Pass. The kitchen will be a money pit, not to mention the tile flooring that likely runs through the first floor.

Wow. Just wow. Like Tuscany exploded in there. You could remove the wagon wheel light fixture and the cabs over the peninsula, but not the peninsula itself. Perhaps you could retrofit those carved doors with glass? Maybe you could remove all that hoo-ha over the sink to open up that window area. Replace the paneled DW and fridge — they add to the “datedness” to me. And that’s about it. The space has decent function. So I could live with that for a while, if the house is priced right and property hard to come by in your area — as it is in so many places nowadays. If not, I’d pass.

Mercy. There is SO much to take in, I just noticed the tile behind the range. That would keep me awake at night. It, too, would have to go. $$$$$

The person who chose this kitchen was probably told that an expensive traditional wood kitchen like this was timeless, and would always add value to the house. Sic transit gloria mundi.

It seems the answer to your question is "no".

Such a shame. I'm sure that kitchen was $$$$ when it was put in. Just another example of why not to OD with current trends. Trends go out as fast as they come in.

I can't see much you can do to change the cabinets except taking down the cabinets over the peninsula. Taking off some of the overly ornate features on the cabinets would destroy them. Painting them white would just be replacing one past trend with another soon to pass trend.

Maybe you can remove the little cabinet without damage in the middle of the floor to ceiling cabinets across from the peninsula. It reminds me of an altar where they keep the host in a catholic church. Changing the light and backsplash would help some. And if the budget allows new counters.

Thanks so much for everyone’s input. I figured it wouldn’t be an easy or inexpensive task. There are definitely elements of this house I really love. And mostly cosmetic that I don’t love. This is basically on par in my area for the types of houses that come up for sale in the size that we are looking for. I do love that neighborhood and we intend to stay in town for the kids. We are still looking for a space (bigger house/new addition) that can include my mother inlaw, but out of the way, which is why we haven’t decided yet on doing the addition or moving. I found this pic which looks like a similar kitchen but in cream. I do like it this way. But my style has been moving away from super traditional into more transitional.

Define what is minimal cost for you. This house is probably very expensive in itself (by my standard at least), so what you are ready to put in the kitchen may widely differ from what people are thinking, in one direction or the other.

Also, what do you dislike the most?

I would not buy this house, it is way far from what I like, but YMMV.

How old is that kitchen? Are the cabinet doors still made?

Could you replace the doors with the carvings?

Remove the columns (near window) and from the peninsula, and remove the cabinets above the peninsula?

Since you like the more decorative doors when they are cream, perhaps find out how much a paint job would run you?

In the end, it all depend son the sales price.

I see no drawer banks, so that would be an issue for me. Are the cabinets good quality?

The kitchen I remodeled looked good from a distance and in photos, but the quality of the cabinets and drawer hardware was low for the price point of the house. I looked into updating, but it didn't make sense to re-stain or put new counters on cheap cabinets, so we ended up gutting. We lived with it for 6 years before we remodeled.

I would keep on looking at houses. In your price range, there must be many homes simpler in style but with all the space and quality you desire. I would guess this was a $100,000 kitchen, maybe more...all that quality woodwork is not cheap and it cannot be cheaply removed nor simplified. Your real estate agent works for YOU and should only be showing you homes in YOUR desired style.

Thing that would make me KEEP it in the possibility camp is the island . For the age and era it is a good island. If the peninsula were removed you could expand the island or get a progressive double island kitchen . These would be options down the road . The space can be reworked in that sense , and be much different for day to day use . Think abt that kind of issue not just the surfaces. I would not write this property off but do keep looking.

As far as "Just another example of why not to OD with current trends. Trends go out as fast as they come in.".... in all probability the person who did this likely loved it . For me, it is quite a bit overdone but I still think it's a beauty and looks to be great quality. I guess we agree that you don't follow trends, but do what you love.

That doesn't mean that the next person will have the same taste and be willing to compensate for your expenditure.....With that, I guess if everything else is what you like, as has been suggested, offer a lot less to reflect redoing the kitchen (if you have the stomach to endure the process -).

I would remove the cabinets above the peninsula, remove the corbels on the back side of the peninsula, replace the carved door with glass doors, and paint the perimeter cabinets cream. I would update the appliances, granite, and fixtures. $30k -$35K for an updated kitchen that still works with the rest of the house.

I don't think a minimal cost update can be done. Kind of anything you do will require remodeling since the whole thing is so built in. Like if you change out the island or peninsula you are going to have to mess with the flooring. Changing out countertops can be expensive, so might as well save it for if you change the cabinets. Some detailing can be removed, but enough of it would likely be left that it could end up looking oddly unfinished.

Personally, I rather like the kitchen. Except for the countertops that I don't like, but then I rather dislike stone countertops in general so that is moot.

I spot 3 different flooring types in your photos.

Is that wallpaper in a 2-story foyer?

Is the rest of the house as "frilly" as the kitchen? The bathrooms?

If you love the location, size of house and lot, then it could be worth doing major updating, if you get a good price and would get some return on your updating.

We did that with our current house. We had a budget of X and found a house for 2/3 X, that was perfect except for the finishes in most of the rooms, so we spent 1/3 X updating over several years. We are in SoCal, which is not a normal market, so we will actually get back most of the money we put into the remodeling when we sell.

If this house meets your other criteria, I would get a kitchen designer in to look at it give you an estimate for updates. As others have said, some of the more over-the-top decorative elements may be easy to remove, others may not, and without a professional on-site it's very hard to know which are which.

Following....

A very careful dissection of cabinetry detail removal and lighten up everything else. This is worth a look:

https://www.mariakillam.com/blog/

I would only consider this house if you could live with and enjoy the kitchen as is, at least for a year or two. It would probably take that long to decide how to approach it!

I like the comment above, "its like Tuscany exploded" . That said, the wood cabinetry is a lovely color. I'm wondering whether you could achieve a radically updated look without destroying the cabinetry by changing the slabs on the countertop and the tile floor. To me, the multicolored flooring makes the space really busy, as do the curved details on the countertop. I wonder if you could relatively easily redo the counters in a matte soapstone or a gray quartz, whose cool tones would still complement the beauty of the wood. You could do something similar on the floor- inexpensive 18" square ceramic tiles or something to this effect. Agree about removing the light fixture.

Being midway through a kitchen demo and remodel myself , I'll say that demo-ing the cabinetry on the ceiling over the peninsula would be quite simple, and it will not take your contractor long to deal with the electric and patch the ceiling.

We built our last house in 2003-2004 or so. I was on GW then and I remember some pretty flashy Tuscany kitchens on here at that time. It was all the rage. Some of the features in your kitchen look like this kitchen adds up to a pricey kitchen. Too bad it’s so over the top. I don’t think I would do a thing to it. It’s not so bad that you can’t live with it for a few years then gut it and do what you want.

Just really, really curious..is there a brand insignia inside the drawers?

Look at the carving on that door to the left! Wow.

Even though I'd love to have a place to display my less-used but pretty pieces, I'd rather lose the peninsula uppers and the post, but leave the rest and add some color. I love painted Italian and French porcelain, perhaps they'd go well.

ILoveRed Lol! Yes the carved inset in the tall cabinet is a bit outrageous! There are actually 2, one on each side. They Depict old world wine making with men in hats crushing grapes with their feet! The realtor- not my reg realtor as this was an exclusive listing and my realtor was not allowed to join us- mentioned we maybe able to replace the door inset carving with glass to match the interior cabinet in that section.

I also hate the carved columns they are way to gaudy for me! I don’t mind the overall look of the kitchen as it was tastefully, if not ornately, done. The color seemed rich and not too yellowish/orangey as many others I have seen when they’ve ambered . They should be a very good quality cabinet but I do not know the manufacturer at this time. I have been considering that I may like the kitchen if I remove the upper hanging cabs over peninsula and remove the raised overhang counter, but this would require new counters. I don’t mind the corbels as much as the carved door and columns. Also the floor didn’t seem as varied in person as it looks in the photos. We actually liked it. It ran down the back hall to the mudroom.

Paint it.
Either try to copy something from paintings by Miro, Klimt, Hundertwasser or
or any abstract painting, with colours and contures that make you smile. Or black with spotlights pointing on something else. Imagine decorating that for Haloween!

When you look beyond the surface frou-frou decorations it’s actually a really nicely built kitchen. Somebody was a serious cook - look at that stove for instance. Having lived in places that weren’t to my initial taste and grown to like them, I would go back and look at that kitchen from another perspective- would you like to cook in it? Does it suit your needs in that way? It’s over the top quirky, yes, but in ten years people will be hardly sick of and bored with the current white, white, and more white and oh here’s a farmhouse sink look. No one will say this kitchen is boring. :). Re removing the column and cabinets above the peninsula I think it that would throw off the proportions of the kitchen off without actually modernizing it. If it were me I would remove the decorative mosaic from the back of the stove, change the wine maker panels to glass fronts, maybe find a light fixture I liked... and save my money for other things.

Perhaps that column could be enclosed/encased in plain wood for much less $$ than removing and replacing it.

My guess is that the "carvings" are really castings with a faux finish to match the surrounding wood. Every one of them is tacked on top of the underlying normal cabinet surface rather than being carved into the panel. They all stand proud of the surrounding cabinetry. Ick.

It's a kitchen built for lottery winners (or at least designed by them).

Go back to the house. Plan to put the kitchen in a dumpster, ( save the range/fridge ) because in the end, it will be cheaper and less trouble by far. . Then ask yourself if you have a minimum!!! of 70 K for a much simpler kitchen you like, depending labor in your area.

Follow that with all the flooring decisions. What stays, what goes.

Do a room by room walk through. Don't forget all the lighting etc......what else?

Still want it? Fine and dandy.

Because there is only one person who can make the decision. It's nobody out here in cyber space.

RED FLAG: Your realtor was not allowed to accompany you? I find that very hinky. Pictures are difficult to tell how much work removing details would be. I too first thought looks like a lot of the fancy could be easily popped off. It is unfortunate that getting someone to retro a room costs as much as a lesser total kitchen redo. Crazy!! The door carvings are just floof the corbels are knee knockers and would have to go!! The columns should just pop out but then they built them on pedestals that won't...you really do need a handy man type to come in and see just what can be "easily" stripped out and what will be a continual now we do this to fix this which causes that and so on....

Check out the blog Chris love Julia, they just bought a house with a somewhat similar kitchen and did a fabulous job of a temporary update...

I just looked at the blog referenced above, and that "before" kitchen is really not anything like the one posted here. It had ONE branch/leaf applied molding, and the style of the cabinets was more Shaker/country, not what everyone calls "Tuscan." (which is not anything like any kitchen in Tuscany, but I digress.) The flooring was a very homogenous white tile, not the multi-colored tile here, and all it really needed was a paint job, new lighting and the elimination of several overhead cabinets.

Even if you are able to update as some have suggested. I’m intrigued, are there any more columns in the house I see four. The columns alone would be a reason for me to keep looking

In the last 2 pictures, the cabinets look like they are two colors. The panels and rails/stiles don't appear to be quite the same color. That would bother me.

Have you and your husband discussed the money it might take to redo this house? And the headache? Depending on the real estate market in your area, you may be able to find a house with less work. But if it’s a tight market, you might find that this house will be a dream home for you once you tackle the kitchen.

I would say no to the house. Unless it’s a super deal find something that is more your style. You will sink a ton of money into and it will be a lifetime doing renovations.

Oh, the way the stove is closed in would drive me nuts.

I'd feel like I'm "helicoptering" pans on and off.

How old is the subzero fridge & dishwasher, are they original to 2002?

The picture facing the stairs, I count what I believe is 5 faux pillars alone?

I can't stop staring at these pictures, lol!

i love those cabs. The decorative elements look expensive and unique. a shame to get rid of them. the floors are ok but i prefer hardwood. I like the peninsula. yo. the only thing i dont like here is the counters. id do light. but honestly its alright as it is. i dont think anything can be done cheaply.

Change the floor! Eliminate excess trim details. Replace the chandelier.

Change the floor? Do you realize what a huge, messy, disruptive and expensive job that is???

Thanks again for all the comments. More than likely we won’t be buying this house, mostly because it is at the very high end of our budget and we have been on the verge of committing to an addition on our home. The kitchen aside we would still have some work to do to make it work for my mother-in-law to join us. Financially it makes more sense to stay where we are and add an addition here. One of the great things about that house though was the location and property- amazing - and the best lot in that small, exclusive neighborhood. It was the 3rd house we have seen in that specific neighborhood. Over the past 2.5 years since we realized my mother inlaw will need to move in with us we have seen a minimum of 18 houses in our town, put an offer on one of them but lost, decided against a large addition, decided against a smaller remodel of existing space for her, tried to see if we could install an elevator in our home so we could finish the basement for her. Just awaiting the actual pricing for the addition we are hoping to add to get started. Oh and we do love our home, it was our dream home when we bought it 16 years ago! And now we have many memories here raising our 3 kids. I’ve felt like I need to be on Love it or List it this year!

Sounds like passing on that house is the right thing to do for a number of reasons. And just think: someone else will love that kitchen. It’s not everyone’s taste, but someone put a lot of thought and money into it. Good luck with your upcoming reno!

It sounds like the addition to your current house is a good idea. Stick with that plan and let Houzzers help you decorate the space so your mother-in-law loves it.

Also want to add how lovely it is for your MIL to be included on your decision making.

Has she voiced her wants and needs?

Yes Jane Gibbs she has been included on our discussions and we are trying our best to make it work for all of us in the confines of what the town will allow.

Hopefully, the city design board (or whatever it is called in your town) should not have an issue with an interior elevator installation and basement remodel. Be sure the elevator is large enough for a wheelchair and the controls can be reached from a seated position: Mom may never need it, but it is smart to plan ahead. You may also consider a lock for the elevator: a future owner, if you sell, may want the elevator to be secure against access by children.

Felizlady- the addition we plan to do is on the first floor now so no elevator needed. If you are thinking back to previous posts when I asked about elevators, we were not able to successfully find a good place for an elevator in our home that was in public space in all levels.

it sounds like maybe you are considering passing on this house and i think thats great. someone will love this kitchen