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Comment by Mo3 | Hacker News Reader

Wait until you hear about the Netherlands and doing their own floors. I (German) was absolutely flabbergasted when I looked at apartments and almost none of them had floors in them. At least kitchens make sense. You configure it once to your needs, and then take it around from place to place until you eventually end up in a house, still with your specifically configured nice kitchen.

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>and then take it around from place to place until you eventually end up in a house

That's sounds insane. How does that even work?

For one, kitchens are bespoke to order to each apartment, because the apartments are sized and spaced differently so the chance of the kitchen of one apartment fitting just right in your next apartment is super slim.

And two, how do you do the logistics of moving the kitchen? There's certainly a significant expense of time and money disassembling everything (especially stuff that's glued and bolted to the walls), packaging it, then carrying it by van or freight, then reassembling it again (assuming it just fits and you don't need further investments to make it fit).

How do you account for all these costs? Tell me how renting is cheaper again than owning.

>until you eventually end up in a house

If most Germans would end up in a house they wouldn't still be renting.

"apartment is super slim."

I moved with kitchens in Germany. German kitchens are also differnt from kitchens e.g. in the US.

I thought taking the kitchen with you was only a German thing. Here you get a working kitchen (aka devices and cupboards and working board) where you move - you might hate it of course but you will definitely have one.

My parents bought their kitchen in the 70s or 80s, had it in a flat, then another flat, then in a house, then in a flat again. For the first 30 or so years just buying additional pieces, then downsizing again. It might be slightly insane but it was from an apparently more upscale and stable brand and still looks good.

My kitchen is 13y old and I see zero reason to change the front panels either.

In theory in the US the house is just the structure. Appliances (stove, refrigerator, dishwasher, clothes washer, clothes dryer), window shades, light bulbs, toilet paper are not part of the sale and you can bring them with. If you don't remove your light bulbs technically the buyer can bring you to court for leaving your trash behind. I have never heard of someone taking their light bulbs when moving. Typically kitchen appliances are included in the house sale, but not always. Often laundry appliances are included too, but often not (in many cases the seller will then sell them to the buyer as a separate sale).

Moving all the above things is possible, but a lot of work for little gain.

No flooring is absolutely the case in Germany as well, e.g. bare concrete. Seen it in multiple apartment viewings.

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