I feel your pain. I posted about this on another board and will include a link to the answers. The short version is lots of people are raising young kids in old houses without bad things happening. I have a 4 1/2 year old boy and twin 4 1/2 month old girls. We are closing on a ~70 year old house tomorrow. (I think it may actually be older, we'll see) I bounce between thinking "It's going to be OK" and "Oh my god what the heck is wrong with me, putting my own selfish desires to live in an old house above my children's health?" But we're closing TOMORROW and my husband would seriously kick my butt if I said I wanted to walk out now. (OK not seriously but there would be strong words...) My biggest worry is actually asbestos and come hell or high water - that's getting treated. I have gotten a lot of different opinions on it but I want it out. It's a small amount so hopefully having it done by the experts won't be too much. (It's one or two pipes, 2 feet long or so... mostly in good repair but one of the metal clamps has come off and there's fuzzy stuff under it). As for the lead - like lindac said, any house older than 30 years probably has lead paint. If the paint is in good repair you're in pretty good shape. I can't say much about the outside stuff... luckily our house is brick with a bitty bit of alluminum siding up high so that's not a huge issue for us - but nevertheless I intend to have the soil tested. We want to have a garden and I want to make sure I'm not giving my babies lead in their veggies. (You remember a couple years ago there was the spinach/e coli thing? Some 2 year old died because his mom fed him spinach smoothies. I want to make sure my kids aren't better off eating no veggies than veggies we grow!) So that's one thing I intend to do. Then we will act accordingly. As worried as I am over lead paint - the last place we were living was built in the 50s so probably had some lead paint. We never did any major major renovations but I did have to do a bit of dry wall or plaster repair from my son ramming his trucks into this one corner near the kitchen or the one time he flung a doorknob through our bedroom wall. Probably kicked up a little dust but no one was any worse for the wear (and our landlord never knew about the damage so go me!) My husband and I also took it upon ourselves to replace a window when our neighbor's kid threw a golf ball through it. Old, old single pane aluminum frame windows. Halfway through chipping out all that old putty, I said, "Hmmm, I wonder if there's lead in here?" and DH took over the job as we were trying to get pregnant at the time (I pointed out to him that him having lead poisoning wouldn't help, either, but oh well) Was there lead? Maybe, maybe not... but it was messy as anything, I did not know about proper lead clean up precautions afterwards, and again no one is any worse for the wear. I did get pregnant soon after that and as far as we can tell the babies are fine. My son has never been tested but he shows no signs that he should be. So... I'm hoping it will all be OK. I am going to ask our pediatrician if she'd be OK with periodic lead testing, especially if/when we plan to do any major work. (supposedly it's just a finger stick now) The biggest thing we have in mind is removing a chimney so I plan to keep the kids out of the house while that is done. Also hope to keep the mess as contained as possible and clean up well before we all move back in. I'm hoping it will be OK. I'm a little scared but then I think live in Pittsburgh which is a great place to live if you like old old houses - and so many of my friends growing up lived in really old houses - and I never personally knew anyone who had problems with lead. So while it's scary... I think you also have to take the fear with a grain of salt. It will *probably* be just fine. There are all kinds or precautions you can take from handwashing after you play in the dirt to using the right stripping techniques if you do work on painted areas - these things should help a lot. That's what I am hoping anyway!

"Most" of the ones I deal with as remodels are done within the expected time frame.(minimum 3 weeks which is tight but for a simpler job doable, 4-5 is better, 6-7 for more involved jobs, bigger complicated ones can get up there) To do get done on time you need: Everything, absolutely everything, decided ahead of time. (more than half my clients manage to do it) The contractor must be giving an honest assessment and working on the project consistently. (That requires a complete set of quality drawings and a clear scope of work) IF a total redo-flooring, electric, some wall work, cabinet, counter, tile it helps if it is a crew and not a single installer with maybe a helper. NO CHANGES during the job. Appliances, hardware, sinks faucets etc-all on site. Have the counter template AND install scheduled ahead of time with a reliable counter outfit. Edited to add that the counter slabs need to be at the fabricator when job starts. Above all a good contractor/gc makes all the difference- combined with an KD that follows the job and not just the desk... Biggest reasons for delays- decisions being made during the process-(hands down number one) single installer gets spread too thin client watches the sausage being made-check but don't hover. wayward sub contractor -countertop outfit not on time, prima donna electrician wood flooring not up to snuff or poor weather conditions for finishing it. Only occasionally does something unknown pop up in construction (termites, ants, mold...) Ordering mistakes happen but should be truly rare and don't usually cause a significant delay (but they can) Replacement doors or drawer fronts should not hold anything up. New construction is another story and often goes past time. One big reason is so much is not decided ahead of time. While I've run into new homes going as much as a year plus past due, I've also seen fine homes, well detailed come in on time. Contractors (at least the good ones) prefer to finish on time. Jakuvall

Do you use your Instant Pot every day? Weekly? Other? Do you have to have all the pantry cabinets? Have you considered, instead, making that whole row base + uppers (no uppers in front of the window, of course)? If you did, you could make a Snack/Appliance Center where you put your Instant Pot, toaster oven, coffeemaker, and what ever other small appliances you want to use without moving them. They could be on the now much longer counter with several outlets to accommodate them all? (Personally, I wouldn't use the mixer there as it's usually part of a much larger baking effort and I prefer to have it where I work.) The uppers could be used for food storage as well as the base cabs. If you need more pantry storage, maybe reduce the seating at the island and, instead, have a row of shallow base cabinets that would provide more storage. You show what appear to be at least 4 stools; I cannot tell, but be sure you don't have two stools sharing the same corner since two people's legs cannot share the same space. (I see that mistake a lot here, so I thought I'd mention it. I assume you also have the minimum recommended 15" of clear leg/knee overhang space as well & are not skimping on the overhang, especially on an aisle with a lot of traffic.)

The backlog of consumer goods was the subject of the lead article in today's Wall Street Journal. Also contributing to the mess (besides enormous demand, Covid shutdowns all along the pipeline, and distribution bottlenecks): last month's deep freeze in the Oil Belt has made petrochemical products scarce: plastics, paints, fabrics are in short supply now. And this was new to me: low interest rates have turned everybody into a house flipper or wanting a house to buy for rental purposes. That means sprucing up the place to make it attractive to buyers/renters, and that means...more demand on appliances & home improvement products. Prices are going up: chips, copper, plastic, fabric, & of course lumber, shingles, siding. I'm in the process of buying an oven. I need to get on my salesperson to lock in my price now, even if I don't get the oven until autumn. That will eat into the one year warranty, but I was planning to purchase an extended warranty from the manufacturer anyway.