Well, I'm finally getting back to this thread. Thank you so much for all your advice. As the name implies, I am completely unable to make a decision. So far I have purchased nothing, but am leaning on a few things. Range - I have decided on a Blue Star. Gizmonike - I live in the Dallas area, too. There are two dealers in the metroplex. One in Denton and the other in Ft. Worth. The distributor is in Houston. And C&W in Dallas provides Blue Star Service. Maybe this is new since you were buying. I realize they aren't "bling-y", but though the house is big, it's really not ostentatious. I want to do some serious cooking. The cabinetry is gorgeous, so there's plenty to look at. And, the range is at the back of the kitchen - not the centerpiece. I do love the LaCanche, but haven't researched it enough to know if I want it! Maybe I shouldn't. I'm probably going with the Independent. I've heard good things Dishwashers (2) - Miele. I'm not sure if I should get Advanta or Inspira. I'd originally thought I might get and Optima, but I think that may be overkill for me. My kids usually do the dishes, and I think all the bells and whistles may be more than they can handle. I guess the main difference is the drying system. Any thoughts? Is there a reason to go up in models? Ovens - I'm having a hard time here. I'm going to try to get to the Miele showroom next week for their cooking class so I can see the ovens in use. I had originally thought I may get a Speed Cook and a Steam, but I'm thinking I will want one large electric oven. The Speed Cook could be the microwave, too, but it's spendy. Maybe just a regular oven and a microwave would be better. Ahhhhhh, this is so hard. Will someone just make the decision for me? Warming Drawer - I will probably get whatever is priced the best. How hard can it be to keep some bread or plates warm? Refrigerator - I was wrong about the size. It's a 48" opening. That's a bit better, though I wish I had more space....I can put panels on it, so the outside look is not important. I just saw the LiebHerr mentioned in another thread and looked online at it. It looks cool. We have a chest freezer and a fridge in our laundry room that has a freezer, so we could make do with a smaller freezer in the kitchen. What is the price? I know the next dealer I'm going to does sell it, so I'll go look at it next week. I really need to get some more info before I can make a decision on the fridge. Ice maker. Probably whatever is the best price. I did learn that a clear ice maker is not a good idea in the Media room - too noisy. We will most likely not put one in there at all. Just the undercounter fridge. For those, I'm thinking a Kitchen Aid or a U-Line...again, price is key here - since it's not a major appliance. I'm obviously still in major need of help. AND my DH wants me to stay within budget....hahahahaha! No really, I'm working on it. All comments...

Yes, but if that "one" flooded your living room and dining room, both of which had expensive carpet installed 6 months earlier ... it would become a defining moment for you too, lascatx. The dish drawers have been flawless, but they do have a moisture alarm on the floor beneath them. The reason the flood happened? During the night a brain fart happened (in the dishwasher) and water kept filling and flooding out the dishwasher because there was no ability to electronically drain the water. So when DH went to the kitchen to make coffee the next morning, slosh! slosh! We were not happy campers, especially since that dishwasher was about a year old.

I suggest that you set a budget and then look at what is available in your budget range. Several friends have one and I was pretty impressed, but the least expensive Miele was beyond my budget. Something else to consider if you do not have to replace the unit right away: wait for holiday sales like the upcoming Columbus day. There can be substantial price reductions. I also suggest you include Bosch in the models you consider. I had a bottom-of-the-line Bosch for 15 years of nearly daily use. I was very pleased with it until it died right before 4th of July. The controller board expired and replacements are no longer readily available. (Because it has an all stainless steel tub, I gave it to a friend who is going to turn it into a smoker). Anyway, I did my research and went out to buy a KA KUDE60. The the sale price on the Bosch Evolution 500 (SHE55) was so much lower that I got it instead. The layout of the tines in the Bosch is different from what I am used to -- although the racks from the old unit will fit --- but I can get a lot of stuff in it. It is very quiet. It cleans very well. Some things may hold some water (concave bases on wine-glass stems, for example) This will irritate some people but does not bother me. I also looked briefly at some other product lines from Whirlpool et al. They had extremely long cycle times, some of them running over 135 minutes. My old Bosch ran about 95 minutes. The new one has a water sensor and adjust the time depending on the turbity of the water. Typically takes about 103 minutes for a heavy load. (CR reported its cycle time at 125 minutes. Apparently their tests have dirt loads that produce very turbid water.) One thing the new Bosch does not have is a rinse-and-hold cycle. (My old one would run a 5 minute rinse so stuff does not harden on the plates or pots between breakfast time and dinner.) All of the Bosch model lines are available with stainless exterior paneling, although that seems to run about $100 more than white or black. Also, each line has a model with "hidden" controls, if that matters to you. I believe I saw a Bosch Ascenta (300 series) with a top mounted (hidden) control panel on a stainless exterior panel. It was slightly less expensive than the 500 series that I bouth. THe thing I did not care for with the Ascenta series is that the stainless steel tub is stainless on the top and sides but the base is polypro. When you identify your models, do some searches here because there are a lot of posts about specific models.

Beckyg, I love what you said here: "When the kitchen designers and cabinet and appliance makers are telling me to spend 10 - 15% of my home's value on a new kitchen, I automatically cut it in half... it reminds me of how the diamond dealers came up with the idea that a man should spend 2 months salary on a ring - OR ELSE! That's ridiculous. What an arbitrary number." Totally arbitrary, I agree. I specifically told my sweetie that he shouldn't spend more than two WEEKS' salary on my ring, and he didn't. I couldn't stand the stress of walking around with $6000 or $10,000 or whatever on my finger, and there was just no way I could see that it made sense to sink so much money into a piece of jewelry. I guess the reason I'm more okay with the 10% thing on kitchens... ok, well part of it is because our house is worth maybe $270k. Actually I think that's the main reason I'm okay with it! Because 10-15% of MY house corresponds pretty well with the maximum that I think makes sense to spend on a kitchen. Haha. I can't imagine spending $150k on a kitchen. But aside from that, a kitchen--assuming you're going to live in it for a good while--has a much bigger influence on your quality of life than a ring does. The spaces we inhabit really do influence the ways we live--like the poster who talked about molesting her marble (haha) and said her kids used the new island and socialized whereas before they would've retreated to their rooms. It does matter how living spaces are designed and how they look. The way they look and they way they flow and function influences not only how you feel in them, but what you do in them. That's why I am dead set on having a banquette and table in the kitchen instead of the ubiquitous "raised edge of the counter with barstools" that our ex-architect kept pushing. We're planning on having kids soon, and it would be what, six years or more before they'd be big enough to easily use barstools and a raised counter?! Whereas little kids can easily sit on banquettes, space to hold kids' toys can be built into banquettes, AND our friends can sit there too when they're visiting. Space matters!