On Aug 13, 1:53*pm, "George" wrote:
"DGDevin" wrote in message

m...



"Nonnymus" wrote in message
m...

What amenities, features and the like do you find in your own area of the
country, such as the above?

What some people call "amenities" often look like "fads" to my wife and I.
We've looked at some new homes and remodeled homes where we both saw
features we predicted would look hopelessly dated in not too many years..
And frankly some currently popular features don't appeal to us even if
they're still fashionable, e.g. granite countertops. *To each his own of
course, but fashion is a fickle mistress.

Very true. *Today, appliances are SS, where 15 years ago, the best kitchens
had the built-in look, where refrigerators and dishwashers, for instance,
had a panel to match the kitchen cabinets. *The color of wood changes, also.
I saw one home that hit me as obviously '70-90's. *The flooring was natural
laid oak, as were the cabinets. *Even things like built-ins have decreased
in today's taste. *Our first home had a built-in set of doors and drawers
between two closets in the master bedroom and also for linen in the hallway.
You don't see that anymore.

You do see large walk-ins with all that stuff inside. The one thing
that our (2YO) house is missing that gripes my wife is no linen closet
on the first floor. There is one on the second, but it's mostly
useless since the master is down.

What I see in today's market are natural materials more than man-made. *One
person commented that Corian and Silestone were "cheap substitutes" for the
"better" Granite and marble on counter tops. *Likewise, Travertine is a very
popular flooring in upper end homes, with large tile being a close second..
It then spirals downward into the man-made things like laminates, vinyls and
even carpet is not as popular here as it once was.

Corian was "cheap"? I never liked the stuff but never considered it
in any way cheap, even compared to granite. Vinyl was an immediate
'X' when we were looking a couple of years back.

OTOH, things like skylights and sky tubes are increasingly popular, and
they're something that will probably remain in fashion for a long while.

I like the looks of them but get concerned about anything poking
through the roof. The idiot builders seem to have a hard enough time
with chimneys. Giving them more to screw up seems like a bad idea.