"I thought of getting a Laceleaf Maple, but the price for a small one astounded me ($89!)" I suspect that might've been one of the 'dissectum' Japanese maples, in which case it was likely a cultivar produced to grafting a branch to the root of another plant, and these can be more labor and time intensive to produce than some people realize, although it provides a plant with reliable characteristics (such as color and form) when grown under good conditions. From what I've seen quite a few Bradfords have branches break off, but survive. Take a close look at some big ones and you may see old damage. That may or may not bother you. You mentioned Colorado Spruce; if you want one that grows slowly & doesn't get nearly as large (or at least would take a very long time to get huge), I believe the 'Baby Blue Eyes' cultivar might be worth looking into. Not all Japanese maples grow at the same rate; if you've got a Bloodgood, I'm surprised it only grew from under a foot to 7' tall & 5' wide in 11 years! Wow. I don't know their growth rate, but I was thinking it's not usually that slow. Gotta wonder how your soil is, whether you mulch & how much sunlight & water it gets. There are a number of different kinds of upright Japanese maple, and some might eventually meet your needs. Are you familiar with Shantung Maple? It's supposed to be hardy. Might look quite nice. Would it work in your area? Richard.

I have a lot of experience with commercial grade cooktops and ranges. I have a degree from the CIA. I'd like to think that I have cooked on pretty much every burner known to mankind. Due to my husband's job, we have moved many times, owned many homes and renovated lots of kitchens. My mother has a commercial range in the home she purchased. So, I am completely familiar with the problems involved. While commercial units may be attractive from a purchase price standpoint and seem very simple, I wouldn't want one in a home setting. The continuous pilot light alone is enough to dissuade me. Proper ventilation is expensive and noisy. Even commercial kitchens are known to shut off the gas when not open to save money. Continuous gas is dirty. It makes a mess on the walls and ceiling. You have to run the hood constantly. The cost of running a continuous pilot and constant ventilation will begin to eat into any savings immediately. It will take a few years, but in the end you won't be saving money. Your insurance company will have a fit. If they find out you have one they will either cancel the policy, refuse to pay if you have a claim, or if they will even cover it they will charge you more. What you want is an open burner residential appliance. That reduces your options to two specialty manufacturers, Bluestar and Capital. You might find a used Wolf if you look around. My preference is the Bluestar. My primary reason is the burner design. It's the old Garland stove design. It's a superior design that has been tested and found to be excellent. The unit is a pleasure to cook on. You can remove the grate and wok directly on the flame without a wok ring. The difference in price is electric ignition and fit and finish. Capitol makes a nice range top, but it's not readily available in my area. I don't feel qualified to offer an opinion on Capitol. I don't know if you ever plan to move from your home, but I have walked away from purchasing homes due to the presence of a commercial range. And, I know how to use one. While you should please yourself, you never know when your circumstances will change. You always need to plan for change. Doing what you propose will not help you in marketing your home. A heat diffuser disc will take care of any simmer issues on any grate. Last, there is an appliance forum. It's an active forum with lots of participation. That's where the appliance geeks and experts hang out. We love to talk appliances. Pose your question in the appliance forum. You may get some creative solutions.

Thanks again for the recommendations! I've added 10 blogs so far...to show which ones I follow...and I'm still reading though some of the ones, above. Of course, retrorenovation is one of my favorites! That's where I first saw the blue Arborite countertops I love, but are apparently no longer available. If anyone sees anything similar...this is still my first choice for the farmhouse kitchen. White cabinets, blue counters, bunny tiles on the backsplash and wood floors! The farmhouse remodel has been put on hold for a while, but maybe the countertops will come back while we're waiting! LOL

So, I'm in Maine and my garden has a ton of dry shade. The bones are about 100 years old, with a huge copper beech in the middle of my not-very-large backyard and a huge walnut at the edge. I also have a black locust and a row of what I think are hemlocks. All huge. But, I used to garden in Surrey, England. The Brits moaned if they were a bit north of London about how few plants they could grow, which was significantly more than one can grow in Massachusetts, the first place I gardened. . It was hard not to roll my eyes. I them moved to Moscow. In Russia, there are 3 zones and Moscow is in the middle. The Northerners were in places like Murmansk, with only a month or two of reliably frost-free weather. The trick is to figure out what grows in your conditions and to embrace it, not to look at lovely gardens from somewhere else and bemoan the fact you can't grow what they grow. If we had damp shade instead of dry shade, we'd have mosquito farms. If we wanted sun, not shade, we could cut down our magnificent mature trees. So, yeah, I haven't figured it out yet. I just discovered that a significant portion of my gardening knowledge applied more to damp clay than to dry, sandy soil. But I'm really excited to explore the new options available to me, rather than grump because my go-tos don't work in my new garden, when my old garden was sunny, damp, clay in Europe, not dry, North American sandy shade.