<p>" She bought it for $400K two decades ago. I went to visit and thought that I was in the wrong neighborhood - I was expecting a lot more for $400k."
:)</p>
<p>I think 1200 - 2000 sq ft works best for us too.</p>
<p>We lived recently in an apartment that was 1300 to 1400 sq ft (the Skylark in
Larkspur, Ca). One story. But no garage. There are 3 of us and it was a good size. I liked it there. A lot. We could walk all over the place…and MT Tam was practically in our backyard. Larkspur is a great town. </p>
<p>when there are 1000 pairs of eyes looking at the RE market all the time, yes there is no bargains. Hoever, if you are willing to work, you can make money.</p>
<p>aahh-- ellemenope,
It “closed”… with the few glitches. They have worked out the glitches but I would like the owners to sign off on it so there are NO loopholes anywhere. Of course their attorney is not rushing to respond to my attorney so the last $5k hasnt been released yet. I asked my attorney if he couls perhaps just call the new owners and wsing by to get them to sign off (he lives a block or 2 away). Still waiting… And still waiting to see the closing documents. Sigh…</p>
<p>It mostly works, with a little bit of customization. On the sink wall and stove walls everything will fit perfectly. The sink is the long side of the “L” and the stove is on the short side. From left to right is a 36" drawer base, 24" DW, 36" sink base, 30" drawer base, and 49" corner cab. The stove side will have a 9" cab, the stove, and a 24" drawer base. The corner of the room where the corner cab will go is a new wall, so even if the walls are a bit wonky we should be able to make the standard Ikea sizes work.</p>
<p>On the wall opposite the sink we’ll have the fridge and some tall cabinets. Those are a challenge because of the relatively small width of the room and wanting space for an island. We’re going to recess the fridge into the wall by 6", and have 18" deep cabinets. Ikea doesn’t make 18" deep cabinets (only 12" or 24"), so we can either buy their standard 24" deep ones and cut them down ([Making</a> Ikea cabinets shallower - YouTube](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF9CBADpKyE]Making”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF9CBADpKyE)) or buy frameless RTA cabinets from a company like Sherr’s in the right depth and attach the custom doors to that. </p>
<p>The island will be 30"x72", with cabinets on one side and open for stools on the other. The base will either be three 24"x12" cabinets with a 30" wide counter, or possibly two custom 36"x15" cabinets.</p>
<p>I’ll have our GC include a bid for all custom cabinets, but I’m guessing the Ikea route will save tens of thousands of dollars.</p>
<p>ok, but what about upper cabinets? custom made also? will they match bottom ones? Are the ikea’s frame wood or particle boards? As I said, you need look beyond the Peninsula.</p>
<p>I’ve used the cabinets from this site in 4 kitchens. I don’t like particle board, these have plywood boxes and solid doors. They have held up well in rental units.</p>
<p>There are other sites that sell similar product as well.</p>
<p>Ikea cabinets are MDF. Uppers we might use as-is from Ikea with glossy white doors, rather than the custom walnut we want for the lowers. Since there’s a window over the sink, there’s no issue with them fitting on the sink/range walls. </p>
<p>notrichenough I’d mentioned Sherr’s RTA in my previous post. Their website is broken, I think they forgot to renew their domain name. But they’re high quality cabinets and specifically set up to work with Ikea boxes. Did you buy frameless cabinets when you bought from the RTA Store? I created an account but am caught in an infinite loop trying to look at cabinet doors where it keeps asking me to log in. Trying IE, Firefox and Chrome, nothing works.</p>
<p>vballmom, sorry, I missed the mention of Sherr.</p>
<p>All the cabinets I bought from there had a face frame. I don’t know if they have any frameless ones. For the me the big advantage is price, and no particle board (MDF = particle board to me).</p>
<p>I have no problem looking at anything on the rtacabinetstore.com site without logging in, don’t know why you are having a problem. I can see all the door styles. </p>
<p>I am sorry, but I cannot work with MDF frames. Any little mishaps you cannot fix it. Besides if the kitchen is half white and half walnut, it won’t look good. I bought a 6’x6’ MDF bedroom cabinet(?) for $1000 but when I move, I had to give it away for $100. The deal I had is that the buyer is responsible to remove it from where is. It was ok in my bedroom, but when they took it apart, I was wondering if that can be stick together any more.</p>
<p>The Youtube video on how to cut MDF to fit is informative, but I won’t do it simply any slip will result in disaster. And I really question about those screws if they can hold up.</p>
<p>when there are 1000 pairs of eyes looking at the RE market all the time, yes there is no bargains. Hoever, if you are willing to work, you can make money."</p>
<p>"A bidding war broke out in November when a small house in San Francisco’s tightly packed Noe Valley came on the market.</p>
<p>Twenty-two people, including employees of Facebook, Zynga, Google and Pixar, battled for the home. The winning offer was $1.5 million—40% higher than the asking price. The house had a great view, but it was only 1,800 square feet and came with an old kitchen which, like most of the interior, was covered in 1970s plywood paneling. Seen from the curb, there’s hardly any house at all—just a one-car garage and gate leading to small front courtyard."</p>
<p>I understand that you can make a lot of money with stock options but you typically have to take them out over time (typically 4-10 years) and you have to pay taxes on them too. Those with huge options awards that have been around for a long-time - I’d think that they’d want more than 1,800 sq ft. So are these tech employees using their options for a down payment with a good chunk of the price financed?</p>
<p>Okay, I see that they are talking more about those that have hit it big and not the typical employee of these companies. Or those that are older that have had time to accumulate wealth.</p>
<p>vballmom, I like your inspiration pic, but I think I am more of a traditionalist. I think that kind of design can look dated very quickly, and in ten years people will be saying “what were they thinking?”</p>
<p>On the other hand, as DW likes to point out, all my taste is in my mouth. :)</p>
</p>