Thanks everyone for your recs - keep them coming! Doc - isn't it true that so many of central Ohioans who buy Amish cabinets have more money than sense. The in-laws live in Cincy. Perhaps we will stop by David Smith's show room on the way to check him out. I have a feeling he will be painfully expensive. We will see what the future budget is...oh how I hate the B word... Who did you use for your counters? Were you happy with the material and the installer? Self installing isn't a deal breaker, but it is something I'm confident we could do. We bough a fixer upper %30 below market value to make it our own. We are the GC, plumber, electrician, etc. andreak100 - I can understand not wanting to put the cabinet maker in an awkward situation. Could you email me the New Wilmington gentleman's information? Just click on my username. We have family in the Youngstown area so we could pop on over to PA to see some of his work and meet face to face. estercita - they are a bit far but so is dutchwood and upstate new york. I may give them a call and see if they allow pick up and self install as I'm sure they wouldn't treck to Ohio. Can you post pictures of your installed cabinets please? I bet you waiting for your cabinets is like a kid waiting for Christmas! aokat15 - wow talk about kitchen envy. I couldn't help but notice the Pro48 and Wolf range. I will admit those our WAY out of our reach and even if we could afford it, it would be overimproving for our $225k neighborhood. Our kitchen is currently an L shaped 6.5 foot x 10 foot. We will add a peninsula to make it a U so we won't need as many cabinets as you. A few questions - are your pendant lights Hudson Valley? If not, what are they? What stone yard/fabricator did you use for your counters? Were you please with your experience? I would like the super white, but sometimes it can be hard to find that "perfect slab" and am willing to go to Cincy for that if they can deliver up to Columbus. I notice you have a toe kick. Does Mark Miller offer a non toe kick option? I haven't decided either way, I was just wondering. Does he have a showroom? And lastly, price. If you are not comfortable emailing me the ball park of what your cabinets cost (and I totally understand) could you give me an idea on where Mark Miller came in relative to your other bids? Hopefully we can swing him if we like his work since our kitchen is TINY!

Architects are not structural engineers and cannot provide those services except when the scope is minor enough to be considered "incidental" to their architectural practice. You should think of their work as collaborative rather than redundant. Structural elements that comply with the provisions of a prescriptive building code can be designed by anyone. For a house, any structural element that is not prescribed in that building code usually must be designed by a structural engineer rather than an architect. In a few states anyone can design these elements if they provide the building official with sufficient evidence that the design conforms to "accepted engineering practice" or is equivalent to what is prescribed in the code (often provided by a manufacturer). This is rare because these states must allow the practice of engineering by unlicensed individuals for a single family house. Maine modified their professional practice laws to allow this to happen. How these fees are calculated has nothing to do with the services. As you said, you are in a high cost of living area. The engineer's fee and that of any other professional design consultant should be included in the architect's billing as a reimbursable cost with no mark-up.

This is all great advice, very helpful. Beckysharp, thanks for all the links and the detailed lists. This is extremely useful to me, I'm so grateful for all the info!! Kristen S, I'd absolutely love to chat with you. I don't know how to PM on this site but I'll see if I can figure it out and reach out to you!! I was definitely expecting this project to take years, which is why we bought a house to live in that's good enough to be stuck in for a while. We planned to spend the next year (or longer if needed) finding the land, which also involves a question of which city we'll ultimately wind up in. We figured it'd take a few years after that to build. I was guessing 5-6 years total, my husband was guessing 2-4 but he's an incurable optimist. I also figured that I should spend a lot of time and energy on planning, and I should research everything and teach myself as much as I can. I've spent the last six months reading up on different construction methods, materials, etc. I'm nowhere near an expert and still consider myself a noob but even that much education has been helpful so far! And of course, doing a remodel (which I'm currently in the middle of) has been a good education. It's forced me to learn abut all the different material choices, and I've already learned from a few mistakes. My biggest worry is still finding the right architect and builder, but this has helped me figure out how (an when) to start my search. My husband and I have been going to open houses nearly every weekend for a year to gather ideas. 99.9% of the houses on the market feel very similar when it comes right down to it. A couple have had one or two outstanding details we'd want to copy. I haven't yet come across any with more unusual finishes: polished concrete floors, countertops that are anything besides granite or quartz, steel construction with massive room span and walls entirely made of windows, smart houses -- haven't seen any in our search to date. These are things you see on pinterest or on TV, not at open houses! I think for that stuff, I probably will have to rely on chatting with people, especially online, to learn their experiences. Any and all advice is appreciated!

We live in northern Vermont so a bit more extreme on climate but not by much. Definitely go with radiant - I will never go back to any other type of heat. We supplement with a wood-burning stove when temps drop significantly. It's a great combination. We also have solar power, and we live in one of the cloudiest states in the country. We do quite well in the summer, and it mostly offsets what we use in the winter. We have a mini-split for AC, we use it about 2-3 weeks in the summer at most, but it makes a difference. I had a six-burner Wolf range when we lived in NYC that I loved. Moved here, and we had electric which was horrible. I now have induction and will never, ever go back to anything else. Consider a full house generator if you get big storms/etc. We have one, and it's another item I will never live without again. Best of luck, looks like a great location for your forever house!