2. The water heater needs replacing. Does anyone here have experience with on-demand hot water heaters (gas)? I'd put it in the basement for all hot water needs. Thoughts, suggestions, opinions?

You may want to consider an electric one instead of gas. With a small house you may not have adequate flow to trigger a gas heater which means a lot of wasted water before you get hot or you don't get any at all. The electric ones have a lower threshold. I'm facing the same decision.

3. There is a fireplace, and with a bit of chimney work, it will be functional again. Eventually I might consider getting an efficient wood-burning stove for the fireplace. Does anyone know where to start to find out about the new generation of wood stoves?

A woodburning stove will be less attractive to buyers when/if you go to sell the house. They can be messy and stinky although not everyone has had this experience. I would consider a fireplace insert with a blower...much more efficient


4. (the fun part) the kitchen is small and bare and just waiting for me to knock out one wall and put in a functional and really nice (within reason--not talking SubZero here) kitchen! I'm thinking about concrete countertops in the kitchen. And getting all Energy Star appliances, of course. Gas cooking. Any lessons learned that you would like to share?

Make sure your floor joists will support the new appliances and concrete counters. Old houses were not built to carry such heavy "live loads" (an industry term for the weight of everything on the floor except the floor). This is the voice of experience. Nothing like waking up to find your new kitchen halfway into the basement because the floor joists buckled. Consider beefing up the existing joists with ones made from LVL (laminated veneered lumber). Pricey but twice the strength.


Attic fans ROCK! Yep they're a bit noisy but it's more like white noise and the cooling they do is outstanding. My house (also a bungalow but built in 1910) has no AC and never will. I sweat a little for a few weeks in the summer but between the attic fan and the ceiling fans in each room it isn't really all that bad.

BTW, have fun...I've been restoring my little house for the last 11 years!