DC1's Profile

I have an enclosed sleeping porch on a 100 yr old row home (2 actually, but the downstairs was probably never used as a 'sleeping porch'), and I am decidedly not a fan. Ours is enclosed, which sounds great except it's a sieve and prone to the worst of all worlds -- hot in summer (we installed CAC thankfully) and frigid in winter, so much that it impacts the heating efficiency of the entire house).

We did use it for alternate fridge space one Thanksgiving, but that's about the only useful application we've encountered. I will be so relieved to gut this room and the adjoining one and install proper insulation.

After considering every imagineable surface for a kitchen reno, we ultimately selected concrete and we're not disappointed. Concrete is heavy, but it has an organic quality lacking in quartz. We considered granite but didn't like the uncertainty about the radon issue (on kids). You have to take some precautions about hot pans and also learn to love the patina, but it's attractive, distinctive and surprisingly cost effective if you don't go for a high end design oriented fabricator.