To clarify some things about our ideas to buy on Isle of Palms - while we're going to hold off on buying, and may not ever buy on the island itself, the area around it seems to be exactly what we're looking for our retirement years. The island is less than 13 miles to downtown Charleston, and only 20 miles to the Charleston Int'l airport. Even closer than Charleston is Mount Pleasant, about 4 miles away (across the Inter-coastal waterway and a marsh), which has plenty of shopping, restaurants, medical care including a decent hospital. In addition to wanting to live close to the ocean, we want to live near good medical care (this is most important), shopping (I'm not going to stop doing DIY projects on any home I live in until my body gives out - it's my hobby), airports, etc. I love the beach - every vacation we can we go to a beach - we've visited many of the east coast beaches over the years - I never get tired of it. My husband loves salt water fishing. We have a boat that he takes onto the Chesapeake Bay all the time to fish, and we go tubing on the Potomac River with our grown kids and grand kids (who are still very little). We've planned on retiring to as close to the (right) beach as possible for at least 20 years and I think it's safe to say that we're not going to change our mind about that between now and when we actually retire. And I definitely don't want to ever live someplace rural again - did that as child and have family still there - definitely not for me. Even if we were young I don't want to live in a place where there aren't plenty of doctors, including all types of specialists, and I don't want to live someplace, where if one of us was in the hospital, the other would have to drive over an hour back and forth. I'm honestly surprised at how many people I know who retire who don't care about that aspect at all. So - given what we know we want/need, we've been considering all the areas close to the Atlantic between Wilmington NC and Jacksonville FL. A few years ago we visited every place that even seemed to come close to what we want. But when we were looking before our income and savings were a fair amount less than they are now, and housing costs and interest rates were higher, so it limited where we would be able to afford to buy, so we didn't consider some of the areas we could afford now. And this is a retirement place we're talking about - being able to vacation in it before retirement is a bonus. We could wait until we retire to buy, but as I said in the original post, I don't want to miss an opportunity to buy while the prices are low AND the interest rates are low. But I do think we need to slow down and take our time - visit and stay there during different seasons, including the heavy tourist season, and make sure that it's what we want. We may find that living on an island/beach itself is not that great and that we should go back to what we always considered to be our only option - living on the mainland, but close to the beach. People seem to think that prices will be low for a while - I don't want to buy and then see prices drop even lower - and that interest rates will be low for a while too. So I realize that there is no rush - but I still don't want to kick myself years from now for missing any "deals of the century". I know this was long - sorry about that - but I think my first post gave the impression that the whole idea of buying at/near a beach, and this one in particular, was hurried and not thought out. While rushing into it right now is undoubtedly a bad idea, I don't think the concept of buying a home sometime soon for retirement in a few years, if the prices and interest rates are really low now, is a bad idea.

For a vacuum cleaner, get one of the Sears Kenmore "Progressive" vacuums. The most bang for the buck in a vacuum cleaner. I'll link one below, but there are several "Progressive" models. Note that online it's about $300, but if you go into a Sears store, and talk to a salesperson, they are willing to discount from that price, especially if you tell them you are ready to buy that day (i.e. not just browsing). Sears Kenmore Progressive Vacuum (but there are several others in the Progressive line) I don't know why you need a steam cleaner if you are on a budget, in your first home, and having to buy everything from scratch. I would put that item off to another day after you have equipped your home with the essentials, and you have saved more money. For your pots and pans, I do not recommend a set. You may be tempted cause you'll feel that you can get everything in one purchase. But a cookware set is not a good use of your money. The problem with sets is that they often do not contain the sizes you need, but do contain pots and pans that aren't that useful, and typically are smaller than what most cooks like. I would go to Ikea as already suggested and to JC Penney's for their "JC Penney Cooks line". The Penney's Cooks cookware has some items with Tri-ply construction which is what the expensive All-Clad construction is, so look for JC Penney's "Cooks Tri-ply" for a lot of bang for the buck. So look at Ikea and Penneys for a 4-qt. sauce pan, 10" fry pan, 12" fry pan, 6-7 qt. stockpot, and what's called a "baking pan" or "roaster" which will do double-duty for lasagna and casseroles as well as roasting chicken and meats, plus whatever miscellaneous cookware you think you need. That's a nice starter set. JC Penney's Cooks Line For knives, I also would not buy a set. Colorfast gave good advice to buy just 3, though I would add a 4th, which is a good boning knife (has many uses). I advise you to look at the Victorinox Forschner knives. They consistently win equipments tests against the really expensive Henckels, Wusthoff, etc. You can find them online at Amazon and many other websites. You will be amazed at the quality. Victorinox Boning Knife - 5-star reviews and what a price!

Hi @ sshriva - As you can see, the middle has more or less dropped out in the appliance market. Many of us have faced this -- I did as I was forced to replace appliances over the last 14 years. I have a whole house water softener as my water is hard -- similar to AZ. I advise that to extend the life of plumbing fixtures. It takes care of the dishwasher issue. For that I would go with the Miele with the lighting and adjustable top rack. I don't have induction. I looked at Wolf. Miele and Gaggenau are also well rated. I briefly looked at the Thermador silver one as a replacement for my radiant but decided against (lots of complaints on that one when I looked it up). Had to replace a b-i fridge (Viking) 2 years ago. It was 36" bottom mount. Got it down to SZ and Miele. Went with Miele and thrilled. The lighting is fabulous -- best of any fridge -- don't hold the halogen against them. It's not as glary as LED. However, SZ makes a very good fridge/freezer -- pricier than Miele. Compare the lighting. I went with Miele in the end as it could withstand our frequent power outages. That was a tough decision. Expensive but you can't go wrong -- like your car, right? Also have a Miele wall oven that's been terrific. Wolf has long been a top choice but no one seems to know if the enamel chipping issue is resolved. One feature of my oven that I love is the rotisserie and it has combination heat settings that let me, fe.x. start the Thanksgiving turkey (and other foods) in a cold oven. Sad to say that Dacor, as a brand, is not as highly touted as a decade ago, at least not so much around here.

Friedajune, I still mixed. I have Gaggenau, Miele, Monogram, Wolf and Marvel. People only buy all of one if the designer chooses the appliances or if they're buying the name rather than function, even at that level. :) You can still get a discount if you're buying a bunch of different brands, especially from an independent appliance store, but possibly from the big chains as well. Most builders and designers are afforded a discount, but they'll also let you have the discount if you pay the store directly (the purpose is to cover their overhead, which is nothing really if they're just signing you on their number). Additionally, the store will usually bargain with you if they don't have other discounts. They could give you free delivery and installation, or a free dishwasher, for instance, even if they can't give discounts on the appliances themselves.