Style is a funny thing, as of course, we each have or different tastes, but they are also informed by our surroundings and where we spend our time. And because of this, there ends up being clear trends in styles within our consumer groups. However, because we are consuming globally now, the style trends are not only much larger, they are also less distributed and are far more transient, especially since trends are driven by "influencers" who's "job" it is to push their own agenda, which tends to be trend based agendas for attention.
But, because of the shortened timeframe of trend longevity, it makes it hard to create something that is going to have lasting style appeal, like a kitchen. In the last decade for example, there have been around four trends that have been introduced and then replaced and because of the nature of social media consumerism now, "everyone" (many) knows what is in trend and what is not.
And because everyone knows, the people who have just spent a great deal of money being on trend, find themselves quickly off-trend a couple years later, making them more quickly feel like what they have created is dated and needs updating. This makes them dissatisfied faster and is therefore also going to shorten the consumer lifecycle, where instead of something like a kitchen lasting 20-30 years like it did in the past, there are many people updating on a 10-15 year cycle.
And kitchens aren't cheap.
But, this is happening with everything, isn't it? And it can be argued of course that it always has, because for as long as we have been a species, there have been trends in style. However, it is the "shortening" of the lifecycle of a trend that is the issue and the way it comes about, as often it isn't because of innovation like in the past going from the stone age, bronze age to the iron age across millennia, it is just done on whimsy - on trend.
My parents wore the same clothes for decades and even when I was young, there was the concept of the "little black dress" staple, that meant that it never went out of style. However, does that remain true today? Is there anything that "never goes out of style"?
It seems not. Even manners.
We are designing our kitchen now and while I thought we had everything settled, my wife now wants to change plans quite drastically, because she has seen some trends online somewhere (probably Instagram) that she thinks would suit. And, they would suit, but for how long? And, once we have invested so much into it, how long is it going to be suitable for her once she keeps scrolling through the kitchen images and seeing emerging new trends, which could actually be throwbacks to what we have planned already?
This is something that most people don't sem to acknowledge with the "cost" of social media, because they feel that they aren't being sold something, because it is not a direct advert. The amount of times I have heard people say "I am not influenced" or "I don't click on the advert links" is incredible, but looking at what those same people are wearing - they are on-trend. How's that possible? Ah, because click or not, we are influenced, like it or not. And even if we aren't on social media, the majority of people in this world are and they are going to sporting the latest trends also, which is going to be an indirect influence on us anyway.
This isn't just with clothing styles either, it is with what we read and watch and of course, how we think. We are influenced by our peer groups more than we are by our parents supposedly, and this likely increases further as we age and make our "own decisions" based on the collective decisions of others - because we want to fit in with our peers.
Do as they do.
But, are we any happier for fitting in when fitting in means a constant chasing of the material aspects of life as if that is what is important? Apparently not, if the global condition of mental health is anything to go by, but this is interacting with ancient parts of our brains that make it very difficult to overcome, no matter how many "inspirational" posts on Facebook are read saying, "Love yourself the way you are".
It is just more advertising.
Well, now that my wife has got it in her head that we might need to change the style, I have to go looking for something that is going to demonstrate the changing trends and find a suitable solution that will actually be in style, because it will be suitable for us moving into the future, not just suitable to meet the transient trends of today. And, there is only a couple weeks until the work starts.
Damn it.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
My wife really likes the cutting block style counters, for now at least. A buddy of mine did his counters in concrete, probably still my favorite and their kitchen's dated several years now.
Fashion, funny. I gotta have my mother in law mail me t-shirts cuz JC Penny doesn't deliver across the Atlantic and I can't handle wide bodied shirts for short dudes. And don't even get me started on pants!! Rockin their sisters tight ass pants doesn't fit with me. =}
I can’t stand those skinny pants on men. A good fitting pair of jeans, now that’s a style that never goes out.
Hello @farm-mom =P
I'm so out of place here. My shorts go to me knees, I can annunciation my R's, my pants aren't painted on, I don't drink tea. Dot dot dot dot
You are showing your age Sk8rboi ;D
You mean the wooden benchtops? We have that now and the kitchen (not our design and the function is terrible) is 20+ already. However, we are looking at getting another wooden top, or a really basic ceramic white one. Not sure still, as the space is large but surprisingly weird, making the design hard.
Yes, that, she calls them butchers block actually, not cutting block. But yeah, wood. Ceramic sounds nice too.
Age... "guilty!"
Ceramic will last and is very easy - but might be a bit soulless, unless we do something to pull in some texture.
We were talking about your kitchen en route to Leeds today, just thought I'd tell you cuz she's kinda set on the wood counters. We looked up ceramic cuz neither of us were quite sure how they looked.
NIIIICCE! White with the veiny granite looking grains through it is real nice.
I'm glad I'm not being pressured to remodel our kitchen. It's not new and shiny but it's not too bad either. I should go an fix one cabinet door, though. It was a bit stupidly designed. It's the door to a compartment in a corner where kettles are kept. Two doors are attached to each other and one of the hinges keeping the outer door is broken.
I would like to have the main bathroom and sauna renovated at some point. I'm unwilling to take a loan for it as it works perfectly and nothing is broken. I think it has some 5-8 years to go before it should be renovated. The house is new enough for the building code to have been demanding enough at the time of construction to increase the life time of the waterproofing as much as to give us plenty of time before it must be renovated.
Those corner cupboard hinges never seem to last that long - it has something to do with the weight of the doors and the stress created. The newer ones might be better, but I am glad we won't have a corner cupboard at all :)
The codes sure have changed a lot and we are kind of lucky in that the person who built this house, was a housing developer, so didn't skimp that much on the basics. The kitchen now though is from the previous owners and it is a horror in the way it has been designed and is not overly functional for cooking - I'd have expected more from Puustelli - but it could be that the owners designed it themselves.
Sauna and basement is on the "one day" list for us...
I can't understand why the outer door could not have been simply attached to the other side.
Yep - I have had the same thoughts.
When it comes to a kitchen, the phrase "Form before function" just does not work. And most trends change so fast because they do use "Form before function". Look at the styles look at how you and your family use the kitchen. My wife and I for several years liked to make our own bread from scratch, standard kitchen height surfaces were not very good for kneading dough, I always wanted a counter about 5 inches shorter so I could really knead the dough, and I am a fairly tall guy at 6'1".
Style may be nice but does it work?
I completely agree - if the function is good, the form matters little, but vice versa....
Yep, the high counters are an issue for us too, but at least in the bathroom, we have lowered everything to midget height suitable for us. Even the toilet is a bit lower :)
Now business owners are all very marketing savvy. These trends or styles are just a ploy to get us, consumers, to buy more.
And, I think it is happening at a higher level than individual businesses, it is the platforms themselves driving it.
The truth is that most people are directly and indirectly influenced by today's trends, especially with the way social media is going this day. The more you think you saw a beautiful thing, the more good ones are emerging by a click or just going through the feed and we become influenced by the trend.
I remember keeping an undersized shoe I bought for my first son with the hope of using it for my second son. My second arrived after 3 years and the shoe is already out of trend🤩.
More beautiful ones are already on board and I had to let go of the old shoe and follow the more beautiful one I saw online.
For your wife, give her the new style in her kitchen plz🤩🤩
Just think, you could have sold the undersized shoe and bought some crypto - 3 years later, bought a shoe company ;D
Hahaha
That would have been a smart idea but then, I didn't know about crypto 3 years ago!!!
Well, we still long for the old style things from kitchen furniture to shoes. They were more stronger and durable than those who are called "trend" today. For exampe, I can still wear the t-shirt I bought 10 years ago, but I can't wear the one I bought few years ago because it has already been worn off.
I think the word trend might be tricky, it might be a method of sales.
We spend some time looking for old chairs and lights that are quality, but the demand is very high on these things - probably because they last and have resale value.
These days, I buy cheap, plain T-shirts that are all the same :D
Dear @tarazkp , Perhaps, Are you offended by the fact that you have to pay for the fancy new outfits your beautiful and slender wife will buy?😮
She has a job. But that is something I don't mind paying for.
We live in a world where new designs occur with different styles that looks attractive to our taste or properly just feel like giving it a trial if it will suit
It is an endless process of purchase and disposal, purchase and disposal
They change very fast compared to old times
It definitely feels this way - but it might just be us getting old ;)
Make your wife happy, go with what she wants.
A happy wife means a happy life 😃
It is a catch-22 when what makes the wife happy now, makes the wife sad a little down the track.
I'm finding I don't like many of the pushed trends, particularly for clothes. Therefore I stopped buying clothes and now resemble someone who would get arrested by the fashion police at any moment. All fashion taboos I like to break.
Your look sounds like you must be in IT ;D
I try to mirror Steve Jobs! 😆
I got the opposite problem. I change stuff when they cannot be repaired , and I am lucky. Previous house had a boiler so old that the company that made it got bankrupted in the 50s. Some build in wardrobe doors that I need it to change were not on sale from 90s. I do not know. I look for comfort before brand. But I buy something if I like it.
Lol! That is one old-ass boiler!
Still working. Needed a piece made on demand, by a smith. Crazy!
I mostly do not embrace fads and trends... at least at that moment. I wear the same type of clothes for years and even purchase most of what I need at second hand estate sales... and for much less money. Never been too concerned what folks thought. LOL
I wish they did more of the estate sale stuff here, as I think there would be some pretty decent furniture about :)
It is extremely difficult not to be influenced in one form or the other in today's woke climate. What I do see as a possible solution is to minimize the time we spend admiring externalities and instead focus on improving our inner qualities. That is one way I believe influence can be minimized and personal identity revealed
I would add to that, being creative more than consumptive too, as it allows us to take what we consume and process it - making it more valuable, as well as giving us the space to realize what is not.
Trends sometimes makes people go off nuts because some take trends so special that they go insane for it but trends are not a lasting thing because they will surely fade away within little time
Everything fades.
Yeah that's just the real truth about it.. there is nothing about that, that goes for long
How very true and social media has given everyone this feeling of things must happen instantaneously.
"Insta-ntaneously" perhaps :)
True story