I really need to get up to speed on the new technology! It’s only been 8 years since we built our house, but there are already things I’d like to redo.
There is a reason we don’t like smart houses. In several short years, all that smartness becomes dumb. 
I love our kitchen under cabinet lighting.
We have a peninsula that separates the kitchen section from the dining room. You know that corner cabinet, the one that is always pretty impossible to access? My brother in law, a contractor, suggested that we give it access from the dining room side. It’s been a combination homework drawer (notebooks, loose leaf, texts…) and table cloth draw. We get tremendous use from it!
I love the fact that our kitchen cabinets go all the way to the ceiling-- nowhere for dust to collect on top.
Our kitchen floors are ceramic tile, but look like wood… to the point where people don’t believe us and actually bend down and touch it to verify. It doesn’t show dirt, is easy to clean and I love the look!!
Yes, we were proud of ourselves for putting in WIRES for future computers in our house when we built it! Who knew?
We have a cooktop on our island. It is induction, so is flat, doesn’t get too hot, and stays clean because stuff doesn’t cook onto it.
I have a tiny little cluttered mess when you come into my kitchen from the garage - my dream is a full size mudroom with those gorgeous locker-style organizers for everyone’s coats and shoes and bags!
I would also have the house wired with a whole-house generator - 13 days with no power or water after Sandy scarred me for life!
Oh - a window seat with lots of pillows so i can and read!
IME “deep frying” has nothing to do with grease everywhere. If you deep fry in a reasonably deep pot, no splatters. Sauteeing, wokking, pan-grilling, searing meat, cooking Indian and Thai food where you cook a lot of stuff in hot oil first: all cause a lot of grease splatters.
I don’t ever plan to have a second floor bedroom again…but If I did…one thing I would get is my outside lights wired to a switch in my bedroom. There have just been too many times I’ve left the lights on…and had to schlep downstairs to turn them off. I know, it’s not a big deal walk…but still.
@thumper1 That sounds like the perfect situation for an app-controlled switch like BunsenBurner mentioned in #179!
Well…except I never take my phone to my bedroom!
That idea doesn’t help then if you’d have to walk downstairs to get to your phone!
Edit: I like the idea of controlling additional lights from the bedroom. Our bedroom is downstairs, but I’m constantly having to make sure the upstairs lights are turned off at night. Since our youngest left for college, my spouse has taken over the upstairs gameroom, and he’s worse about turning off the upstairs lights than the kids were!
Dh installed programmable timer switches for our outdoor lights. We adjust the time they come on/go off seasonally, but otherwise forget about them. He found some motion sensor LED lights for a couple of locations outside where we didn’t want lights on all night. The landscape ones are low voltage while the others are in standard fixtures.
Inside, dh installed motion sensor switches in several locations including the laundry room and our closets. The basement game room now has one, too. All bathroom exhaust fans finally have countdown timer switches. No more finding out hours/days later that someone left a vent fan running. I’ve found good deals on Lutron and Leviton switches on Amazon.
My outside lights have both a timer and a light sensor. I set the “on” time to be around 3pm but they don’t come on until the light sensor says it’s dark, and the timer shuts them off around midnight.
They do make motion sensor light switches. I have a couple places I wish we had them installed especially bedroom hall.
Every motion sensor switch has failed me. We have them in the offices, and I will never install them in my house. You really have to walk or wave in front of the switch every 20-30 min so the lights would stay on.
We also ripped out every timer the prior owner installed. Mr. B wired light sensors into the outdoor lights circuits. The lights turn in and off automatically. Because they are LED, we really don’t care if they stay on all night. They don’t consume that much energy.
But a bedroom hall switch would be fine for 20-30 min. My kids would leave the hall light on after they went into the bedroom.
I have small lights that illuminate the treads on my staircases - a few years ago, we switched them to LEDs, so they don’t use much energy. They are well integrated and you wouldn’t notice them unless they are turned on - just a tiny light for each step. I keep them on all night. They are very helpful if someone needs to run downstairs, and provide just enough light to show the way. Also helps houseguests find their way around without having to fumble with unfamiliar light switches.
I see them as a big safety must have and would definitely put them in another house.
Lights off outside here are important because even though we have huge lots, our lights bother the neighbors if left on all night.
We spoke with the architect today about the process. They have an architectural review board in the hood so he told us about the 3 phases, etc. We’ll be meeting with his team at the end of the month on site and they will do a rough sketch as we’re there. I feel good about this one that they’ll offer suggestions of things I wouldn’t think about, the first architect we met made me nervous thinking he’d draw what we said and not what makes sense.
I am lucky enough to have 2 homes, one in a summer resort area and the other in a winter resort area. Both are well appointed, but my favorite feature by far is the stacking washer dryers in the walk in master closets. Our clothes go from the hamper to the washer to the dryer to being folded or hung and put away without ever leaving the closet.
House guests mean lots of sheets and towels and often guests need to do a quick load of laundry. Having the master w/d keeps our laundry out of main laundry room and enhances the efficiency of the drudgery of laundry.