Not a bad article but suffers from the aesthetic glitz and meandering notional thought in its writing it complains about in kitchens.
Pressure to perform prosperity is relentless in this era of waste and inequality
www.irishexaminer.com
There's definitely something to be said about aesthetics and keeping up with the Jones's. I was talking to a kitchen fitter a few years ago. He was saying there were groups of older bored people living on a particular street he would be fitting a new kitchen for every four years. There was nothing wrong with their old kitchen, it looked good, was a modern design, it worked perfectly for all the needs you'd have in a kitchen, they just wanted the experience of getting a new kitchen and having something new.
He was saying the entire kitchen business he worked for, literally everyone working for them, had "new" second hand kitchens in their homes because people just said, "Get rid of it!" about the old stuff. Miele white goods, top quality solid stone surfaces, solid wood cabinets, drawers and presses, everyone working there taking time to fit their co-workers and their wider family's kitchens whenever something suitable came up.
On the other hand I also know people who've got a new kitchen after living in a makeshift one for twenty-five years and getting pissed off with cludges and hacks, and piecemeal upgrades holding it together. New white goods too despite the old stuff being functional. In one case they rang the SVP who were thrilled someone thought of them. Fridge, dishwasher, washing machine, second hand but all in decent nick because they were looked after, all picked up within a day, bang on time, taken out and taken away by the SVP guy with a van, then passed onto someone who couldn't afford such stuff in their home. It'd really hammer home the difference between some people's attitudes.
