I moved here from Chicago (and have also lived in LA) and you really, really should rent first. Housing prices are not going to zoom up anytime soon. The banks have a large shadow inventory and CA is one of the three worst states for foreclosures. It is very time-consuming to buy a foreclosure. Figure it will take 4x longer than to buy normally. Homes in foreclosure are often in bad shape; quality of construction in CA is often very low. Labor costs are high and skillful workers harder to find than they should be. Do not assume you can remodel a not-so-perfect house into what you want. The NIMBY-ism here is hideous and in all the major cities it is extraordinarily difficult and expensive to enlarge a home's footprint. You are legally constrained from covering more than 40% of your lot anyway, I believe, and with our small lots that's not a big footprint. Permits are expensive to obtain and if you make structural changes, it will be required that you bring everything up to current building code. Since every year brings in stricter earthquake building codes, this can add so much to the cost that remodeling projects become impossible. For example, our neighbor wanted to turn their downstairs into a legal in-law: adding a second bathroom, building a single-story, one-room addition. They had $75K in cash as their budget (we live in the Oakland foothills, nice older area, starter homes). It took them over $12K and almost two years to go through the permit process. Eventually they were told they had to apply for a waiver because they were taking 2' from the single-car garage which was already minimum size allowed, so they had to have the architect re-draw the plans and resubmit them. Permit cost, BTW, is 10% of the cost estimate in our city. The City of Oakland does the engineering study for all projects. As we live on a hill (great east-facing hillside views), they were told to stabilize their lot, it would be necessary to sink 40 piers, each 37' deep to bedrock, filled with steel rebar and concrete. 25 of the piers would be for the single-room addition (which was only going to be about 17x25') and the remaining 15 would be placed all along the north side of the existing house. The cost for the pier work alone? $65,000. Needless to say, they did something else with their remaining $63K. You might be surprised what you pay for utilities here. PG&E is one of the most expensive utilities in the country, and most older homes aren't insulated well. Our home is insulated with double-pane windows, we live in a warmer microclimate than Berkeley, I keep my home fairly cool, yet we pay on average $170/mo for gas (furnace/dryer/stove) and electricity. No one can place any dependency on PG&E absorbing all the costs for their unmapped leaking gas mains (a neighborhood in San Bruno saw its gas main blow up and 8 people died); we ratepayers will almost certainly see our rates rise yet again. Water isn't that expensive, but earthquake-proofing our EBMUD water reservoirs is. Our bi-monthly water bill for a large garden (1/6 acre) and 3 people runs $45 for water and $100 for earthquake work. We do have earthquake insurance. There is a fault that runs right through Alameda County and it's overdue for another major quake. Homeowners insurance is fairly low - less than $1K, and umbrella liability is around $200/yr. Earthquake insurance with a $100K deductible costs us almost $4000/yr. However, we have no mortgage so we are carrying all the risk on our home. It made sense for us to purchase risk mitigation. To be afraid of all of Oakland is ridiculous. There are some very good neighborhoods here, just as there are some bad neighborhoods in Berkeley. If I were buying for the first time, I'd look in El Cerrito on the east side of San Pablo Ave. Good, stable neighborhoods, nice weather, easier city traffic, great services/shops. I like Alameda, but access is limited to the bridges, and traffic is easily snarled at commute times. Traffic is the huge issue in the Bay Area. If you are still working, you need to really see how the traffic patterns work, not just when things go right but when things go wrong. Public transit is pathetic compared to Chicago, NY and Boston. Cars are a necessity in the East Bay; you can get around without one but it will take forever and making transfers between systems is a pain. Don't ignore the sales tax. The first time you pay sales tax on a new car, you will definitely feel the pain! Food is a conundrum: you can spend less and get higher quality, but on average Bay Area residents eat out more often than anyone else except New Yorkers, over 4x/week. I don't mean to sound discouraging. We love living here but there is no denying CA is an extremely expensive state. State income taxes are high and services are dwindling. You will find politics very different here than back East.

Im wondering if I will go blind before I finish this kitchen plan! Here's my list of 30 inch apron front end drain sinks. I am only looking for fireclay so I didn't include any stainless sites. They're out there, I just didn't save them. Always check eBay if you are shopping on line. I found the same sink cheaper from Home & Stone at eBay. http://www.vandykes.com/product/702944/fireclay-sink-white-30- http://www.homeclick.com/web/catalog/product_detail.aspx?pid=195503 http://cgi.ebay.com/Farmhouse-APRON-KITCHEN-SINK-30-WHITE-FIRECLAY-SINGLE_W0QQitemZ120367075258QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1c066fcfba&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262&_trkparms=%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A30 ebay. might not be there by the time you read this. On this page, Scroll down for this sink entry. Â Offset drain opening CHECK ON THIS http://cgi.ebay.com/ROHL-RC3018WH-SHAW'S-FIRECLAY-KITCHEN-SINK_W0QQitemZ280344422967QQcmdZViewItem http://www.sinksfaucetsandmore.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=3214 http://www.youremodel.net/kitchen-sink-farm30w.html If price is no object go here http://www.faucetdirect.com/index.cfm?page=search:browse&term=fireclay+30%2522+apron+front&x=28&y=14 http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?keyword=apron%2Bfront%2Bsink&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

Cakequeen, I've been exactly where you are, and I TOTALLY sympathize. My budget was very tight, and I was determined to be disciplined about it and not stray from it (I'd seen a couple of my friends go 40-50% over their budgets!). I think I mentioned in my other thread that I decided to forego the expensive Subzero and bought a Kitchenaid fridge instead, which difference more than paid for the extra cost of my custom sink (about $1100 then, but likely more now due to the increased price of metals) as well as a couple of other things. Other ways to cut corners on what I think are not-as-necessary-items are cabinet extras like glazing, or special drawer dividers or other cabinet trim. To me, a sink is something I use every day several times a day, and it was well worth the extra cost to get one custom made. You could also post a different thread here or the Appliances Forum if there are some items in your kitchen re-do you're not sure about and get feedback on whether there are cheaper alternatives. And I'm sure you're aware that once you get started with your contractor, as sure as the sun rises in the east there will be some cost overruns, and better to be prepared for that ahead of time. What about one of the suggested sinks on that other thread you posted earlier? It was a Blanco #513685. It's 23" x 20" x 10". Here is a link that might be useful: Blanco Precision SS Sink #513-685

Even if you don't install grab bars now, if you want to later, you want to plan the major plumbing so that you can. Swapping the toilet and sink will give you the wall space to be able to install grab bars. I usually am not interested in 2 doors to a single bath, but in your case, I'd prefer to have easy access to the powder from the main family entrance. But, it is good to know what you want/don't want. I can see not wanting the only entrance to be through the mudroom. (But, one possibility I would consider is swapping location of the closets in that block with the powder room, and then making the only access to the powder through that "mudroom". When you do that, you get closet nearer the front entrance, as well as the ability to close off the mudroom and still have guest access to the powder. And, you hide the powder a bit more from your front entrance.) Just an option. I really like the elevation.