I'm disgusted

[cornutt]

Watching HGTV, we just watched a couple buy a nice mid-century home in L.A. and then completely gut it for a trendy-hip "Tuscan" style. And worse, they took out a wall and then, to support the load, put in a beam -- one end of which rests on top of a doorway.

 

[kenmoreguy89]

As you say....Trendy-hip...what is ruining america Today!

 

[NYCWriter]

Ugh.

Don't even get me started on the abominations going on inside Manhattan prewar Classic Sixes and Sevens.

The "open kitchen" needs to be illegal.

 

[ovrphil]

Open floor plans have become cliche' and stagnant go-to ideas. Tuscan? LOL!

 

[wayupnorth]

HGTV USED to be a good network but now its repeats of the same programs over and over. I always enjoyed Mike Holmes where you could learn something but they took it off. Now its day in and day out of that obnoxious Love it or List it where the only thing you learn is how to fight and bicker. Seems all the networks are doing the same thing now with the constant reruns of the same programs.

 

[danemodsandy]

HGTV Would Benefit....

....From a program titled something like Real Solutions, where their design team has to deal with real-world situations like a dated, dark kitchen that is owned by people who have maybe $2000 kicking around.

It is amazing what you can do with cleaning, repairs, paint, paper, new vinyl and some re-accessorizing, but HGTV seems content to ignore the vast viewership they could reach with a show telling folks how to do that.

Oh, wait - they couldn't take sledgehammers to perfectly good appliances, cabinets and fixtures if they did that.

 

[hydralique]

Right now mid century modern is trendier in LA than Mediterranean of any sort so I’d suspect the episode is several years old if the original house was MCM. Unfortunately, bad MCM is every bit as nasty as bad Mediterranean and we’re now seeing more bad MCM done by people who clearly don’t know what they’re doing.

There seems to be a lot of this stuff on HGTV so I rarely if ever watch it, too depressing. Besides, I can see bad remodels without turning on the TV: right now a lame colonial in my neighborhood is being made into a horrifically bad Mediterranean. Every time I drive past I’m amazed at how it manages to grow even uglier when I thought it couldn’t get worse. 

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with bringing the load from one end of a beam down above a door or window head, it just means that the head must be sized to accommodate the load. The biggest problem with this in a remodel is often the foundation; it’s usually easy to rip out a door head and substitute a larger one but then you have to deal with a pair of point loads on each side of the door. That often requires pad footings since the original foundation will not have been sized for the point loads, so you end up demolishing the floor in that area.

The California Building Code requires permits for removing any loadbearing wall so there had to be an engineer involved in the project who submitted structural plans and calculations to justify that the framing and foundation are adequate for the loads involved.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Sandy and all, These programs are not meant to be instructional as much as entertainment for voyeurs who have nothing better to do than watch people work and argue. It started with cooking shows and some of that genre morphed into commercial kitchens with harried staff and authoritarian head chefs. The same thing with the home shows. It all makes programs like PBS' cooking and gardening shows look like the treasures they are, not to mention the 4 guys who really solve problems on This Old House. I don't have the time to watch more than a bits of the PBS shows.

I did watch an online clip of Joan Rivers rattling the frozen sugary facade of Martha Stewart but, otherwise, have no use for that.

 

[mattl]

There is nothing sacrosanct about a MCM home, there are plenty sorry excuses out there. If I moved into a house with those ugly site made birch cabinets they'd be ripped out so fast your head would spin. There are lots and lots of people who have no desire to live In tiny cramped rooms that are common in mid century homes.

I'm not saying that every MCM home should be updated, there are a few jewels out there, but just as there are many crappy modern homes, there are a great number of crappy MCM homes too.

 

[epixstar128]

tom

+1 for this old house. I watch. It every now and then great show

 

[revvinkevin]

Open kitchens...... and tiny cramped rooms

 

 

"The open kitchen needs to be illegal."

 

I guess I'm the minority here because I couldn't disagree more.   During the process of looking for a home I had looked through a number of homes, all different ages and styles.   I definately don't care for the "tiny cramped rooms" in many homes of the 50's as mentioned above.   Nor am I a fan of the completely segregated / closed off kitchen that's only accessable through a single doorway or a maze of hallways.

 

One property that stands out in my mind was a (new construction) 3 story townhouse with nearly 3000 sq ft of space.   It was on a hill with incredible unobstructed city views, but numerous walls and multiple tiny cramped rooms made it feel MUCH smaller than it actually was.

 

Give me an open kitchen, a large "great room" and a master bedroom with an attached full bathroom please!

 

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy <span style="text-decoration: underline;">visiting</span> the 50's, 60's & 70's..... I just don't want to live there.

 

Kevin

 

[tolivac]

"Trendy-Hip"=TRENDY TRASH!!!Those home shows on TV are pretty bad-good reason NOT to watch them!!Most TV shows today should broadcast into a dumpster!!!!The trendy trash kitchen should go into the dumpster and put the old back!!

 

[112561]

The Coronado, 1961 Mackle Brothers

I grew up here, my neighborhood of River Park came into being around 1958. The houses ranged from tiny to what passed for large in that era. None of the houses are spectacular, but they were stylish for the era. The year my house was built, 1961, the Coronado was the top of the line in the Mackle Brothers General Development offerings. You should see this house now. The decorative blocks have been largely destroyed, the left and right windows are boarded up with plywood. The large screen porch behind the carport is plywood from top to bottom. The whole mess is painted chalk white from stem to stern. A formerly nice house around the corner from that is done over in Spanish. None of the models from '58 to '64 are Spanish style. Around 1970, they came out with some very attractive Spanish designs.

 

[jerrod6]

NYCWriter

<span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Just read an article in the NYtimes real estate section that people are requesting separate kitchens with dining rooms, so there is hope....at least there is a beginning.</span>

 

<span style="font-size: small; font-family: helvetica;">I get the open kitchen thing if you want everyone watching you cooking and cleaning the mess,  and please don't help me to cook......but for me....let us eat somewhere else please, then....let us go to another area to continue socializing without the need for looking at a kitchen mess which will be cleaned up 12 hours from now. </span>

 

[thomasortega]

I've been researching for an apartment in Los angeles Area and I've seen countless pictures of kitchens.

Two things come in my mind:

1) I hate cooking alone in the kitchen. At this point, I'd love to have an open kitchen where i can be together with my family or guests, chatting while cooking. Even better when someones come to help doing minor things.

2) What about the grease? My kitchen is closed, I have an excellent hood that exausts the air into the barbecue chimney. It's a Bosch Slimline built in unit but I also use a lot of other appliances out of the stove area (grills, electric pressure cookers, griddles, etc) My kitchen is closed and once in a while i have to wash everything and clean the cabinets and walls with a strong degreaser. By the way, I'm not a messy cook.

My concern is... with an open kitchen, the grease would reach the whole house and settle on furniture, curtains, etc. Wouldn't it?

 

[revvinkevin]

Would grease reach the whole house, furniture, etc?

 

 

Perhaps if you do A LOT of frying and you have a fan blowing through the kitchen while cooking!

 

I have a semi-open kitchen and have only noticed grease in the immediate vicinity of the stove.   But then I do very little frying.

 

When looking for an apartment, be aware of a kitchen located on an interior wall!   I have seen a number of vent hoods in apartments and some condos which recirculate the air back into the kitchen, NOT outside!    They draw the air from the cooking area and blow it out vents on the top of the hood, up at the cabinets above.  

 

 

 

[thomasortega]

So many details to check.. furnished or unfurnished, a studio to live alone or a 2 or 3 bedroom to share and reduce the rental costs? house or apartment? Which neighborhood? and now the kitchen open or closed and even if it's an interior or exterior wall I feel like choosing a new home will make me crazy before i arrive.

And after I arrive and start visiting the properties I'll end up in a mental hospital ROFL.  

 

[NYCWriter]

Actually ...

"I hate cooking alone in the kitchen. At this point, I'd love to have an open kitchen where i can be together with my family or guests, chatting while cooking. Even better when someones come to help doing minor things."

I actually hate being "that" guest who arrives (on time) while the host is still cooking in an open kitchen. I feel pressured to "help" with the cooking (despite protestations from the host), which is something I did not sign up for when I accepted the dinner invitation. (Even worse, there's also, of course, that subliminal pressure -- with an open kitchen and a mess staring us all in the face -- to help with cleanup. Something else I did not sign up for.)

A CLOSED kitchen enables the guests to feel at ease, while the unpleasant realities and pressures of food preparation are isolated and kept discreetly out of sight.

If the host doesn't want to feel "alone in the kitchen", he/she should prepare the food ahead of time, or hire kitchen help.

 

[tolivac]

I am USED to cooking alone-preparing food for ME to eat-no borders!I too,would feel uncomfortable preparing food in an open kitchen with guests.If they could pitch in and help-that may be better.