Hmm, I've also been reading this thread with interest because I was just about to buy a KA stand mixer. On their website, it says the Professional 600 series is "Flour Power" rated for 14 cups, "8 loaves white bread, 13 dozen cookies, 8 lb. mashed potatos" Also from their website: Warranty Our Hassle-Free Replacement Warranty guarantees that if your countertop appliance fails during the first year, KitchenAid will replace it free of charge. We will: # Deliver a replacement to your door # Arrange the return of the failed appliance # Guarantee the new appliance for one year For more information or complete warranty details on KitchenAid® countertop appliances, please call Customer Service at 1-800-541-6390. Sure doesn't sound like your experience. Maybe I'll have to look at the Cuisinart instead. W.

Your experience has been identical with ours. We thought it was something we had done - but the more we live with it, the more we suspect that it's a fault with Mannington's Hickory product. As a consumer this is reprehensible. It's interesting to note how Mannington brags in their sales literature how well their product stands up to normal use, how great their warranty is, their Ultra finish etc, etc, etc. As a regular consumer our reputable builder purchases their product from one of their authorized dealers on good faith Mannington will stand behind their warranty. Mannington has been completely unreasonable and their authorized dealer refuses to get involved... Mannington has done everything in their powers to not take responsibility. They have said it's something our builder or us must have done - blaming our builder saying he must have allowed the flooring to be stored in sub zero temperatures and extreme heat. (He installed it directly after purchasing from the supplier), blaming us saying the floor has experienced extreme humidity and weather changes, or that we've been washing it with water... Here in BC our temperatures are far from extreme (mild winters/mild summers, lots of rain... our home humidity stays in normal household range, we never wash the floors with water... We use the right hardwood cleaners... The Mannington response is that it certainly can not be something wrong with their product... A consumer puts their trust in a manufacturer and expects them to stand behind their product. Mannington has done everything to shirk responsibility. This 2000 square feet of flooring of ours withstands absolutely no moisture - our flooring runs through our greatroom into the kitchen. Normal household use - slight water drops from working in the kitchen require drying immediately otherwise the Mannington hickory surface cracks within 5 to 10 minutes... If our kids spill their juice, if not caught in 5 minutes... the floor cracks, a kitchen towel is left on the floor, the flooring blisters... It's a nightmare. And now to repair (i mean replace) the flooring (with another brand) is going to cost tens of thousands of dollars. We've owned homes with wood floor before, and have never had a problem like this. People have told us that hickory flooring is more sensitive to humidity but this is crazy. Our suspicion is that the flooring had this face checking defect prior to install - the hairline cracks in the finish are extremely hard to see but they allow any water or moisture to penetrate the flooring and cause this. Mannington says - not their problem. Well it's ours and yours and the same problem I've read elsewhere on this website. We are not going to let this go with Mannington yet because in my opinion they have a faulty product and need to step up and cover it. We're not unreasonable homeowners, we've done everything right with this floor, we take pride in our home, and know how floors need to be maintained... But I'm with you, Mannington is hurting their reputation with this - as a result, we love bringing our friends over and showing them our Mannington floors and letting them know how Mannington treats their customers. :-)

FOAS, I think finer salt would make your recipes much saltier because you'd have a lot more salt in the tsp than you would with kosher salt. Just for fun, now try your experiment with sugar and see what happens. Then measure a tsp of coffee grounds and re measure the same beans after grinding to various degrees. It is more the size of the grains of what you are measuring than anything else, indifferent results. My best friend since sixth grade is a food scientist, so that makes me a know-it-all by virtue of an almost sixty year friendship. ;-)

Thanks everyone for your help. Tearose you're right . . . not a big enough deal to drive myself crazy over it. Momj thanks for the suggestion but, although I like glass cup pulls and glass knobs, I have a different vision. I really like shiny polished chrome hardware. Positano your photos are deceiving. I would never have thought you have 3" on your shallow drawers for hardware, especially where you have a four drawer bank! Peyton I think our best solution is to either put drawer pulls or knobs on our shallow drawers. Unless, of course, we can find bin pulls that come in appropriate sizes (smaller for shallow drawers and larger for deeper drawers) with enough depth to be easy to grab onto. Sigh. I am getting tired of all this and can't wait for it to be over. Today they are finishing the demolition so I still have a ways to go.