Repair vs Replace

Your Northridge Kitchen Was Probably Remodeled After '94 — and Those Appliances Are Now 30 Years Old

I can walk into a kitchen anywhere between Devonshire and Nordhoff and guess the remodel year within about three years. White-on-white cabinets, almond or bisque appliances, a GE or Whirlpool badge, maybe a trash compactor nobody has used since the Clinton administration. That kitchen was rebuilt between 1995 and 2000.

The reason is obvious if you were here: January 17, 1994. The Northridge earthquake cracked slabs, dropped cabinets, snapped gas lines, and pushed a whole neighborhood’s worth of insurance money into kitchen contractors over the following few years. Sherman Way to Rinaldi, huge numbers of kitchens got gutted and rebuilt in the same five-year window.