Either early in the morning or later at night, I've been baking chicken and then have it for cold chicken salad, or to heat in the microwave later. Even had some chicken and noodles the other night since I only had to heat one burner for that. Got some ham and made ham salad too. I've been trying to heat the kitchen only in the early morning or late evening and then I can use the microwave to reheat something for meals. Meatloaf, lasagna, casseroles can all be made ahead and then refrigerated or frozen. Made a pot roast in the crockpot since it didn't heat up the kitchen. As long as my family will heat hot meals I'll try to make them just not during the hottest part of the day

Tibbrix and busybee3, the photo and your advice that window coverings for that width would be practical, were just the reassurance I needed. Two window people came out Monday and both were very good. I have decided that a 70" x 70" window will go on either side of the fireplace, about 11.5" from the floor. The problem now is deciding color of the window frames. For the type of window I've selected there are only 3 color choices for the window frame -- bright white, taupe, and bronze (so dark, almost black). Choosing the frame color is the tough choice now. White does not look good on the home exterior, so only two choices left to go with. My home is contemporary with traditional furniture so that dark should go. Any thoughts or advice?

If you like Romans, take a look at jcp.com. They have some double romans (I got Spencer II) so there is a sheer behind the light-filtering shade, operate independently. The cords can be a hassle (2 sets) esp. on the 72" long ones I got for my slider. But on normal windows they're OK. I really liked the "double Roman shades" they had last year (no name) for my BR, DR, and study, but they don't seem to have the same ones. The headrail was slightly different from the Spencer II. I think the last time I visited the website they might have had a new (Jackie?) roman that might have been a double too, in an ivory color that might look nice in your kitchen. HTH. Sheers down

"My research indicates that outside condensation is caused by low E glass. Also, there was no condensation with the old single pane windows." Good morning Lumine, LowE does not "cause" exterior condensation. As HomeShield and WoW both noted LowE coatings block radiant heat transfer thru the glass resulting in lower exterior glass temperatures. This is what IG units with LowE coatings are supposed to do. As they also mentioned, condensation occurs on any surface when the temperature of that surface is below the dew point. Moisture forming on the exterior of your windows is absolutely normal in the right conditions, and it's an indication that the windows are performing as designed, but it is also understandably frustrating for you because your view is being affected. Basically, exterior window condensation is dew. It's no different than the moisture (dew) that you might see on your car windows or on your lawn. Same mechanism at work. Exterior condensation formation on window glass is dependent on a number of different environmental factors such as exterior temperature, overhangs, prevailing winds, plantings, even cloud cover (or lack of), so that it is entirely possible that some of the windows in a home can have condensation and others nothing. In fact it is entirely possible that one window in a mulled set can have exterior condensation while the adjacent window has none. Your old single pane windows didn't have exterior condensation simply because you were heating the glass enough to keep the surface temperature above the dew point, whereas now the combination of dual pane and LowE coating on your new windows is preventing the warmth inside your home from warming the outer glass which results in cooler exterior surface temperatures and condensation when the conditions are right. Since this is a major concern for you, you may be able to eliminate or at least minimize the exterior condensation by heating the windows directly with a space heater. This kind of defeats the purpose of installing more efficient windows, but if you can warm up the interior glass enough then some of that heat will transfer to the outer glass and will hopefully raise the temperature above the dew point eliminating the condensation. Adding ducts below the window probably will have no effect on the exterior condensation because the IG unit will likely be able to block that additional (indirect) heat from passing thru to the outer lite. You might also try cleaning your exterior glass with something like RainX. I don't know if that works or not, but some people have claimed that it helps. This post was edited by oberon on Sat, Dec 27, 14 at 9:34