I will say two things: 1) I have learned that any rule about a hose's effectiveness goes out the window under the hot Florida sun. My expensive 'kinkless' hose developed many kinks around July of last year after the sun had time to soften it up. 2) The fact that the Flex-Able hose website tried to stop me from leaving their site when I hit the back button just set off all kinds of warning feelings inside my geeky body. This post was edited by Leekle2ManE on Mon, Feb 11, 13 at 15:10

Ruthie, thanks for the encouragement on this. I just looked through my Red Plum and don't see those coupons. Are they in each of the individual store flyers? Or maybe in the Sunday paper? Also, I was wondering printing from the Red Plum or Smart Source page if the stores give you any trouble about those coupons, printed off the internet. That first one, Afrin, is a good deal. I just paid over $5 for Afrin earlier this week. Darn.

First, let me end the FALLACY that is running unchallenged in this thread: i.e. tapered pipe threaded joints (IPS) will NOT, repeat NOT leak over time, even 100 YEARS, IFF they are properly taped or doped (NOT BOTH), and adequately torqued down, such that several turns of the tapered (deliberately non-matching pitch) threads deform against each other. I have removed such valves installed 40-50 years ago. The packing may be leaking around the valve stems, but the threaded joints are fine and tight. Any joint made IMPROPERLY will leak, including poorly soldered copper. As stated above, sweat the adapter on FIRST, THEN, after cool, tape/dope it and torque it down. But yes the Evil Orange/BLowe's/megalopoly sell only the threaded because they can stock ONE item that will work with copper, galvanized, CPVC, PEX, anything, all by adding a few dollars of adapters. Bean counters' delight, the customer comes second. Yet Another reason to support your independent plumbing supply houses, who can get you the sweat connect version, plus all kinds of goodies you'll NEVER see at the big box halls of wasted time and little help. And no, it is not that hard to clean out the solder cups, re-flux and re-sweat if you botch it the first time.

I think this has been a fruitful discussion. I hope it continues. The more I think about this, the more I believe people should be encouraged by KDs, the kitchen sellers at the big box stores, cabinet makers, etc., to consider counter heights when planning a kitchen. And I think a big shout-out to many of the great contributors here at GW is called for because until I spent hours...well, really weeks of hours...reading through reveals, advice to folks planning their kitchens, and such, I never would have thought of all these types of details being important for a good, functional, pleasant space. GWE’s (GardenWeb Experts) are the bomb!! Last night I made a big salad and started a pot of “clean out the refrigerator” soup. I really liked chopping and that kind of prep on the higher counter. My DH helped a bit a really liked it as well. I also made scratch biscuits. I hand-mixed the dough at four different heights: on the higher counter with the triple breadboards on top (didn’t like), regular counter height (didn’t like), on the breadboard when it was slid into its slot, just below counter-height (liked it much better but still a bit high), and then put the breadboard across two counter-height stools (a bit too low). I think a small stretch of counter somewhere in-between the latter two would be nice for that type of work and other baking, machine-mixing, yada yada type tasks. I’ll continue the experiments. My chiropractor...who I seldom need anymore due to the excellent exercises he’s given me to strengthen my back and keep myself in alignment...does a weekly radio show on our local station. I called in this morning and mentioned this issue and asked him about it. He was very enthusiastic and gave some examples of people he has worked with who have had back issues directly related to long-term repetitive movements where things are not at the right height for them. So, really, for someone who cooks a lot, this isn’t a trivial issue. I really want to learn more about this. Oh, gosh...my friends already think I’m the anti-high-heel and heavy-purse nazi, now I'll be the counter-height nazi, too. But I had a back injury for which I was told I would never fully recover, only have limited mobility, and will always have pain. Well, I proved them wrong on all counts due to proper exercises (mostly from chiropractor) and body movements. I can go hiking with a 30+-pound pack and other activities, like 50-mile bike rides, that they said I'd never be able to do again. And I haven't taken a pain pill since 2008. It's because I've become the healthy-back nazi, LOL. This stuff is important for quality of life issues, imho. Off my soap box. @westsider 40 - Good points about not kneading long. I really don’t bake often where I need to knead. When I do, I move my large breadboard to my table and do it there. So it might be best to just continue doing it that way. @Oaktown - 14” difference! Wow. You would almost need two separate kitchens to work best for the two of you. Yeah, I think you should have a stool under each appliance and in each toekick. Just pull the whole thing out when you’re cooking. DH can push it all in when he’s cooking. @tracie.erin - Interesting on the stove height. I can see why that would be good to have it lower since your arm motion is different when stirring and such at a stove vs. chopping/slicing/dicing in a prep area. I do think my stove is the right height. If we do raise the counters on the wall, we’ll have to make adjustments for a lower stove top. Thanks for the tip. @laughable - Yes, I’m trying to put a lot of thought into this kitchen. And you are one of the people who have really inspired me to put in the extra time and effort to get it right. It will be my last so it better be good! I usually transfer from stock/crock pots in the sink because I’m unbelievably clumsy, lol. The pictures aren’t showing, darn it. I just am getting the Photobucket “This person has moved or deleted” message. It could be my computer. I had to take it back to factory settings last night and am still loading updated drivers and such. I’ll come back later and check it again. I can visualize your explanation of what he did in his own kitchen and why. Still need to get to my library to see if they have any of his books.