Suburbs

Six reasons to be (sort of ) jealous of your friends in the suburbs

By BrickUnderground  | July 23, 2015 - 9:59AM
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In a city like ours, real estate envy is a given. There's always someone with a better, bigger apartment. But we don't just covet what our fellow New Yorkers have — sometimes, the grass is greener at properties beyond city borders with actual yards to mow. Below, our list of perks and amenities, collected from our editors and contributors, that make us daydream about moving to the suburbs (well, almost):

A frivolous fridge: "Usually one fridge is sufficient, but if you're throwing a party or have a ton of leftovers, it'd be nice to have the random extra fridge we see in so many suburban garages, the better to serve our beer and Tupperware-related storage needs."
 
A generous foyer (or an actual one): "What a luxury it is to have an entryway in a NYC apartment. It's the perfect transition: Ideally, it'd have a console table and a coat closet, so when we walk in, we can unload keys and mail by the door, take our shoes off, and hang up our coats — it's like taking a big breath to decompress. And when guests come over, they don't have to see our entire apartment, our life, the minute they step through the door."
 
 
A grown-up sized pantry: "It's hard to be the kind of home cook who can just whip something together with "whatever's on hand" when your only storage space to have anything on hand is half a cramped cabinet. If we had an actual, walk-in pantry—and the space to allow us to really stock up—we like to think we'd become pretty prolific chefs. Or just prolific snackers. Either way."
 
A dedicated laundry room: "Yes, an in-unit washer/dryer is a pretty big luxury in this city, but you know what's an even bigger luxury? Having a place to air dry your laundry that doesn't also happen to be your shower. If we never again have to line the bathroom floor with towels while our delicates drip dried off the shower curtain rod, it'll be too soon."
 
 
A "magic" garbage disposal: "It seems like almost every American living in an American suburb has a magical hole in their kitchen sink where they can put god-knows-what and it gets chopped up and disappears. In NYC, we have to pull anything bigger than a rice grain out and throw it in the garbage over and over. It's extremely rare to find a garbage disposal installed in a NYC apartment."
 
Yes, a certified back yard: "I grew up on a few acres and had my own garden, so I love doing everything outdoors. Grilling, gardening, lazing about on a hammock (and having it be quiet)? These all sound heavenly."

Related:

Suburbs in the city: buy a house, get a yard, save majorly on taxes

Feeling priced out of the city? Here's what to expect in the burbs

​5 steps for installing a lawn in your brownstone's backyard

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