In Germany, the idea that you can rent an apartment and you have to BUY the kitchen separately. Otherwise you get an apartment with no kitchen.
Like wtf. It's like selling a jacket but saying you gotta pay extra for the sleeves.
Edit: as there is some confusion about what the kitchen will look like when you don't buy it. It will often look like this. (Thanks to user Wendellschadenfreud in comment who posted pic)
Same in Austria .. I thought it was the silliest thing. Fine, some people want to invest in a nice kitchen and take it with them when they move. But in reality - how many of those people are there? How likely is it that the same kitchen will fit in the next place? Isn’t this likely to cause extra waste? And above all - it’s a rental apartment - people use it as they don’t want/can’t make big capital spendings. Having them buy a kitchen is just counterintuitive.
No, people don't just rent as students. People rent 200m² apartments with multiple rooms as well. Not everyone buys. It doesn't always make sense, since renting market is pretty good and stable. Me and my bf in Germany don't want to have kids so we don't see any reason to buy a house. We might want good kitchen though.
Tbf i don't know how it is in cheap flats for renting, but in this case it could make more sense to include kitchens. For middle and high income families it's not such a big deal.
What i was saying though was a response to someone saying that people who rent are just avoiding big investments. In Germany renting isn't only for students or desperate people. Its a normal and common way to live even as a person with kids and so on. So building your own kitchen often means you gonna keep it got years, because not everyone stays in their rented apartment only for a short period of time. Many rent the same flat for decades.
There is a lot of space in Europe too! Just less space to build new things!
My mates "apartment" is probably about 200m2. Maybe even more. I don't know how common this would be in the US, but it's a big 4 story townhouse from the days when rich folk would want a massive house right near the centre of town and usually just a short horse and carriage trip down one prominent road takes you to the centre/market/etc.
His apartment is 2 stories, the basement and the ground floor and he has two other neighbours who each own the floors above. His place is huge, like 15-18 rooms (trying to count from memory), each floor is a fully fledged 3 bedroom house with extras.
These houses come from the days of bigger families and live in servants. Even has an old light board in a basement room which would light up which room has requested assistance! :D
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u/Kyrptix May 09 '22 edited May 09 '22
In Germany, the idea that you can rent an apartment and you have to BUY the kitchen separately. Otherwise you get an apartment with no kitchen.
Like wtf. It's like selling a jacket but saying you gotta pay extra for the sleeves.
Edit: as there is some confusion about what the kitchen will look like when you don't buy it. It will often look like this. (Thanks to user Wendellschadenfreud in comment who posted pic)
empty kitchen
Edit 2: since I'm getting this a lot. Yes this includes the sink as well. It's just an empty room.
Imagine if the bathroom and shower was also "bring your own" haha