It was in my first "freshen up" of my kitchen 34 years ago and it was the huge bay window over my sink. I have NEVER regretted that decision, and it is still serving me quite well in my new kitchen.

I typically don't "splurge" in a kitchen. Oh, I did when I bought my pot rack in the kitchen in our first house in 1969 - it was probably $100 and we really couldn't afford it. Of course, I'm still using it so I think I have gotten my money's worth out of it!

For me, I want a kitchen to be pleasant and attractive, but no more than that. But I also don't have an open concept kitchen with it sitting at the end of my LR. I'm far more likely to splurge on a gorgeous fabric for curtains or upholstery, a fabulous antique, yet more wonderful dishes, a piece of silver, or my favorite splurge, jewelry! I just wouldn't splurge in a kitchen on countertops or an outrageously expensive stove. And yes, while I no longer cook much, at one time I did a LOT of cooking and was an outstanding cook.

For sure appliances...went with pro appliances, have owned my own homes for 20 years and never had pro appliances.

Seltzer water tap. I don't NEED it, but having ice cold sparkling water (and still water) off a tap at the sink is something we will use every day. Total cost is $3500.

Some older thread on just this topic! (Taken from "FAQ: Other Items of Interest" in the "New to Kitchens? Read Me First!" thread.)

Tips for saving the budget...

• Scrimp on this, Splurge on that....: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg101324514831.html
• Where to splurge and where to save??: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg080040367553.html
• Scrimp and Splurge - Where'd you hold back, where'd you go nuts?: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0507102221365.html
• Now that I have [X], I think I could have lived without it: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0719430319398.html

Love your kitchen, cpartist! I'm trying to decide if I want to splurge on a sub zero fridge. I feel like I only have one chance to get one and this is it lol

Our biggest financial splurge was the 60” range and hood... but we got a phenomenal deal on it and we were already looking at 48” sized ranges. (We felt we needed a range as opposed to wall ovens and a cooktop like this kitchen previously had, and with my large family two ovens is very useful, hence the larger range sizes) I REALLY like this range a lot even a couple of years later. Our biggest “does anyone really need one of those?” splurges was our pot filler. Since our kitchen remodel was entirely diy (except the fabrication and installation of the perimeter granite) the pot filler wasn’t much of an expense, but now I REALLY want one again in our next house because I find it very convenient. (We are in the process of buying a plot of land that we hope to build our forever house on.)

My countertops.

We live in a small ranch and our splurge was the cabinets. We really should have gone with a lower end cabinet but since this is our forever home we decided we wanted what we wanted. We ended up getting Shiloh cabinets with several custom sized pieces. We went a bit over budget to get them but it was the one thing I was admit about doing.

1) Doing a full redesign of the layout - and going big with a blank slate.

2) My backsplash accent tile. I could have done it for <10% of the cost, but I found a painted tile I loved and justified spending four figures on just that one strip of accent.

My splurge was spray foam insulation and new drywall. We were originally planning only to remove and replace existing cabinets and floor but decided to go ahead and gut to the studs to make it easier to rewire. The kitchen was original to 1933 and needed quite a bit of electric added and our area is all conduit, no Romex allowed.

The $160K addition and renovation; without that there would be no new kitchen! In comparison, all the appliances and kitchen bling were a drop in the bucket. Honestly, the entire kitchen was a splurge since our old small kitchen was functional. But we have something now that has transformed our house and we get much pleasure from it.

The backsplash. Hand-made artisanal tiles, special order. Worth it. Needed very skilled tile installer due to the irregularities of the tiles, and how much eyeballing needed to get it just right, which only comes with an installer with years of experience, so he too was $$$. Worth it.

Everything! The biggest splurge, at this point in my life, was not having to set a budget for the kitchen and being able to design and install what I liked/wanted.

Mine was a fairly small budget for replacing everything and rearranging nearly everything, in the same footprint, and I think very little if anything was really a splurge!

Well, I didn't really have to restore a previously removed window, so that would count wouldn't it? And doing so made the kitchen seem 30% larger! So very worth it.

And I didn't really have to replace all the appliances just then (only the dishwasher really needed to be replaced) but the new (basic) stainless appliances really look so much nicer that I am happy that I did.

Oh, I could have gotten laminate or solid surface instead of granite, but it was not expensive granite -- less than the Corian that I really liked. And the durability will pay off, I think.

Having the cabinets made in a custom color, fitted to my room? Much more functional, more bang for the buck than the typical budget cabinets, so I wouldn't really call that a splurge, would you?

I had 2 big splurges, bringing the window down to counter depth and changing it to a bay, and my backpainted glass black splash. They both added $$$ to my budget, but I’m glad I splurged.