Please allow me to post my opinion and experience on this stinky issue. I am the owner of a HE3T washer, and I am really unhappy with it, mainly because of the smelly and moldy issue, that crept up on us unexpectedly. My wife and I have 4 kids, so doing laundry is a daily affair, and not to be underestimated or procrastinated either... I am on the verge of throwing that ugly beast out of the laundry room for good. It is unbearably revolting to pick up an (alleged) clean towel to dry one's face just out of the shower, and "smear" moldy smell all over you. The vomit factor is very high on this one.... :-( However, I want to highlight a point, and that this issue is NOT an issue with ALL the FL (front loader) washing machines in general. Maybe just US made ones... Overseas, ( Italy ) where I grew up, FL are 99.999999% of laundry machines available on the market and this issue is completely unknown. To put it simply, I am now 45 years of age, I have lived in Italy 28 of those years, and I have never, ever, seen or heard of moldy smell on clean laundry out of the washer. Never. If you knew my mother (she redefines the word "neat freak") you would understand. Just the hint of a remote possibility of having mold in the washer and/or laundry, would bring that washer in the front yard in flames... Seriously, I believe US manufacturers have gone wrong somewhere in the making of this machines. They either cut one too may corners ( quality of rubber, maybe ?) or are attempting to reduce the amount of water in the cycle at the point where the quality of the rinse cycle is not an issue with them, and us as consumers are not part of the equation. I just came back from a one year of living in Italy with wife and kids, and the FIRST thing we notice, ever single time we go over there, is how much fresher and overall incredibly better smell of "clean laundry" they have from their washers. I know, we are weird... and on the contrary, as soon as we are back to the US, and to our $#@! HE3T, we pick up the moldy smell again. The customer/user/consumer SHOULD NOT have to do any gimmicks or use any "special" tablets, in order to operate these washers, or any washer, for that matter, NOT A SINGLE ONE. This washers are NOT cheap and they should just... well, work. Living in Italy for the last 12 months, we used two washers, one that came with the apartment we rented, and besides a slower spin cycle, it worked as expected (put dirty clothes in, put detergent, push the button, wait, get wet CLEAN laundry out, END OF THE story. Then the landlord needed his washer back, and for a "rent discount" he took that one back, and I got my old 12 years old Miele washer out of storage. This Miele has a somewhat smaller load capacity than most, and it worked for a family of 6 for a long time. Same for my mother's Candy ( Italian brand), and my sister's old Italian washer (San Giorgio). That one lasted 16 years of day in and day out operation for a family of six. It is just so frustrating, since I know that as a concept, FL do work very well, I have seen it work for decades... and one more time, we should NOT need to use "tablets" or do complicated procedures to have clean and good smelling laundry. As I said before, millions of people overseas use FL day in and day out, without doing anything else other than 1) put dirty laundry in 2) select cycle 3) put detergent in 4) push button 5( get clean clothes out. End of the story. Kenmore, Sears, whatever, get your acts together !!

Hi All - thank you so much for your input. Since posting, I finally settled on the Frosty White. Mobydog...I am also ordering through Brian Long at the Cabinet Joint. He has been great and very patient with me! Oldbat2be...thank you, thank you, thank you! I am so happy to see pics of Frosty White. It makes me feel even more sure that I have made the right decision on the whites. Not nearly as stark as I thought it would be. Please send more! Your kitchen is INCREDIBLE! So happy to connect with someone who has the same cabinets. Did you assemble and install yourself? If so, how did you find the process? Also, love the Torquay. Is that honed or polished? Do you love it?? Have been dreaming about honed carrera forever but have been hesitant over durability issues. But if Torguay gives the same feel without looking 'fake'...then I want to explore it as an option. ellendi...thank you so much. I am one of those 'must do it myself types' and Conestoga's quality can not be beat for RTA. Boops2012...I realized after I posted this that I put the wrong image in...I didn't think anyone would notice!! I have been debating where to put my fridge and wall oven. The clearance is 42" between the front of the fridge or DWO to the peninsula and I have been simulating it at home to see how it feels. I actually will likely put the fridge at the back now and put the DWO where the pantry is (further down toward the living room). That's how I feel today anyway...any input is very much appreciated. Thank you for calling attention to it! buffetgirl...that is so right on... thank you for that reinforcement! I kept coming back to the truer of the whites and kept thinking the same thing!

localeater, you might want to look up an old discussion we had here a while ago, about how some of the rescue groups can be a bit over zealous when judging applicants. I found both of my rescues by searching through Petfinder. I then look on the Rescue group's site because they will sometimes have additional information or photos of the dogs. Usually I will then contact them through their own website or sometimes they just want you to fill out an application on their site. It can take time to go through all the red tape, so you need to be patient. I usually fill out a few applications at the same time, for better odds! Usually one dog will already be adopted, another has medical issues that will take time to resolve, another they don't like your application and one will accept your application and plan a meeting. It can take a few weeks for all this communication to happen.

I don't think people are insulting you. Take or not take their advice, it's based in their experience with wood floors and personal taste and preference. Not personal to you. I had the same problem with my pine wood floors. Didn't like the look of the poly with its tone but learned to live with it. It's expensive to treat wood floors and I had trouble finding a good person to work with redoing mine. Then, with the downstairs flooring, while waiting for the several floor refinishers to call me back, I had an epiphany . . . wax. Ye olde Johnson's paste wax. Rub it on, buff, happy for the rest of the year. It's just as good as the poly, and doesn't have to be sanded off if there's something you don't like about it. That was how they did it in the old days and it ain't broke IMHO and it ain't in need of fixing. So much easier and warmer, even than the low shine poly finishes. I had poly upstairs and wax downstairs. Much preferred the wax . . . Mind you I'm no perfectionist and didn't have dogs.