Hi Skepka - welcome. I understand where you are coming from. It can be overwhelming. I've been here a couple of years & my advice is - keep reading! The appliance forum, the laundry forum & the kitchen forum. Lots of nice people & good advice from people who have been there done that & have no financial interest in selling you brand A over brand B. Go to manufacturers web sites (i.e. Whirlpool.com, Maytag.com etc.) If you haven't bought your new house yet all the better - you can keep this info in mind while you are looking! A few comments regarding your list: Fridge: We're also going with french door, but no water or ice on door. Instead we're doing under sink filter with fill spout over sink. Can fill pitchers etc. much easier. You can get them with cold and/or hot water but we're sticking with just a room temp one. We generally drink water that way & can add a couple of ice cubes if we want colder. As for ice capacity, you can get a separate ice maker but they are pricey & require their own plumbing. Stove: OK, I won't be much help here since my range is my big splurge. I'm going with all gas instead of dual fuel. I bake bread & cookies, but not a lot of delicate/fancy cakes & pastries. There are some very nice looking ranges out there in stainless steel. Sort of a pro-look without the cost. Vent: Had recirculating in last house. Never again. Only thing it was good for was removing steam from immediate cooking area. You could walk into our kitchen in the morning & smell what we'd had for dinner the night before. Grease accumulated on the walls & cabinets near the stove & were a pain to keep clean. DW: There seem to be a lot of good choices out there. Quieter machines & those with more cycles cost more. Some people have had problems with european design machines (they don't have a heated dry cycle) & dishes coming out wet. Others have no problem at all. Check out rack configuration - its hard to do online. For some reason the web sites don't have very good pictures of interiors. Many here have suggested bringing a few dishes with you when you make your final decision. It sounded strange to me at first but after moving last year I found I get many fewer dishes in this dw than the last. I'll be bringing a few with me when we choose. Microwave: there are some that are meant to be hung under an upper cabinet. We're doing a microwave shelf as part of a cabinet. Decided against built in as then would be more limited by size when mw needs to be replaced. Washer/dryer: Read the laundry forum. Folks over there know so much about laundry its mind-boggling. FWIW I've got choices down to Duet or Bosch. Good luck & have fun!

Hi all - thanks again for the great feedback. For ventilation, we are going with a Best 54" hood and 1100 or 1500 (I forget which) remote in-line blower with silencer... I saw that mentioned somewhere, read up, and was convinced. I also saw a gunked up VAH, and was totally turned off forever. As an update, we've decided on Miele dishwashers, I think the Futura Dimension (I think the plus only adds more quiet...which I won't notice). Dissenters welcome. For the fridge, I don't think we can swing a SZ now, and the Liebherr is, indeed, way too tall for comfort. I think we are going to go with a Samsung with the dual evap. Can't find a good, large FD model with inside water, but we're working on it. Seems you need to downgrade cubic ft. Our final major issue is this: Wolf vs. DCS (I really can't seem to find the benefits of Wolf other than "reliability and history", variable simmer, and no yellowing problem with the top). We are really torn. Everyone who doesn't sell DCS says they're crap. Everyone who does says they're awesome, but that Wolf is better...because they also sell Wolf? Also, dual fuel vs. all gas. We are definitely getting an additional wall oven, and I can't decide if it is nicer to have the option of two types, or to stick to one type and brand?) for consistency with large, multi-oven batches. What I really can't figure out is how much more inconsistent baking will be in an AG Wolf or DCS oven (ie. 3 sheets at once, without tons of turning). Obviously, AG saves quite a chunk of change, and then we could really get any wall oven...considering the KA convection with micro over it, honestly, to not only save money, but to have a reliable, and just fine oven that will still be leagues better than anything we've ever had in an apartment. Then, we can always replace with something fancier down the line. We just really don't want to skimp on the range at this point. I am open to KA slams, if anyone feels we absolutely must stick with a Wolf or DCS oven for some reason or another (the price difference isn't entirely prohibitive, and we can work it out if anyone thinks that quality and/or features are worth it). So to sum up, we really can't decide on gas vs. electric ovens, and DCS vs. Wolf. I think my wife may throw out my computer if I don't stop reading on it soon!

According to literature that can be downloaded on the Miele website: "An independent study, conducted by WfK Applied Laundry Research Institute in Krefeld, Germany, proves that your valuable wardrobe will be cleaner and last up to four times longer if cared for in a Miele washing machine with a Honeycomb DrumTM. " The claim sounds rather far-fetched to me (four times longer???), but it would be interesting to see the actual test data. I have a Miele W1918 washer (a model from pre-honeycomb days). I can assure you from first-hand experience that clothing stays newer-looking for longer and lasts much longer with regular washings in my Miele. I have undershorts and white tee-shirts that are going on 7 years old -- and still look good, even after close to weekly wear and laundering. I attribute the long wear to the superior cleaning these items get in the Miele extended wash program. The extended programs ensure that fabrics are thoroughly cleaned right down to the core of fibers. With no soil left behind in the material to grind away at the very fibers of the fabric, they just hold up better. My tee-shirts don't have even a hint of grey in the armpits and they haven't taken on that weird sort of transluscent look that tee-shirts usually get after many repeated, but less-thorough, washings. But -- back to the Miele wash drum. I think the more important feature of the Miele drums are that the fins inside the drum are stainless steel too. Most other washers have plastic fins which can get knicked by zippers and buttons over time. Once abraded, a plastic fin can snag on delicate fabrics and cause damage. Stainless steel won't knick, and in fact, just gets smoother over time.

The show that I really like is Bang For Your Buck. On BFYB the camera takes its time and actually shows whole rooms and details with a well-photographed and easy eye. No jarring editing. No dumb "reveal." The owners explain why they remodeled as they did, how and why they made their decisions, what worked and what didn't, etc. Then the designers come in and critique the rooms. Of course, they're supposed to find something wrong, so they always do, even if it's silly. But you actually have a serious discussion of a room by two separate parties. I don't actually care much who got the biggest "bang", but I've gotten a lot of decorating ideas. Love HouseHunters just for choosing the house I like best and guessing which was the one chosen. Some of the stories on HH are very moving. Unless, of course, it's some 20-something whippersnapper who whines about granite or looks at a perfectly usable bathroom and says "dated". In that case, like some other posters here, I yell at him/her to go live in a village in Afghanistan or Iran, where the toilets are literally a hole in the floor (or the ground). Sometimes we don't realize how great our lives are! As an English teacher and cranky grammar-nanny, I do blame HGTV for its cruel assault on our beautiful language. However, I'll spare the forum my lecture. :o)