Well, I am in Michigan, and the Michigan Plant Invasiveness Assessment System (June 2008) lists it as not problematic here, but does acknowledge the problems it has caused elsewhere: There are no reports of it being identified in the wild (this does not include cultivated gardens) in my county, either -- http://michiganflora.net/species.aspx?id=808 I have a small amount of it in two flower beds, with no trees for it to climb (though it is growing up into a purple-leaved barberry in the bed... that'll be fun and painful to sort out). It seems pretty content clinging to the house in this spot, and I like it there. Shouldn't be difficult to keep it trimmed and contained where it is. This is nothing compared to the invasiveness of the japanese knotweed in the back corner of the lot.

at 2 of the granite shops near me there were bunches of remnants that the shop would fabricate and install for $50 per sq ft. full price slabs were going for anywhere from $79-109 depending on style. some people also have good luck with craigslist, habitat restore or goodwill. i have not personally but i think it depends on the area you live in.

The 2 darker ones, yes, for sure some kind of sedum. The yellowey one looks a lot like my elephant bush, but smaller and without the dark stems.

I'd explore getting the washer and dryer and water heater out of the kitchen. If you live in a mild climate, you might look into a tankless hot water heater installed outside. We did that and it's been awesome, both in terms of reclaimed space and never running out of hot water. It's not cheap, but I think it would make a big difference. There are some washer and dryer all in one machines. I don't know much about them, but I have the impression they aren't optimal. But with a smaller place, I'm guessing this isn't for a big family so maybe those trade offs would be worthwhile? We had a very small kitchen in our first house. We remodeled but kept and painted the cabinets. Everything else was new, including all new appliances (the old ones were not working well anymore and were brown, black and white). We installed glue less click cork flooring, granite tile counter tops, and new lighting. We also took down two useless upper cabinets and replaced them with open shelves and a pot rack. That was about 16 years ago. We spent somewhere around 5k and did all the work ourselves except we paid a plumber to install our dishwasher and new faucet. General space saving/storage maximizing ideas (some may be too expensive or not work in your space): pot racks, cabinets to the ceiling, as many drawers as possible for lower cabinets, smaller appliances (18 inch dishwashers and small refrigerators--LG makes a 24 X 24 model--in particular), toe kick drawers, storage space built in between studs. if you provide a drawing to scale on graph paper, the kind people here will give you all sorts of free suggestions I am constantly amazed at how generous posters here are with their time and ideas