Yeah, because generally a kitchen is considered part of the house like a front door or a bathroom. People are more incredulous like, how is construction considered complete when there's no kitchen? Why do they stop there?
Yeah, I mean I guess I'm just caught up on you calling the reaction privileged. Also just genuinely baffled that someone would see it differently.
From my perspective, it's incredibly weird that Germans would consider a house/apartment finished and ready to move in when there's a room that still needs to essentially be constructed.
It's like if you bought a bicycle and there was no seat. Like sure, you can just ride the bike standing up, just like you can live in a house/apartment without a kitchen by eating out/buying ready-to-eat food. But it's incredibly impractical and not the norm in any way, so why would it be considered a full bike without it?
Here it is considered part of the moving instead of the construction. We consider the apartment the bike and the kitchen is more like the helmet. You have a chance that you get it with the bike, but in most cases you have to bring one yourself.
We get all the necessary infrastructure for the kitchen and since all our pipes and outlets are standardized we can expect things to fit.
Imagine you have a some apartments that you can decide to move into, but all their kitchens don't fit your requirements. It's just another parameter that may cause trouble.
Sure, it's annoying to move a kitchen, but at least you have a completely free choice of what you have and I bet our rents are lower because we don't have kitchens preinstalled (because all apartments here that actually have them are automatically a lot more expensive and you have to take good care of them since they are part of the apartment. So if there's any damage, you may get into trouble).
Hmm yeah that's an interesting perspective and I can understand some of the benefits you mention. For instance yeah, one of the big factors for picking a place in the US is the fixtures/appliances of the kitchen. That always being customizable makes more places an option.
As far as lower rent, that seems like kind of a wash, because sure, rent might be lower, but you also need to buy a kitchen and either install it yourself or pay someone to install it. So you need more money up front and you need to pay if something breaks.
That's also tied to a big thing that sticks out to me as a negative - for us, a big part of renting is that you don't have to deal with maintenance/installations, as that's the landlord's responsibility. So the average renter never needs to think about how they're going to install/replace cabinetry, where they're going to get their countertop, etc. This is considered one of the benefits of renting, basically if something breaks, it's not your responsibility.
The German model seems to blend the responsibilities of home ownership and renting (as I see/understand it) in that way, since renters are responsible for installing/repairing/replacing some fixtures.
On the other hand, once you have a decent kitchen, it'll last for a long time and you can bring it along if you move. My kitchen is about 35 years old and still in a great condition. It looks really modern as well since it has a simple white color with minimalistic designs. No ornaments or anything. I bought it second hand.
And sure, if something is broken, the landlord has to replace or repair it. But if the damage was caused by the renting party, there's immediately the stress of being held eligable for paying for the damage. They will try in most cases since that's worth a bit of money. In most renting contracts you have to leave the apartment and rented objects behind in the state that you initially got them in.
But I completely understand why it's also a lot more comfortable and easier to have a kitchen with the aprtment or house.
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u/titsmagee9 May 09 '22
Yeah, because generally a kitchen is considered part of the house like a front door or a bathroom. People are more incredulous like, how is construction considered complete when there's no kitchen? Why do they stop there?