thanks to all who have posted so far, especially Eric. We can probably save/budget down the road for a kitchen redo, or do part of it ourselves. Additions would be a little harder for us except finish work (floors, tile, etc. Can do drywall even but would need to find time to do it). What that kitchen has is a U shaped layout, not too bad except there are overhanging cabinets between a small dining/family space and the kitchen. It's a counter/pass through kind of setup where someone can sit at stools and talk with the person in the kitchen....except the cabinets hang down so the person in the kitchen has to look under them. We would likely tear those out and relocate the stovetop to the perimeter wall and make that pass through an island. Then that entire space could become kitchen/dining. It is possible we could still move out a wall on that (kitchen) side of the house down the road too, we are in Hawaii so all the construction costs are much, much higher than mainland. So jealous of all the posters here who can put on a large extension for less than 50K. Plan A or Plan B will cost us about the same. We don't plan to sell and move anytime soon, but should we need to we're leaning toward sq. footage instead of just extending current bath and upgrading the kitchen. Our neighborhood is about 20 years old so people are beginning to redo those rooms as the fixtures and appliances are ageing. We redid all the appliances about three years ago with stainless finishes, new faucet/sink, and redid the countertop Corian, so the kitchen is livable - just need to clear out some clutter and make smarter usage on available storage space. We could paint or restain the cabinet doors to freshen it up. A few neighbors are creating the "big bang" kitchen now but I'm not certain a 70K upgrade will improve the value that much as a new neighborhood is planned about 5 miles away within the next couple of years. Would we love to live in a "WOW" kitchen, of course. But as with most people we have to make a decision on where it is best to spend the money for now. We could feasibly also add on a 2nd story in future years, but we prefer the single story and if we age-in-place as planned, the new bath will include wide accesses and no-curb shower.

I Crema de marfil (sp) 12x12 tiles in my master bath. Love the looks of the floor when it was new and still do in some places. IMHO, with vanity chair, kids, dogs, cats, Make up, after shave, etc, it just did not hold up well at all in the heavy traffic areas. My daughter spilled nail polish remover and it ruined an area of the tile. The least expensive quote to repolish 80sf was $650. I'll retile with something more duable for that price than spend it on repolishing every so many years. It may work for some. It did not work for us. But it is pretty. Here are pics when it looked good

Thanks, brickeyee. There are other factors, which is why I'd like to know if there was a preference from a plumbing perspective. The ceiling is popcorn in an open floor plan, not conducive to spot repair. It might be better to cover the whole ceiling with 1/4" to get rid of the popcorn, rather than just a repair. Then I could put in can lights at the same time ... another plus, but also another expense. I've done drywall ceilings myself before, but that was 15 years ago. Hiring someone would be necessary this time cause I'm so old. The ceiling isn't damaged right now, just stained a little, so priming and painting would probably fix it. It's about 700 sq. ft. I have no idea what it would cost to have it covered with 1/4" and mudded, but that would probably be the way to go. The bathroom floor is original sheet vinyl, in need of replacement. Plus, the geniuses who put it in used nails rather than screws to attach the plywood subfloor. The nail heads have poked through in a couple of places. If I pulled up the floor, I could replace the nails with screws, and put down new vinyl or tile. I did my kitchen with TrafficMaster Allure a few years ago and love it. No problems, and it still looks like new several years later. It's about 100 sq. ft. I could fix the floor of the bath myself. That makes three checks in the floor column. It's a tossup as to which would be the better upgrade. Both are on the "eventually" list.

Thank you Ron. The bid I received from my contractor to do this seems outlandish and I was trying to see if there were other options. I thought it might be more cost efficient to not have to open up the walls on two floors etc. I agree it looks better than having the conduit running horizontally up the house. But right now the bid is too prohibitive for the extra subpanel/circuit. The radiant floor itself is a minimal addition.