I enjoyed Amy Finley's kitchen & the rustic kitchen with the tree in it. Those were also over the top, but they did have some creative & artistic flair. Tuscan or old world kitchens are old hat, to my eye, & the contemporary kitchens didn't look like anything that hadn't been done before. End of my 2 cents worth.

Did you notice in the blue contemporary kitchen the complete lack of workspace between the cooktop & the sink? There was, like, 8 inches. The lack of workspace 'tween sink & stove was the #1 flaw of my old kitchen & the main reason for getting rid of it.

I thought exacting the same thing as you, a little over the top. Maybe it was the lighting but they all seemed so dark. I did like the pasta station though and I got some
inspiration for some of the lovely ceiling treatments,

Aw shoot, I knew there was something that I meant to watch tonight. I'll have to see if the pictures are posted on the HGTV website.

Laurie

I thought it must be nice to have that kind of money!

Should've been called Top 10 Ridiculous Kitchens! I completely agree that these were way over the top. It was like a freak show. I think it would've been much more interesting to see top 10 kitchens under say $50,000 or $100,000 or whatever ... maybe Top 10 Kitchens With Less than 3 Ovens :)

it's not that they cost a ridiculous amount of money (i myself am spending a ridiculous amount!) it's just that they all screamed "look at me! look at me!" i much prefer a more elegant and "pure" design; simpler forms win me over rather than highly ornate superficial decoration. the worst offenders for me were the french country thing and the victorian... i don't know, just not my taste. i want my kitchen to look beautiful, but i want it to look like a kitchen. i'm silly that way.

Now I'm glad I DVR'd the show so I can fast-forward through it. I'm with you kateskouros....I want a lovely kitchen, that is only a kitchen and not a study, or a bar, an office, or laundry room. I want it open, yet separate. I want to know I can see what's going on, but not everyone see everything going on in the kitchen. I want a few surprises, but nothing so ornate that it is difficult to live with and keep clean. Unfortunately, with my lawsuit, I have a few issues with the door profiles that I'm stuck with, but am trying to succeed now in other areas. Sheesh...I digress again.

It's late. Can't wait to see the show.

Some were really nice but the #1 kitchen's backsplash made from junkyard finds was silly. Looked like the homeowners got taken for a ride by the designers :)

I don't have cable, so I went in search of these on the website. Haven't looked through all of them...The first one I saw sure is a doozy. here's the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: 10 kitchen countdown on hgtv.com

Of course, I didn't get to see them as well as those who saw the show, but the only one I think I could feel at home in is the rustic kitchen....But the tree is so hokey. Love the idea of the kids roasting marshmallows for the s'mores in the evening and a lot of the elements they used were very nice...The thick, rough-edged granite, the rough flooring, the copper sinks. Sorry to anyone who liked it, but the Victorian one would make me gag and/or cringe.

I loved the counters in the 'minimalist' kitchen (unlit), and liked other things about it and the 'green' and 'modern' ones, but they sure didn't feel warm or homey to me...Not pie-baking kitchens.

I dunno,...I could do with the wood oven for pizza and bread baking. I would seriously give some consideration to doing something like that in my next kitchen.

I agree about the ceilings. Some beautiful things were done! I think that I need to give more consideration to that when decorating my next home. Of course it would be nice to have the budget to do the big architectural projects, but even just paying a little more attention...

I guess you would pay people to clean all of that, huh?

Some fine details, yes, but pver-the-top doozies pretty much describes them all. I was intrigued by seeing what their owners wanted for themselves. Life would be so much more boring without all our peculiar individual tastes. Wasn't it nice to watch and think how much more you liked your own kitchen?

I only saw the last three but I was not impressed. They were so large and ornate that they lost their purpose. I was hoping for some beautiful working kichens like you find on food network-kitchens that don't cost several hundred thousand dollars and that are actually used to cook in, not host parties in. I recorded it so I need to watch the rest but none of them appealed to me.

My husbands comment was like vivians, "How do they clean all that? It is like a hotel."

I didn't see the show, but from the pictures I just love that lit onyx counter. Wish I could afford it!

I didn't really watch it, I was flipping channels. I did catch the kitchen with the Blue Bahia countertops, the same as mine. I couldn't believe she was using a greasy Wok that spatters oil right next to the granite. I almost couldn't breath. LOL
Donna

I liked the rustic and the French country the best I think. That's just more my style. While I appreciate the look of the more modern styles, they all seem cold to me. There were elements in each that were nice for the homeowners, though. The Victorian had some nice things by themselves, but it was just soooo much, and no thank you on the lions heads. lol

I was half asleep when I saw the #1 and all I remember about it is that the backsplash was horrid! jmho.

I have seen the "green" kitchen before, wasn't it a "Designers Challenge" episode? I've seen the Victorian in pics and it seems like the onyx one, too.

I didn't see the show, but from the pictures (thanks rhome410) none of them are quite my cup of tea. It kind of reminded me of the feeling I get when I visit cities (others could probably say the same of the country) they were nice to visit but I sure wouldn't want to LIVE in them. I did like the minimalist kitchen and those onyx countertops were really cool! I also liked the rustic kitchen too, not sure of the tree...my cat would love it though. I was most disappointed in the victorian kitchen. I really like period designs including victorian architecture and decorating (although toned down a bit), but that kitchen didn't look victorian to me. Maybe I've done too much research, but it just didn't look anything like real victorian woodwook, at least what I've seen. I know they aren't trying to recreate victorian design, but it's just too different. And there was almost no color, victorian decorating needs color!

I caught the #2 kitchen being presented on the show and the owner made a remark that sort of summed it up - she said if it was being produced at the time the kitchen was built, you were going to find it installed in their kitchen. I'm just a "less is more" person, so I guess that's why most did not appeal.

I'd take Ina Garten's (Barefoot Contessa)original kitchen or the "Something's Gotta Give" kitchen, or many of the GW's Kitchens(!) over any one of these.

I don't like any of the kitchens, but I do like the house architecture on the Tuscan Kitchen (the kitchen does not look like Tuscany to me and the French kitchen does not look like a true French kitchen either..but we've had these discussions before). #7 looks more like a garage to me and being born/raised in the South, the Southern kitchen doesn't look Southern to me.

rhome410, thanks for posting that link. You couldn't pay me enough to live with any of those kitchens. I would rip them all out - none of them were practical. They are all show and no go. Who voted for these as the top 10 kitchens?

Sky

Glad to see I wasn't the only one disappointed with the top 10. I guess after spending so much time at THS kitchens, I'm used to seeing kitchens that are beautiful yet have so many useful features packed in to make the best use of the space and the money. Not to say there aren't plenty of kitchens here that I would never be able to afford either, but there is so much more thought put into them, it seems. It would be nice to have a top 10(or 20 or 30...)more realistic kitchens show, including price levels(although that certainly varies by region too).

I agree with everyone else. I didn't find one that I would like to have in my home..Makes me appreciate and like my own kitchen even more. Rhome, thanks for posting link.

Paddytc

I forgot to watch it or record it but I just flipped through the pictures. Over the top was my first thought too. They all just seem so enormous and impersonal. Hard to imagine any of them feeling like a home - maybe the one with the tree - though I sure wouldn't want the tree. The rest just seemed like a lot of material "stuff" and not about warm, inviting places to spend time with your family or friends. Maybe a great place to have big parties but not cozy, homey places to hang out every day.

Heh. Some of those kitchens are likely bigger than the entire first floor of my house. :-) I'm sure the budget for some of them approached my budget for the entire house, as well.

But I do hope the people who had them built, love them. Just because I don't love them doesn't mean anything other than "I don't love them". I don't begrudge the owners their extravagance.

--Steve

Heh, I must have over-the-top taste because I love the photos! I like them all except the Victorian and Rustic kitchens. The Tuscan might be my favorite of the group.

I wouldn't necessarily design my kitchen to look like any of them, but I really love the photos and I would definitely ooh and ahh if I ever saw one of those in person.

The vitorian was the one that killed me. Nothing in that kitchen said victorian to me.

something about the Green kitchen, even though it's so not my style, I really liked. I felt like it was a livable kitchen.

If we all exclaim over elements we love and hate, marvel at people's choices, and end up reflecting happily on our own "superior" choices--and kitchens, maybe that's what was intended.

(For something so modern in feeling, I liked the green kitchen too, buffettgirl.)

I liked the contemporary kitchens: the wall of windows in the onyx one (not to mention the onyx itself), and the circular bar seating in the Green one. By no means, first of their kind, but good features. I liked the tuscan kitchen as well with the island, blue cabinetry and brick arches.

I actually read about the show here on this thread, and being on West Coast, could catch the show afterward. I felt that the channel's designers did a very poor job laying out the design strengths in the kitchens. For example one kitchen's owner said that she has five dishwashers and the designer's comment "This is amazing". IMO, you can do a lot of 'amazing' things with increasing budget; but at least the designers should have picked out why they thought the kitchens were worthy of being the top 10.

I only saw the website link, but what I was most reminded of was the excesses of the designer runway - things that are "designed" but never really make it to "real life" until they'e been watered down considerably for reality.

That said, even though I'm not really into contemporary styles, I thought the modern kitchen actually looked useable - a bit too much like a restaurant kitchen, but actually somewhere you could COOK.

Ah well - nobody ever said that money could buy taste ;)

IMO, each kitchen was more of a cliché of the style is supposed to represent than the style itself...

There is an old expressionÂless is moreÂsomething that most if not all of the designers of these kitchens may wish to considerÂ

They all came across as trendy, trying too hard, and some even already datedÂ

Surely HGTV could have done much betterÂjust by browsing the Kitchen Blog on this forumÂÂas there are a number of kitchens that IMO put those to shame in terms of aesthetics, style and function.

Yes, but if we could, trying to choose just the "right" taste out of millions would make our current choices look primitive.

From what I heard (didn't listen much), Homey Bird, I have to agree that explanations of why the people made the choices they did were sadly lacking. I would have liked to hear them. It reminds me of a tacky HGTV show I saw a couple of times that did tours of expensive homes. The hostess was conspicuously working class stereotyped, and she went around saying clever things like, "Ohmygosh, you could play tennis on that table," and so on. Not a serious design show but maybe designed to keep people who can't afford it happy?

When I saw the first kitchen being introduced as 1100 sq. feet, I lost interest and changed the station.

Well said Aussies - "Kitchen freak show"
Five dishwashers?! "Honey, where's the ___?"
And that 'Victorian' kitchen made me want to vomit.
Is there no restraint?

My spouse was flipping and stopped on it for a while...we didn't like much. My spouse was horrified at the "Green Kitchen"--they had huge outdoor heaters by the kitchen so they could sit outside by the gas firepit without sweaters. That's not exactly green in our books.

I would hate to actually have to clean one of those kitchens, especially the Victorian one.

I was flipping around when it was on, but did see a few of them. To my surprise, no. 9 is one here in SD that a friend of mine checked out prior to doing her own kitchen (Amy and Steve Finley's kitchen). My friend said the onyx island was unbelievable, and it showed in the pics. That said, I don't think I'd want to LIVE in that kitchen or with that onyx. It's just not my color palette. I liked the minimal use of uppers, though, and the walk-in fridge (though I would have absolutely no use for one).

The green one didn't seem ALL THAT green to me, but the couple loves all things asian, so I thought the nod to the sushi bar with the table top lazy susan was cool.

7 ovens is completely ridiculous, but I thought that guy was cute in his little pizza making grotto. I got the feeling he liked to get away from the party sometimes and just hang and make pizza!

I missed the Victorian and the one with the tree, so I need to go back and look at the pictures of those.

The really modern one in Edina with the 2 separate cooking locations was really cool looking, and while I agree that counter space seemed compromised, I thought it LOOKED really cool if, perhaps, you don't cook alot but instead have lots of parties. I liked to Ferrari blue color of the cabs, which is so OPPOSITE of what we did!

I agree that the backsplash in the Tuscan one was just unattractive. I "get" that in Italy they would typically use random tiles left over from other things, but I'm pretty sure they weren't tiles shaped like stars and stuff. If the tiles had all actually been antique tiles in more muted colors and perhaps closer to the same size, it might have worked though.

After looking at those kitchens I did not have kitchen envy though. I am very happy with my kitchen and now I just need the rest of my house to catch up! Ha ha!

Oh - I did like the vacuum in the toe kick though. With all of our dog hair, that would have been a totally neat addition....

I saw the show.

Whereas I don't begrudge how anyone chooses to spend his/her money, it was hard to relate to a kitchen with more than 2 refrigerators, 2 freezers, 2 ovens and 2 dishwashers. One thing to bear in mind is several of the home owners were real estate developers. The home might be a means of advertising the business and thus, for business reasons, the owners are willing to devote an extra amount of money to the home and engage in a lot of home entertaining as a means of attracting business. Also, a real estate developer would have a leg up on your average joe when it comes to knowing who the contractors are in the area, the scope of work they're capable of doing and perhaps be able to get high end work at reduced pricing due to the volume of work they provide a certain contractor.

Whereas all of the kitchens had some element that I liked, none of them knocked my socks off and no doubt that's because I spent a lot time on this forum looking at beautiful kitchens. Save for the tree and the pizza oven, I didn't see any elements that haven't been done, perhaps on a smaller scale, in some kitchen posted on this site. I did marvel at the ceiling in the Tuscan kitchen, not because I thought it was particularly pretty, simply because someone had the time and the budget to devote that much attention to how the ceiling looks. I hated the backsplash behind the range in the Tuscan kitchen and felt it detracted from the appearance of the kitchen.

Just wanted you all to know that these kitchens are not unique. This isn't the first wood fired pizza oven we have installed, or how about a 60k range? There are quite a few people who spend this kind of money on their homes. The real question is.....do they ever use the kitchens? Rarely, they eat out!

As a designer my pet peeve is "Tuscan", I wish some of the kitchen designers and homeowners would go to Tuscany and realize that "Tuscan" doesn't look anything like that! A little Gold and Orange paint won't give you an Italian look.

Geez, when can we get past this??? Next rant would be about Stainless steel appliances and wood floors.

What I like best about them is that I like my kitchen better than any of them. There are some nice features in most of them, and if I had limitless money I could enjoy a pizza oven, but I'm more comfortable and thingk I have better function in my ktchen than any of those -- and I had a lot more limitations to work with.

I don't care how others spend their money. What may fit one person, may not fit another. There is no right or wrong way, when it comes to personal taste.

With some of those kitchens, I got the impression they are used a lot.

I don't care if a kitchen looks impersonal. If it keeps people away...good. I don't want or need family or friends lurking around my goodies, asking questions and mucking up my prosecco reduction, by breathing near it.

With that said: My eyes are still hurting from some of those kitchens.

I gotta' say I thought they were gaudy (a.k.a. money don't buy taste). I don't begrudge expense, or extravagance, but I've seen far more beautiful kitchens on this website than I saw on that show. (I was especially bugged by the one had stuff EVERYWHERE, especially the two giant pigs dressed like chefs. Yeah, that just screams class.) The pizza oven was nice and that kitchen definitely had everything, but other than that, I wasn't one bit impressed. Give me Martha Stewart or Ina Garten's kitchen any day. Just a taste thing ...

-Susan W.

forgot to mention, i think one of the "judges" was a kitchen magazine editor. um, guess what? i don't care what KIND of magazine you proof read for. in the end the only thing you're working there for is to cross Ts and well, dot I's. doesn't make you an expert on whatever the subject matter happens to be. this always peeves me. after 18 years in magazine publishing i've known enough of these so called "experts" and i can tell you they know a LOT about nothing.

I DVR'd the show and went back to look at it after the initial buzz in this posting. The only thing I was impressed with and would consider doing was the lighting design in what I think is the Green kitchen. Remember, the automatic lighting and lighting the path to the kitchen for a midnight snack? I also absolutely loved the under-lit onyx island, but I was appalled to watch the family cut directly on the onyx without even using a board to protect the surface! I eliminated marble for my island because I felt we would be too rough on it, and onyx is much more fragile!

I also agree that I've seen many more beautiful and functional kitchens here. I love my kitchen, which I have not posted here yet because I have a few things to finish first.

Being Italian, I decided to bite the bullet and put in a wood fired pizza oven, not in our kitchen, but just outside on our patio. We originally considered incorporating one into a two sided fireplace, but I decided I really did not want the mess of wood and ashes inside my kitchen, nor the extra heat it would generate in the summer. The guy on the show with the pizza oven obviously enjoyed making the pizzas, but I felt he was too isolated from his guests in his alcove. I make the dough up ahead of time and have toppings set out on my island. After a quick demo from me, our guests make up their own individual pizzas and bring them outside and watch them magically appear in 2 minutes. Everyone has a blast plus it's low stress on us.

Thanks for the link so I could view these creations!

And.....ugh! I agree with those who have said that these kitchens make me appreciate my own little kitchen. I really wouldn't want any of them. The only one I could live in might be the rustic one, but only after removing all those curtains, and chopping down that tree. With that gorgeous view, who needs the tree?? The "Victorian" one made me laugh out loud. While I love the idea of hiding the fridge as furniture, it has been done much better here on GW! The Tuscan ceiling was amazing, but beyond that....Eh. Does any semi-regular person actually keep 1800 bottles of wine at one time?? Whoa!

The kitchens on the atticmag site and fkb are so much lovlier, in my opinion.

Yep--makes me appreciate what I have! Isn't that ironic. The ginormous kitchens with all the bling make me appreciate what I have! Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Hee hee hee!

:-)

Francy

I think every one of them is ugly and unlivable. They have got to be kidding. French kitchen? My cousin lives in a REAL French kitchen because she IS French. An elegant building in the 16th arrondissement. The kitchen is about the size of my not very big master bath. Her stove is about 24" and her fridge is so small she goes shopping every day (not a bad thing, with those wonderful outdoor markets, but still!) Get real, HGTV!

I guess my favourite is the Tuscan, but I must say they all look like hotel kitchens - not homes.

The point is that HGTV called this "Top 10 AMAZING kitchens" So I think they knew these were over the top. They really need a show "top 10 livable, workable, normal life, TKO kitchens" And if they'd say no one wants to see that, I totally disagree. Look at how much traffic the FKB gets - everyone wants to see real kitchens.

U G L Y !!!!!...Money...No Taste..

This show was on again tonight. While I would not want any of those kitchens, there were a few elements that I really liked - in particular the pizza oven and the pasta cooking sink. We're designing our new house now and like nuccia plan to have the pizza oven outside on the patio. Kohler makes a smaller model of the cooking sink and I'm seriously looking into that. I can see using that a lot.

The Victorian kitchen was horrible to me. And I never saw a Tuscan kitchen like the one that won. Most of them were just too over the top. As my grandmother would have said, the people who built them had more money than sense.