Dave - Not interested in cast iron for this purpose, but I have a wonderful collection of antique cast iron cookware and it is wonderful stuff. I do not really consider this to be a huge issue - I thought this would be a simple question getting a quick answer. Now it really comes down to my having a question for which I have not found a definitive answer, and the longer I go not finding an answer makes me want to find that answer even more. You think clad steel will work fine, I have always strongly suspected it will work, others I have personally discussed this question with also think it will work, yet so far I have found no one with any expertise or product knowledge or personal experience who will definitively state that they are 100 percent positive it will work, and this has surprised me. Hopefully such an answer will arrive in my inbox soon. I am ready to seek out a metallurgist LOL. If I do not find a definitive answer then I will simply not take the chance and I will purchase non-clad stock pots, now that I found some sources of supply. If I had not found them then I would have taken the chance with clad units, but I would not have been happy about doing so until they proved out. It would also be a bummer to find out after the fact that not only would clad work fine but would work much better than what I acquired. This is why I would love to find an answer before I trigger purchase orders. I have until the end of January...

weedmeister, I checked out these models online and the Kenmore one was discontinued and the other one was above my original budget price and I left the model number home when I ran out to see models in person. I appreciate your post that made me think maybe GE was not so bad. I posted this on the kitchen forum also since I have to make a decision by 7 PM tomorrow to switch the unit or just cancel the great deal I got that is only a good deal if it is for a gas range that I want. I saw the GE Cafe gas range today and fell in love with it but only had 15 minutes to see it since Reno's Appliance Store was closing. The price was a lot more than the $1250.00 budget that I had placed myself at when I started shopping but the price was still $700 less than PC Richards regular price. Then when I went home to feed my little dogs and look up information on the GE Cafe gas range online, I decided to go back to PC Richards to see what kind of deal they could give me on the range that I preferred. They ended up having the same sale for $1999.00 when I was trying to stay below $1250.00. I think I will start another post as well as write what I want to say here since I have to make a decision quickly and unfortunately I have expensive taste and I know I will never get back the money if I buy the more expensive range but I like it better. I bought the Frigidaire gas range from PC Richards tonight near 11 PM when they were closing despite not liking the warming drawer's knob on the backsplash area and not liking that I have to bump into the center knob to reach the buttons on the back due to my very petite height of not quite 5 feet. If PC Richard's Frigidaire did not have this warming drawer knob on the area in the back of the range, I think I could live with the inconvenient way I have to lean on the center knob to get to the oven controls. I think both the knob and the way the unit is built for someone taller has me wondering if I need to invest in the other unit I loved. I hope this would not be a fire hazard for me if I have long sleeves on and I am cooking stuff on the top of the Frigidaire gas range. The rebates and sale price that were only good for Black Friday today were too good to pass up if I regretted walking away and it was identical in looks to the Kenmore range but a better price even with that knob. Before I signed anything close to 11 PM when they were closing, I asked if I could have until tomorrow until 7 PM to decide if I want to switch my order to buy the GE Cafe 30" gas range that will not come with the free stainless steel fan hood and get the sales price today along with the 0% for 18 months so I have an interest free loan to have money for the new hot water heater I am going to need real soon that is also 20 years old. After my busy season, I will be fine but now if the water heater dies on me when I just did so many major renovations to my home would make funds tight. The GE Cafe gas range has everything that the Frigidaire has (4 BTU burners, 5th burner with a free griddle to replace the grates, convention oven, warming drawer, etc.) but the bottom drawer on the GE can be used as another oven or as a warming drawer and all the controls are on the front so I can reach them easily and there is a probe that will register in the front letting me know when the food I am cooking reaches the correct temperature. There is no backspash unit despite the GE Cafe being a standalone range that looks built in. It will be so much more money (despite PC Richard's sale price of $700 off their very high retail price and then the stainless steel venting hood will not be free) but I keep thinking I would like it better since it was so comfortable to use due to my height and I loved the attached probe. I love the clean look. Maybe the knob on the Frigidaire's backsplash area that is there along with digital touch controls will not bother me and maybe it is not so bad to have to lean onto the front button to reach the back controls? Other than those negatives, the range was very nice looking with so many nice features and the price of $836.00 less the $100 rebate and the rebate of $162 to make the stainless steel hood free except for sales tax and installation) made the Frigidaire such a great deal if I want it since I have the 0% 18 months interest free payment plan. Even if I switch units, PC Richards will allow me to have the 0% interest payment plan over 18 months since I used my PC Richards Card. I guess I am used to controls on the front of the range like my 20 year old Whirlpool gas range has with just the clock in the back. Any advice?

I always had a chrome faucet with a stainless steel sink, mainly because that's the way the house came. Our countertop is coming in tomorrow so we needed to buy a faucet quickly. We decided to go with a stainless faucet to match the sink and the stainless appliances that are supposed to be delivered on Wednesday. Also, there is nothing shiny in our kitchen, so we thought the SS would work better than chrome. The only worry we had was with the finish of the faucets. Some of the stainless ones seemed to have a bronze tint to them in the stores where we looked. Below is a link to a question I asked about that. There were good responses, but we went with a Moen that has just a hint of bronze (or so MrsPandy says - I don't see it). Here is a link that might be useful: My question about faucet finishes

Pnkflyd - You said the magic phrase - ‘I get my twins to bed…’ [g]. Completely understandable that you’d rather order online. So, I’m not trying to talk you out of doing just that, I just want to challenge your perceptions or experiences with local vs online just a little bit. I also like to research plants, read reviews, ask on GW what other gardener’s experiences are with a plant and really know what I want to buy. But at the same time, I want to save money and I want to end up with a bigger, healthier, well formed and cared for plant. I’m not an impulse shopper either. I always have a list when I go local. I just would rather see what I am buying and choose the best plant of the bunch in person. I’m sure if I had twins, I’d change my mind. LoL But just as an example of online vs local - The last time I was shopping for plants was last fall, and I had a list of plants I was interested in, from research I had done online. One of which was a specific variety of Phlox that was at the top of a list of mildew resistant phlox, from a study done awhile ago. I was able to call around to two nurseries and both local nurseries had every plant on my list. And it was their fall sale and they were 40% off. Without shipping. In 2017, I purchased a shrub from Bluestone - Hydrangea Little Lime. I probably bought it on sale and it might have cost $20 or less. So that went in the ground in the spring of 2017. It was pretty small, as theirs usually are. Spring of 2018, the shrub came back and performed well over the course of the season. So much so, that I wanted to add another one, but by the time I decided that, it was early October and I didn’t want to wait for it to be shipped or to get the last of the season plants from Bluestone. So I went local and found an excellent, well tended, pristine example of the same shrub, that was 3x the size of the one I bought at Bluestone. It was $50. originally, but during the fall sale, it was half off. So by the time you add in the cost of shipping to the Bluestone order, they ended up costing about the same. But one was 3x larger. So I am very happy with both shrubs bought online and locally and I’ll be interested to see how each of them do over the course of this season. I do agree that some of the local prices are outrageous. And that it’s not easy to find a shrub in a small size. That is why I shop during the fall sale at many of my local nurseries, because that’s the only time I can afford them. Weston Nurseries has an online list of every thing they offer for the season, down to the pot size, the price and how many they have in inventory. They do offer 3 or 4 sizes on most of what they offer. And you can call on the phone and give them a list to check to see if they have the size you are looking for. And they can have it ready for you to pick up too. Starting from seed is an excellent way to stretch your budget and propagating as well. And a chance to stretch your gardening skills. One other suggestion is Winter Sowing, if you haven’t tried it. I did Winter Sowing for 3 years in a row and the sheer number of plants I ended up with was outstanding. I was at a point in my landscape that I had a lot of blank spaces, so that worked out well. And it is good for seed that need a cold spell to germinate. And I found it fun to do. Prairie Moon Nursery is a great resource for seed, too. :-)