Thought I would give you guys the details of our recent upgrade/remodel in case it is of help to anyone. I spent the past year reading postings and know that the experience of others is valuable. We had Whirlpool micro, DW and double oven, circa 1998, when our house was built. We replaced with KitchenAid. The frig is a built-in KitchenAid Superba 42", stainless trim with a black water/ice dispenser area and custom panels. It is still going strong so no need to change it out now. Cook top was Amana gas, more on that later.

We chose the KitchenAid Architect II series for several reasons. One, we thought we got a lot for the money. Two, the oven and DW required no modifications to the space. And three, we liked the look of the matching handles (I know others think that does not matter but it did to us). Our cooktop is in front of a window so no overhead vent, which meant a downdraft. We had an Amana and were never impressed with it and I thought our only choices were a GE Profile or a Jenn Aire, but we discovered we could fit the Dacor 30" Preference Renaissance with the Dacor downdraft pop up vent in the same space and went with that.

Microwave: We went with the 24" KBMS1454SSS, the model with the drop down door that looks like an small wall oven. We love it. It is different and fits the kitchen well. It is installed in a tower stack with four large drawers below and a double cabinet above, so about shoulder height and not adjacent to any other appliance. I think a lot of people might think it is a small convection oven. You have to be sure it is the right height, due to the design. I love the stainless steel interior.

Double Oven: We went with the KEBS207SSS convection upper, thermal lower. Architect II series.

Dishwasher: We went top of the line, the KUDE70CVSS.

Cooktop: The aforementioned Dacor Preference Renaissance 30" cooktop with the Dacor RV30 SS pop up vent.

Impressions of everything so far are very favorable. Here are the pros and cons I have noticed:

Cons: The color of the display on the microwave is a bright "true" blue, as are the hidden lights on the DW (and the Dacor by the way). On the oven it is more of an aqua blue. I find that odd, given they are the same Architect II series, but it is not a deal breaker for me. As others have mentioned, there is a cool down cycle on the microwave, but it seems to be fixed at about 2 or 3 minutes regardless of cook time and only kicks in if you use the microwave for more than 4 or 5 minutes. It doesn't bother us as we have a large open room and the noise is no more than the normal microwave noise. I had a spot of something on the inner surface of the outer piece of glass on the upper oven of the double oven, but instead of calling service I removed the two inner glass panels and cleaned the lint off. It wasn't that hard. DW has a lot of insulation and is a tight fit. We have custom cabinets and it fits fine, but it is tight. The door sits right at the front edge of the cabinets but fits entirely under the granite top overhang, so we can still see the various blue lights, which is nice. But there is no way we could have had a wood panel, like our old Whirlpool. It would stick out way too far and look out of place.

Pros: The dishwasher is very very quiet. I would have no problem watching TV 10 feet away. In fact it is so quiet you can hardly tell it is even running. And we really like the 3rd row cutlery tray. And did I mention it was quiet? The cooktop is really nice. It looks pro and is substantial and the pop up vent is very sexy. Fan is not too loud but I think we will use it on low mostly. So far, it has not caused the burner to go out, as some have mentioned. No problems with oven or microwave, all work as advertised.

Overall we are pleased so far. We got our applicances from the distributor who sells to our original builder. They were willing to sell to us since we bought from them in 1998. They quoted us within $50 per appliance of online pricing, but of course we paid tax. But we got free delivery, to the inside of the house, and the installer hauled off the old appliances. Total install was $300 (I installed the microwave myself after some slight modifications to the opening). We paid a granite guy $200 to enlarge the opening and a gas guy $150 to relocate the line to accomodate the vent/blower. We are getting a $400 KitchenAid rebate for the DW and oven. If any problems pop up we will let you know but so far so good. I may not use the self clean just to be on teh safe side. :)