1.) Gourmet Kitchen
Entertaining is becoming more and more popular. People like to cook at home, stay in and throw parties. Where is a better place to do that than in the heart of the home? Most floor plans now are open style, bringing the kitchen into the living space and allowing everyone to stay engaged. If you are like me and do most of the cooking, it's nice to not be stuffed back into a closed off kitchen while you are cooking.
Builders are doing more gormet kitchens, adding double ovens and convection ovens, better vent hoods, more eating space at the bar, larger spaces for refridgerators, double dishwashers, dedicated ice makers.
A couple really nice trends that we are seeing is drawers in place of lower cabinets. You can finally get to your pots and pans in the back of the cabinet without almost crawling in it!
Farm house/single basin sinks are a great option right now. Almost everyone uses a dishwasher so the seperated spaces are phasing out.
Consistent height islands/bar spaces are awesome too. The old way was to have the bar area raised but keeping everything one level makes it larger and you can really spread out making the most of your prep space.
2.) Outside Entertainment--My favorite!!
While talking about entertaining, especially in Florida, outside entertaining is VERY popular. Having a large outside entertainment area is growing more and more important to home buyers.
Summer kitchens mean more than just a grill. You can encorporate a ton of actual living room type items. Patio furniture is not just plastic now. You can get some really cool oudoor living furniture right now. Buy when back to school starts hitting the stores, that's when the sales are the best. Maybe get crafty and make some furniture from old pallets.
You can keep the outdoor life going longer with patio heaters for when its cold/ misters for when its hot. Florida has some really great weather and the heaters and mister will really help you to maximize your outdoor time and comfort.
Outside of just the standard pools/hot tubs you can also do something like a fire pit, outdoor swings, sand pit for the kids, maybe horseshoe pit or just a nice place to sit in the shade and relax.
3.) EXTRA ROOM!!!!!
The coveted 3 car garage, also known as the Florida basement. Very nice to have for storage or a workshop. Builders are able to do a tandem garage in a lot of homes so it looks ike a 2 car garage from the front but adds a whole car size space in front of one of your cars. Very popular for people with boats and for communities with more narrow but deeper lots. If you do a lot of work in your garage you can even have it heated and cooled to make it more comfortable. (mini split systems)
The Bonus Room/Man Cave/Game Room/in-law space. Blended families are becoming more common all the time and the room formerly know as the man cave pulls double and triple duty as needed. (before kids=man cave. after kids= kids play room)
Some builders will add extra rooms to their floor plans, or make a 4 bedroom a 3 bedroom etc......
4.) Neighborhood Amenities
Amenities, like what Nocatee has to offer, are becoming more and more desirable. These can be considered ʺupgradesʺ when choosing your new construction purchases.
Community Pools, Activities, Athletic Fields, Hiking Trails, Bike Trails, Jogging tracks, Golf cart friendly, you name it its out there and available!
5.) Upgraded Flooring
Believe it or not you can HEAT YOUR TILE!!!! Lately that would definatley be helpful.
Quite often tile is included with builders in all of the wet areas of the home. Hardwood floors are coming back into demand. There are so many different kinds of tile and hardwood flooring it's hard to decide. A trick that I like to recommend is if you are planning on having wood floors put in your new home do not have the builder do it. You can save 30% or more by doing it after closing and even more if you can do the work yourself.
So many different types of flooring right now it will make your head spin. Wood, tile, tile that looks like wood (my fave), tons of different carpet selections, stained concrete, laminates and even some really good looking vinyl flooring (thicker and stonger than ever).
The different decisions that need to be made just in color, width, length. etc.....