I like your analogy. I have designed & completely built or assisted building multiple kitchens in 40 years, both run my homes & restaurants.from cheap to $500K. I’ve also always had a good sound system during this time from solid mid fi to pretty high end depending upon my finances involving my kid’s educational expenses & the financial success of my businesses.
The overall design & layout of both is the most important thing to get right ( think equipment set up, speaker placement/ listening position, sound absorption etc. in hi fi) The rest of it can be more easily changed & equipment swapped as need be. You can buy a decent home gas range ( no one serious about cooking use electric unless there’s no other option) for $1500 that you can prepare a nice meal on or you get one that costs $10K that will work better in every way; range top, oven, broiler, be faster & easier to use & you can cook for larger groups more consistently w/ no problem. You can get an exhaust that looks nice but has only 300 or 400 cfm or a truly good one that has 1000 or more & you can cook fish without any residual smell in your house & also no grease going up into the vent pipes beyond the hood.
I could go on for each piece of kitchen equipment in the kitchen but the joint concept is “sound”. It just depends on how much you get into it, think details matter & get enjoyment out of it like many do here on Audiogon w/ hi fi.
