I was typing up my response above when montana and sue responded, sorry! I do like the wood hoods but I do also like the stainless hoods. I also really like the mantle hoods. I have the same problem with granite ... I like almost every one I see. Too bad I'm not building several houses, haha ! The website for kitchensource is great. There are so many different style hoods to look at there. Thanks ! If I went with the Omega National hood (which looks just like the one that was option 3 above from the KD), what would you suggest for the looks of a custom topper ? I have played around with different ideas for that hood but have not come up with a very good one yet. According to the KD, that one has to attach to cabinets to the left and right, correct ? (we are using cherry) Got a phone call back from KD. We will save $800 by not having them provide any kind of hood, so that's money we can put towards other options if we do stainless or a different wood hood. He had an idea for the stainless hood and the problem with the duct from the ceiling not lining up with the hood's flue. His idea was to have a metal worker "box out" the top of the stainless hood to hide the pipe. I mocked it up in my 3D program and also the custom hood pictured in the original post (the hoods below may not be exactly to scale but this gives a good idea of it, and of course the wood hood would match the cabinets). (click on picture for enlarged view) Florantha, yes I posted my plans last year (link to the old thread at the top of this thread in the first post). Kudos to you for recognizing it!! I thought this day would never come when we would be almost finished building !! Interesting point about downplaying the hood. Which option do you favor or do you have another idea for venting ?

Not sure on the exact equivalent of CSA (Canadian Standards Association) FT-4 but I believe it is CL2 or CL3 - riser rated. Basically, what it comes down to is that if a fire was to start at or near the in-wall cable, would the cable contribute to the fire spreading? With the correct insulation, as in in-wall rated, it would not substantially contribute. Between floors, in vertical walls, it should be riser rated. If the cable passes through air handling areas (very unlikely in residential) it must be plenum rated as well which means the fumes emitted are within specific toxic limits. The silver/gold zip-cord type of speaker wire is hardly ever in-wall rated... but the good thing is that the proper in-wall speaker cable (CL2/CL3) is usually cheaper. Coax, Video, Audio, Ethernet cables all must be in-wall rated as well.

Angelo Menna - (845) 469-8606 Please tell him it's from Melinda Koss. I live in Rockland, he lives in Orange. Will go to Westchester (asked him today). He's fantastic. As I mentioned, he built my house 11 years ago and we were happy then too. The house was being built as a spec house and was mostly done when we got involved in it. He saw that I was 100 months pregnant and had a 2 year old running around the back yard one day and said "I gotta build you guys a fence". The house is on a hill. Didn't charge us. We were thrilled when he agreed to do this job. An update - I sold the old kitchen via Craig's List. Sunday theis guy came over to see it and gave us a deposit, but said he needs the kitchen by Thursday. After speaking to Angelo yesterday morning, he sent his main guy to my house today and the two of them demo'd my kitchen. It's all sitting in my garage waiting to be picked up. Everything came out in great condition. That's a lot of service. Now I have no kitchen - weeks before the cabinets are due in - oy! Anyone want us to come for dinner??? :)

Honestly I think you're way overdoing it. I think you should put two speakers in the kitchen, none in the dining room, and buy decent equipment for your family room. I can't for the life of me imagine why you need four speakers in the dining room, directly adjacent to the family room and right in the air travel path of the sound coming from your front two speakers, which should be the best sounding speakers in the house. The family room, like it or not, is what will be making the sound for the dining room. You will never want to be listening to one thing in the dining room and another in the family room, it will sound awful for everybody. If you did this, one benefit would be that you could get a nice two-zone 7.1 amp and be able to control everything from your phone.