Natal, I think the previous owners got bamboozled by some decorator who must have had stock in the spotlight lighting industry. There seems to be a gazillion of those spots in the house. I haven't even begun to figure out all the switches. In my ideal world, I'd just take them all out in the LR/DR can't picture ever wanting 2" halogen spots turned on. The cabinets need painting - there's some water damage on the front of the sink base and some dings here and there. So I think a nice cream will really brighten the area up. Allison, yes, you noticed another bizarre decorating statement that "decorator" did for the owners. One the end of the peninsula cabinet run is a big piece of black granite. Also can be found on the end of the cabinet run by the kitchen sink. Really not going to happen in my house!! But, now I need to have a panel made to cover that area! On the other side of the peninsula facing into the DR are cabinets/drawers. So, it's just the end that needs a new face!

Thanks everyone for your kind word and encouragement! I really owe thanks to alot of people on this site, and I hope that I can lend some useful advise to someone who needs it as bad as I did. I've been out of town on business this week but my wife has been trying to arrange a time for us to go see some of Baron's pools so we can pick out the finish/color. I hope we can get this done in the next couple of days so that we can schedule our plaster. My goal is to get things wrapped up in about two weeks. Once the pool has water in it, I think I'll take a weekend off to take the family out so we can enjoy a few days away from home. After I catch my breath, I will finish the sprinklers and landscape. I really want to have a big party on the fourth of July since we've been working on this project so long, and its my wife's birthday! It will be nice to finally enjoy our our back yard with family and friends. I'll keep you all posted on the progress. John

I went for the Calacatta caldia because I need for the counter to be very white with just subtle hints of green and gold (not gray) and very quiet with not a lot of movement. The walnut is busy and the kitchen is narrow. I originally thought about using a quartz counter but I prefer the depth of the marble. I even thought about quartzite but it was just too much going on with the walnut. I saw the calacatta caldia with walnut cabinets in my KD's showroom and fell in love. And I had been reading GW enough to know that when you fall in love, well you know. Unforunately for my checkbook, the hardware that was installed on those walnut cabinets at the KD was fabulous--the Forms and Surfaces Sweep pull. At $35 apiece, I was appalled and tried to find a substitute. But I was in love and although Hickory had something close, it was not close enough. So I found the F&S for $31 apiece after a lot of looking because they are hard to find (very small consolation) and am going to use them.

I agree that your realtor's and the market's opinions make the most sense and should drive your decision. However, you did ask for our personal opinions, so here goes. For example you consider to purchase my place and you like it. Say, you like it a lot. It has many redeeming qualities. And then you see the kitchen needs some love. You can tell exactly it's 25 years old kitchen. Functional, comfortable, but outdated, and visibly worn out in some spots. As a buyer-how much would you expect me to go down in listing price? In numbers. As a buyer, I'd expect the cost of your home to be the cost of a similar, yet fully-updated home, less the cost of remodeling, and then maybe also less another $20,000-$30,000 or so to make it worth my while to undertake the bother of remodeling. For our one-bedroom condo, we paid $350,000 for a complete fixer upper. Hadn't been touched or changed since 1974 when it was built to the height of 1974 fashion. Comparable condos that had similar specs/locations and were already updated were selling in the realm of $450,000 at that time. Our remodel cost us about $70,000 with the various fun surprises we had during the remodel. Or would you think-"I have to redo it anyway, it doesn't matter"? To me, your kitchen would be a gut job. It's rare to replace worn cabinets without replacing everything else (and the brown phase of the '90s is my least favorite trend of the last 50 years). Therefore, your efforts to pretty it up slightly would be totally wasted on me and I would definitely think, as you say, "I have to redo it anyway, so it doesn't matter." I'm not going to pay more for cabinets I'm ripping out just because they have paint added to them before I rip them out. What would make a difference to me (short of complete remodel) is the difference between an unusable gut job and a gut job that is still functional. The latter means I can live in and use the house immediately and update over time. The former means remodeling before the house is at all useful or functional to me. Therefore, if you were trying to appeal to me, you have already said it's functional, but I'd polish it up as much as possible in that respect. Fix anything that's cumbersome or not working. Make sure the doors/drawers move smoothly and close properly. Tighten up hardware. Replace any appliances that aren't working or are a total pain to use with something newer and functional from craigslist. Take down things that are blocking natural light if it's free/easy to do so. If the faucet and/or sink are annoying to use and cheaply (sub-$300) replaced, then replace those. Basically anything that fights you or makes you want to rip your hair out and the house apart on a daily basis. Try to reduce all problems to things that are solely aesthetic or things you definitely cannot change with an expensive remodel. If you have a good layout, that'd also appeal to me, so be sure to point that out in your listing. Remodeling without needing to move anything is WAY cheaper than rejigging the whole kitchen/whole house. It does seem as if your target buyer is someone who is planning a remodel, so I'd advertise it in a way that caters to the remodelers and never mind what people looking for turn-key beauty would find slightly more appealing.