Interior Design Features We Love

UWSmom: yes, it's nice to have a laundry sink over which I hang my unmentionables. Those also gather dust for a week, before I put them away. Didn't have this problem when I washed unmentionables in the bathroom.

As for locking bathroom doors: need one or not, the lock is called a "snib" when it is separate unit from the doorknob. Ours is a lovely polished nickel little egg shaped knob installed about 1" below the doorknob. Never used but great to touch and looks so nice I had to have them on bedroom and bathroom. Excuse I gave my b/f was that when his niece and nephew are old enough for sleep overs we'll need to lock the bedroom door, and some guests may not feel comfortable on a toilet if the door is unlocked so we need one on bathrm. Really they just look kind of cool and classic.

Oh. How about large, deep kitchen sink? After having a 10" deep sink I have no idea how I lived with the dinky old kind for so long. And bigger the better. As a cook I can't believe how great a big sink is!

There is such a thing as too deep. I've had one super-large (Elkay) 30" X 12" deep sink and it was too deep. Prefer my current set up - Franke large & medium bowl combo.

My personal favorites: radiant floor heating (a must with big windows), towel warmer in the bathroom, fancy doorknobs, European shower set and water temperature lock.

Maly: I looked briefly into radiant heating systems and didn't find one that was energy-efficient.

"As for locking bathroom doors: need one or not, the lock is called a "snib" when it is separate unit from the doorknob. Ours is a lovely polished nickel little egg shaped knob installed about 1" below the doorknob. Never used but great to touch and looks so nice I had to have them on bedroom and bathroom. Excuse I gave my b/f was that when his niece and nephew are old enough for sleep overs we'll need to lock the bedroom door, and some guests may not feel comfortable on a toilet if the door is unlocked so we need one on bathrm. Really they just look kind of cool and classic."

We have similar tastes. On the outside, did you use a keyhole cover? I used on with a little swag that you push aside to get to the keyhole.

Thermostatic bath temp knob for the shower and handheld is awesome. I love never having to adjust it. Thought I'd hate a rain-head, but Jaclo makes this sort of hybrid one that turns out I love and it doesn't look like a garbage can lid. Still, the handheld is great for washing the dog or when my shave cream splatters on the glass dividing wall and needs to be rinsed off.

And pay up for the thermostatic "body" - don't get a cheap one.

lol. yes, nyc10023! I meant thermostatic valve. Not just the knob.

Custom medicine cabinets for bathroom that are deeper than standard and bigger (any size you want, actually) recessed into walls.

Bathroom exhaust fan on timer switch (and not on of those rotary one's, like this :http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004YUMP/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001EFV1DA&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=19AVM1M31NG6GH280XRM ; great for when you want to exhaust the bathroom, but don't want to stick around or have to remember to turn it off.

Instead of radiant heating the entire bathroom floor, radiant panel in ceiling above where you would stand facing sink/mirror (face it, if you are "hanging out" in the bath after a shower, whatever you're doing you're probably looking in the mirror or using the sink - brushing teeth shaving, applying makeup, etc.). Also on timer.

Rarely seen, but whenever I've seen it done right, I've loved it: flat door with NO trim and very tight fit in middle of wall with some scenery painted on it so it disappears unless it's open. Actually, I like a lot of faux anything painted on walls, ceilings... (faux skylight in LR).

Grill in kitchen (not griddle) with appropriate exhaust. I love grilling steaks in the middle of the Winter as opposed to only be able to do it in Summer.

Frameless shower doors (or fixed partitions).

Hidden TV/Screens with mechanisms to make them appear/disappear when not in use.

Ball washers (sorry, Lewis Black joke).

What manufacturers have you guys had experience with the thermostatic valves that work well: I paid for what was supposed to be a good one (Leonard) and am not thrilled with it's performance.

Old place - I had the cheapest thermostatic valve from Kohler. I took it apart (because I had a problem, unrelated to the valve) and it was finicky and near-impossible to put back. Cheap, crappy components. New place - I have the $200+ thermostatic valve from Hansgrohe. I inspected them before installation and they are solid pieces without the silly little O-rings & plastic crap that came with the Kohler valve.

I don't have the high-end Hansgrohe "knob" or external part - I paid for the engineering of the valve instead.

Ah, wrong on the price point. It was 200+ for trim & valve.

1HP Garbage Disposal with Double Sink or Triple Sink (2 large and 1 small garbage disposal in the middle), anything but stainless steel sink.

Radiant heating only makes sense if you are pouring concrete, so you can have pex tubing. The electric kind I don't like at all. I second the Hansgrohe, I love mine.

I like the look of this faucet, anybody have hands-on experience with it:

www.kohler.com/karbon/

I didn't know there were thermostatic valves that didn't work. Don't know why I assumed the cost differences were just aesthetics. We chose California Faucet. It works great.

Yeah, except with pex tubing, if something goes wrong - how are you going to debug it, rip the whole thing up?

"I like the look of this faucet, anybody have hands-on experience with it:
www.kohler.com/karbon/"

I think it is trying too hard. Contrived. Don't like at all.

"...foot operated faucet."

I like that. I also like foot operated urinals/toilets (for public restrooms).

"Yeah, except with pex tubing, if something goes wrong - how are you going to debug it, rip the whole thing up?"

My parent's house was built in the 50's where it looks like one developer built the entire block, if not several blocks. They were all "slab" houses. Over the years, almost every house has had areas sink and have to have concrete injected underground to prop up the slabs. In on neighbor's house, the LR floor had a 6" pitch from corner to center (and we're talking like an 18' x 13' room.)

I forget what 2 metals they were, but radiant under floor heating got a really bad rap for a few DECADES because the fasteners used had a natural reaction to the tubing (unbelievable that the engineer who designed the system didn't think about it) and it made almost 100% of the systems "fail" (i.e. leak).

I will say that for a single family house, radiant under floor heating is really the best I've ever found. I HATE forced hot air (opposite end of my preference scale). The 2 things about under floor radiant heat i love are: 1) pretty much by definition it provides the most even heating: you don't get cold spot in the room away for a radiator, duct, or whatever, and 2) the feeling that on a cold night you get out of bed and your naked feet hit a warm floor is just..... well, you have to live with it for a while to appreciate it.

You just don't need it as much in apartment buildings because underneath you isn't "outside", it's someone else's unit so your floor don't tend to get that cold that you need this type of heating.

"Yeah, except with pex tubing, if something goes wrong - how are you going to debug it, rip the whole thing up? "

Again, that's why it's best in single family houses, especially with basements: just put it between the joists and cover with insulation. But i agree that setting it in a mud base or whatever and then covering it with tile when your only right to access it is by ripping up the tile is a bit risky. Don't even know if a Coop Board would be too smart to approve it.

"Custom medicine cabinets for bathroom that are deeper than standard and bigger (any size you want, actually) recessed into walls."

I have often thought that with all the odd-shaped things we try to cram into medicine cabinets (including things like tubes of toothpaste that were never meant to stand on end, and all too often come crashing down when you open the door), a series of drawers would make more sense than shallow shelves.

Favorite things so many I will start with one: placement of outlets.
so they visually disappear: ie in the bathroom, if you have an open sink or pedestal I put the outlet just under the sink, so it is still right there to be used, plus I like to put a soft night light in it so that it gently lights the floor without seeing the brightness of the light in the middle of the night at eye level.
Placement of outlets so ugly appliances dissapear.
ie While I am designing my kitchen I like to plan what upper cabinet I will be putting my microwave in and get the guys to put in a clock outlet (which is an outlet that can be set back into the wall so the extra 2 inches of the cord plug doesn't take up room)so my microwave is off the bench and hidden. Additionally in my pantry shelf I love having 2 outlets in there as well so I have my toaster and coffee maker set up ready to go by just opening the cupboard door.

I've been very happy with my Roomba. It has little rotary brushes attached at one point near the edge, that spin whack the dirt out of the corners. Unfortunately, the Scooba (the mopping robot) doesn't have a similar solution, so corners are indeed a problem.

They're slower than vacuuming by hand, and annoying loud, so it's good to put a door between you and the robot. However, they tend to find places to get stuck, and then they beep "uh-oh" until you save them. For example, my coffee table has legs that rise diagonally from the floor towards the center of the tabletop, and the robots tend to hump them and get stuck. That means that you can't just get them going and leave for work. On the bright side, they really get under things, like couches and beds, that would be hard to vacuum under without moving.

The Scooba is extra-useful in that it sucks up the soapy water that it sprays out and brushes around, and stores it a separate reservoir. That means you're not just pushing dirty water around your floor, or rinsing four times in the hope of diluting that dirty water, as usually happens when people mop. It really makes a difference. And no, I don't like swiffering instead, sorry. Unfortunately, you to use a special solution that smells like rotting flowers (or like a bordello, as one robot-board poster wrote).

I think the idea behind heated bathroom floors is that you would then keep the rest of your home on the cool (sweater, pajamas, warm robe and slippers, down comforter) side, but have extra heat in the bathroom where you're nekkid, and where you want a little extra drying. ... a difficult scenario in overheated NY apartments, as has been discussed here recently.

Oh, yeah. Me again.

I forgot another must-have: fingerprint-reading apartment door lock, capable of "remembering" multiple fingerprints. With key backup, of course.

http://www.smarthome.com/5159SNB/BIOREMOTE-Fingerprint-Door-Lock-with-Remote-Control-Satin-Nickel-Black-Right-or-Left-Handle/p.aspx

My experience of fingerprint locks so far is that they break -- better to have a lock that reads multiple smart cards with timer settings, so the nanny only has access between 10 and 3 and when she moves on you can disable her card instead of changing the lock. They were beginning to put these on high-end buildings in Tribeca before the bubble burst.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

You can disable her fingerprint just as easily. I'm not sure if they have day & time control, but I'm pretty sure they have usage record-keeping (if not in the one I posted than in similar ones). But I like the idea of quick entry when my hands are full, plus I have a recurring fear of locking myself out when heading for the trash chute. I've only used cards at hotels, but I find them too fiddly.

However, if this type of lock breaks altogether, that's very very bad.

I get excited after we've installed a product in a matter of minutes that normally would've cost a pretty penny if we hired a professional. Those one in a thousand products that somehow still forced you to smile even 3 or 4 days after using it. Similar to the way a person feels when using their new dishwasher, trash compactor or even an elevator for the 3rd or 4th time after never having one before. The kind of item that makes friends or guests asking themselves why they never heard of such a thing while wishing they had one in their home. I'm talk'n real time saving products that improve your life not just daily but, multiple times a day everyday. Those are my favorite must-have items.

The most memorable must-have item I can remember is our redytemp hot water optimizer that optimized our homes hot water readiness and we no longer wait for hot water at our sinks and especially our shower. We installed it ourselves in a matter of minutes. We installed it under our sink. At first I thought it heated the water some how but it doesn't. My understanding is that it pumps the cold water out of the hot water pipes and into the cold water pipes where the water then returns to the water heater. Once all the cold water is out of the hot water line it stops pumping. It has a timer that allows us to set the times we want hot water to be ready so it doesn't keep hot water in our pipes all day and night just when we'd be using it (morning, dinner, nightly showers). For those times that we wanted hot water but it wasn't scheduled to run we simply push a button and the system would run one time and stop so we could have hot water without wasting a bunch of water down the drain. We love it and can't imagine living without one. Our neighbors bought a similar product that was cheaper and apparently they ended up returning it because the water really wasn't hot and they said it made them wait for cold water. Ours has a dial which lets us choose the temperatures we want. So if you do get one make sure it has that capability. In the end they got the same one we had and they couldn't be happier. I know we're saving tons of water but never waiting for hot water is a dream come true. We feel so spoiled and that's a good thing.

"Placement of outlets so ugly appliances dissapear. "

I have a duplex outlet in each of the 4 medicine cabinets in my bathroom so all the rechargeable stuff (razors, toothbrushes,etc.) can stay totally hidden when not in use.

From MattNYC -

Good luck finding either Hazel or Alice in this market these days. Today it's more likely you'll find Margarita or Yolanda -- in the country illegally, of course -- who charge you $85 to "clean" 1200 square feet in less than two hours.

You are not only bad at math, but a racist as well...do you reject board packages with those names?

Not racist, just accurate.

Get with the program.

Accurate would be Consuela and Flo. What you wrote is just racist.

Open kitchen layout (so I can keep an eye on kids and talk to guests while I cook), Bosch dishwasher (very quiet in an open layout), pull-out pantry, corner lazy susan (in 7 yrs, nothing has ever fallen off), W/D in unit, closet doors flush to top and sides so everything is accessible, custom radiator covers, and wood/granite interior window ledges (wood for LR & BR and granite for kitchens & baths).

How much do you think you need to spend on bathroom faucets, showerheads, etc? If you're in a $1.5-$2m apt, is it necessary to go the Waterworks-esque route? Or should you save some money for other stuff and get somewhat less expensive fixtures?

Anyone here have any experience with Herbeau faucets?

It's always nice to have money left over for good furniture

I feel like saving money on the last mile of a renovation is like getting dressed up and then wearing costume jewelry -

what's the thinking behind cheaping out on fixtures? is it "I'd like to save money because my next buyer can't tell the difference?"

oh, and 30_years reminds me: an appliance garage in the kitchen for the toaster and coffeemaker

ali r.
{downtown broker}

I wasn't exactly proposing "cheaping out" on fixtures. But Waterworks runs $1500 just for the faucet, whereas some of the other stuff I've been looking at is more like $800-$1000. When you add up the difference in cost for all the different items (lavatory faucet, showerhead, theromostatic valve and trim, pressure valve and trim and tub filler with handheld shower) you end up saving quite a bit of cash by going with a slightly less expensive brand than Waterworks.

I like having 30" deep kitchen countertops, lots of work room, even with full depth top cabinets.

Ah, I never looked at Waterworks fixtures. I have Hansgrohe/Grohe fixtures everywhere. Cheaper than Waterworks. Decent quality. Kohler makes some nice stuff too, along with cheap crud.

Well Pette, it seems like saving $2500 on a $2mm apartment isn't a lot, but I haven't seen your two alternatives. Take a look at the Visionaire if you want to see a nice use of Waterworks fixtures -- I've certainly never heard any complaints about Grohes though.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

There is a large world beyond Waterworks and I'd hardly describe the other manufacturers as "cheaping out." Newport Brass, California Faucet, Grohe, Hansgrohe, Jado, Rohl... All have fabulous high end products in a host of finishes and different looks.

For me: unobstructed southern corner exposure, high ceilings, oversized windows, square footage with room to roam (Soho, Chelsea, Flatiron)
For my husband: Walking distance to Metropolitan Museum of Art, Natural History Museum, and Central Park, incredible views, doorman, central or through the wall air conditioning (CPW, CPW, CPW)
No wonder we're still looking!

I wish I could remember the name of the place in 90 Hudson St that I used to get everything at... George something? Anyone remember the place? Now it's usually New York Replacement Parts on Lex and ?94th?. I used to like Eigen, but the service slipped about a dozen or so years ago so I stopped going there. Does any know if Waterworks makes their own stuff or is it rebadged from another manufacturer?

Sorry I forgot this thread until it popped backup. About radiant heating and pex tube: there were installation issues in the early US attempts, which led to the bad repution (unjustified, in my opinion). It is used all around Western Europe and is recognized as the most pleasant and reliable method, especially for a ground floor/single family home.
We had to source the right tubing (in Queens) ourselves. The contractor tested it for leaks, we just had to let him do it. It's worked like a charm, and is quite wonderful on very cold days. It actually warms the furniture sligtly.
At the same time, it is not necessary in an apartment building, and would be only worthwhile if you were going to redo the slab in your ground floor or basement.

My favorites:
1)radiant heating. 2)Sonos sound system with polk built in speakers and sonance built in powered subwoofer, multi-zone ofcoarse. 3)Wall mounted plasma,lcd TVs with all wiring in wall. 4) Multi-zone central air conditioning. 5) Movie theater...my dream but my wife vetoed it. By the way, the condo we bought came with waterworks fixtures...they are nice but when we went to buy additional accessories, I found them to be way overpriced. Finally, I agree with previous poster, anything Quality, screams!

Supposedly total apartment sound systems never pay for themselves because they become outdated so quickly.

And yes, we have them - speakers in the ceilings, etc. Men love this kind of stuff.

Had to laugh, ph41. We have the whole wired in the wall sound with speakers too. Definitely a man thing, the husband was thrilled, and the delivery guys are always impressed. It's really funny.

Maly - the guy who did the whole sound/stereo system loved to tell the story of the multi million dollar UES townhouse he wired throughout for sound. The wife walked around with a little stereo radio because she never could figure out how to work the music system!!

I totally understand.

Ha! That's me! I listen to my iPod playlists from the base in the living room or the bedroom. It really cracks me up I'm not the only one. I love to watch old movies, and it drives my husband batty I can't even hear the difference between the 6 different settings.

"Supposedly total apartment sound systems never pay for themselves because they become outdated so quickly."

And because unlike a high-end kitchen appliance, one type of sound system will not satisfy all audiophiles.

George Taylor Specialties on Franklin Street is the place you're thinking of for bathroom fixtures. Amazing place--and really helpful, too. Anyone remodeling their bath should check it out

Sonos is a very different whole house music system, and the best piece of electronics I have ever owned. I have a music server with 13,000 songs that is barely bigger than an eight track, and five Sonos units (which are about the size of a tissue box) throuhgout my apartment. The music streams wirelessly, and each unit can play different music, all controlled by an iPod-like wireless remote or an iPhone. You can play any song off the server like an iPod, stream thousands of radio stations, access virtually any song through Rhapsody, and create your own virtual radio stations. I was an early adopter -- my apartment system is almost six years old (I put it in my house too). Wouldn't trade it for anything.

We have Sonos too. The man of the house likes it (and the speakers in the ceilings). Since I am the impetus behind all our moves, I have no beef with it.

soundproofing. jumbo size bathtub for two. hardwood floors finished with natural processes such as black tea staining.

Glamma - soundproofing - if you have the opportunity to insulate your internal walls, that cuts down on sound tremendously.

"George Taylor Specialties on Franklin Street is the place you're thinking of for bathroom fixtures. Amazing place--and really helpful, too. Anyone remodeling their bath should check it out"

That's it! (looking it up now, they used to be in 100 Hudson, not 90)

So is Sonos basically a Donald Duck Close N Play, but without the Disney licensing?

you can do everything that you are describing with the sonos with an apple laptop and airport extremes or airport expresses and airfoil for radio stations. and use your iphone to control if for some reason you don't want to move the laptop.

and use whatever other components you choose for electronics and speakers.

Anytime anyone ever mentions Sonos, some Mac freak jumps in and says you can do all of that with a few thousand dollars worth of apple components. (a) So what? (b) I don't own any apple components (c) I hate iTunes (d) Rhapsody does not work on apple (e) Unless something changed recently, you cannot access anything other than your itunes library remotely (f) Sonos does not even need to be connected to a computer or have one turned on (g) airport streams only the same music to each zone and, except for some hack patches, does not allow volume to be controlled in each zone (h) each Sonos has its own line in and subwoofer ports (i) the Sonos remote is far superior, its battery lasts for a week, and I would need to use your iPhone because I don't have one (j) did I mention it is the best piece of electronics ever?

I bet any owner of a high-end audio system who went for a careful hearing exam would find that he has considerable hearing loss at many of the frequencies that said high-end sound systems strive so ambitiously to create. But at least they have remote control, with an emphasis on the latter.

hear! hear! nyc_sport

Well said. iTunes - what a joke....

Have any of you Sonos lovers looked at Sooloos? I am going to get one or the other.

http://www.meridian-audio.com/sooloos/

http://www.stereophile.com/mediaservers/908sooloos/

I agree, iTunes sucks. It imported several thousand duplicates once and I had to delete them one by one, insanely user-unfriendly.

AH: how true. I am not an audio freak, and have excellent hearing. I can even hear the "buzz" that kids set their phones to.

My very brief foray into the world of iTunes is why I have no interest in dealing with anything Apple, including their tele-phones. Miserable, intrusive, thing-that-wouldn't-leave software.

ok. ok. ok

i was one of you until i got converted. i didn't do it. it was done to me.

i am definitely a late to the party apple crazy person.

gotta tell you it works. the big break through was airfoil which enables you to access the extreme/express without going through itunes. just found this about 2 months ago -- have no idea how long its been around.

ah: it's impossible to explain. i put up with shit from the stupid iphone that would have made me throw any other electronic device through a window. it's positively ridiculous....very dubious as a phone, but i love it.

ok..kill me now.

I have an Apple iPod (80 gigs) and an iPod touch (32gigs I think).

I have run out of room on the iPod touch, and it froze up so bad once it took me a week to get it working again.

I prefer the "feel" of the original and now mostly have gone back to the iPod which will hold my 6,000+ songs and has room for the 50-100 I add every week. And I still have hundreds of older CDs that I have yet to rip.

My most listened new bands this week: The Raveonettes and The XX

I use LastFM.com to "scrobble" what I listen to, up to 10,000+ songs scrobbled, number one is Sonic Youth and I will make sure they stay there.

I have 4x 5th row seats to see Tegan and Sara at Town Hall next Friday, but can't go. If anybody wants them I'll sell them for face value plus fees, will list them on Criagslist this weekend.

"AH: how true. I am not an audio freak, and have excellent hearing. I can even hear the "buzz" that kids set their phones to."

Can you hear when TV sets are on but the sound turned off? It always drives me nuts and all my friends are like "Hear what?"

Yup. I can hear when most devices are on standby. I can also hear the buzzing of a mosquito in a room.

"Can you hear when TV sets are on but the sound turned off? "

OMG!

I can hear that high-pitched squeal when my neighbors turn on their TVs!

raveonettes yeah.....try just jack
hate itunes--love ease of file management with mp3..so much easier to do anything...confuses me the popularity of itunes woth young people, who typically resent any software (windows) that seeks to render them captive--
will look into sonos nycsport..sounds great...assume tho one has to boot up the server before use or leave running in some sort of power save constantly?

traders ears---shot from yelling on phones for years--transmits right into ones own ear--justice? preceded by too many rock concerts....hello??????

Everyone used to make fun of me for wearing hearing protection while mixing. Talk to Pete Townsend about it now.

Ubottom -- The server stays on, but it draws very little power when not in use and some have tiny cooling fans, some do not. They are overkill in terms of price and features, but there are new solid state storage devices that draw no power when not in use and have no fan. They are about 8x the price of traditional devices, which are rather rediculously cheap (about $1-$3 per gig). There are lengthy discussions in the Sonos help forums about the pros and cons of different models. Mine also serves as a backup for my desktop. Also, if you want true CD-quality sound, you should re-rip all of your CDs in a non-compressed format. There are services that will do this for you for a dollar or less each, and send you back the CDs preloaded on DVDs and/or on a hard drive you can just plug into the Sonos.

I don't think anyone has listed this yet:

Dedicated undercounter icemaker.

For 2 reasons, first, they make clear ice, not cloudy like icemakers in fridges do. Second, they make enough ice so if you are having a party you can supply the ice you need without purchasing bags of ice.

wow, modern really loves his icemaker.

I'll add programmable thermostats. Amazing how many miss that.

Bathroom tv! (for the bathtub)
Kitchen tv/internet.

California closets!

"The music streams wirelessly, and each unit can play different music, all controlled by an iPod-like wireless remote or an iPhone. You can play any song off the server like an iPod, stream thousands of radio stations, access virtually any song through Rhapsody, and create your own virtual radio stations"

Doesn't this mean that everything is in mono?

Also, I don't know why anyone has (or thinks they have) a high-end system with an ipod/ or mp3s.

I'm not a huge audiophile, I can appreciate tube amps but think they're overkill, am fine with CDs, etc... but what you lose in fidelity with compressed formats is pretty darn significant, making high end amps and speakers and such useless.

"Dedicated undercounter icemaker.

For 2 reasons, first, they make clear ice, not cloudy like icemakers in fridges do. Second, they make enough ice so if you are having a party you can supply the ice you need without purchasing bags of ice."

As I mentioned in another thread, with a decent number of fridges, putting a good quality inline water filter yields clear ice. As far as having enough is for parties: if you have a fridge like a bottom freezer SubZero remove the upper drawer with the ice tray in it. This will disable the arm that tells the ice maker that the ice tray is full and to stop making ice. Put a large bucket in the bottom basket and it will get full of ice. Do this a few days ahead of your party and you'll have a freezer full of ice.

30yrs - the other reason to have the undercounter icemaker, when you have a bottom freezer sub-zero is, guess what, no bending down to get the ice (hard to believe, but that was my husband's main reason to get the dedicated ice-maaker, and he is not a usually lazy person,

Also, there is usually stuff in the freezer,(maybe even for the party) so it's hard to empty it out to stock up on ice.

And it makes those really cute LITTLE ice cubews.

While clean water is important, I think the clear ice has more to do with the freezing technology used that washes away minerals during the freezing process than the water itself. Crescent shaped ice from most freezers is not made the same way as the smaller cubes in dedicated ice makers.

http://www.kold-draft.com/the-ice/ice-technology/

wow. never would have considered or even noticed if the ice is "cloudy." quality of the alcohol? yes, definitely notice.

but i can have a very good time with a good wine served in a faded plastic cup. and i was one of the co-founders at my college of a wine tasting society whose former members now rank fairly highly in our world, more from an intellectual perspective than is usual (phDs, doctors primarily in academia, foreign policy wonks, people you see on Jon Stewart at least three times a year, etc.). i'd still be happy to invite any one of them to PCV for a great drink with a cloudy ice cube.

and i'd bet they'd still love to come drink some red out of less than stellar glassware.

AR - plastic plates, yes, plastic glasses, NO!!!

Speaking of wine, did anyone add wine storage to the list yet? Ideal would be an undercounter built-in wine unit in the kitchen and a larger wine storage/cellar somewhere else, either in the apartment or in the building basement.

I've been collecting boutique napa cabs, and most would benefit from 5 or more years of storage before drinking (though you can drink them now with decanting for a few hours first), so I've had to rent a wine storage unit, as I have 20+ cases put away and more rolling in, mostly purchased direct from the producers. Just got my 2006 Araujo Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Eisele Vineyard delivered yesterday. Other cabs/blends I like are Paul Hobbs, Merus, Pahlmeyer, Quintessa, Joseph Phelps Insigna.

modern - sometimes the undercounter ones are really just glorified refrigerators - much better to get an undercounter refrigerator that holds, wine, soda, etc.

And then get a Eurocave - it's great.

Clear ice from an icemaker is also harder and melts slower, great for scotch on the rocks, where you clink the cubes around a nice crystal rocks glass.

we have in our upstate place a huge basement space that is 100% good for red wine.

lovely wine choices, modern. but rather limiting, even for our relatively well off group here.

i, being the cheapster that i am, like the malbecs, the vernaccia.

well, those are not for everyday consumption. try The Prisoner, a moderately-priced napa blend. I had a private tasting in St Helena recently. They have the best labels, ever.

http://www.orinswift.com/wines/the_prisoner.php

Real mercury head dime:

http://www.orinswift.com/wines/mercury_head.php

Anybody remember Dymo label makers?

http://www.orinswift.com/wines/saldo.php

modern, i want to come to your house! maybe we can start a new thread just about wine.