I use Epionions.com: I also check reviews on everything. I just checked out their home and garden section (wasted a good 1/2 hour!). Here is a link that might be useful: Epinions.com

I poked around a bit and found nothing except a bunch of places selling replacement remotes. Aiwa has a reputation of making nice inexpensive stereos, so I would say if YOU like it, buy it.

Your existing house is charming, and the addition looks tasteful. I hesitate to argue. You are surely very invested in the plans. Can you get some 'ballpark' bids instead of waiting to have detailed plans? (Add at least a 20% 'fudge factor'.) What are quality builders getting per square foot for new homes in your area? Ask a few realtors to value your house 'as is' and with the addition. What you plan is a 1000 sq ft new house, including all the most expensive components: kitchen, baths, heating and cooling, electrical. How much will you be doing with the old house to integrate it? Will you re-roof? Buy new HVAC to serve both parts? I'm afraid you'll be at that $1.4 mark, and have to live through the mess for over a year, then discover you could never sell for what you've put into the house. The RE market in your area may be stable. In mine, you can buy existing homes for much less per square foot than you pay for new construction. Our teardown decision was also informed by a neighbor's experience with a big renovation. They nearly doubled the number of bedrooms and baths. It took almost two years. When they sold, buyers rejected their house for homes that were originally built that size; they could buy them for the same asking price. The house was on the market a long time, and they lost a lot on the eventual sale. All RE is local. This may not apply to your area. Just be careful to weigh the total value you'll have after making this extensive addition plus any renovations to integrate the old portion of the house.

Think of it this way...Gap...Old Navy... and Banana Republic they are all owned by the same company...I would say there are plenty of people who shop at these stores who not aware of this fact, these three different clothing stores sell many of the same type of items and change things like thread count, buttons etc. and they sell to slightly different clientele....think Ford and Lincoln....Toyota to Lexus...or more so Carl's Jr Hamburgers vs Hardee's, it is along this same concept that these cabinet lines are made and 'branded'....I would suspect one other purpose is that it also allows different local cabinet sales companies to sell these cabinets in the same city and have less price matching comparison shopping from clients...the basic manufacturing is the same, the basic approach to building the cabinets are the same...the colors, hardware and maybe some door styles are often changed (or simply sold under different names.) These are all fine manufacturers - and all are made in the US. An affiliated company of our sells several of these lines made by some of the manufacturers mentioned above and the products are all great and the manufacturers back up their products. One of the biggest reasons they do not want their customer service information out there is that they want you to go to their local Sellers to deal with any issues rather than for them to handle customer follow up. All of these brands I would buy with confidence the part to be more mindful of would be which line within the brand to buy. Once you're comfortable with the 'Brand' my advice would be to focus on different features even within the same nameplate - and get educated on features of the various 'lines' - such as stapled drawer fronts vs dovetail, particle board vs plywood boxes, the limitations of paint colors, door styles and sizes, these are the items to watch out for more...I guess this would be kind of like the polo shirt I buy from Banana vs Gap vs Old Navy might wear differently over time depending on actual thread count and type of buttons used etc.