Surely you mean us there It had nothing to do with "you only build once," but simply that we hadn't properly estimated our wishes in advance or didn’t know what great options there were.
1. We had planned with a ceramic hob and an island hood – it turned into an induction cooktop from Berbel with downdraft. It bothered me from the start to have that ugly hood hanging in front of my nose in the room, but I didn’t know there were such cool solutions --> +€3500 to the €11,500.
2. We initially planned a Häcker Classic with cassette fronts. Then I read that those are only foils. With Systemat you get the same front fully lacquered and a better grid. --> +€1500
3. My wife discovered in the showroom that there are refrigerators with a 1°C compartment. --> +€800 (from a normal Siemens to a Miele with 1°C compartment)
4. We couldn’t find a nice wooden worktop for the white fronts with cassette. Spatula concrete would have been the closest, we had it in the €11,500 variant, but it didn’t really excite us. We didn’t want wood tone because we already have wood-look tiles. --> then we found an amazing color in the quartz composite slabs that fits perfectly and you can install sink and cooktop flush --> +€3000
And suddenly you’re at €20k instead of €11.5k. None of these decisions were made because of "you only build once." The €11,500 plan simply didn’t convince us in these points, but it probably would have still resulted in a great kitchen, I admit that.
I see ’s statement in the context of the common situation among first-time builders, that loans run so long and everything seems so hard; in short, complaining! But this often results from the self-evident tendency to always go for the expensive option and naturally always find justifications for it. In this way, everything could be justified, up to the presidential palace. In general, in my opinion, there are lists of standard must-haves that I sometimes read only with my own amazement.
If this is your dream kitchen, you did absolutely right, then the money is simply gone on that and you enjoy those things as well. A justification of necessity for it could not be found convincingly. You like it, want it, and gladly pay the extra price for something that feels special.
It is a luxury to be able to think and decide this way, and I myself find such a luxury of decision something pleasant! Nowadays, I would spend my money on building quite differently than I did 30 years ago, because we should all be aware that there is a high societal consumption pressure on all of us even when building, to which we succumb more or less often; whether we want to admit it or not. The billions of advertising budgets are not invested without reason; they pay off very well for the industry! Nowadays, it is often already difficult to stay grounded or to present something simple, sufficient, appropriate to one’s own life.
I absolutely understand that people buy nice things and that everyone likes something different. But you don’t necessarily need what you named to get a nicer or better house. Looking back, I could have saved about 100,000 DM on my old house without the house losing any living quality... I let myself be talked into some flashy stuff or bought it because it was a bit cooler. It wasn’t better!
I simply wish people would admit more to themselves that they actually have upscale or sometimes excessive demands and therefore have to work more or longer or give up other things…and with regard to these demands, all this without any complaining.