I commuted west side of Arl. Heights (NW Hy/Wilke) to Cumberland/Kennedy for several years. Almost exactly 1/2 hour, so AH to Des Plaines would be comfortably below that...Barrington to DP would be within the 1/2 hour perimeter. Also there can be potential to use METRA (there are some commuter busroutes from Des Plaines/Mount Prospect which connect to morning and evening trains).

I'm very partial to AH...nice mix of older homes, post-war baby boom and 70s-80s subdivisions. Area is aging quite gracefully--the new development in downtown (near the train station) has helped people wishing to get out of their big houses stay in the area (and become pedestrian again, with Jewel/restaurants/theaters all right there). Some problems with scraping for mini-mansions but not too bad (not nearly as bad as Hinsdale, for instance, although Hinsdale is another order-of-magnitude higher/desirable)

Things to be careful of in the area:

1. Water/Sewage. Investigate the water situation (city versus well) and sewage (city versus septic). I believe there are some attractive areas of AH which are still septic (Sherwood) which are entirely surrounded by city sewers.

2. Basements--there can be trouble with dampness/wetness.

3. School districts--look hard at the borderlines because they don't line up tidily with the village lines.