rest of Us is basically a smattering of 15-20 self-contained examples of completed kitchens. It's as if you have the choice between hiring a designer and doing exACtly what they did, or feeling lost and doing nothing at all. The attitude of the book is clearly "Look what WE did! Aren't WE just SO awesome? Hire us!" Instead of buying this book, you may as well focus on the kitchens in any of their other designer books; you get just as much information. Almost all Taunton books are like this, especially the recent ones (that includes you, Sarah Susanka). Don't bother buying them unless you really are in the mood for dreaming.
Here's my advice: Go to any public library to the Dewey Decimal call number 643.3. Check out those books, xerox the pages you like, and take them to a designer if you want. Many of the design books in the library are much more useful. They were written 15-20 years ago, back when people were more frugal, more sensible, and definitely more humble.
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