Stuff I want in my new house....

[Bouncer]

Ahhh, that's nice to know. My wife and I will be building a home in the next two years and I don't have a clue about how it works. We are going to be spending $400k or more for our home, so, I need to start researching now before we get ripped off.

Know of any good books or some place I can read about how not to get screwed?

Well I dont know about books and all that but I do know you dont go out looking for a $400k house. lol. dont go up to a builder and say, i want to spend 400k. lol.

just go look at some houses bro. look in different areas and see what you like. you might get a cheaper house that is bigger then another area that might be more expensive for less house.

you cant really get ripped off. you will pay what the rate of your area is. what you can get ripped off on is upgrades. some things are worth having the builder do it and some things are better saved for you to do. such as ceiling fans, a builder will charge you an arm and a leg, you can just do those kind of things you can do yourself.

[Stonecold54]

And SC- if you are building your house and closing next week, are you telling me that the fridge and the stove DON'T come w/ the house?? Are you telling me that appliances are extras? And, furthermore, if you are closing next week, shouldn't those things already be there?

we orginally were building a house but backed out before any work was started...now we are buying a house....but replacing most of the appliances that came with the original house. but we aren't in a rush. we wanted to make sure the closing went through before any major purchases.

[Puddles]

Great thread!

First off, the older flat top ranges sucked, the newer ones rock. I grew up on gas and now love electric. They are simple to clean now, just a little of the special liquid polish stuff once every couple of months suffices unless you're a slob. I've boiled over the brown rice, etc, and ussually it just scrubs off with the rough side of the sponge. Get a flat top range that's speckled with black and grey and you're set. We got an upgrade of the standard GE appliances and it was fine. Ours is a few yrs. old but one of the burners has a dial that's half regular size and half larger size, it is fantastic for cooking 10 eggs at a time with the larger burner in a huge skillet.

I've been eyeing the stainless appliances but they're a small fortune. One oven has 3 oven compartments and 6 burners, the fridge is double doors with the freezer at the bottom, and the dishwasher has 2 seperate compartments and no need for pre-rinsing. I'd have to take out one of the kitchen cabinets for the larger stove. but I see that happening eventually since we entertain so much and that cabinet was used when my daughter was younger and it stored her stuff so she could access it easilly. Now I just have her unload the dishwasher and climb up on the counters for the shelves we can't reach (she's nearly as tall as I am) to put stuff away.

The newer stoves have a safety light on them to tell you when it's cooled off enough to touch. I haven't burned my fingers on this stove in 5 yrs. and I'm not terribly cautious. Electric flat tops are great, if you spill something, wipe it up quick and there's no goo to deal with later.

[Scrumhalf]

Ahhh, that's nice to know. My wife and I will be building a home in the next two years and I don't have a clue about how it works. We are going to be spending $400k or more for our home, so, I need to start researching now before we get ripped off. .......

The cool stuff in always in the >$400K homes. The funny thing is - most of the stuff is not necessarily much more expensive - they are just better ideas which you will never see in a $200K or $300K home.

So, here is what you need to do - my wife and I did this for 6 months to get a good idea of what to get in a house:

Every weekend, check the papers to look for developments that are high end - say $500K. Go and check out their model homes - take a camera with you and shoot anything that looks interesting - neat tile floors, a particular architectural detail like an entryway or an unique staircase design, appliances, granite countertops, etc. etc. VERY IMPORTANT - take a good look at cabinet designs. Take lots of photos. We would take 50-75 photos every week of interesting stuff that we would see in houses that we couldn't afford.

After a month or two of this, you will notice things that are really neat ideas, especially in cabinetry, as well as flooring/tile ideas and patterns, etc. There are also things that you would decide you want to avoid. In fully decorated model houses, you will notice other things like where to place a desk with respect to the bed, where to place an intercom panel to be most useful, etc. - that is, room layouts that looks like the stuff you see in home magazines.

THEN, sit down with your builder and start discussing the architectural ideas that you want to incorporate. The cabinet company will have big brochures of cabinet options that you can select from. These are things that you will NEVER see in a lower price model house. All kinds of neat lazy susans, hideaway trashcans, spice racks, etc. etc. You won't believe how many fancy features higher end cabinetry has until you have seen some of these brochures.

Finally appliances - stainless is the way to go. They are a bit more expensive but look really nice. There are expensive models like Subzero or Viking but you don't have to pay through the nose for them just because Emeril uses them on his show. We got the Kitchenaid Architect series which is stainless but has a black panel for the buttons - this is much less expensive than the all stainless with flush buttons.

For the cooktop, make sure you get a 6 burner cooktop. IMPORTANT - make sure all burners put out 15,000 BTUs. Your generic cooktop has higher BTUs for the front burners while the back ones are less powerful.

Go to websites, look at magazines, read, read, read.... the only way to get ideas is by looking.

[hitmansb]

SERIOUSLY!! All you manly men are talking about is KITCHEN appliances!! WTF!! You sound like a bunch of old housewives!! LMAO!!

Hey, we're big dudes that eat A LOT. The kitchen is the most important room in the house for us, along with the appliances that preserve and cook our food. :pig:

[Bouncer]

Great thread!

First off, the older flat top ranges sucked, the newer ones rock. I grew up on gas and now love electric. They are simple to clean now, just a little of the special liquid polish stuff once every couple of months suffices unless you're a slob. I've boiled over the brown rice, etc, and ussually it just scrubs off with the rough side of the sponge. Get a flat top range that's speckled with black and grey and you're set. We got an upgrade of the standard GE appliances and it was fine. Ours is a few yrs. old but one of the burners has a dial that's half regular size and half larger size, it is fantastic for cooking 10 eggs at a time with the larger burner in a huge skillet.

I've been eyeing the stainless appliances but they're a small fortune. One oven has 3 oven compartments and 6 burners, the fridge is double doors with the freezer at the bottom, and the dishwasher has 2 seperate compartments and no need for pre-rinsing. I'd have to take out one of the kitchen cabinets for the larger stove. but I see that happening eventually since we entertain so much and that cabinet was used when my daughter was younger and it stored her stuff so she could access it easilly. Now I just have her unload the dishwasher and climb up on the counters for the shelves we can't reach (she's nearly as tall as I am) to put stuff away.

The newer stoves have a safety light on them to tell you when it's cooled off enough to touch. I haven't burned my fingers on this stove in 5 yrs. and I'm not terribly cautious. Electric flat tops are great, if you spill something, wipe it up quick and there's no goo to deal with later.

nope, still dont agree. my mother built a 5k sq ft house with all the latest shit just 7 months ago. she has the special cleaner polish and and a special scraper. i spent 2 hours trying to clean it. she told me she has to do that everyday. are you a heavy cooker? like 2-3 pots and pans cooking at once all day long? for someone that cooks alot, those tops are crap.

[Stonecold54]

i spent 2 hours trying to clean it.

probably because you are so weak. :P

[Bouncer]

The cool stuff in always in the >$400K homes. The funny thing is - most of the stuff is not necessarily much more expensive - they are just better ideas which you will never see in a $200K or $300K home.

So, here is what you need to do - my wife and I did this for 6 months to get a good idea of what to get in a house:

Every weekend, check the papers to look for developments that are high end - say $500K. Go and check out their model homes - take a camera with you and shoot anything that looks interesting - neat tile floors, a particular architectural detail like an entryway or an unique staircase design, appliances, granite countertops, etc. etc. VERY IMPORTANT - take a good look at cabinet designs. Take lots of photos. We would take 50-75 photos every week of interesting stuff that we would see in houses that we couldn't afford.

After a month or two of this, you will notice things that are really neat ideas, especially in cabinetry, as well as flooring/tile ideas and patterns, etc. There are also things that you would decide you want to avoid. In fully decorated model houses, you will notice other things like where to place a desk with respect to the bed, where to place an intercom panel to be most useful, etc. - that is, room layouts that looks like the stuff you see in home magazines.

THEN, sit down with your builder and start discussing the architectural ideas that you want to incorporate. The cabinet company will have big brochures of cabinet options that you can select from. These are things that you will NEVER see in a lower price model house. All kinds of neat lazy susans, hideaway trashcans, spice racks, etc. etc. You won't believe how many fancy features higher end cabinetry has until you have seen some of these brochures.

Finally appliances - stainless is the way to go. They are a bit more expensive but look really nice. There are expensive models like Subzero or Viking but you don't have to pay through the nose for them just because Emeril uses them on his show. We got the Kitchenaid Architect series which is stainless but has a black panel for the buttons - this is much less expensive than the all stainless with flush buttons.

For the cooktop, make sure you get a 6 burner cooktop. IMPORTANT - make sure all burners put out 15,000 BTUs. Your generic cooktop has higher BTUs for the front burners while the back ones are less powerful.

Go to websites, look at magazines, read, read, read.... the only way to get ideas is by looking.

i agree with your main point but i disagree with 1 major thing. your talking about prices like there the same everywhere. bro, from where i just moved in jersey, 500k wouldnt buy anything but a basic level house. down here in Raleigh where im at now 500k would buy a very big beautiful house. you cant speak in terms of price when talking about homes because they change so much state to state. 100's of thousands of dollars difference.

[Scrumhalf]

Agreed on the price - all I meant was that you shouldn't restrict yourself to your price range when you are looking. A lot of the good architectural ideas and goodies are in more expensive houses and can easily be incorporated into lower price houses are relatively minor expense. The prices given were just an example.

[Bouncer]

Agreed on the price - all I meant was that you shouldn't restrict yourself to your price range when you are looking. A lot of the good architectural ideas and goodies are in more expensive houses and can easily be incorporated into lower price houses are relatively minor expense. The prices given were just an example.

got ya.