I agree that the sightlines from the front door could be better. I would want to rework the stairs/closets/guest room entry in that part of the house, so that the guest room doesn't open right into the foyer. I'd look for a way to have a straight staircase--they're cheaper and more space efficient. Could there be a straight staircase where the closets are, and then you could reorganize the other rooms in the space that's left? It would leave a bigger space in the loft too. Regarding the knee-wall: I'd rather have the option of hanging something on that wall in the mudroom (a mirror or a piece of art). If it were my house and we did put the knee wall in, I'd make sure there wasn't a sprayer on the sink, because I could absolutely see a kid waiting in the mudroom ready to spray the kid coming up the stairs. Also-- if you don't put in the knee wall, and you do put a door between the mudroom and the rest of the house, it will act as an airlock for cold air in the winter. Otherwise, every time someone goes in or out, there will be a draft through the whole house. Also, consider the sightlines that kneewall opens up. It would mean that when you walk into the house you see the door to the nursery/office, and whenever the kids bring home friends who go downstairs to play, they'll see into your mudroom. If you're going to have the long sightline available, I think you should make sure there's something attractive on the other end. Maybe you could move the nursery door, and put a really nice piece of art there? But that doesn't fix the view into the mudroom.... All my feedback aside, I really like the house you've designed-- it will be a lovely place to live! This post was edited by zone4newby on Fri, May 17, 13 at 11:15

Yes, the LG is a fine-looking and feature-loaded machine but if you wash that amount of laundry... I'd highly recommend the Miele washer and dryer. My opinion is that, while LG has all the gadgets and whistles one could imagine, Miele is more about just getting the job done as good as possible. While Miele's advertising is not as exciting to read as LG's, I'm always amazed at how well the washer adapt to each different load of laundry; washing and spinning profiles change all the time, depending on what you're washing - even without 6Motion. The Miele dryer is smaller than the LG one but its reverse-tumbling helps a lot. It's also very fast. Yes, the ColdWash on the LG is cool but, if you're into washing big loads, you should read that excerpt from the owner's manual about the ColdWash option, which basically states to reduce the load size to 40% of what the washer could hold: "For high wash efficiency, it is recommended to use less than 8 pounds." Alex

fahrenheit - Honestly, I don't think I've happened on any error here at all. After another test, maybe something could be said, but at this point it appears to be a mistake. For the most part all of the cycles are independent of each other. Just because "drain/spin" is a certain length doesn't mean that portion of "exta white" follows the same timing and exact pattern. A good example of this can be seen by looking at the "custom" cycle. crooks101 already noticed that "custom" doesn't use more water if the additional water function is choosen in the firmware (haven't played with the firmware myself, but crooks101 seemed absolutely certain of this). There is one other difference with "custom". It seems like the 1st and 2nd rinse spins (assuming you've choosen a 3rd rinse via "sensitive") are very-very slow spinning, short, low extraction spins even if you choose "max spin" as your spin option. At first I thought I was just seeing the W4840 trying a failed faster spin attempt and then punting by doing a slower spin. The W4840 seems to have an extremely good ability to get a load spinning even if it's somewhat out of balance so this behavior puzzled me. I've done 4 or 5 "custom" loads now and it always acts in this way with the lethargic intermediate spins. Other cycles like "normal" or "extra white" give the clothing a very good spin-out during these spins. I'm feeling some of crooks101 frustration in wondering why Miele programmed it like this. The machine has plenty of delicate options that seem well designed, so it's difficult to understand why "custom" acts like this.

ssnetboy26, I know where your coming from, but at the same time it's tough to compare one person's experience and results with how it might play in your own house. Without the internal heater working you might get very different results between: (1) A basement install on a concrete floor where it's positioned right next to a domestic hot water (DHW) heater set to 140F in Florida with average cold water temps of 80F and soft water. vs. (2) A second floor laundry room in an old house without any floor reinforement with 150 ft of uninsulated pipe between the machine and the DHW heater set to 120F in Canada with average cold water temps of 50F and ultra hard water. Even with an internal heater, water chemistry alone could dictate very different experiences. In the end you have to decide if your willing to live with workarounds using a very well made machine with some firmware teething issues. Sometime seems out of whack when a quality manufacturer asks you to pay $1600 to $1800 for a washer with beta firmware. Given the reality of the alternatives it might still be the right choice.