Thanks everyone - I think I'm gonna have to move the MW/convection somewhere below counter if I'm going to achieve the look I'm after (clean modern lines). I can see even by the pics that the different colors of stainless will be an issue as well as the design. duluthjeff - I picked the F and P because of all the positive reviews here as a midrange wall oven. I know people love the GE Monograms as well but I'm leery of GE (I went to www.fixitnow.com and it scared me away from anything GE). Thanks again everyone - back to the design board... Tracy

I feel good about the decision, thx again. Just to be fair, a few loose ends. 1. Moxie, without rehashing the whole story, the best way I can describe it is that they were wary of neighbor issues and perhaps as a result did not act in good faith, and we responded aggressively and strategically, getting them to capitulate. Vague enough!? LOL Just trying to say, in life there is always "our side", "their side", and then the truth. 2. Paradise, I don't want to be nice just because of what they "think about (me)", but because it always feels good to be nice when you can. Karma or whatever. 3. Cyn, It's been a long thread but I don't think it is something to be aghast about at all. It is a second home, they are there most weekends and certainly know that even in peak season we are not always there all the time, and we have rented it out 3 times over the 5 years we have owned it. In fact, I just signed a one week lease for while we will be in Greece next summer.

T...I don’t think you are overthinking. My tile guy is excellent so imagine my surprise when I had slivers like you do on both sides of my rangetop. He starts dead center as well and I think the only way this could have been avoided would be if he had used larger grout lines which I didn’t want. I was So exhausted I just let it go and after a year in the house it doesn’t phase me. Like the song says “let it go”...... excuse my pic with dinner cooking. just pretend the rest of the tile that belongs to the sliver is under the cabinet,lol.

Update - according to my GC all is well-sealed, in fact he has said it will take "significant effort" to pull the blower. A process, I gather, involving a heat gun to soften up all the silicone. Nothing is really wet in the attic, the water just seems to be coming down the actual ventilation duct. I am really surprised this has not been previously recognized as a design flaw for this particular blower going up on the roof!? Surely there's enough rain and snow in communities everywhere that this problem would have been discovered? We discussed the pedestal idea - he can build one up to 12" in height (that is the widest that the wood comes in, beyond that it's more involved) - but this wouldn't be 100% protective as sometimes we get more snow than that, and it was a big snowstorm that led to the recent flooding onto my cooktop and cabinet. He proposes to re-route the thing out through the side wall of the house. I'm inclined to agree, just to get things going before the next spring snow hits...