When you have moved to Italy, do you

You jkust need to look around.  Having seen all the American property shows it seems that if you dont want an stainless steel kitchen wiht granite tops then you cant have anything - and everything is made of cherry wood - so I reckong its the same the world over. 

Boy, are you ever right about American kitchens! Everybody wants granite and stainless! I can't wait until that look goes out of style. Lol. Lots of expensive redos.
I found some other furniture posts on the site. Perusing furniture online. Still have only found modern style. I wonder where one would find, for example, a wooden kitchen table and chairs?

Go to website.   Pagine gialle in English. -  google it.    Then you will find lots of shops selling hopefully what your looking for.  I was looking for modern and got my kitchen from mondo convienza. They were a good price and fitting was good to. I also went to ikea.  Good luck 

Thank you, Alidandrea!

It very much depends on your circumstances and ability to adapt. You need to weigh up the cost of moving ALL your goods, part or none against buying in Italy. Things like white goods are made for low electrical power often supplied here. Beds and bedding are a standard Italian size as are many other things. Will you always be here, if not how long and how much do you want to commit here!

Large Lewis, thank you. I don't know-what are Italian sized beds? I know they are different from the US. Probably better to buy an Italian mattress so you can easily purchase sheets, I guess.

Bed sizes - see;-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bed_size#Italy

Fascinating! Thank you, Alan! And thank you for song my research for me. Doh.

Moving furniture is expensive. I would only do it for valuable antique furniture or family heirlooms. Besides, your old furniture may not feel "right" in your new place. As it has been recommended, Mondo Convenienza has interesting offers on kitchens and furniture in general. Some of their solid wood items are very nice. Check their catalogue on www.mondoconvenienza.it  We have purchased a few items from them and they have been great. They deliver and assemble. We had a problem with a bed because the mattress and base will not fit through the staircase (we have a 17th century home with uneven staircases). Well, they exchanged the 1.60 m mattress and base for two single 0.80 m and put it all together! So they are very helpful.There is also IKEA, where you can find some interesting things www.ikea.it and their beds are usually large.My advice is not to buy everything at the same shop. Buy some items and mix them with vintage and antique furniture and pieces that you may find at fairs or shops. Doing that, you avoid the "uniform" look. And certainly, it will all depend on the place you are buying.... 

Thank you, Gala. I have anticipated a lot of areas of culture shock, but I admit I never thought furnishings would be one of them. Thanks to everyone for your kind replies.

Arezzo antiques marketif you get the opportunity, please do go to the Arezzo antiques fair - it has 100's of stalls of antiques and bric-a-brac covering the whole city and you can purchase many furnishings - some very expensive but many very good prices as well for authentic old items. It''s very good for lighting, door furniture, shelves, mirrors and pictures.The fair is the first Sunday of every month (and the Saturday the day before). http://www.seeyouintuscany.com/tuscany_travel_guide/arezzo_area/arezzo/antiques_market/antiques_market.html As gala mentioned, a good idea is to mix up some olde pieces with newer pieces to avoid the uniformity of a house totally furnished from Ikea.good luck

I agree with robbiemarche, the Arezzo market is great. Another one to keep in mind is the Lucca one, on the 3rd Saturday and Sunday of each month. Do a google search using the words "italy antique and vintage markets" and you will get quite a few. Some regions, such as Tuscany, have more than others. In Italy you will find plenty of Interior Design and Decor magazines of a very high quality, which should give you ideas and addresses. Here is a list with some of them http://www.made-in-italy.com/italian-design/magazines

I have been meaning to check out the arezzo market myself, maybe this month or next. It sounds like the perfect place to search from some truly unique items.. 

Great information! Thanks, everyone. :)

On magazines, you might like to take a look at Casantica. Their website is at:- http://www.casantica.net/ , but I haven't dug into that, preferring the mag itself. Its in Italian, but gives you a range of ideas that depart from the steel / granite options, and of course there are plenty of visuals. They did a special edition on kitchens a wee while ago, and I think you can buy that as a back number. The magazine also has a very comprehensive list of sources in the back, breaking down into just about any category that you might need (although the vast majority are in the northern half of Italy).Others have noted the markets in Arezzo + Lucca. I have not used either, but I've tended to find the antique markets very variable, although I did buy quite a bit of stuff down in Lecce where I found prices less than half of those in Abruzzo (where I live).Online, you might like to have a look at either:- http://www.arsantik.com/ or http://www.anticoantico.com/. Both are online windows (no pun intended) for antique shops all over Italy, though both seem to have quite a lot from Reggio Emilia + Lombardy in particular. The latter tends to have less in the way of price information, though the dealers are usually amenable to giving more info over the phone. The former site has a link to a place in Milan (name is something like mano di mano) which has reasonable offers on antique furntire by the room.Avoiding IKEA-type places, I have been pretty surprised that the cost of antique furniture comes out as same or less than repro furniture (although I haven't searched widely for repro or modern furniture).Happy hunting!

Thank you! I am reassured that there are other options than modern.

We went into a local furniture shop, just looking for a bed for a spare room, and found that, although their showroom featured lots of 'modern' style furniture of Far-Eastern origin not to our taste, they also had a very wide range of catalogues which we were welcome to browse and we ended up with some Italian made, traditional style wooden wardrobes and chests, all delivered within a very few weeks and at very reasonable prices. You may be surprised if you investigate.