Your challenge is that all of these materials and installations are possible for a price. There's an old saying in construction, "it's all a matter of time and money". With a house under 2,000 SF I assume you have a limited budget. So in each of the cases where you raise a question, I would ask what is important here--budget, aesthetics or personal preferences? With respect to your questions about finishes, I would just suggest that you limit the number of exterior and interior finishes in order to have some unity and harmony (not to mention aesthetic compatibility) to your exterior and interiors. Four, five or more materials here and there, whether exterior or interior, will just create a patchwork-quilt effect. For exteriors, some people really like the relatively inexpensive vinyl siding (I don't). Hardee board and it's similar competitors have products that can be factory or site finished and look like wood products without the maintenance or deterioration of wood materials. Everything depends on: 1) your sense of aesthtics; 2) how long you plan to live in the house. For countertops, as a baker, two materials come to mind: sealed butcher block or Corian (or similar products from other manufacturers). Check locally because granite tops may be possible from local sources for the same budget. When it comes to sinks, you will pay an arm and a leg if you want the countertop material and the sink to be continuous and one integral unit. Depending on the length of the counter top, you may or may not even be able to get a supplier. On the other hand, there are undermount sinks of Corian and other similar materials that blend perfectly with granite and Corian (or similar) countertop materials, and don't have a drainage or staining problem on the top of the counter top. Good luck on your project.

As an update to my post from 2+ years ago (photo of Marine Blue board and batten above), the siding is unfortunately, even worse today with more locations warped. The siding was purchased from Wimsatt Building Materials located in Grand Rapids, MI and installed by a local contractor. Sadly, I was placed between a contractor and Royal Building Products who each pointed the finger at one another. I was even asked by Royal to remove siding from my house and postal mail to Canada a piece so they can review it! Sure, I'll grab my hammer and tear off a piece! Nope. This begs the question, bad product or faulty installation? According to the Royal Building Products website one of the benefits of this siding is "Won’t warp, buckle or sag." It even reads that to this day. I tend to disagree and have proof if anyone would like more photos. Now that I have ranted again, I will mention that I absolutely love the color of the Marine Blue and plan to hire another contractor this spring/summer to remove and install new siding. Unfortunately, this will be out of my pocket entirely. I want to choose Royal Building Products again, but need to have Royal Building Products provide me with an "approved contractor" contact information so that if (when?) the product fails, it is 100% on them. Maybe they would even consider offering a product discount or a trade-in value for my existing pieces? :D

Most windows are better than Andersen. They're overpriced garbage living off of their name. I've been installing Softlite windows for over 20 years. I have also installed Marvin, Simonton, Thermal (now out of business), Crestline, Alside and a few other of brand windows. I personally use Alside windows for my business but mainly subcontract for a company that uses Softlite. Softlite would be my second choice out of all of them. Marvin's are probably the best windows of the bunch but definitely not worth the extra cost. Especially if you plan to move in 15 years. New construction type windows are great but can cause a world id issues if not installed 100%correctly. It also adds a major headache and a lot of expense in the future for the new owners or you if you end up staying. If it were me, I would save some cash and have the builders build buck frames and use replacement type windows. Since you're starting with a clean slate you can usually get a better fit and better insulated opening doing it that way.

You can cover a lot with caulk and paint :) Thank you for saying it's pretty! We bought it as a foreclosure and it was a house the bank thought was worth investing some money in to get a bit more out of it. They painted both inside and out. We knew the outside needed work, but it wasn't until after we closed that a neighbor mentioned the siding was absolutely terrible. There were apparently huge holes....and they had to fill in around all the windows with caulk. Over the year we lived here before we resided the back, the paint started peeling badly. Paint just doesn't stick to rotten wood. If anyone is wondering -- you can cover up a rotten exterior for about a year :) The board and batten is the kind that is glorified cardboard and you could stick your fingers through parts of it. So, that's why we're replacing it! The front is not bad at all and the family member in the siding business who is replacing it says it has probably 10 yrs left. Since the color of the new siding is SO close, we are able to do it a side at a time. We looked into just replacing bad parts, but there was so much that was bad. We were told it would cost as much as getting new. The steel siding was only slightly more than hardie board and probably won't need to be repainted while we own it (which is both good and bad since you can't change the color, either). My husband was all for maintenance free.