I had a pair of Thermador Columns installed in December (30" Fridge, 30" Freezer). I love them. I had a hard time deciding between the above set vs. 27" pair from SubZero. So far, everything has worked perfectly and I'm very happy with my decision. My final deciding points were: For about 20% less money I could get 25% more storage. (The 27" SubZeros were about 25% more money compared to the 30"), and I had room for either. I LOVED the way the doors on the Thermadors swung fully to the outside of the fridge, rather than staying within the front of the fridge. Opening is so much wider feeling. As for now living with it, here are some thoughts on concerns others have brought up: I'm 5/2" and have no complaints about the top shelves. They are high, but I prefer that to stooping over for lower stuff. And the drawers are great! And I like the shallow shelves, with deeper door stuff because no more lost stuff in the back of the fridge. The doors hold ALL the condiment type stuff and the rest is wide open for large jugs of milk, juice, and everything else! One of the comments I get most when people look inside is: WOW, you can see EVERYTHING at a glance! It all seems to be at eye level and just item or two deep. No more hidden leftovers & stuff. The shelves are still deep enough to hold two gallons of milk, one in front of the other, as well as my big huge serving platter, cookie sheets, and pizza boxes. So no need for the shelves to be any deeper for me. I love the ice bucket location. Open the door and it's right at waist/chest level. Perfect. As I said before - no regrets so far!

I could certainly be wrong but from the sound of your post you sound like someone who has "aspired" to have a SubZero fridge not necessarily for a functional reason but to have the brand. It sounds as if you're going all out - two Miele dishwashers, etc. - so why not just go for the SZ? If you think about all the people who have been keeping their food chilled without investing in SZ, there has to be something people "value" about SZ other than it's functional ability to keep food chilled or frozen that would make them pay the premimum price. Could be appearance, appeal of saying you have the brand, etc. In any case if you want one and want to spend the $ go for it. It seems you can count on repairs with any brand these days - kind of like luxury auto brands. Just because you spend alot doesn't mean it will be trouble free.

I just bought (with great apprehension) a Bosch range on Ebay. The seller did have a very good rating. I actually saved $900.00. I was worried, but $900.00 is alot of money when you are building a home and have many extras that you weren't planning on. The range was really packed well. It was on a pallet and it had foam around it, plastic wrap and more plastic wrap. The seller had that it was only curb side dely. I was really afraid of that becoz being single, I really didnt' have anyone to help me bring it inside. Well, the driver actually automatically brought it into my garage. I then gave him $20.00 which he didnt' even want. before I signed for the range, I unwrapped it and it was totally dent free and seems fine. Maybe I just lucked out - I haven't had it installed yet, but so far it was a smooth transaction. Good luck in whatever you decide. As for the mfg. not honoring warranty if not bought from an authorized dealer, that's crap on their part ! It's thier product, they should honor the warranty no matter where you buy it. Why should it matter?????

Thanks Marcydc. Changing the first filter was hard because the installer used big honkin' working man muscles to tighten it so tight we needed tools to unscrew it (I had psychologist man muscles working on it, but he needed pliers for leverage). The real difficulty, however, is changing the filter, and fixing the filter code, without warming up the freezer. After my third change I've learned a few things: The book says that when the filter light first comes on it's just a warning, and when the light changes state (starts or stops blinking--can't remember which), it's time to change. Tech help told me I should change as soon as it comes on, and that the trouble I've had resetting the filter indicator comes from letting it go to the end. In that case, it has to be changed in program mode rather than customer mode. The other thing I've learned is not to even try to reset right after changing the filter. My unit won't go into customer mode if it's even a little warm, and if it loses too much cool, it won't go into program either. It's basically trying to say, "Shut the door, idiot!!!" It's easy enough to change the filter and wait a number of hours. I always set aside some ice, because you're supposed to throw away the first 24 hrs. worth, so waiting another 6-12 hours is no biggie. But what defines "hard"? For me, it's the procedure to get into customer mode or program mode. It's arcane in a way that only a German engineer could like. It's like looking for easter eggs in a computer game. I can't hold the instructions and do the routine at the same time. That's "hard".