(I've written about my new fridge a lot.. sorry to repeat.. but since you asked...) It is important for me to mention what our last fridge was. A TINY apt sized Hotpoint that has a single fridge compartment and freezer on the top. The thing worked, never gave us any problems the 12 years we used it, but... it was very deep, things got lost in there, and the produce bins were on the bottom so I literally had to get down on my knees anytime I needed something from them. We didn't have a landing sopt next to the fridge, at all, so I would put food ON THE FLOOR as I took it out of the fridge. Major PITA. The freezer compartment was a box with no shelves, so stuff was literally just stacked up in there. Total nightmare. Anything had to be better! With that said...now we have a GE Cafe CD FD and we absolutely ***love it***. We are only 2 people, no kids. We find there is enough room in the fridge for all our stuff. No longer do I need to get on my knees for veggies, the fridge part being up so high is a major convenience I can't believe I ever lived without. (and we now have landing space on either side!) I can't really compare the CD version to a regular fridge cause we've never had a regular fridge... but I can imagine the CD maybe being a little too small for larger families. For us, it is perfect. I never ever get annoyed about having to open both doors. I'm happy to have the 2 doors to open!! The freezer is roomy enough for us. As someone else mentioned, how often do you even have to open the freezer, really? Maybe some people more than others, but I'm guessing there are some days I never open it once. The ice machine is in the freezer, but we don't use a lot of ice. People seem to complain a lot about GE appliances. I'm not a huge GE fan or anything, but it turns out that 3 of the appliances in our new kitchen are GE (Cafe Fridge, Monogram DW and Monogram Micro), and so far each of them has performed exceptionally well, and they all look great to boot. My sister has a Kitchenaid FD fridge (not CD) and not to be men, but the interior of the GE Cafe fridge is much nicer looking than the KA. So, in short, the CD FD fridge is working out wonderfully for me and my husband. We love it. Think about your family size and how you use your handing. If you are often carrying a baby, maybe a side by side is better.

Yes, very true. Smudge resistance would have been great. Fortunately, I live alone, so I don't anticipate too many finger prints since I will be using the handles. But I did notice the plethora of fingerprints on the floor model and it did make me think twice. But as as I could tell, fingerprints were a problem with most of the units (some more than others, this LG being among the worst...or maybe people just like to touch this one :)), with Frigidaire being the only one that was advertised as smudgeproof. Also, with smudgeproof finishes, I have heard that the finish itself can get damaged/peel over time. I just hope it's not too hard to wipe the stains off. If it was my choice, I would have gotten a white kitchen. Unfortunately, the builder put in stainless appliances as standard.

We're a family of five. We eat lots of produce and I cook at least once a day. I bought a CD Electrolux all fridge a few years ago and don't regret it. The one thing it doesn't fit well is a box of those huge 16" take-and-bake pizzas. I have to remove them from the box or clear a shelf that doesn't have a door shelf across from it when closed. My produce may overflow the available space in my drawer for a day or two, but that's not really an issue. I really love that it doesn't intrude on my aisle because the fridge location in this house is stupid. FWIW, my fancy Gaggenau oven doesn't fit those pizzas, either. I have to cut them in half. I wouldn't trade my oven for one that did. It's my precious.

Her big splurge, the BlueStar platinum 48... I love our Bluestar. It's an amazing range. Would absolutely buy it again in a heart beat. But a 48" Platinum would be unlikely to be anything I'd normally recommend. That model is all about looks and not really that great for functionality. I understand about splurging. But if I spend all that money, I'd want it to actually be something I like to use. The 25kBTU Platinum burners are fun (we have one of those in our range), but the 22kBTU burners of the RNB are very similar; if this is the only reason for the Platinum, then it doesn't really justify the much higher cost. The griddle on the RNB is IMHO a better design. Can't comment on the grill, but I personally don't think an in-door grill is a great option anyway. The fancy oven burners in the Platinum are great for faster pre-heating, but are overall a more questionable design than the more traditional burners in the RNB. A 48" range is much less ergonomic than a rangetop plus wall ovens. The venting requirements for a 48" range are crazy. You need somewhere on the order of 2000 CFM, which means a loud expensive vent hood, a very complex make-up-air system, and no upper cabinets. Unlike a 30" range, a 48" range doesn't have spacers in-between the burners. So, you will need to put the grill or griddle in the center between the burners. Otherwise, your burners are too close together and you can't ever use big pots. But with the grill/griddle in the center, you have to always walk a long distance left-to-right when using more than one pot. Alternatively, you can decide for eight burners and no grill/griddle, but I have yet to hear of anybody who can actually keep all eight burners in active use. Again, a more reasonably sized rangetop and wall ovens work better; the wall ovens can be used for simmering much more evenly than any hobs. We have four hobs and three ovens in our kitchen. I use all three ovens every so often. But I can't remember the last time I used more than two hobs. I wouldn't have any idea what to do with eight of them.