Choosing cabinets was, I think, the most difficult single decision on the entire house. It was grueling. Not just for me, but probably for the cabinet makers as well. With budget overruns in engineering, footings, lumber, electrical, and plumbing (oh, yes, you’ll hear about all that later), cabinets (unfortunately!) was one of the few places [...]
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Originally designed for those with dexterity problems— such as people suffering from arthritis — the amazing OXO Good Grips (pronounced “ox-oh,” for those of you wondering) brand soon caught on with the young and hip as well. These sturdy kitchen utensils, with their trademark easy-grip black handles, add style to function. Sam bought me my [...]
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Decorating an entire home from the ground up is quite a challenge. There are thousands of parts and pieces that make up a custom home. It can be overwhelming. In the last house, my breaking point was the day the builder asked what kind of thresholds we wanted. This came just two days after choosing [...]
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Nice surprise today! Consumer Reports rated the 1 horse power Waste King Legend 8000 as the best garbage disposer on the market. With excellent ratings in speed, fineness of grind, and handling of vegetable scraps — and a good rating on noise — it outranked the other units tested. And it has a lifetime warranty, [...]
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In our last home all our sinks (with the exception of the laundry room) were either integrated or undermount. In the new house, there won’t be any exceptions. Undermount sinks don’t have nasty lips that trap gunk and debris. When you have food and liquid on the counter, wiping them directly into the sink is [...]
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Note: The cabinet drawings have been updated. The kitchen has been modified and the master bath vanity drawing is now complete. 5/5/10 Just a quick heads up to all you carpenters and cabinet makers! We are going to be getting bids on all the cabinets and built-ins in our new home. We are looking for [...]
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For Christmas this year I got the best basic cookbook on the market along with a wonderful holiday cookbook from my husband. Our kids also got a great Christmas surprise this year with Betty Crocker Cooking Basics: Recipes and Tips to Cook with Confidence. This hardcover, spiral-bound book is packed with useful information for the [...]
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One of the most-used gifts from our wedding in 1985 (read that: big hair and enormous sleeves) was our 1982 edition of the Betty Crocker Cookbook. The fact that neither of us is much good in the kitchen notwithstanding, this excellent collection of recipes and cooking tips has served us well over the past quarter [...]
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If you’re looking for great advice from a home construction expert, look no further than Todd Fratzel of the Home Construction & Improvement blog. Todd is the principal engineer for a large design-build firm and his expertise is oozing from his posts. He writes voraciously — at least compared to most bloggers who have non-blogger [...]
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After writing about some really cool features for your custom home a few weeks ago, I was reminded that knowing what to avoid is a big part of getting the home you really want. And the truth is, sometimes home designers/builders don’t seem to actually live in homes. Too often they create features that aren’t [...]
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While reconfiguring the house plans, Sam asked for a complete list of appliances. For some people this is easy, but for me it’s been a chore. I’ve purchased so many rotten appliances in my life — dishwashers that can only clean pre-washed dishes for example — that I’m ultra-wary of every advertising claim. And there [...]
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After choosing the perfect kitchen faucet, we were on the lookout for a faucet model that would work in other rooms. We will have a second kitchen in the entertaining area and a third kitchenette in the office. There will also be a utility sink in the laundry room. Our goal was to find a [...]
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Appliances are not only a major expense in a home, but also a long-term investment. If you choose well, your appliances should give you years of service. In our last home we installed a Wolf 48″ professional rangetop, model SRT484DG, with four gas burners and a dual griddle. Coming from a ceramic top stove, this [...]
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Cooking is not my hobby, it’s a necessary evil for survival. I don’t want a bunch of gee-whiz gizmos in my kitchen. I want a few, high-quality, multi-purpose tools that are easy to use. When it comes to kitchen blenders that means something crafted for years of hard labor actually blending big chunks of food—because [...]
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 Custom kitchen and bathroom cabinets are gorgeous, but are going to take a chunk out of your homebuilding budget. And you’re going to live with them for years. Make the most of it with these eight essential features. Designed with You in Mind Don’t rush in and let the cabinet-maker throw together a plan [...]
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Plumbing excites me. (Wait until I tell you about my toilets!) It ranks right up there with cabinets, counters, and flooring. It’s a long-term, hard feature of your home. To me that means getting it perfect. When choosing kitchen and bathroom fixtures there are all sorts of things to consider. In my world, function cannot [...]
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Looking for someone to remove the 20ish foot tree on our lot, stump and all. We also have a bit of old barbed wire fence and a sewer pipe that we need hauled away. Made some inquiries. Not much pressure to get it done yet, but at least it’s something I can actually do. While [...]
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