No one in my family as far back as my grandmothers had any hood in their kitchen. The heat was sometimes unbearable during summertime when one was reducing tomatoes in 8 gallon pots or doing other preserving stuff that implies cooking, but hey, it was just a couple of days a year. In the winter we did like the warmth and the aromas of whatever was cooking dispersing through the house. A hood was just not a part of the cooking culture back in my country. Three months ago, I finally caved in and installed a Kobe RA2 hood over my range. I'm still in shock over how incredibly useful a hood is. I now consider that the most important two appliances in the whole kitchen are the range and the hood, way ahead of the fridge/freezer, oven or anything else. What gave me the hint of what a good hood is capable of was dining at a nice restaurant, 5 feet away from the grill on which my salmon was being prepared; no fish smell whatsoever was coming our way - that was something I definitely wanted at home. I'm convinced I spent all these years in the dark, but now I've seen the light and it's coming from my hood :-)

Very interesting about syndication. Thanks. My friend is a syndicated political cartoonist; his work appears immediately...for obvious reasons. Hub and I didn't realize the syndicated NYT puzzle was a week behind. No, I didn't see Wordplay. Maybe I'll look for it. I love crossword puzzles and am pretty good. But my mother, and her father, well, they had a standing challenge to beat each other every Thursday on the diagramless puzzle that appeared in the old Chicago Daily News. First one to call the other won! After a couple hours, mom worried every time the phone rang - "Please, don't let it be Pop!" she say. My mom is now 86 and has severe short-term memory disorder so she can no longer live alone, or remember any thing that occurred in the past six years, but she can still do a diagramless puzzle. She confounds her doctors. Anyway, I digress. This was fun and helpful. Thanks, everyone. Oh, and I've completed today's puzzle. Ta Da! Sherry

Oh my gosh, you guys are putting my little adopted town on the map. Two visits from this forum in just about as many months! sue, you're right about not enough to hold your kids interest for the whole time in my little town. Here's what I would suggest. Before you head to Skaneateles, go to destiny USA in Syracuse. It has to be one of the bigger malls in the nation at this point. I'm not a fan because I don't like malls, but even I have to admit it's pretty spectacular. Lots of indoor entertainment as well as great restaurants and great shopping. if you're not a foodie, the Krebs may not be for you. It is magnificent, but very pricey. Gildas is great, the Sherwood Inn is always a crowdpleaser, Doug's fish fry is a great stop, Bluewater grill is also a good standby. Daniels in Marcellus is reliably good too. Rosalies is a local favorite. My fave is Moros table in nearby auburn . If you need more shopping excitement, and don't want to go to Syracuse, in the other direction are the Waterloo outlets. Lots of names stores, like any other large outlet center. If you had to Ithaca, it's only 45 minutes. Very scenic drive. Great place for lunch is Ithaca bakery. I like the one off Route 13. Very typical Ithaca. Everything from Hearty sandwiches to less hearty vegetarian fare. Purity ice cream based in Ithaca is worth the trip alone. finally, I would suggest you check Skaneateles.com for a calendar of events. There are always some great outdoor events around that time. if you have any questions, just ask. I'm a native of Ct, but have lived here for about 15 years. jo

Okay, while not installed I did get the electrics wired up so the oven was available. We decided to do a test with a frozen degarno pizza in the upper oven. Quickly found a weakness at least in my opinion. The upper oven uses what would be broiler elements in a full oven for heat. This rapidly over cooked the pizza top while leaving the crust near raw. We put it back in covered with foil to cook the crust. Crispy pepperoni,. Yuuummmmm. I've no idea if normal double oven ranges cook the same way. The rack was on the lower of the two available positions with the divider installed. Maybe if we had put the pizza on the divider itself it would have not been as bad. I don't know. Something to try next time. For now it seems that upper oven dishes will have to be covered. This was on convection bake a few degrees below where we typically set our old oven. Perhaps it should have been lower still. The old oven was not convection so not much experience there. My overall impression as to appearance, fit and finish remain good. The oven vents out the back left of the range top surface. It is fan driven and the noise is very noticeable. The sudden blower noise may just have been a surprise since our old electric oven vent didn't use a fan. The burner grids are nice and heavy though not as heavy as some of the other mid price ranges I saw. They do provide a continuous surface for sliding pots around. I like the big top burner control knobs and the up front control panel that doesn't stick way out as on some slide in models. Looking forward to getting the gas hooked up. Love the looks of the big front right duel heat 22000 BTU burner.