First, do you have a lease? Or anything in writing that shows you are renting this apartment? Check the lease carefully--what the tenant pays for and what the landlord pays for should be spelled out in the lease. If the water bill is to be split between all the tenants in the building, that should be in the lease as well. Second, google [your state] landlord tenant law. The rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants vary greatly from state to state, so you need to find out what the rules are where you live. Specifics: The water bill. There's probably a phone number on the note that was left for you. Call that and ask 1) is it just your water that will be cut off or the entire building? What is the bill for? You need this information before you can decide what to do about the bill. The landlord. Try googling his name to see if you can find an address or new phone number so that you can call him directly. The condition of the apartment. Check to see what office in your city or town handles housing matters. There may be code violations in your unit. If the city checks your apartment and finds problems that the landlord needs to fix, they will do the work for you in finding the landlord. Do not give the landlord or his brother any money until you see the bills that back up what they say you owe. Demand receipts. Frankly, although your rent seems low, I think you should look into finding a new place to live. The apartment sounds terrible and the landlord and super don't seem to know what they are doing, at best, and at worst are trying to get more money out of you than you really owe.

I installed a 42" wide and 24" deep Rangecraft hood with 600 cfms over a gas 36" CC rangetop with 6 burners. My criteria when choosing a hood were: -42" wide -24" deep at least -baffles instead of mesh filters -600 cfm minimum -quiet -attractive shape I cook almost every meal from scratch every day, and, as a SAHM, I cook a lot. We also entertain a lot, which to me means that I cook for everyone. I don't do potlucks in my house...ever. I saute, steam, stir fry, simmer, and boil regularly. I haven't deep fried in the new kitchen, but will tomorrow when I fry Arancini di Riso for a dinner party. Aesthetically, I love the hood. I wanted an uber expensive Modernaire barrel hood, which was way out of my budget, but was lucky enough to find my RC on their clearance page for a decent price. Functionally, it's a bit too loud for me to use every time I cook. Like TR, I try to turn it on 5-10 minutes before cooking if I'm doing something really messy or stinky. Then, I let it run for at least 5 minutes afterwards. For just a grilled cheese, for example, I don't turn it on to save my ears and my mental sanity. I'd like to investigate putting a silencer in the duct run in a couple of years if that's possible. I throw my baffles in the DW about once a week or two. It's nice to see the grease on them instead of my kitchen. It's so easy to throw the baffles in the DW, and they come out perfectly clean every time. As far as the cfms go, I had planned on a 1000cfm Kobe until I found my RC hood. The hood already had a 600cfm fan installed, and, since it was clearance, it was as-is. I gambled that the wider hood would help make up for the less than recommended cfms. I find that on high, my hood does an adequate job of sucking HOGS for almost all my high-heat cooking. I seared some steaks once last winter in a very hot pan and found a little smoke and odor escaping. BUT I do all my messiest and stinkiest high-heat cooking on the rear center burner so the HOGS have the best chance of being captured by the hood. I do occasionally wish I had more cfms, if only for the noise factor. (A hood with 1000 cfms will be quieter at 400cfms than will a hood that maxes out at 400cmfs.) An in-line silencer would help mitigate my sound issues. As mentioned above, I think the depth of your hood is an important criteria often overlooked when shopping. Mine is 24" deep, but it just barely covers the front edge of my rangetop burners. 27" deep hoods aren't common, but I often wish mine was that deep. I sometimes see a little steam escaping out the front edge of the hood when I have the hood on the low setting. All in all (after all that rambling ;) ) and knowing what I know now, I would make the same hood choice again.

I met a second contractor yesterday. Not a good fit. He did not listen to me, talked about things that had nothing to do with my project, was argumentative, tried to point out the advantages of laminate counter tops and brought a catalog of very traditional wood cabinets even though I had told him I wanted contemporary euro-style cabinets. Don't contractors bring photos of work they have completed ? This one said he had recently done a remodel in the style I like but he would have to go back to the customer to take a photo of her kitchen. He called her while he was with us to see if he could drop by to take a photo. He was to email it to me but I have not received anything. I find this odd that he would not take a photo of his work when finished. I am meeting a 3rd and last contractor tomorrow. I have the feeling that I will choose # 1.

Hire an independent company/individual. Not a good idea to use someone recommended by a realtor---I speak from several instances of experience(fixing problems in houses inspected by those types). Good point chispa made. What do you want the inspector to do? Make sure codes are followed? Make sure the GC is not shorting the build? Or acting as your agent? Many have a fee for an inspection, based on time/size/depth of inspection. What you detail would mean either a set fee for a set number of inspections/hours on an hourly fee for time.