You should probably consult with a realtor about what's expected in that area. Most people will probably ooh and aah over new stainless appliances but the serious cooks will certainly be thrilled with a pro-style range. It's unclear whether you'll be able to recoup the additional cost but it might make the house a little more saleable.

I don't know if this will help you or not... We have a GC that we've used, and will definitely use again in our future. Price wise, I think he may be a bit on the high end (not ridiculously though), but he came HIGHLY recommended to us by our friend who is also a designer. He did our master bathroom for us. He will do our kitchen once we "recover" from the bathroom.... I think he is based out of Ellicot City. I have no idea if he is interested in finishing a job up or not, though. What do I like about him? - first off, he and hubbby got along well. they were both 2 strange peas in a pod. they have the same sense of humor. if my hubby isn't happy, well, no one is happy. - he was dependable. always answered my calls/emails promptly. He stuck to budget - if there were any overages, it was because of us changing our mind and knowingly choosing a more expensive option. - The subcontractors he used were well supervised - and people I felt comfortable being in my house. - The workmanship was superior. - even when the county inspection people came in, they made a point to tell me I was blessed with the contractor I had. Sometimes I want to try to "do things on the cheap" and save a buck or 2. Dh works very long hours and DIY just doesn't work for us for major things. The peace of mind we have using this GC, in hindsight, is worth the extra money to me. I don't know exactly how much more he might be - kinda new to the paying for work done on the house crowd. But in my family, getting an inexpensive contractor who may or may not do a good job is far too costly stress-wise. Am I allowed to put his name here? I don't know how this works.

I agree with Michigranrachel...when you have small children, you may want their bedrooms closer to you so you can get to them in the middle of the night if you need to. Also, when they get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom (and not old enough to do it completely on their own and still yell out for you in the middle of the night!!!!) you don't want to have to walk all around the house to get to them, or there maybe some accidents. I think the best situation would be to have the bedrooms closer to you, but maybe not right next to each other (when one gets up in the middle of the night and is yelling, it wouldn't automatically wake the other one up). Just some suggestions from someone who has two small children (4 and 6) who often wake up in the middle of the night, but that is a whole different category - can GW help me with that one LOL!!!!!

Whoo hoo. It's really starting to grow on me. At first glance the grout color threw me off a little bit. I'm not sure this shows up in the photos, but I feel like "mist" has a bit more of a brown or taupe hue to it than I perceived in the color sample. That's not bad, however. Its a little warmer than the cabinets are, but it hooks in well with the counter colors. Overall, I think we got what we wanted - tight lines, bright tile and a clear pattern that isn't too stark. I'm really starting to enjoy it. I still can't get over how much brighter the room is with six lights rather than one bulb, and tile on the wall. Since I see this room a lot in the early morning and again after dark, that is REALLY nice.