Lemongrass in Fountain Valley

[The Motor Court Company]

or your neighbor who is only 20 ft away will smell the shrimp paste or curry and don't want to be friend with you any more.

The other single issue that is a deal-breaker for me is an in-island cooktop. Another huge turnoff and not something that's easy to change.

This. 

I hate these.  The downdraft vents never work well and even worse is having no hood or downdraft vent at all.  Smoke goes everywhere.  I don't know how people cook without an adequate hood.

go old school and open up the windows.

But if you do this you either:

1. Let in the smell of the landfill

2. Let in the noise of the freeway, tollroad or trash trucks rumbling down the road

 

[elgringo]

Back to the laundry room.   Thanks for the clarification.  I guess it depends on how a family uses the laundry room which may depend on the ages and stages of kids, etc.  My parents were neat freaks.  Also, IIRC, the laundry room had a closet with folding doors that hid things like soap, the ironing board, etc.  The room looked very clean and organized.

How would this differ from what some call a "mud room?"  I see both as a transition room from the garage to the main house.

Entering the home through the garage is the way I always come in the house, and the way guests often come in if we've driven somewhere together. I don't want a messy laundry room to be the first thing they see. Furthermore, the laundry room is a "clean" area, and coming in with grocery bags, boxes, etc from the outside doesn't seem very clean to me. I know that the latter is mostly just a perception issue, but the former is the main reason. Entering the house through the laundry room is just something that really turns me off and is one of a few deal breakers in deciding to buy a house or not. And it's not something that's easy to change (unlike flooring, window treatments, etc).

That's my personal reason for this dislike.

 

[Arman]

Back to the laundry room.   Thanks for the clarification.  I guess it depends on how a family uses the laundry room which may depend on the ages and stages of kids, etc.  My parents were neat freaks.  Also, IIRC, the laundry room had a closet with folding doors that hid things like soap, the ironing board, etc.  The room looked very clean and organized.

How would this differ from what some call a "mud room?"  I see both as a transition room from the garage to the main house.

Entering the home through the garage is the way I always come in the house, and the way guests often come in if we've driven somewhere together. I don't want a messy laundry room to be the first thing they see. Furthermore, the laundry room is a "clean" area, and coming in with grocery bags, boxes, etc from the outside doesn't seem very clean to me. I know that the latter is mostly just a perception issue, but the former is the main reason. Entering the house through the laundry room is just something that really turns me off and is one of a few deal breakers in deciding to buy a house or not. And it's not something that's easy to change (unlike flooring, window treatments, etc).

That's my personal reason for this dislike.

You bringing up the "mud room" is exactly the problem with the laundry room being the entrance to the house from the garage: it's an area where the outside (dirty) world meets your private sanctuary, and hence is a "dirty" area. The mud room is a place where people take off their shoes (muddy in winter), take off their coats and jackets (wet, dirty), all things that I wouldn't want in a "clean" laundry room.

 

[elgringo]

Fair enough.  I can see why one would want a "clean" area for laundry.  I am wondering (and this is not directed to Arman alone) what folks prefer for the transition from the garage to the house.  One of my previous homes had the garage access door going into the kitchen.  But that brings up the dirty/clean issue as well.  Interesting.

[/quote]

You bringing up the "mud room" is exactly the problem with the laundry room being the entrance to the house from the garage: it's an area where the outside (dirty) world meets your private sanctuary, and hence is a "dirty" area. The mud room is a place where people take off their shoes (muddy in winter), take off their coats and jackets (wet, dirty), all things that I wouldn't want in a "clean" laundry room.
[/quote]

 

[Arman]

Fair enough.  I can see why one would want a "clean" area for laundry.  I am wondering (and this is not directed to Arman alone) what folks prefer for the transition from the garage to the house.  One of my previous homes had the garage access door going into the kitchen.  But that brings up the dirty/clean issue as well.  Interesting.

I think ideal is a true "mud room", or "home room" as it seems to be referred to nowadays. An example of this is found in The Hill Plan 2 at LR (only using this as an example because it came to mind right away). It's a good place to drop off keys, groceries, coats, etc when you enter from the garage but before you actually enter the kitchen. Slightly less ideal but completely acceptable to me is to enter a hallway into the home. With a choice, I prefer the former for the reasons mentioned.