If budget really isn't a problem, and you can afford to wait a while, a new technology called SED is on its way. The result of a collaboration between Toshiba and Canon, Surface emitter Electron Display sets use electron emmission technology just like a CRT (so the picture quality is every bit as good), but since the electron emmission is from the surface rather than a gun, SED sets will have a flat screen form factor, something like 4cm or so. These will be the new standard for light, slim, flat screen displays. The picture quality will blow LCD and plasma away (real blacks, very short recovery time for pixels so no blur in fast images), and will use less power than LCD or plasma, too. And they'll be 1920 x 1080. Sorry to complicate your choice even more, but if you can wait these sets really sound like they'll be worth it. From what I've read production has already started, and sets will be available end of this year or early part of next. Pricing should be comparable to plasma, and the first models will be in the 40-50 inch range. If you need something right away, I personally like plasma. CRT is too small and heavy, LCD doesn't have true blacks (neither does plasma but it's better than LCD), and RP sets have too small a viewing angle. As for ED vs. HD, if you can afford it I'd go HD. I compared the Panasonic sets and, while the ED picture looked good, I saw "jaggies" around the text that wasn't there on the HD, and the HD sets seemed to have better depth. Personally I'm waiting, only because I can't currently afford a good plasma HD, especially when SED is less than a year away.

I needed to mount a TV above the fireplace because it was really the only place in the room it could be viewed by everyone and not in the way. The mantel of our fireplace is rather high (almost 6 feet) which would put the center of the TV well above a comfortable viewing angle. I spent months searching for a TV mount that could lower the TV to a decent height. I quickly discovered that anything motorized would cost several times what I paid for the TV. Beyond that, there were 2 options: Omnimount or Down and Out by Dynamic Mounting (http://www.dynamicmounting.com/index.php). The Omnimount is cheaper ($200-$300 vs. $400-$500) but an inferior product for my purposes. The Down and Out mount is much thinner (protrudes ~4 inches from the wall) and can lower the TV much farther (~30 inches!). I should also say that I have engineering degrees and tend to do all my own work. I thought about making my own mount but was a bit surprised at both the cost and level of difficulty. The Down and Out was fairly simple to mount on the wall and works VERY well.

"...Using an induction cooktop requires less ventilation power..." CFM (ventilation power) has less to do with the type of fuel used than it does how and what you cook. Gas vs traditional electric vs induction is mostly irrelevant. Rather, consider how/what you cook: Do you mostly boil water? Do you do any frying/browning/stir-frying? These are things you need to think about. Boiling water sends clouds of hot vapor out into the room (and the moisture eventually lands on walls, cabinets, ceiling if not properly vented); frying/browning sends smoke, grease, odors throughout the room (and they eventually lands on walls, cabinets, ceiling if not properly vented). Dust, pet fur, people hair, dirt, etc. land on the moist or greasy surfaces and leave a layer of "gunk" that over time becomes almost impossible to remove completely (I only have to look at my mom's kitchen to see an example!) If someone is sitting behind the rangetop - think about the hot vapor wafting into his or her face. Or, grease splattering onto someone's arms or face! As to an overhead vs a downdraft - don't waste your money on a downdraft. They're not very good. If you must get an island rangetop, at least vent it properly to keep the steam, smoke, etc. out of the faces of those visitors you are imagining hanging around your rangetop while you're cooking. "...If you use a convex corner of your island..." Don't use a convex shape - it makes the entire area much less useful b/c it curves away from the rangetop so you have less workspace directly on the side. ++++ OK, the math.... IF you have seating behind the island, then you need an island at least 49.5" deep: 1.5" overhang + 24" deep rangetop cabinet + 24" space behind the rangetop IF there is no seating, you can probably get away with 6" less (but I don't recommend it). 1.5" overhang + 24" deep rangetop cabinet + 18" space behind the rangetop (15" to 18" deep cabs behind the island - great for a large amount of additional storage, BTW) A 36" deep island is not deep enough for a rangetop in the island. Live_Wire_Oak already provided you with the island width measurements... ++++++ I used an island range for a week in a rental, along with a telescoping downdraft vent - I hated both! The downdraft was noisy and did not work for anything that wasn't right up next to it (which meant the back burners only) and only worked for pots/pans several inches shorter than the top of the vent part of the downdraft (which meant pans no taller than a 4-qt pot). This rental had a Dacor range + downdraft (and Dacor MW). Dacor is supposed to have the best downdraft out there and, I think, the only one that can be used with a range - and only a Dacor range. The island (actually a fairly long peninsula) had a raised counter behind it w/a 12" overhang, but I still splattered my DD with grease when she was sitting at it when I browned some meat (I did not do that again!) There was also only about 6" on the one side - far too little space for emergency landing space and very useless in general! BTW...that peninsula overhang was too shallow, we had to straddle the counter when we sat it. Needless to say, it wasn't used much (especially after the grease splattering incident). We ended up using the stools to dry our beach towels and all the counter was used for was to stage dishes when we were setting the table in the dining area or as a drop zone for packages, sunscreen, etc. Personally, I would not want an island or peninsula rangetop, but this is your kitchen. Please, size it appropriately for what you plan to include on it! I don't know your layout b/c it's not posted here - but if you are planning an "L" shape on the perimeter, consider eliminating one side of the "L" to accommodate a wider island so you can fit what you want on the island.

Have been scarce on here lately as we are STILL trying to nail down someone to do our kitchen, but.... Hands down the most important thing of being here is that reading and watching others has helped me really THINK about how I use my kitchen and what will work best with the compromises that I need to make...we typically all have some compromise levels in our remodels or builds, so I've come up with ones that are "workable" to me. I think about the kitchen that I almost would have had...and it would have been new. But disfunctional or at least not as functional as it should have been. There are going to be touches of GW throughout our kitchen. While I'm not going with the typical look (we've planned dark floors and dark cabinets...certainly not the favored look here), there will be a lot of things gathered from here that will be implemented into our new kitchen. We're going with induction - would have never had the guts to pull the trigger on that if not for here - none of our family or friends have it. Almost all drawers rather than roll-outs (why didn't I think before of how silly it is to open a door, roll out a drawer and then reverse the process. Way easier to go with a drawer. What to aim for in terms of construction of cabinetry. I honestly had very little clue before. Plugmold and LED strip lights - would have known next to nothing about neither of those. And so, so much more.