I disagree with Emily_mb. In my home growing up in the '60's, we had stainless wall ovens and cooktop. Stainless has been classic for the kitchen for decades, and isn't going anywhere. She didn't specify what "first signs" she is referring to, but you can open any Architectural Digest, which typically shows $100K kitchens, and find stainless appliances. You will also see panelled appliances there, but panelling appliances is more costly. You have not mentioned a budget, which it would be helpful to this thread if you did. Anyway, things that go "out" quickly, usually have also come "in" quickly, such as avocado green appliances, which burst on the scene in the '70's, and then were gone just as quickly. Having said that, I myself have white cabinets and a mix of stainless and white appliances in my kitchen. The combination is a little more "homey" than all stainless would be. I also have my dishwasher panelled, because that appliance is the most prone to water drips down the front.

Hello.. ok, I know I'm a long way away here, and expect others more local to you will be along shortly to advise, but just thought you might like to see a couple photos of my clematis... I have 'Etoile Violette' growing with 'Minuet'... I don't have Jackmanii... to be honest, I think the flowers on that one are too similar in colour to 'Etoile Violette' to grow next to each other... I prefer a contrast... ..also, over here, and I would expect this would be the same for you, my 'EV' has a spread of about 10-12 foot width, maybe more when established after a couple seasons and fully grown, as does 'Minuet'... I have my plants spaced 6 foot apart with other plants in between... I wouldn't want them any closer as they are trained along my fence and merge and mingle with each other that way... ...when newly planted in the fall, I didn't bother putting up wire support until the Spring of the following season because these Clematis are usually cut right down before winter... to regrow afresh next Spring... ..I have wires going along my fence for them to cling to... I hope this assists you in some way...

it won't be long before your child is out the door to college and beyond. Another way to look at that thought: You intend to stay in this house at least a while, and you'll have an adult child in the moderately near future. You should build him a bedroom that'll hold a queen or king-sized bed so that when he comes to visit with a wife in tow, you'll be able to house them comfortably. I understand where everyone is coming from on the take advantage of the views aspect, it seems whimsical and romantic to wake up to a gorgeous view everyday. But what is the reality? This makes sense. If you have an ocean-front or fantastic mountain view, I can imagine you'd pay more attention to it than you would a pretty woods view -- and that's what more of us have. I'd say what matters more -- for most of us -- is orienting the house properly towards the sun. Also, the reason for us moving to this location and building this house is so we can be closer to my parents and hopefully enable them to stay in their own home as long as possible. They will be less than a mile away. With them so close, your chances of needing to move them into your house is greatly reduced. You can get to their house quickly to help them with heavy cleaning or cooking. Soon your son will be able to drive -- well, he can ride a bike to their house now. This is all good. Having a spare bedroom for them will give you space to let them stay with you briefly -- say, during an illness -- without the need for a full-blown place for them to live. My son frequently comes in the house and immediately has to take his clothes off in the laundry room before he is allowed to take one more step into the house. Perhaps it'd be wise to group his bedroom, the back door entrance, and the laundry room close together. Sounds like it'd be convenient. It hadn't occured to me that the distance from the garage to the pantry would be an issue. Don't bank on what you're doing now. Think through how you'd do it in an ideal world. My answer: We're planning a large pantry just by the back door ... and it'll include a workspace (a place to set bread to rise or to let a crockpot run). We'll come in the back door, go into the pantry and both sort and put away in the pantry. It's not just distance. It's also walking through the kitchen. You want your food to be a straight-line process: Food comes in ... is stored near the entrance ... when it comes out to be cooked, the prep area is right there ... then it goes to the table ...you want to keep things moving in a straight line rather than "backtracking". I'm just trying to explain why we made the choices we did in hopes that it Sometimes explaining makes everyone say, "Oh, okay. That's not typical, but it makes sense." Other times it's simply justification of a bad idea. It's important to be honest with yourself about which one's which! Disclaimer: This comment is just a general thought; it's not related to any specific item being discussed here. The office is really just an area for us to store necessary household papers. An office can mean a whole lot of different things to people. For example, we're close to retirement and neither of us works from home (I'm a teacher, he works in a lab). We want something along the lines of a "pocket office", and our needs don't match yours at all: We need a place to store boxes of craft items, shelves upon which to leave laptops to charge, a mail-sorting spot, a printer ... and a small spot for my husband to sit and listen to music on the computer with a closed door -- and he prefers a small desk over an easy chair. If you really just need to store papers, I'd consider a couple large filing cabinets ... perhaps in the laundry room? A laundry room /office combination could work out nicely.

I don't think this registers with many of the regulars on this forum, who seem to believe that every online plan is evil and should be ripped to shreds, while any plan from a "person of design talent" borders on complete perfection. Neither is completely true. I've seen plans from architects that definitely are awful. There is a "top" architect in my neck of the woods who's name seems to be on at least 1/2 the new projects in town, yet I wouldn't give you two cents for any of his plans because they are more odes to his ego than they are collaborations between himself and his clients. However, I know the OP and Doug probably spent a lot of time hashing out what would work best for her and her family and that any compromises made, were discussed and decided on mutually. All houses have compromises. As for your comment about online plans, yes many are awful and too many use lipstick on a pig to try to get around the fact that they're just poor design. However take a look at some of the plans by The Bungalow Company or Allison Ramsey. The difference is the plans aren't bloated with excesses of gables or huge roofs. It just seems like such tradeoffs/compromises are only acceptable on this forum if made by an architect. Tradeoffs are fine if the person realizes they are tradeoffs and not just them trying to fit their lives to a house that won't work for them. The other problem is those who come to the forum with no design experience, but they learned how to use Sketchup or another CAD program and they think that automatically turns them into a design professional.