It does sound like you have had more than your share of problems with your house. It is not always first houses where this happens, either. We were not in our first house very long before exDH was transferred out of state, but our second house had a few problems. I was giving the dog a bath in the front bathroom when I heard water running under the house. Turns out the drain pipe from this tub emptied into the crawlspace through a big hole in the trap! We later learned that the huge floor furnaces were still hooked up to the gas lines - even though the floor furnaces were now under carpet and padding and we had central heat. My next house was a fixer-upper. I knew that going in. I was single by then. I had an inspection done on the house and some of the faults were pointed out to me - the rotten windowsills and bad gutters, the original gravity furnace with asbestos ducts. I had the furnace replaced before moving in. In cleaning the bathroom, I learned that the shower enclosure was not firmly attached to the walls, and behind it it was very moldy. I pulled it down myself and then had to hire someone to sister new boards into rotten wall framing, kill the mold, and put new walls in the tub surround. I used a cheap wall board as a finish product there because I could not afford ceramic tile at the time. This was all before I moved in. Some of the more obvious problems were noted in the city inspection done before the sale, and the sellers were required to have them fixed. The drip-edge molding where the sill met the foundation was gone, and the fascia boards at the foundation were rotten. They were replaced before the sale. My home inspector said the roof was new. He was right. The shingles were all new, but they were laid on top of the bare roof deck on the back side of the house and on top of two older layers of shingles on the front side of the house. The flashing in the back leaked. We did not find out about that for a few years. I knew the gutters were bad, but not until it rained did I learn that the holes in the gutter were mostly above the front porch. The original concrete porch had been removed at some point and a big wooden porch put on. I did not realize that the old concrete porch was not under the wooden one, or that the concrete porch had been the roof of the root cellar. So when it rained, the gutters leaked onto the porch, where the rain flowed down into the root cellar in the basement, across the basement floor, and into the basement drain! I think it was two years before we (I had remarried) had the money for a new porch. Next we got windows and doors, the year after the porch. The back door going from the garage to the back yard had a crack in it big enough to let the snow in. The window sills on one side of the home were rotted (which I knew going in), and when the new windows were installed, we were able to have the contractor fix the rotted wood in the outer walls there, too. I had some boric acid put into the wall before he closed it up, to kill the carpenter ants there. It helped, but we still saw occasional ants for years. Once the old dying apple tree out back was removed, the ants were gone on that side of the house. I had to replace some rotting wood on the garage before they left for good. I went into this house knowing about some of these problems. My home inspector was really pretty useless in finding these other problems. I have never had a home inspector be THAT helpful with a house. We took about five years to get the house structurally sound, watertight, and comfortable. Our house was 50 years old, though, and I know you did not expect your problems with your newer house. The thing I learned hanging out at the Building a Home and Buying and Selling forums is that the building industry hires people who do not know what they are doing. A ten year-old house should not have the problems yours did, but sometimes they do. If the guy who installed your door knew nothing about proper flashing, it would all rot out, just as you saw. Housekeeping is right in the reply above about not having to fix everything right away. I was up nights worried about the proper sequence for fixing things. It is no fun at all to have more projects to do on your house than you can do or can afford. Eventually, though, you get things done and you begin to like the house. Keep focused on what you liked about it in the first place. Even buyers of new houses have some of these problems. There is one poster on Building a Home who had to have her unfinished home demolished because it rotted to the point of being unfix-able before she even moved in. Just looking at things, no one would ever know to expect these problems. And the home inspectors really don't do enough to ferret them out. You CAN't see some of these problems without tearing off molding or getting into walls. Talk to a lawyer if you want to think about suing. Watch DYI network and subscribe to Handyman magazine. You will learn a lot, I did. We ended up loving our house. I hope you get that back with yours, too.

I sold a house about a week ago to a Mexican immigrant. This guy came here about 5yrs ago and works as a roofer. He has never owned a home in his life. When we showed him the house two times and he negotiated with us during the second showing. We came to an agreement which was $10k below our very competitive asking price of $369k with the caveat that he close in under 30days. We figured this would flush out his real intentions and would not hurt us much if he didn't close. We actually did not think he would close so it was a shock to us when our lawyer called and said the closing is tomorrow morning. In short, he bought the house for $359k with next to no money down and a first and second mortgage. Our buyer worked with a mortgage broker that specialized in dealing with immigrant first time buyers. The bottom line, don't count these immigrants out. How this guy is going to pay a $3700 a month, I have not got a clue. But it goes to show you how easy it is to get money.

For those of you who question why I would be so concerned about a lack of an island in a kitchen remodel, what else would YOU think is you read the following in a magazine..." islands are now almost universal in new construction and rennovations of kitchens." ? I agree with the statement, because there is no arguing that islands are the trend and are popular. But if you don't have the room in your space, you don't...And I stick to my opinion that overcrowding the kitchen with an island that doesn't fit and ruins the work flow will work against you rather than for you in resale. I understand your concern, but also, why worry about not having something you can't fit? Make the best of what you have and do what you can. There are enough headaches in selling a house than to worry about things you can't reasonably change. I feel for you, because I hate having a house to sell, but give yourself a break on this one. About some of the other statements...I would die using a table as work space. Too low for my back and I'm under 5'4, so not sure how that would work for everyone...and I don't want chairs in my way either.

That's not an attractive kitchen. I'm 100% certain you can do better with the same space. My thoughts: - I'm not a fan of mismatched islands/cabinets, but this one really, really doesn't work. Too many colors: Dark wood cabinets edged in white, grainy lighter wood island, two different countertops, gray backsplash that doesn't play nicely with the wood tone, black and white on the stove, three different wood tones ... too much is going on here. In such a small space, I'd vote for a simple, soothing color -- I'm thinking medium blue because you need some color here, perhaps paired with a black countertop -- and make ALL the cabinets the same. - In this small space, especially because you want to avoid over-improving, I'd go with plain, simple cabinets: No glass fronts to break up the small space. - I totally agree with the above poster who says, Take the cabinets to the ceiling. In this small space, you need every bit of storage. - As much as I like a pantry, this pantry cabinet is oversized for the space. It dwarfs the rest of the room -- the room is off-balance because the pantry cabinet is dark /larger than the refrigerator on the opposite side. . - I also like the suggestion to go with a U-shaped cabinet design. Yes, most people want islands, but you shouldn't FORCE an island into a space where it doesn't work ... and a good U beats a ho-hum island any day of the week. - If the laundry door can be moved to the other side of the room, great. The kitchen is more important than the laundry. If that can't happen, how about a barn door? It'll allow you to avoid the door swing hitting the island. - The two ceiling lights bring nothing to the party. Definitely need some pendants over the island. - With no window over the sink, you need some sort of a focal point. This can be done nicely with tile, or it can even be done cheaply with a framed picture (but nothing nice because it'll become grease-splattered soon enough). - Finally, don't forget some simple-but-showy cabinet hardware. These dark cabinets should have some bright silver handles! They look "unfinished" without them.