I also do not understand the appeal of FD fridges. I was excited to be able to use one in the temporary house we moved into during our whole house reno. They are so popular so of course I'd want one for my new kitchen, right? Couldn't stand the thing at all. I've posted on my hatred of it many times here and in Appliances. I had to open both doors all the time because either I didn't know which side the item I wanted was one, or because I get claustrophobic trying to work in the fridge with only one tiny door open. I did, however, really like the bottom freezer. I really dislike rooting around on the floor of a top-freezer fridge to dig into the produce drawers on the bottom. We go through lots of fresh produce so get into those drawers a lot. In the end, I found a single-door, bottom freezer unit from KA. I love it. The freezer is on the bottom and I don't have to dig for much. (We have a upright freezer in the garage.) The fridge part is all easily accessible with just one door to open. Produce is at a great height for easy viewing. It's the best of both worlds for me as I really don't like SxS units either. Love my KA!

This is so fun! Nycbluedevil, nice to hear from you. Yes Art fair is coming up in about two weeks. I just hope it isn't as hot as last year--that was brutal. I almost didn't go and I never miss it. It really hurt sales. Inevitably, though, it will rain. Not that it hasn't been monsoon season already. Autumn4, my mom and sister went to MSU, I went to UM and never left town. I support the green and white---most of the time LOL! A2gemini, I had a speaking suspicion. a2 or A squared is unmistakeable shorthand for our little burg. It'll be great to get advice and input from you and everyone as DH & I begin our addition and remodeling project. We just have to get the final plans. They will be ready in two weeks, something that has been promised for the past several months. Long back story about things I can't control. But we will eventually get them and go to pull permits.

You need to consider how if you are losing refrigerant. R-134a and R-410a are around $60-$80/cylinder in bulk vs $300/cylinder for R-22 in bulk or usually $400 since people don't buy bulk often anymore. If they can't repair or replace the leaking component, and it is a fast leak then you are going to spend a lot in just keeping your system charged. A condenser motor and contractor shouldn't be too expensive of a repair. The part is several hundred and it isn't a difficult thing to access. If you are already committing to replacement it in a year and may need a costly repair or emergency replacement before then, I would just do it now. Without something disruptive happening in the market, prices are only going to go up over the next year. Go ahead and replace the coil and condenser (doesn't have to be Lennox) now, but don't let them talk you into replacing the furnace if it is working well.

Our Hanukkah family dinner was moved to my parents' house due to rain. I'd never used one of their ovens, and there's a lot of newer equipment in different places since I last cooked there. I scrapped my whole menu, other than the dessert, which I made at home and brought, because I knew it wasn't going to work. So I figured chicken marbella. I've made it several times (or, that is, I've made the recipe I have which is based on marbella). It's always fantastic, and I figured I could just marinate it in bags and cook the chicken there. I also had a bunch of vegetables for warm roasted salad. The first fail was that the store only had giant chickens, and being that it was the day before Christmas Eve, they weren't getting any smaller ones. The "good" butcher wasn't there and I didn't want to risk them breaking them down in the way I don't like, so I took them home whole. Big mistake. They weren't just big, they were old!!!! Tough to cut! I couldn't manage with the poultry sheers and even with my butcher's knife, I had to whack at it. The breasts could have come off a turkey and had to be cut in half to still be big. I should have had a clue then and gone back to the store for a brisket, and cooked the chicken for the freezer, but I figured the marination would make everything fine. So then I was keeping a watchful eye on the clock, because I knew instinct wouldn't cut it. Sadly, neither did the clock. The chicken was over brown (though not very overcooked--not dry or gummy or anything), and by the time I got the warm salad together the vegetables had gone limp. As a fail, I guess it doesn't match the funny stories. As a festive meal, however, it was kind of sad, if edible. There were (sincere) compliments on the salad--it tasted good and was different. None of the ummm-yumms that the chicken usually gets though. The chicken, itself, overpowered the marinade, I think, and the prunes may have been too dry because they melted instead of swelling, and didn't add much to the flavor, so it just tasted like slightly overcooked, somewhat garlicky chicken. :( I think failing spectacularly would have been less embarrassing than just not succeeding, like I did. Sigh.