It's true that energy efficiency reduces the life expectancy of appliances. Think about this for a minute. That old fridge that lasted forever had a durable low speed compressor. These old compressors ran at 1125 to 1725 rpm. In order to get efficiency up the motors needed to run much faster. Most fridge compressors today run at 3450 rpm and some are running even faster than that. The tolerances are much tighter than years ago, but the faster something runs the faster it wears out. The manufacturers aren't making bad compressors or washing machine motors, we are simply running them faster to get efficiency gains at the expense of operating life. Heres a neat little fact. That compressor in your fridge that lasts ten years will have traveled the equivilent of 1 million miles without so much as an oil change or any maintenance whatsoever. If you tried that with your car I don't think it would last the full 10 years. Manufacturers are starting to get to the edge of what physics will allow as to energy efficiency. Sure there will be some more gains but all the low hanging fruit has been plucked. A case for longer lasting appliance parts is the washing machine motor, this motor has gone from a simple one or two speed motor to the variable speed inverter controlled direct drive that is becoming much more common today. There are fewer mechanical parts, they turn slower because they are directly linked to the washing machine with no belts and pulleys. Ever wonder why companies that use direct drive inverter motors offer 10 year warranty's on the motor? Because they will last much longer than 10 years. The electronics are another matter, all that high tech comes at the expense of longevity, especially when those boards come from china. I have repaired more boards from china that have cold solder joints in the last 5 years than I care to. Any yes I have even gotten multiple replacement boards with the exact same problem. The last issue is the public being misled by technicians with sales motives. Case in point, a customer has a tech come out for a washing machine problem, tech diagnoses bad motor control board, repair is $450-$500, tech tells customer that it's not worth repairing as "other things will break in the future". Customer agrees and goes out and buys a $1500 washer. The $500 repair would have been $1000 cheaper. Sure another part "could" break in the future, but no one can predict the future. Now if the washer was old and had multiple issues, or was just plain beat, then yes replacement makes sense. We have become a throw away society that when something breaks the first time we just replace the whole thing rather than fix it. This is more of a customer problem rather that the manufacturers problem. Appliance manufacturers need to do a better job of training their technicians. I have seen simple problems take 2 and 3 techs replacing almost every part to fix a problem. Some simple trouble shooting skills and a multi meter can confirm if the part is bad before replacing it, yet some techs don't even use their multi meter. Why? They don't know how because they haven't been trained properly.

LOL! Now you couldn't miss that fridge! I agree that a kitchen is meant to be used. While I'd like to have a cleaner house...sometimes it just has to wait a few hours, when there's horses to feed, fences to walk, gardens to weed, etc. Always something happening on the farm, especially in the summer! I walked the fence again last night...I think I found my own version of extreme sports :) Actually, just having a place to store everything and a little more counterspace than I do now, would be wonderful! I'd like to start baking bread, but I just don't have the room. That's one reason I think the baking area will be such a benefit. I'm thinking wood on two sides, with maybe marble on the other. As for light, I have windows on each end, but I don't really have a way to open it up to the kitchen...but I could use a nine light (glass on top) door to the mudroom.

I agree that a garage door is not a facade. And I agree that in a Victorian nieghborhood--or any neighborhood, the new or infill houses should engage the street in the Same Manner as the other houses on the street. But I think there is a difference between engagement and hostility. The Glessner House hardly engages the street but the facade is certainly interesting enough to interest one as you walk by. The thing that I don't like about the house in the original post is the relative blankness of the left, the strange ajar door, and the appearance of mildew--that provides a feeling of neglect. But when I think of my new house for example, the only way that the street could be engaged at all would be to set the house on the rear lot line and obliterate any possibility of a backyard. The front would not be particularly comfortable to use, because it would still be on the sidewalk. But the inside of the house is quite a surprise. Two complete walls of glass, two outdoor spaces in a neighborhood where one's outdoor space may be wide enough for a trashcan, and where most windows must be covered for privacy. In contrast there is ONE window in my entire house that absolutely needs to be covered for privacy (or decency's sake) The other large expanses of glass could go completely uncovered due to their placement. "I would not want to feel as though I had been institutionalized or incarcerated living in one of those concrete fortresses." I can't say that I really understand this comment because most of the houses we are talking about are mostly glass, and engage the outdoors more than a typical house, just not at the front door.

You're making me dizzy.lol. Slow down and make a task list. Get your head focused on just one item at a time and go find it. I'd start with drapes for the dining room and living room and get them hung. From there I'd proceed to find the set for the dining room. That done, I'd take a break and enjoy the holidays and then start on the kitchen backsplash and continue on but taking it slow so as to not make mistakes which only complicate things. You're in over drive, we all do that kind of thinking at times. More importantly enjoy the process.