My family and I live in a home that my wife inherited from her grandfather. We did extensive renovations before we moved in. It had an alley kitchen with a window cutout in the wall to pass dishes through to the dining room.

The decor was, well, as you describe.

I know that he was on the older side of what a typical resident of NH might have looked like, but that doesn't change that he was someone who lived through the Depression and was a hoarder because of the mentality of resourcefulness.

We're probably seeing waves of homes like these now that their original occupants are getting older. The younger people who have built newer-ish homes haven't needed to move out of them yet, so the market is currently filled with homes from that era, which were built originally by people who did whatever they needed to do to survive and save money.

And don't mind the downvotes. Some of us are foolishly proud of having lived here our whole lives and are threatened by anything that doesn't fit the narrative that things may not be perfect here.