End State Vision: Kitchen

On shows bearing titles like: house hunters and Sandra Rinamato, Property Virgins, HGTV shows couples living in their old, cramped and outmoded apartments before they take them out to look at a few new homes. It contrasts the short comings of their current residence while highlighting what they really need to dwell well. Sometimes when we're preparing meals in our kitchen I'll stop and say, look at me reaching over you and you ducking as I open the fridge or cabinet door -completely in each other's way- we're having an HGTV moment.

Our rental's kitchen is extremely small, limited in both counter space for preparations and cabinet space for storage. The thought of being back in a functional kitchen, one where we can conveniently cook for ourselves and entertain our family and friends, brings me great joy. With that thought in mind, I amping-up my drive to plan and spend on a new kitchen. In a recent episode, HGTV's Bang for Your Buck encouraged a bigger, wiser spend in this this area because typically 85% of investments in kitchens are returned, but they note that not more than 20% of the house's residual value should be spent to make those upgrades.

With that end in mind, we did some searching to agree that the below image collects the kitchen finishes that align our aesthetic goals (It bears mention that this picture is for inspiration only - our house in NO way will be this grand, as the ceilings are only about 7-8 feet tall.):

Cabinets: Dark brown, with island; Counter: Speckled with white, gray, black and brown - no built in backsplash; Backsplash: mixed material/glass/stone rectangular tile with gray grout; Appliances: Stainless Steel; Accents Walls and Ceiling: White; Exhaust Fan; stainless "floating"; Lighting: Recessed

To Match that palette I am selecting the following materials:

Cabinets:

Brand: KraftMaid (at Lowes); Style: Deveron Cherry; Finish: Kaffe; Price: 6,000 est. for a mid-featured 10x10

Pulls: TBD, but not as big as the ones in the above display. Probably something contemporary, but unoffensive, and without squared edges so they don't catch clothes or hips.

Counter:

Brand: Sensa; Material: Granite; Color: Silver Silk of Brazilian Origin; Price: $4,000 est. for 44 sq. ft.

As you may start to notice, we are currently selecting all of the products from Lowes. They seem to have nice stuff at a fair price. We did a bit of comparison shopping with Ikea - we have seen some of our friends install them with great results. However, for us it would be too much trouble to shop online and have cabinet, etc come in parts that need to be assembled. We would rather have everything come together and ready to install. Also, we like being able to see the physical displays in store. Lowes has two stores in Burlington, so there are even more options and displays to see.

Here are the items we are planning on for all of the other kitchen fixtures in no particular order:

Under Sink Water Filter - our friends in Boston have this and it's very convenient, especially compared to our Brita, which requires constant refills and waiting for the water to distill.

This is a Whirlpool reverse osmosis filter that seems to be adequate and price reduced to $150. Have to do some additional research to see if there is better brand, price, etc. 

Here's the box for the one above. Looks like the drum is going to take up some space under the sink...

Deep One Basin Sink. Per my own personal experience, it can be very hard to wash pots and pans in a double basin sink. We considered larger, fancier sinks, such as farmhouse ceramic or the stainless steel farmhouse style that's open at the front of the counter, above the cabinets. We liked them, but ultimately decided that they weren't for us because of look and expense.

This under counter single basin model is about 10 inches deep.

Here's the faucet style that we're thinking:

Mind boggling how much a sink faucet can cost.  Here's a mid range model that represents this "all in one" design with the water control and the sprayer contained on the single shaft. However, now that I  look at this closely, we may need a smaller on-counter presences, since there will be only one hole drilled in the counter for the sink.

Here's another sink options....

Hopefully we can get this same thing for less money....

Garbage Disposal. Since we're building our dream kitchen, why not? Or friends who have the in sink water filter also have the garbage disposal. I love using their kitchen. We also used to participate in a regular Sunday night gathering of friends called "Family Dinner" (ironically, I used to do the same with  my actual family). Both my friends and my family had garbage disposals in their kitchen. It makes a huge difference in convenience and function. Hopefully we can revive the ritual in this new kitchen!

This "inSINKerator" seemed like a adequate mid-range model. More research required, but using this for budgeting purposes. Who installs the plumber or the electrician? I am sure both, just like the dishwasher. Note to self: important to make a list of all the appliances that need to be double checked and connected by both service providers.

Speaking of the dish washer, this is one of the main reasons I am buying a new house (remember, those reasons are: dishwasher, washer and dryer). Even a $500 dishwasher can be really great. I am going to do a bit more research in Consumer Reports to hone in on the best option here, but I am budgeting about $1,000 for a good one with stainless steel front to match the other appliances, and a food grinder (which allows for you to put in really dirty dishes without much rinsing and much worrying). Sont have a picture yet for this one, but will sometime soon.

The dinner parties that I mentioned above were also aided by double ovens. With that end in mind, we are going for a double oven, in-spite of the shocking cost! We are going to upgrade to gas powered oven instead of electric. They told me at the store that it would be about $80 to convert any model to gas.

A real beaute!

Sticker SHOCK.

- In-Cabinet Lighting

- Frosted Glass Cabinet Doors

- Double Oven

- Counter Top Stove

What

After several months of looking around the market and making several offers, I am under contract to purchase at 120 South Champlain Street, Burlington, VT 05401.

This house selection represents a diversion from my strategic plan, which was to purchase a multi-family property within walking distance to downtown Burlington. I looked a several good houses that fit the criteria of 2-3 units, within a 1/3 of a mile to downtown,  and with decent structural integrity. I made offers on three of the places - probably too lowball. In each case the house was either too expensive for what it was (but eventually the seller received their asking price) or it was listed and within 1-2 weeks there were multiple offers received and the seller received more than her asking price.

Ultimately, the market in Burlington has performed well through the recession because the inventory of available housing is still very low (1.5% rental vacancy rate, according to Allen and Brooks, Dec 2010). Because of that houses are selling quickly, at asking price, typically with multiple offers. Very stressful for an interested buyer who's looking for a good deal!

During the course of my searching, I stumbled across the above referenced little gem of a property. I passed it by the first couple of times that I saw it on the MLS sites because it was not a multi-family. However, I had always walked by the street and thought: what a great place to live! Here's why:

The Property: 120 South Champlain Street

east to Prime Downtown Areas: Church St Market (open air shopping mall, 1 block from co-op grocery store, City Market, and 6 screen Marquis Movie Theater)

west to Lake Front: (park and bike path) 

Town Center Mall: (one of larger enclosed shopping malls in the state)

City Hall Park: (location of Burlington Farmers' Market every Saturday in the Summer)

 "Our Block": (Home to great restaurants like August First and Pistou and great eco chic home goods stores: Anjou & Little Pear and The Green Life)

As if that central location were't enough, here is a an aerial picture take from above Lake Champlain, looking eastward towards Burlington's waterfront and downtown. You can see the cute little house in the picture:

Finally, after a couple of weeks of passing by the listing, I called the agent for a showing. She told me they were just waiting on another offer, but she could show me. We went, fell in love an put in an offer, which we had to immediately increase because it had turned into a competitive situation with another buyer.

Ultimately, the seller accepted the other buyer's offer and we were sad!!

We spent the next week, re-doubling our search efforts, but there was nothing on the market that we wanted as much as the house at 120 South Champlain. I decided to sit back and focus on other life projects: work, my relationship and, of course, my taxes!

Out of the blue the following Friday afternoon, I received an email from the realtor saying the contract had fallen through because the City wasn't allowing an addition the buyer wanted to add to the original house. Essentially, the house was ours if we wanted. We took the weekend to discuss and re-affirmed our offer on Sunday afternoon. By Wednesday, we were under contract.

We're buying a house!

Why and Who

Welcome to my blog. It basically chronicles the planning, purchase and renovation of my new house via an FHA Mortgage under the 203(k) program, which will allow me to mortgage improvements by borrowing additional monies to pay for the work to be done.

Currently I rent. My motivation to move to a now property is in part based on my interest in buying and selling real estate. However, it wouldn't be honest of me to deny that it's a little bit because I can't stand living any longer without a dishwasher, washer and dryer.

A little bit about me: I am a (very) late 20 something who lives in Burlington, Vermont. I work in consumer packaged goods design/manufacturing for the beauty industry. My hobbies are fashion and real estate. I am engaged to a great guy who works in politics. We plan on moving from our rental into the new house once the renovation work is complete.