Nasty. I've never been officially diagnosed with migraines, so I just call mine "sick headaches," but I've never had to deal with anything as horrendous as what you described. I can't even imagine. I can give you some more input if you and your doctor decide you need medication, though. A couple of years ago, my psychiatrist prescribed Topomax for me as a mood stabilizer in addition to my other medications. I've been taking it ever since. The thing about Topomax is that its primary use is as a migraine preventer - mood stabilization is actually a side effect. I've only had two "sick headaches" since I started taking it. And as far as I know, Topomax doesn't have the potential for heart complications that Imitrex does. One of my co-workers had to go to the ER after a dose of Imitrex sent her heart into severe arrhythmia. As a first line of defense, my son's neurologist (he sees him for his ADHD) recommended Excedrin Migraine for his migraines, to be taken at the first indication of an aura. He says it works often enough to be worth trying at school if one comes on for him there. (We haven't had to put it to the test yet, so I can't give you firsthand information on results.) It might be worth keeping a small bottle in your purse, especially over Thanksgiving. Sending you a big bunch of sunflowers, Michelle, in hopes that you don't have to deal with this again very often if ever.

The comments about ten-power settings got me musing on the subject and about Amy's initial question about logarithmic power controls. Here's where that lead me. Nobody really has logarithmic power controls, but there can be power settings spaced to sort of approximate a logarithmic curve -- a number of settings at the low end with only a couple of additional points needed to define the steep side of the curve for really high heat. In theory, that can be done with a ten-step power curve and some folks do find 10 power settings fine for what and how they cook. Others do not. Is anybody else here old enough to remember the GE stoves and cooktops from 50's and 60's with ten mechanical pushbuttons for heat settings? Those pushbuttons were literally "digital" controls, meaning that you punched them with one of your digits. GE sold a lot of them for a couple of decades, so some people found them adequate. Some did not. For the current digital electronic ten-step controls, others here besides loonlakecamp have reported satisfaction with a ten step set-up. Others, like me, would find them inconvenient for my cooking with, say, my pressure cookers. With only ten heat level steps, I would have to be constantly switching settings to maintain the correct pressure. Power setting "1" might be too low, setting "2" might be too high. Switch to 1 for a while until the pressure drops a little too low, switch to 2 for a while until it gets a little too high, then back to 1, etc., etc. With in-between settings, I avoid that annoyance. You don't use pressure cookers? Then maybe having in-between steps won't matter to you. This is just one example of how cooking styles can differ and how more settings can matter to one cook and not to another. Much fuss is sometimes made about the supposedly infinite adjustablity of gas burners. As a practical matter, though, we mostly try to get the burner to the same relatively few settings. Searing is pretty much searing, isn't it? If you deep fat fry, how often would you care if if the oil were at 352° instead of 350°? But maybe somebody is working with sugar syrups where, say, it might matter if a syrup is at 325° and not 360° and then maybe it matters if the induction burner only has ten settings. That said, the subject of induction power settings and controls can be more complicated than just the number of settings. The need for finding "in-between" steps for induction cooking can reflect two different aspects of ways that manufacturers design induction burner controls. One consideration is the power cycling that all induction burners use for settings of less than full power. A technical term for this is "pulse width modulation. or "PWM." It is the same kind of thing a microwave does for low heat levels---momentary pulses of power that average out at a particular heat level. With most PICs as well as some brands of induction cooktops and ranges, the PWM is pretty crude. I've seen this somewhere described as firing up the burner for a second or two of omigosh hot and then switching totally off for three or four seconds. While these pulses average out at a certain heat level the timing can be problematic for, say, the srambled eggs that Amy mentioned at the outset. Combine that kind of "low frequency" PWM with the crude power controls found on many PICs, and you could have a reason that Amy would find herself wanting steps in-between power level "1" and "2" for scambling eggs. Some full size induction ranges and cooktops work this way. I noticed a lot of pulsing at the low heat settings on the Maytag induction range I saw demoed several years ago when I was stove shopping. From past threads on PWM, I gather than Whirlpool's induction ranges and cooktops (which include Maytag and Kitchenaid brands) have used crude PWM. For searching out past threads here on this subject try a search strings like "induction + pulsing + gardenweb" and "induction + cycling + gardenweb." A few of the expensive PICs (Cooktek, Garland, Vollrath) and many full size ranges and cooktops use much higher frequency PWM. Instead switching on and off for a second or more at time, the power switches on and off many times per second. The higher frequency of switching yields much finer power control that more closely approximates a steady heat level. The other design aspect that can lead to wanting "in-between" settings is in how the engineers program the electronic controllers to space the power settings on the appliance you are using --- that's the kind of logarithmic curve I thnk Amy may been thinking about when she posed her question in the original post. . For manufacturers, the least costly controls use simple linear spacing. Setting "1" would use the PWM to average 10% power, setting "2" would be 20%, etc. Even with a high quality PWM, though, 9 or 10 linear settings may be too crude, A thing most induction users discover pretty quickly is that they do most of their cooking in the low to medium range settings. The highest setting can be used for boiling. One or two medium high settings takes care of high heat applications like searing. There seem to be three strategies for induction manufacturers to address the crudeness. One is to add half-steps between the numbered power settings. The other is to program the stove's controllers to put more steps in the low to medium range and fewer in the high ranges. The third strategey combines the first two. Without using the particular induction stove or cooktop, it can be hard to find out whether the particular unit was designed to use one or the other or some combination of them. In my own somewhat limited experience, it seems that the GE induction appliances and Electrolux's Frigidaire/Kenmore ranges seemed to use a modified-half step approach with some concentration of steps but also using half steps for finer control. The Electrolux-branded models use a slightly different approach with quarter-steps at the lower power ends and fewer steps at the high end. Miele cooktops seem to use a similar kind of mix with the option of switching on more steps. I'm not sure how BSH (which includes Bosch) handles this except that their induction appliances manuals show that half-steps are available. The Samsung freeestanding induction ranges seemed to follow the GE model (19 half steps). The reports about Samsung's ten-step "Chef Collection" model seem to conflict, some seeming to say that stepping is linear, some hinting that the settings may be skewed to the lower end. There is a yet another strategy which is the near infinite stepping of of potentiometer-like controls. These control systems seem to be very expensive so, AFAIK, they are used only for the commercial Garland/Manitowiac PICS and maybe the new Miele induction range have this. I say "maybe" for the Miele because there is nothing about it in the product literature and the display shows only whole-number settings, but a couple of posters here -- livinginseattle is the name I recall -- have reported finding that the knobs can be turned to provide fine gradations of "in-between" settings. Some folks would find that ideal. Then the question becomes: how much are you willing to spend for the "ideal" (and are there other design compromises that have to accept in order to get that ideal function for the burners?)

Update: We just completed another meeting with the company and proposed adjustments that we would be willing to accept. Our compromises include 1 inch fillers here and there to provide some breathing room between cabinets, moving the large gable and reducing a cabinet on the other side for symmetry along the window (which the KD originally wanted to charge us for, then they offered it for free as one solution). We are willing to reduce the size of some overhead cabinets on either side of the hood in order to keep the run of cabinets from being scribed into the trim. We did not agree (as suggested) to remove our trim. The large pantry will be pulled approx 1 inch from the wall and an end piece applied. The cabinet depth will remain although it encroaches into the trim on one side but we were prepared for that all along. Overall we have found compromises that we are satisfied. We envision this will get the kitchen back to its original look with some breathing space. The original KD is off the project and we will be completing it with someone else and management. While all is not said and done, it seemed like a positive meeting. We feel we have made some reasonable compromises, and they seem willing to make the fixes in a timely manner. They seem to be taking this opportunity to fix the problem. I get the feeling they wanted to push back for a little bit to see how far we would compromise and what they could leave as is. We are now at the point that they want their customer to be happy and are willing to do what they need to in order to make that happen. We do not feel like we have to "prove" we are right by ripping the whole thing out and starting over. We believe we can be satisfied with adjustments. The new KD will go to the kitchen for a walk through and confirm some measurements. We will be looking forward to seeing the revised elevations and drawings prior to proceeding. Thank you all for your support and advice. It helped me stand my ground for what we felt was most important. If there is any further news I will keep you in the loop, and post pictures of the final product when done.

A UPS is not a surge protector. UPS manufacturers quietly recommend no motorized appliances or protector strips on its output. Reason is made obvious by an output from a typical UPS. For example my 120 volt sine wave UPS outputs 200 volt square waves with a spike of up to 270 volts. From high school math, we know that is a sum of pure sine waves. Perfectly ideal power for electronics. And problematic for motorized appliances (and protectors). They did not lie. They simply played fast and loose with most consumers who do not always demand spec numbers. A 'so called' pure sine wave may only be one IF spec numbers do not say 'how pure'. Also read its specs for surge protection. Destructive surges can be hundreds of thousands of joules. How many joules does a UPS absorb? Typically hundreds. That near zero protection is sufficient to hype it as 100% protection to naive consumers. A UPS battery typically lasts about three years. These things are made as cheap as possible. UPS is only a temporary and not a recommended solution. Better is something that will delay power restoration. Unfortunately that power delay switch does not have a UL listing (some other electrical items also do not). Be careful with their wording. They say it complies with UL requirements. They do not say it was tested to confirm it complies with UL requirements; to have passed testing in a UL approved lab. Number of cubic feet means nothing. That switch must provide sufficient current to meet the current (or power) requirements listed on a label on that refrigerator or in it User Manual specifications. Any answer that does not include a number should be considered bogus; probably a lie.