LG had some serious problems with their French Door models that used incandescent bulbs for the interior lighting. What would happen is the lights would occasionally stay on after the doors were closed. This would eventually cause the light fixtures to melt the plastic inside the fridge. Not good. LG has now gone to LED lighting which is what we have in our fridge. We are quite happy with the performance of our LG fridge so far, but from what a lot of other people have told the forum when they ran into trouble with the LG meltdowns they got nothing but grief from LG over it. So I would not buy any LG with incandescent bulb lighting period, and I would also be sure that whoever sells you the unit has a good solid repair capability. If they don't, I'd blow off the LG and try something different. The model you specified, when I looked it up on the LGE site, says it uses 2 40 Watt lights. Those would be incandescents; I'd be a bit wary.

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!

I had the 30" Liebherr freestanding with bottom mount freezer for 1-1/2 years and loved it -- quiet, steady and a great freezer with the drawers. It held a lot for an apartment fridge and the freezer kept DH's ice cream in a perfect state. The shelves were a non issue when everything goes in. It was installed to look freestanding right up against a wall and the 0 clearance thing was a lifesaver because there were no strips required on the wall side. The drawers were a bit tricky to remove for cleaning but they did come out with no issues re the door. I just had to be careful about jamming them on the door because of the installation. The lighting was excellent. Food stayed really fresh for a very long time and it was completely quiet. Blissfully so. The only nuisance was the drain that needed to be cleaned out from time to time with Q tips but that may have been due to really bad quality water from old building pipes. My girlfriend has the 36" French door, installed mid-year last year and has issues. First ice maker then something else. Hers is built in and completely behind wood panels and looks fabulous. But also looks like it will be replaced (though her fridge has been really jinxed in this kitchen -- this is the 4th or 5th one that hasn't been quite right). Marthavila has the same model with 0 issues and adores it. DD has always had SZs and loves them. Now has a Miele 36" bottom mount but says she still prefers the SZ. I've been in and out of all her SZs in the various houses and the only difference I found between those and the Liebherr was that they were slightly noisier and more heavy duty-looking inside. But I don't feel the beefy insides make all that much difference with the fridge if, ultimately, the function is equivalent for less investment. When my Viking 36" fridge goes (and it will) I plan to replace it with Liebherr based on previous experience.

The lights are all 3-3/4"; Lightolier 2000LV. I like the smaller aperture of the recessed cans, but to be honest these were chosen by our architect and not us. This was one of those things where I figured a recessed can was a recessed can and I didn't need to do the research myself. In retrospect, if I were choosing, I'd go with something the same size, but a can that (a) didn't have an MR-16 lightbulb -- they are a pain in the @(# to change, and (b) was a wider floodlight so the pool of light spread out more. But I'm really nitpicking when I say this. One more factor -- these are halogen. I'm kinda nuts about wanting halogen lights rather than LED. You're seeing correctly; one set of cans is centered in the aisle. The row of lights that's at the edge of the counters was something I added during the renovation because I'm very nuts about lighting. I like a kitchen where you don't have to turn on the under-counter lights in order to cook at night. To me, adding those cans made a huge difference, but your mileage may vary. I'm sure some people would be perfectly content with just the aisle lights -- perhaps particularly if they had a wider flood angle. We considered the Thermador built-in as well. As I recall it didn't have the capability to have split shelves (so... less flexible interior), and also had the compressor on the bottom, so it was high, like the Liebherr. There was something else regarding the door shelves that we didn't like, as I recall... perhaps they weren't adjustable, either, or the opaque bottom... but it's a well-reviewed fridge, to be sure. These choices are so personal!