"George" wrote in message
...

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.

Some built-ins make sense as anyone who ever lives there is going to need
certain forms of storage in certain areas. But I can see people wanting to
set up rooms as they please and thus not wanting a lot of built-ins, e.g.
built-in book cases push you towards using that room as a library or office
when maybe you'd rather it was a guest bedroom.

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.

When we remodel our kitchen (next on the list after a successful bedroom
renovation that is getting rave reviews from SWMBO) I'm pushing for recycled
ground glass in concrete or resin for the counters. It's as close to
bullet-proof as you can get, which granite or marble certainly are not.

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.

I can tolerate tile in the bathroom, but anywhere else I can't stand
it--cold, slippery, noisy. I like hardwood floors since they look good and
are easy to maintain. We have area rugs here and there, but wall-to-wall
carpeting (something I grew up with) is more trouble than it is worth to me
now--gimme that oak!

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

Yup, they make sense because it isn't like the cost of energy is going down
over the long term.