If I had had more time the last time around, I would have build in a 'secret' vault that is controlled by RFID. I have an RFID chip in my hand and I'd be able to open the vault by waving my hand in front of it.
You need to think this through if you want to do it, though - devise a way to unlock it mechanically, make sure it doesn't open when the power is off, etc.
More mundane things:
- induction cooking plates in your kitchen. That's a no-brainer.
- Ethernet to a few places, but don't fuss about it. The jacks will never be where you need them, anyway. Instead, make sure you have a solid backplane so that you can put wifi repeaters on each floor.
- Floor heating, as mentioned above. No-brainer too.
- For optimal living comfort, thick insulation. 10cm (4") of PUR at the least, preferably 16 (6"). Make the house air tight. Put in a ventilation system, preferable with active intake and exhaust, with heat recuperation (it's called 'System D' here, don't know if that's international).
Also, put in an easter egg for the next person remodeling the house. Write a message on an inner wall that you drywall over, put a waterproof sealed envelope with some pictures of you and your family in a false ceiling, those type of things. It's awesome to discover one of those (I once did).
Totally air-tight houses can be a danger as well; in my home (which is old and "breathes"), a heater once malfunctioned; when I noticed the malfunction (black accumulant around the vents) and called a technician to come check it out, the technician said that if the house had been air-tight I would likely be either severely hospitalized or dead, so sometimes a little non-air-tightness can be good, especially since it encourages you to open the windows and doors and get some fresh air instead of relying on the air conditioner all year round.
That's why you need ventilation! The house itself needs to be airtight, for energy preservation. The heat-recuperating system and natural ventilation takes care of taking out the dirty air. Of course when renovating a house (a renovation will never get it airtight) with antiquated dangerous heating systems that can exhaust fumes when malfunctioning, those need to be removed.
Modern building standards (I don't mean building codes, I mean state of the art in building engineering) says to make houses 100% air tight, but with proper ventilation systems, of course. Opening the windows and doors is not enough! CO levels will get back to 80% of their old levels in 30 minutes after closing them! Modern houses need to be continuously ventilated to achieve the highest levels of living comfort.
No it's not! That was thought 30 years ago, but building technology has advanced. Ventilation needs to be controlled. Having cracks and leaking windows is very inefficient in keeping an optimal indoor climate, not to mention very energy inefficient. An airtight, very well insulated house with active ventilation (an indoor climate control system, not to be confused with airco) is the best way to get an optimal indoor living climate all year round.
I wasn't talking about leaking windows. You can't seal a house up and think it's going to be a nice place to live. You need a way for the house to breath. Which is exactly what you've said.
Sorry, I thought you were agreeing with the person you were replying to. Like adestefan says, I consider 'breathing' (like 'organic ventilation') a euphemism for 'crappy air control'. But if we use 'breathing' as 'well-ventilated, in a controlled way', then I guess we agree.
Come on, that's either because you didn't really adapt to induction, or because you had a crap stove. Induction is equally good or better than gas in every aspect but one:
- Lower energy use
- Induction responds equally fast as gas (i.e, instantaneously)
- Standing over an induction stove doesn't get nearly as hot as over a gas stove
- Induction is much much much easier to clean.
- No need to find matches/lighter (unless you get a gas stove with build-in ignition)
- No need to put in separate gas piping
- Safer: never having to worry about children turning on the gas, or accidentally turning it on e.g. by bumping into it with a pot
- Pots are on the stove in a much more stable position, both safer and easier to use.
- Induction comes with build-in timers to turn off the heat for a pot (maybe some gas stoves have this, but then only the very expensive ones - I've never seen an induction plate that didn't have it).
Only disadvantage is that not all pots work on it (i.e., you need pots with iron in it, aluminum won't work).
I wouldn't say that's the only disadvantage -- with induction, I'm only cooking if the pan is in contact with the induction element. If I'm tossing a pan, I'm not cooking. I lose the ability to pull a pot slightly above the cooking surface to cool it down to a simmer while still maintaining heat.
There's an art to cooking with gas, and being technologically superior doesn't necessarily make it better.
With induction you can control very finely how much energy is added to the pot, no need to put it slightly higher. Professional chefs have switched to induction across the world except for the US; talk to European chefs about their opinions of US kitchens - most find it downright antiquated.
It still wouldn't call it a no-brainer just because of the "only disadvantage" that you mention. I'd have to throw away half of my pots (including a beautiful tagine)
When you're spending $1500 on an induction plate, or $20k on a proper kitchen, the $250 to get some new pots isn't going to make the difference. And yes you can get induction tajines, Tefal has one for example. You use that one to cook in and the other one to look at.
Note that portable single "burner" induction cooktops are available at under $100 for anyone who wants to investigate the technology before committing to it. It will remain a useful appliance, whatever your preference (warming plate, at-table presentations, cooking on the porch, etc.).
These things is what most people get their bad opinions of induction cooking from! The one linked above is a paltry 1500 watts. Enough to boil an egg. not to do proper cooking. A proper induction plate has one zone that can be boosted to 3500 of 4500 watts, which you need to get the same or better performance as a good gas stove. Don't base your opinions of cooking on induction on one of these small plates!
An induction plate will probably be more expensive than a gas stove (depending on where you live). What I like about them a lot is the fact that they are a lot easier to clean.
Serious cook, serious equipment, serious mistake with a ceramic high-output cook top. We did it for the simple reason that my spouse is tired of cleaning up the disaster of a stove after cooking for 12. We considered induction for the home with some of our pets being underfoot/on counters while cooking.
Our expensive cook top was tested and branded as copper safe. It is, until water gets between the cook top and the copper pan. Also found that the rapid heat generated by an utterly imprecise dial control system could damage cookware, so I now tend to bring them to temp in two stages.
I would definitely go with gas if the line is already brought into the kitchen and available.
You can obtain Fogor induction cook tops and try them out and take them back if they don't work. Same mechanic as a full scale range. Make sure you do a double oven and if you can afford it, install a micro hood with a real vent outside the house - or your attic goods will smell like bacon in perpetuity.
Are you talking about induction or ceramic? They're totally different, ceramic is crap, don't get that - it's only barely better than a 'regular' electric plate. There's no comparing the ease of use between the two - it's just that the look roughly similar from a distance, that's where the similarities end.
From my first sentence: serious mistake with a ceramic high-output cook top
We did not go with the induction, I should have run gas. I did, however, test pretty extensively with induction. Even in the $6,000 range I wasn't pleased with the results in testing.
Since the house doesn't (and never will) have gas, the choice is between electric and induction. Seems that it really is a no-brainer for us. I'd never even heard of induction so I need to do some research here.
You need to think this through if you want to do it, though - devise a way to unlock it mechanically, make sure it doesn't open when the power is off, etc.
More mundane things:
- induction cooking plates in your kitchen. That's a no-brainer.
- Ethernet to a few places, but don't fuss about it. The jacks will never be where you need them, anyway. Instead, make sure you have a solid backplane so that you can put wifi repeaters on each floor.
- Floor heating, as mentioned above. No-brainer too.
- For optimal living comfort, thick insulation. 10cm (4") of PUR at the least, preferably 16 (6"). Make the house air tight. Put in a ventilation system, preferable with active intake and exhaust, with heat recuperation (it's called 'System D' here, don't know if that's international).
Also, put in an easter egg for the next person remodeling the house. Write a message on an inner wall that you drywall over, put a waterproof sealed envelope with some pictures of you and your family in a false ceiling, those type of things. It's awesome to discover one of those (I once did).