I should also mention Martin Frobisher, which decided to bloom this year after some little discussion about shovels and prime real estate. It is just pretty enough to keep around another year, a nice soft pink, which does not self clean. And is a sparse bush about 3' tall. Meanwhile other hybrid rugosas, planted at the same time or even a year later, Germania, Rose de la Hay, Ritausma, have grown above my head and are covered with blooms.

Kristin S, I agree, the Ankarsrum (aka DLX/Electrolux) isn't something one buys on a whim! It will last, and most cooks pass theirs down to daughters and sons... I've a friend who dearly loves her KA and wouldn't trade it for anything... Re: the issues you mentioned with your KA, here's a photo I found after my first unboxing of the Ankarsrum... kinda shows you the inside and the most commonly used attachments (2) I use for mixing breads, brownies, and cookie dough's. This shows the 'roller' and 'scraper' attachment: You can move the roller away from the bowl side and fix it to any distance from the bowl side and tighten that setting easily, but the roller will still move outward into the bowl's middle freely on it's own helping to mix/incorporate. Sometimes, if there's a little something (and it's always precious little) in the middle that's not mixing, I just manually move the roller (holding the chrome arm on top) over to the middle, then let it go, so it moves back. It's a bit odd initially, using something called a 'roller' to mix ingredients... but it does an amazing job incorporating unbeaten eggs, sugar, flour, extracts, raisins and choc chips (without crushing - no more hand mixing chips and raisin!), anything, really. The bowl rotates constantly at the speed setting of your choice, it never stops unless you turn it off. I add ingredients as it's moving, and flours never puff out, or get on anything... easy cleanup, too! You've lots of open room to add ingredients even from large bowls. I always make sure my butter or cream cheese is super soft (for the roller and especially the whisks and cake whisk attachments. There is no lifting of anything... not until your batter/dough is mixed. You un-tighten the roller arm, it moves out of the way on it's own, and you lift the bowl out. You can see the scraper is naturally sitting against the side of the bowl. The scraper gets "everything" and I rarely move it unless there's a bit of unmixed floor or ingredient on the scraper, at which point I just move it gently out toward the middle of the bowl, then let it naturally go back to the bowl side. Now, if you need to whip egg whites first, you'd instead use the clear bowl and use the whipping attachment instead. If you are making a thin batch of cookie dough or a cake that's thinner, again, you'd use the clear bowl but with the cake whisks. The clear bowl does not turn on it's own, it stays stationary while the whisks move. Here's a photo of the dials.. One changes speed (variable so any speed, plus the high speed is well, very high! It's not got labels, so you basically just go by how it feels and looks to you. The other turns it on, and if you turn it past the 'on' it acts as a timer as well... you can walk away if you need to and it will shut itself off. Another nice thing is the scraper, a simple plastic spatula that fits into the grooves of the 'roller', making batter scraping so easy! Weight: it's no lightweight at 19 lbs, but I think the KA weighs in at 25-29 lbs. Height: I've got 18" between counter top and cabinets... easy fit. Noise: You can hear it, but it runs on a belt drive... it's much quieter than any mixer I've used. I ordered mine from Pleasant Hill Grain, and after it arrived they sent me an email with a .pdf to print out explaining attachments to use, speed control conversions, etc. So, yes, a learning curve, but it's not a huge learning curve : ) There are a multitude of attachments also, but you turn the Ankarsrum on it's side to use most of them. I think the KA is great for many people, but has drawbacks. The primary drawback of the Ankarsrum is the price, IMO.

Here is note from old post by Cancork These are "dimples" they "pop" back out! These are not permanent, they are NOT defects, they are not "damage". If this was oak, you would have added "character" to the floor = permanant damage. Try using a HOT WET CLOTH, and put it in the microwave for 15 seconds. Using an oven mit, place the super-heated cloth onto the dimples and let it rest until the cloth is cool to the touch. Remove and evaluate the floor. Congratulations...you have just discovered the "memory" that cork possesses. Cork is the "trampoline" of hard surfaces. It compresses and rebounds. The finish on WE cork = NORMAL for cork. The finish MUST BEND AND TWIST with cork. If you put a hard, brittle finish on cork (like Wicanders and Torlys) you end up with a cracked mess that hazes (turns milky) in a few years. A cork floor is the softest hardwood on the market. Like ALL HARDWOODS it requires occasional maintenance. This maintenance requires you to ADD FINISH every 7-10 years depending on the wear. A low impact home with a low quality "urethane finish" cork means the finish must be reapplied every 2-3 years. A high end polyurethane finish means the refinishing needs to be done every 7 years. That same finish in a low traffic home = 10 years. The N. American mind set = tough = hard. Cork is forgiving and durable...in a different way than hardwood. Remember: if you are left "unphased" by dents left in a carpet (a carpet leaves more dents than cork...something to think about) then dimples left in cork shouldn't upset you. If you have the personality that insists that everything needs to look perfect, for decades without any form of "living" showing on the floor, then ceramic tiles are the perfect option. I know many people who love cork for the quiet comfort of it...it is easy to keep clean and is lovely to walk on in bare feet. I also know several people who wanted all of those things but could not "handle" the small dimples things would leave behind.

I am in exactly the same place with my red oak floors :( my floors look just as orange as in the pictures... and the variations and wood grain are much more pronounced than I wanted. I have the flooring company coming in on Monday to put down the third coat of poly - do I have any options at this point? Or just a matter of it mattering less once I get more used to the new color...? I had this same level of shock and discomfort with my wall color (had to leave my apartment for the evening just to soothe myself!), but once they sanded the floors - I realized I loved the wall color, just that my old floor finish was clashing with it. Now after staining the floor - I am back to feeling they really clash... and I really wish I had just opted for no stain and a natural finish instead... I’d take that look over what I now have any day. At least - that’s how it feels right now. To the original poster - @lacollar - (or anyone else with a similar experience) - did you eventually get used to (or even fall in love with?! :)) your floors... even though at first it felt like the choice of stain color was a huge mistake? Has anyone tried tinting the final coat to tone down the orange/reds? Does that work? Appreciate any help/advice. Thank you all!