Thanks for asking! We had only 2 showings (4 calls; 2 of them said, "is the second bedroom the sunroom?"; answer is yes; they said, "i'll have to talk to my wife"). Both parties are veteran apartment hunters in our neighborhood, and both looked at our downstairs neighbor's apartment last month when it was available. I don't know if this is discouraging, or not. We're not on MLS, bcs we don't really want to pay a broker, and the NYTimes is really pretty much a bible. There were no other truly comparable apts, so it doesn't look like we have lots of competition--lots of 2BRs listed, at a lower price than ours, but no mention of their bathrooms, which leads me to think they have 1 (we have 2). But on the up side, both of these are serious buyers, not tire kickers. One set really, really wants to buy in to our development. They like the kitchen a lot, like our wood-veneer doors, etc. Both currently own an apt., which means they'd probably have enough equity to make the large downpayment required by our co-op. But they would also have to buy & sell on the same day, which means we'd have to float our sellers until then, at $750/month. (cannot do a bridge loan--way too expensive, and not possible w/ co-ops). Still cheaper than a broker's fee. I don't know if we'd have more lookers w/a broker, or not. The folks across the way sold in 3 days with one. The ad's running another week, so we'll see. ON topic, I am really enjoying all the space, all the decluttering. Picking up at the end of the day is SO fast. On the downside, you can now see all the dust under the edges of the piano, etc. There are lots of little cosmetic thing we need to keep up w/; I hope they didn't turn any of these people off, given that they've seen several apartments like ours. And I am encouraged, too, bcs I can see how lovely our apartment's "bones" are. Nice room sizes, good layout, etc. However, no bids, for all of their apparent seriousness about being in the market.

Hi carecooks---if you do the remodel with permits, you will probably need to change the lighting. (The rules are that once you start working on a space, you have to bring everything there up to code, which can be a little frustrating!) UC Davis has the best guide for Title 24, I think---linked below. It explains the law clearly and then describes different kitchen plans that will meet it. They should have an update soon for the new guidelines that kicked in last month, but they haven't changed dramatically for residential. Basically, you need to have half of your total watts coming from "high-efficacy" (dedicated CFL, fluorescent, or LED) lights. So if you have one 150W incandescent fixture, you need to have enough energy-efficient fixtures to add up to 150 (which might mean you need three pendants or four recessed cans, etc.). I think the easiest way to do it is to figure out what lighting if any that you need that isn't high-efficacy, and then work out a plan to put in the right amount of high-efficacy light to counter it. The major complaint the law gets is that a lot of people end up putting in lots of extra undercabinet lights, pendants, etc. just to get up to the right number of watts. There are some little rules---like if you use a dimmer on any incandescent fixtures, you get some free watts---and they only count lighting that's within your kitchen, so if your dining room is a separate space, it's not included. It may also depend on what lights you have now, too---for instance, our kitchen is likely T24 compliant as-is since the major light source is an overhead fluorescent fixture. So technically we could probably leave the lights alone for the inspection and just do them afterwards, but it seemed like too much hassle since we have to open the ceiling for other things. Hope that helps! Here is a link that might be useful: UC Davis Title 24 Guide

So, maybe this is a crazy idea and really, it's pretty crazy I'd even make a suggestion since I don't have any experience designing in small spaces, unlike palimpsest. But here goes anyway. What if you shifted the fridge and pantry around the corner so that they were facing the sink? You might need to split the pantry into two cabinets, flanking the fridge to make this work but this would put the fridge closer to the kitchen entrance - traffic to the fridge would be less likely to be in the thick of kitchen activity. You could also put cabinets down to the counter in the corner against the wall, avoiding a dark hole or put your microwave here (don't see this in your plan). You'll need to shorten the peninsula, of course but you gain more counter space on each side of your range. You might also want to consider shifting your sink to the corner with the DW about 12" away (so that you have leg room at the sink when the DW is open). Take this idea with a grain of salt since it's based on how much space I assume you have from the drawing. My idea may not work once the actual dimensions are plugged in. Anyway, what I think you'll want to watch is whether the range door and DW door will interfere with each other when open. btw, my idea also assumes that you can remove the "window" to the DR and open that wall up.

Buehl, thanks so much for the tip. I will email you to get the template. That is such a generous offer! Once I settle on the initial layout, I will post for critiques. Currently I am traveling and only have the iPad. Does anyone have opinions on losing the kitchen table? Would you lose a table (given the other eating areas in home) to gain more prep space and storage? Why do some people prefer the pennisula bars at the same height of counter? Oh.. And all this renovation is starting because we had a busted water line to refrigerator flood the entire kitchen. Talk about stressful!! The kitchen was always in our plan, just 12-18 months down the road. Does anyone know if the restoration/mold remediation company determines all lowers need to be removed, is it customary for the insurance company to pay for uppers too?