It's not surprising the aggregate quote is higher. Do you plan to stay in the property for a long time? Go with the longer lasting, hassle free material. I've dug up a 25-30 year old timber garden wall that was buried for ~5 years by another landscaping project. I've never seen something teaming with so many termites. Once whatever preservatives are added leach out, you have a termite paradise.

"a Miele Frige (A rebadged Bosch)((Made in same factory in Turkey) or an SZ (Whirlpool guts)---even the icemaker. " dodge - you are bordering on being disingenuous here. The Miele IS NOT a re-badged Bosch. Yes, it is made in the same factory as the Bosch and Thermador and the Gaggenau, and they all have the same compressor motor BUT......................................Miele supplies all of internal bins, lights, shelves, computer, biuttons, do dad from their own supply chain and has them shipped to Turkey for assembly. Furthermore the compressor is simply a commodity item that has very few suppliers and hence little choice when a fridge manuf. goes to select one for their fridge. Kinda like jet engines, you pretty much get RollsRoyce or GE and anyone who's flown commercial lately can tell you that the experience is far from luxurious despite the RR logo on the side of the engine pod. "You are getting the same guts, (IE Compressor, compressor controller board and probably some of the other guts as well, as any Whirlpool made Fridge, (IE Kitchenaid, Jenn-air etc etc). This is simply INCORRECT with respect to SZ, Monogram, and the BSH offerings. It is accurate if you are talking about a unit that comes from inside Whirlpool's own manufacturing division like the JA, KA, and some Thermadors. I mean you don't think a Boeing and an Airbus are the same thing because they both use RR engines. Do you ? You also have drawn a false conclusion (or are simply mis-representing for effect) Whirlpool's involvement in SZ's manufacturing line. Whirlpool in fact has very little to do with Embraco (the compressor manuf.) They are in fact the corporate parent by default of a Brazilian merger that Embraco underwent in the 90's. The suits in Michigan pretty much stay out of the business though, even in the USA. Embraco's maintains a separate headquarters far from Michigan. Contrast this to say your JennAir fridge - which if I was following you logic would just be a re-badged Whirlpool with Whirlpool guts and all that baaaaaaaaaaad karma that goes with it by your thinking. We could also gleen a bit of insight about the JennAir relationship from their headquarters' location and their annual report. Oooops, they don't have one because big brother (Whirlpool) orchestrates their every move from the mothership. For clarity and anyone new here today - you should also point out your skewed perspective because you have a JennAir that you bought for Below Cost before big brother sunk his teeth into JennAir. Nothing wrong with supporting the home team ; AND JennAir makes some fine units specially of the vintage you have! But, no one shopping here is going to be able to buy a JA fridge at the pricing you got yours for and since they are priced very similar to the other built in brands it has to be compared against THOSE today and not your exceptional deal. Therefore brands like SZ, Miele, Gaggenau, Monogram, and Whirlpools's other re-badged (for real) lines like KitchenAid and Thermador's non Freedom offerings. "My point is, you are not getting anything that is made any better, (function and gut wise)," Your point is wrong here. That doesn't make the JennAir a bad choice. Because the "guts" are not EXACTLY the same. The compressor might be but after that everyone designs and supplies their own stuff. Also, parts can be better - closer tolerances, longer duty cycle, stronger, ect...which makes your conclusion incorrect. Now, that said - none of this makes a fridge (or anything else) a BETTER VALUE. This is what I think you are driving at but the fact remains that all built ins are in a fairly narrow price band. So, I think the determiner is to compare them on their merits such as build quality , aesthetics, long term reputation, and who is backing them up - short term reputation / big corp. or family run business. If this is the case - saying that they are all pretty much the same because they use a compressor from the same manufacturer is just silly.

Thanks everyone for the responses. It's interesting, I am getting a split decision here, so it makes me feel better than I am torn! @ Weedy and Annz, if I was keeping the same doorway/window layout, I would absolutely just do it with a KD & GC. It's the reconfiguring the layout (and it's VERY tight) that gets me a bit nervous. And, if I convert the side entry into a half bath, I have absolutely no storage (outside the kitchen). Actual French doors may not be possible due to space limitations, I think it's coming from having them in my condo and I miss them! @Virgil...I know, I want quality, and I'm a bit scared on the Design/Build team results on the 2 houses next to mine. @Rocky. Yay! Let's hear it for single folks doing home remodels :-). Yes, that's where I think the architect will be most helpful, making sure whatever I do now will work in the potential future revision. I've lived in the house 2 years, so I definitely have a sense of light, storage and flow. Kitchen and bath design, not so much as both were demoed and cobbled together prior to my move-in. @LoPay....You make some valid initial points. I had radon, asbestos and lead testing done before I moved in...so I'm good there. I am in Management in a large professional services firm, so although I have perfectionist tendencies, I am pretty good about pulling back, using the 80/20 rule. There is no way I would consider a tear down, though...I love old houses and Boston is one of the most expensive renovation markets in the country. That being said, it may be more cost efficient to do Phase 1, sell, and buy a slightly larger house. However, RE in my town has skyrocketed in the last year...an open house on my street (for a house about 2x my size, but not abutting the park or the last house on the dead end street) was just listed for 3x what I paid for the house 3 years ago. So this is probably my little old lady house, addition or not. It's very interesting, though..I emailed a few more architects. The two women had a very welcoming vibe. 1 guy asked if I had my budget validated by a GC before even talking to me.....my immediate reaction is that he's no-go (and I think he's used to working on much bigger projects). The other guy seemed nice, but is booked until the end of the year...so likely not. I'm hoping the architect I meet tomorrow (who started her career as a K&BD) will meet both my needs. Only challenge is that she is old school and still draws....she has a draftsmen who can convert to digital (which I like to get a better '3D' sense)...but wondering if it would be more expensive. Or, I can convert her drawings to digital with Home Designer Suite (which I love playing on anyways).

I am leaning towards CertainTeed landmark pro Charcoal black because it is grayer it’s softer than miore black although it will look black in the shade and clouds. Miore black has a lot more variation than what I am looking for. This has been a tough one for me as well. I called Certainteed they gave me a bunch of phone numbers of companies who have used Certainteed charcoal and miore Black on residential roofs to get addresses in my area. I drive around to look at these which helped a lot!! They are close in color but the moire black just seems to much in darkness and variation. Charcoal black just enough variation and softer... CertainTeed customer service agrees. I had the higher end Timberline charcoal as 2nd in line. I like it but I am looking for the best quality and I feel I’m getting that with CertainTeed landmark Pro. BTY THE COLORS BETWEEN LANDMARK AND LANDMARK PRO ARE VERY DIFFERENT! So when you read everyone’s comment make sure they are talking about Pro or Regular Landmark. I dodged a bullet after figuring that out!!