Traditionally, stone has been used to build the foundation of houses, because it's a substantial building material. Even though today most stone is just a thin veneer "glued" onto a substrate and house foundations made of reinforced concrete, it looks best when it's used in a manner reminiscent of its historic purpose. Often in a historic house, there would be a core of the home built from stone, and added onto more economically later with wood siding giving the classic version of siding variation. Today's custom homes typically start large and aren't added onto, but we try to add such interest by choosing a few exterior cladding materials to give that effect. There's been a trend over the past couple of decades in making a more complex building footprint with many bumpouts, so you can better achieve that historically accurate look by choosing some section of the house, perhaps the core, and taking the stone all the way up to some logical termination point. For some homes that could be all the way up to the roof, for some, the top of the first floor, and for others, below the first floor. The "water line" treatment looks wrong because I don't think there is a historical style that builds a foundation halfway up a single storey. But there are plenty of houses imagined by designers and builders that feature this detail. I recognize the house you posted a picture of, it looks like one built by infill spec house builder Kansky/Nash and marketed last year. IMO the waterline stone doesn't look good there either. Also I'm not sure it's real stone, could be a "cultured stone" product. Nothing wrong with that, just you might notice some repetition in the pattern eventually as they are man-made out of concrete. I think they are cheaper than natural stone, but if you're budget sensitive you could go for a more careful/limited application of the product and save even more money. Here's a snap of the front of our house with our stone treatment. We took it up as far as the top of the lower storey because it looked like a "ledge" that the upper floor was built on: Of course this is all subjective and I'm conveying my opinion, which is worth as much as anyone else's here who's not paying for your project. You could ask your architect though, and he/she should be able to describe the options.

I agree with Pam about the function things, but, at least where I live, having the kitchen fit the style of the house, aesthetically, will have the greatest visual appeal. Make the whole house cute! Use the original kitchen as a style cue. Sochi phrased the plea not to lose the MCM as personal--I'll extend it to the rentability. Renters want function function function since there's nothing they can do about anything. Having the whole house read as a single style makes it so much easier to furnish and live in, and makes the house make sense to the renters when they're walking through while it's empty. I've lived in a '30's beauty of a rental with an unadorned, clean '70's kitchen, which wasn't bad. It was all function, white slab cabinets, white tile, and newish appliances. The kitchen had no charm but had lots more function than the '30's kitchen would. Lots of cabinets. Separate cooktop and ovens. Garbage disposer and dishwasher. So that was fine, if unexciting. The rest of the place was really cute, and had the original hardwood floors and walk-in closets, plus original tile and huge tub in the bathroom. Then there was the early '60's place with the panelled wall in the living room, panelled den with built-ins, and pink kitchen. Original, very clean, appliances. It was cute! The whole house was cute. The original kitchen, with it's display cabinet peninsula was cute. The panelling was a bit of a gulp, but it was clean and unmarked, and went so well with the style of the house. My furniture looked just fine. And the kitchen was very functional, other than too wide an aisle. Lots of cabinets, and more in the laundry room. Okay, as a former renter? LOTS OF CABINETS!! That's the ticket to pleasing a renter. And cute. Renters want the place to look like something. Keep that MCM thing going. Anyway, slab cabinets are easier to clean between renters. :) I also have experience from the landlord perspective (including surveying the competition), which also says that closets and cabinets are worth extra $$$, but generally, you'll get your rent based on location, pleasantness of surroundings, space, upkeep and storage. Utterly bland will rent at full price. Too much character (e.g., mauve walls or anything "weird") won't rent well, but a little style with neutral colors goes a long way.

It's interesting to ponder that banks only consider the purchase price of the house, not what it would actually cost to live there after factoring in utilities and maintenance. - They often do. The backend debt to income on a new home is often 42% an old home is 34%. bry, your examples are all market specific. - But the constant "building costs more than buying" isn't, so let's agree that we shouldn't give that advice unless we have built in their market. The original "remodel vs. build" example doesn't work in an area where there is no available "land" and the real estate market is very supply constrained. - Yes, because most people who live in an area where they can't afford to buy land come to the gardenweb forums to get advice on building. Sorry about the snark - In all fairness, the supply constraint is only half the story. Demand matters and can actually have the opposite effect. In our area the supply is very blue collar, 1,200 - 1,900 square foot homes but over the past 20 years our area has had a massive white collar transition and the demand is for 3,500 to 4,000 square foot homes. Even though we are very land constrained the market for suitable executive homes is incredibly competitive thus driving up the price of existing well above the cost to build.

Dear Ahmee, If you can answer this simple question easily you’ll know which first floor plan will work best for you and your husband. How do you want and expect to live your life in your new home after your new kitchen project is done. What is your daily routine now? How can it change in 5, 10, 15 years? How long do you see yourselves still living here? You are never going to remodel this home again…ever. Your furniture is movable your kitchen cabinetry is fixed. If your kitchen falls out of fashion in 10 years are you going to remodel it, or live with a dated kitchen and make do? Obvious stuff but I don’t want to take anything for granted. Also drawing in furniture to scale will help you “feel” the space you have to work with, and give you an accurate sense of what will actually fit and function. Kitchen Critique I understand that these kitchen layouts are almost identical and do not necessarily represent the final layout that will work best for you and your space. Plan 1 Kitchen at the back of your home. Your work triangle is a little large. You’ll have to walk about 10’ to get from your ref/f to your sink. Your aisle ways between your perimeter cabinetry and your island should be 42” no more than 48” because of the space you have to work with. Your island does a good job of separating work space from gathering space. And when you entertain family and friends they can flow into the living room or dining room depending upon how you furnish your living room space. Your appliance requirements are met with the exception of your clean up area. You have over 30” of counter space to the left of your sink. But it looks like less than 24” to the right. And being up against a wall it will feel tighter. Wall cabinetry is not shown but I believe you will need it to store all of the kitchen items you’re bringing or have brought from your previous kitchen. You have a pantry with shelves 12” to 14” deep from floor to ceiling for additional storage. Your ref/f is close to your island, close to your living room. It is about 16’ from your deck if you BBQ, or entertain out there. If you could get a door to access the deck of the kitchen side, the ability of your kitchen to provide food and beverage service could be better. Before you get into designing your new kitchen, if you don’t have it already, you should select all of the appliances you would like to use so they can be included in the space planning phase of your new kitchen’s layout. And veriry they will fit before you get too much further in your kitchen's design. Plan 2 Kitchen at the core of your home. Same kitchen more or less but its location changes how it performs esthetically and functionally. When you enter your kitchen is front and center. In your previos layout it has to be discovered. Your work triangle is the same. You’ll have to walk about 10’ to get from your ref/f to your sink. Your aisle ways between your perimeter cabinetry and your island should be 42” and no more or your island will project further into the entryway. And there is much too much space between the ref/f and the island in this layout. Your island does a poor job of separating work space from gathering space. When family or guests sit at your island the space between those people seated, and the small portion of wall behind them gets tight. Creating a bottleneck -- people travel path of least resistance -- so with all of the space between the side of the island facing the ref, and the ref/f. Family and guests will flow right through your work space. However, once passed the island seating family and guests can flow into the living room or dining room. Your appliance requirements are met with the exception of your clean up area. You have over 30” of counter space to the left of your sink. But it looks like less than 24” to the right. You may be able to fix this by bleeding into the dining room area to get the staging area you need. Wall cabinetry is not shown but I believe you will need it to store all of the kitchen items you’re bringing or have brought from your previous kitchen. You have no pantry shown in this layout. Your ref/f is closer to your island, and appears to be about 5’ away. It’s far from your dining, living room and even further from your deck if you BBQ, or entertain out there. You could swap your ref/f and sink to move it closer to dining, living room and deck. To get better food and beverage service, since the ref is used so much. I haven’t commented on the esthetics of your new kitchen because it hasn’t been designed yet. Hope this has been helpful. Joe Brandao Kitchen Design Company