Ditto all the problems but unlike most, we love our little 4 burner Viking. I'd get another one. It looks great, perfectly sized for our kitchen, flush with the counters, heats a giant stock pot in minutes. I justify it by telling myself it's like an exotic car in which high performance comes with high maintenance. I'm sure that since my pervious ranges were standard Tappan and Kenmore junk sets the tone. I don't have any other high end range experience to compare it to. Bought around 2003, I have replaced the oven ignitors numerous times (don't pay someone to do this - 15 minute easy job), replaced the door hinges, replaced the burner ignitor. Now the oven floor pan is separating from it's underside heat-sink thing. Haven't takled that one yet. Still like it, just wish Viking would back up it's products like some other companies do. ex: Kohler - they are incredibly good.

I can not agree with the McAfee praise I had horrible problems with it. Kaspersky is an excellent pay for AV program. I would never allow anyone on my pc to have admin rights especially kids they should all have very limited accounts and no access to the admin account that would stop a lot of the problems. I do all my bill paying online through my bank, I do it on my linux computer. I have not had any problems. Choosing strong passwords is essential also for any important sites and changing them from time to time is a good practice. Many banks are now considering offering free linux live cd's to their customers to do their online banking, when you put the linux live cd into the computer and boot from it you have access to firefox browser and can go online and do your banking while on the cd so that when you are done and you eject the cd and reboot to your regular windows all traces of what you did are gone. Very much like sandboxing. Here are some recent articles about this. I really urge people to pick up a linux live cd to have on hand they can be used for a lot of stuff, most all linux magazines you find in bookstores will have a free cd of some flavor of linux in it and you can of course burn one free online or order them for free. Can Ubuntu save online banking? Avoid Windows Malware: Bank on a Live CD E-Banking on a Locked Down (Non-Microsoft) PC

This thread has been so interesting to read and I love the insight that others have shared. 1)What's your biggest frustration with the design of your home? The home we just bought will be my third in less than a year and we're not yet moved in but I'll still use this one for my responses since it's on my mind the most. (Context: DH and I got married this past January so I sold the house I owned, moved into his itty bitty place for the past several months, and are now moving into a larger house we bought together.) My biggest frustration with the house so far is that it isn't my Dream Home. I didn't walk in and instantly fall in love with everything about it, but instead looked at the school district, the location and property, and what I thought its future potential could be. I'm very impatient and don't have boatloads of money to throw at it right now so I have to wait and keep envisioning what it will someday become. Plus, it's old and I've always liked new construction. :) 2)What have you tried so far that hasn't worked for you? Convincing DH of all my "must haves"? :) Really, what I think I've done in the past is either try too hard to mimic some other style because I didn't yet have a sense of my own preferences, or occasionally buy cheap disposable type furnishings because it might have the look of the moment rather than long-lasting durability and character. I'm trying to change that by looking at Craigslist to find more sturdy items that I can still afford. 3)What's your biggest fear when it comes to designing/decorating your home? Spending money and then either hating it or changing my mind a few months later. I can be kind of fickle and like to swap colors and styles occasionally so I'm trying to move toward very neutral big ticket items that allow me to easily switch out pillows or window treatments. 4)What worries you - what are you afraid will happen if you don't do something immediately? I'm terrible about this. I worry All. The. Time. When it comes to my home I want everything to look finished and perfect and I don't think that will ever realistically happen. So in the meantime, I feel like I need to point out to any visitors that they should ignore X and Y because it's only like that for now and my vision is to _________. I guess I feel like my home is a reflection of me and my personality so if things aren't just right then I get really anxious. Plus I find that the more chaotic things become in my life - marriage, moving, selling a house, buying a house, changing jobs, preparing a rental property, and so on - the more pressure I feel to control the little things like painting the bathroom. I think I mostly answered your follow-up questions too, except I'll add that I've found myself saying the word "pretty" a LOT lately. I want to surround myself in things that are pretty. Pretty things make me happy. I smile when I look at my shower curtain of all things since it has pretty little blue birds on it. I like the pretty flowers in our bedding. I want pretty little glass pulls on the guest bath vanity. I want pretty little toss pillows in a variety of colors and patterns. I don't know... maybe that stems from living in DH's little grubby bachelor pad for most of the year. :)

Okay, I realize this post is months old, but, I have a similar problem! I have a brass chandy- thinking from Spain as well- heavy on the crystals, etc... Pretty much like the original poster's. I have a similar issue as well- except I bought mine for 5 bucks at an estate sale and it's been in storage for 2 years. Well, I'm not sure if it was broken in my storage or already broken when I bought it (doesn't matter) but one of the arms that holds crystals is broken. It is solid- doesn't have any electrical running through it... Just need to put it back together so I can reattach it and hang the crystals. How did it get fixed? I've looked on eBay for 3 weeks with no luck. I'm going to start hitting up Goodwill around here to see if they have a chandy that I can buy just for parts- I'm to the point if I can't repair the arm itself. Any help would be appreciated!