Natural gas gets plenty hot. Also its the premier way to cook in my opinion. A natural gas stove is always better then electric cooktop. Electric ovens are another story. People argue that electric ovens are the way to go. Anyway, get a 95% furnace that runs on natural gas. You should probably spend the extra money and get a two-stage natural gas furnace. The high stage of the natural gas furnace would only run when extremely cold (like 15 F or less). It sounds like your in an area that doesn't get super hot. Where are you at? I would recommend getting a heatpump to replace any old air-conditioner while your doing this work. Heatpumps don't cost a fortune (like geo-thermal) does. And they do a great job of heating down to cool temperatures. You'll be able to heat your house with your heatpump down to 30. If your house is loose, you won't be able to heat down to 30 maybe more like 35. If its tight you will be able to heat down to 20. A heat pump shouldn't cost much more than regular AC. Most brands today have good warranty's. I have an off brand made by one of the the majors. Each company has less expensive brands. Trane makes American std. York makes Luxaire. Rheem makes ruud and etc. Hope this helps. I have a 90% gas furnace with 15seer 9.0 hspf heatpump. I control it all with honeywell focus pro kit. This model has an outdoor thermostat so you can automatically switch between the gas and heatpump based on outdoor temp.

mtndredux- Thanks for urging me to go with what I love. Tonight I'll search for European villas for additional inspiration. The scale may be smaller, too. antiquesilver- Thanks for posting your kitchen photo. What a clever location! johnliu- You're right. You can't hang just any old pans up there. I've already starting looking for new pans! bmorepanic- We wonÂt store lots of pots/pans on the wall. ThereÂs just the two of us and we have about 5 "go to" pans that we use frequently (several times a week). We have 2-3 larger pans that we use for larger weekend meals, but they should fit on the wall rack. IÂll measure before deciding on the length of the rack. The larger pots (e.g., stock pots, roasters) are used when we have large parties and during the holidays. They will not be on display. WeÂll store those pots in the pantry we decided not to enclose. (The layout is little deceptive- the wall on the upper left on the side of the hallway is not solid. The door leads to a good sized walk-in pantry). We will also keep our small appliances in this pantry. So IÂm comfortable with the idea that this wonÂt be my only pot/pan storage solution but just for my usual ones. So IÂve taken the plunge and spent most of the morning revising the layout to see if this will work. If I center the range on the wall, there are 42" on either side of it. The question is does this leave enough room for a prep sink. DH loves the having a sink close to the range (I do, too), but based on lots of reading about space between the prep sink and the range, I donÂt know if we have the counter space anymore and maintain the symmetry on the bottom cabs. IÂd like a 15" prep sink. WeÂre going with custom cabinetry so I have flexibility about the size of the cabs but IÂm stuck at how to have a prep sink and keep the symmetry. Just a recap from the previous thread: This is a 105 year old Italianate that also has a butlerÂs pantry, mudroom and formal dining room. ThereÂs plenty of storage and the number one goal for this remodel is improving the kitchenÂs overall functionality. Any suggestions on the revised layout and the wall rack are appreciated.

Love it! From your drawings, I'd say the returns on that small amount of extra square footage placed just where it's needed are fantastic. What a wonderful illustration of the value of quality over quantity. Before, all the rooms were nicely sized for their functions (and there was good circulation among them)--except for the cramped actual kitchen work area. Making such a critically important and busy space in the middle of the house as spacious and functional as the rest would impact the feeling of all rooms. I suspect the whole house would feel serenely spacious as a result. And, of course, not least, the kitchen is now a great place for all the functions you imagine for it. Except for considering the sort of more wide-ranging changes touched on, I definitely think you're on the right track here, even if budget required sacrifice elsewhere. Have to say, though, I already really like your fireplace room as it is, with the change of mood it offers, and the dining room for the same reason. All of these spaces look like very nice places to be for different moods, functions, sunshine at various times of day, views, etc. So many tract homes only have bedrooms and the big open room with windows on one wall to allow A view out and sunshine in part of the day (when a porch or something doesn't preclude even that). BTW, I notice that, although your main floor isn't large, you have relatively spacious open areas to move through and toward, particularly the entry hall and space ahead between the kitchen and FRM areas. Since a few extra square feet invested in open areas pay off so well (more high-quality small-space investment), you might want to guard that idea and make sure the main views as you move from area to area aren't inadvertently cluttered or crammed up with something. An example you see a lot is table and chairs not only crammed into too little space for physical and emotional comfort but also placed in the middle of the house where you're frequently walking toward, and even through, it as you move around.

@palim. The Blue Star will be around $9500 with tax. That covers most of the shower rebuild. The doors would have been around $400 and $120 for the slides. I just have to sleep on it and redo tomorrow. @practigal. The wiring was expensive because they used copper wires. We had changes in the cost from one week to another according to copper futures. LOL. We also had to cut drywall and ceiling all the way from the front of the garage to the back of the house where the kitchen was at. We also had to replace all the lighting to LED per city's requirements. That was $150/recessed light. @Buehl. broom closet is probably a good idea. I expanded the broom closet on the short wall to a 12" mini pantry instead so I lost the broom closet.