Maggie, nine years ago I bought the totally untested Thermador Freedom Series Columns. I picked them over the SubZero because they were the first to lift the interior and get rid of the ventilation panel overhead -- something I really hated about the old built-ins, but it also meant the bottom drawer wasn't nearly on the ground and in the freezer the ice was at a convenient height (had two kids in marching band -- we went through at least 2-3 gallons of ice every day during marcing season. Nine trouble free years later, I have no hesitation recommending Thermador (which includes Bosch, Miele and Gaggenau). And I got one of the first ones -- before the bugs were worked out. SubZero is the other top name for full size built in refrigeration with KA being a not to distant 2nd (but chek the opening of the drawers - required a more than 90 deggree open door back then - don't know if it's better now). For undercounter, it's SubZero, Perlick and maybe Uline.

I hope you didn't make the same mistake I did. I recently purchased the single wall oven. The first one installed did not work at all. None of the controls would operate properly. When I would set the control to broil, I would get proof. If I tried to bake, I got nothing. After GE insisting on trying to fix it by replacing 4 parts, they finally came to the same conclusion - the oven did not work. They did replace it within a short period of time. The second oven I received, appeared to work properly. I was able to bake a cheesecake, rum cake, noodle kogel and banana bread pudding without a problem - note all small pan items. When I tried to bake cookies, I discovered a design flaw. My cookie sheets took over almost the complete rack. Should be no problem, right? Not right. The first batch I tried baking on the "bake" setting. My cooking time was 17 minutes. When I went to pull out my cookies, the ones in the upper left corner were browned (beyond where they should be), but the other cookies were not even slightly browned. I had to remove the pan or have burnt cookies in the back. I tried another batch using "convection bake multi rack". The results were even worse. The cookies in the back on both sides were now burning, there was a little color on the outside edges of those on both sides of the oven and a touch along the outside edge of the cookies in the front,but the middle remained very undercooked. The 1st GE tech replaced the broiler unit after noticing that the left side was brighter and on more than the rest of the unit and noting that the temperature was hotter in the back. I tried baking again after this change. The results were the same. The cookies in the back would burn while the ones in the middle were not done. Another tech and another confirmation that the back was hotter than the rest of the oven, this time it was determined that it was at least 25 degrees hotter. I figured out that the fan, which is located in the center of the back of the oven, was drawing the air in and then heated air was being pushed out two elongated vents on either side of it straight up the sides of the oven. This air is at least 25 degrees hotter than the set temperature. My other ovens do not shoot the air straight forward as this one does and I have no problem baking cookies or anything in a larger pan. I advised GE consumer relations about the problem and they say "the oven works as designed". They will not admit there is a problem or offer a solution other than to send out another repair company to come to the same conclusion. By the way, none of the techs or the consumer relations person cook very much and none baked. My conclusion is - if you are a baker, do NOT buy this oven. If you never cook anything in a larger pan, then the oven may be very nice for you.

I'm no expert but the GE fridges are ASSEMBLED in the USA and, as long as 50% of the components are made in the USA OR the product undergoes substantial change into something else (motor to fridge anyone), GE can lay claim to the label - made in the USA. Many of the components, including the motors , are actually made in China. Now would you really want to buy an appliance you hope to have for at least 20 years or more, from a company that has been wanting to sell its consumer Appliance division for over a year? Google "Ge appliances division sell" if you need to and see how the company is doing all it can to improve the profitability of this division so it can increase the sell price. What's the best way to make more money - sell an item for a lot of money while keeping the cost of production as low as possible. Cheap cost of production = JUNK! My GE Monogram Fridge and freezer just went back today so maybe I am biased because I fell for the advertising pitch and bought into it but from experience I would never touch a new GE product again - they aren't built like the ones from a few years back. our new ones didn't even last a year. And at $5000 each that is money we were NOT going to lose. Fortunately our dealer bought them back for full credit and we are getting German made units instead with European providence on ALL the components.

I love, love, love my Monogram DF range. Almost always use the small oven (roast veggies every evening for dinner) and it heats to 400 in under 10 minutes. Exterior door surface stays cool to the touch, you would never know the oven was on if it wasn't lit up and you didn't check the dial. Exhaust is at the top rear so it doesn't exhaust the heat out at you (it's angled slightly toward the burners so doesn't go straight up to the backsplash either). And the full extension oven racks are the bomb. If I had it to do all over again I would pass on the griddle as I've never gotten the hang of seasoning it properly. The grill is great and I use it a lot. I like that there are two separate timers, one for each oven (some ranges we looked at didn't have dual timers). The rangetop has pretty cool reversible grates for wok cooking but I've never tried those myself as I'm not a wokker. On the purely cosmetic side, I think it's nice looking. And the decorative LED running lights look pretty groovy at night. :) Lastly, we had a good service experience. Ours was cosmetically damaged (dented) at the bottom corner when being unloaded from the delivery truck at our home when the dolly was set wrong and they tried to tilt up at the toe plate. It took GE a couple of months, maybe it was 10 weeks, to replace the damaged plate because of some kind of issue with backorder. Not a huge deal because it wasn't a performance problem but we were kinda bummed since it was a brand new range with a dent on the bottom ... so then GE gave us a complimentary 5-year extended warranty because of the delay. We were very satisfied with how they handled that, and we would definitely buy GE again.