I am in the same boat, ecwv. I have ruled out Fratelli Onofri because we are only considering all gas ranges due to electrical/budget considerations. I had a chance to look at the Berta and a 24" Fisher Paykel today. I like the looks of the Berta and I am not too concerned by the oven size--with the rack at the lowest position, you have 10" (height) until you hit the heating element. I measured my old Kenmore range when I got home and it seems to offer the same height to me when I set the rack at the second to lowest position which is where it almost always positioned. I also rarely have more than one thing going in the oven at a time so I don't need a huge oven. The salesman told me a couple of things worth passing on--only when I pressed him did he admit preferring the Berta because it is more substantial, and there is no doubt about that. While it is true that the FP does not have the heft of a Wolf or a Blue Star (those things are tanks) or even the Berta, it is a home range--nothing commercial about it and I think it would suit me just fine plus I like its European look. He also told me that Fisher Paykel and Delonghi are made by the same manufacturer and just glancing at their specs, they seem to be the same except for cosmetics. He cautioned that FP and D have recently switched their manufacturing to Mexico, Bertazzoni is still made in Italy as it has been for generations. My primary interest is in purchasing an all gas range with some significant BTUs within my budget. I also do not want a lot of electronics--no more motherboards for me. All three fit the bill. And the same salesman told me that while he doesn't sell many FPs, the ones he has sold seem to be doing well--not too many repairs, he said the same for Berta and then added that he has sold many of those so he has more to draw from in terms of repair history. I left undecided and called a friend who has been a Berta owner for 2 years. She said she would not do it again--the oven size is too small for her cooking style and the burners perform inconsistently for her. There are several Berta fans on this forum, I'd love to hear first hand about FP and Delonghi.

and doesn't get commission or bumps for promoting one line over the other - we asked Unless said salesman is a relative or long time friend I would not trust him farther than I could throw him. The Thermador columns are very good. I would rank them in a class just below Sub-Zero. They are made by Bosch in Turkey. All thermador ovens are made in LaFollette Tennessee. They get consisently bad reviews in their class. Even if you can't find a review on a particular model I think the smart move is skip this one. Wall Ovens- Take a serious look at Gaggenau and Wolf. The Gaggs are really top notch,have side swing doors so you don't have to reach over a hot oven door,and hold temp amazingly well. They can reach 350 in about 6 minutes or so. Rangetop- I think the T'dors are just mediocre. Take a serious look at Capital Culinarian and Bluestar RNB. Enter Capital Culinarian in the Youtube searchbox and look at the vids. T'dor has at least two suppliers for hoods. My guess is the Masterpiece line is made by Broan and is ok but nothing great.

The independent HVAC company that deals mainly with American Standard equipment is telling me this (will send quote via e-mail later this week): 1. Need 3.5 ton unit because new refrigerant 410A is not as cold as R-22. Also, insulation in older homes in Southern California is not good, so need stronger ac unit. 2. He says that he doesn't need to do a Manual J. His 25 years of experience says to stay with 3.5 ton unit. Also, recommends replacing evap coils and furnace. 3. Noticed that existing furnace is upright/standing rather than laying flat. He's the 2nd guy to shake his head at the way it's installed. He says it's not efficient to put a furnace upright and the evap coils on the side of the upgright furnace. 4. He doesn't work with rebates, so he doesn't want to bring outside company to test energy efficiency prior and after install. He says the extra money you spend on trying to qualify for a rebate is a waste and not worth in the long run. I told him that the Costco affiliated company will do rebates and will test. He says California is going broke and probably no money for rebates. He also said that I need a 90% efficient furnace to qualify for rebates. 5. Asked if I wanted to get the permits myself. Kept saying that city is likely to ask me to move outside condenser due to its closeness to new pool. I told him I got permits 4 years ago for pool and pool equipment and city approved the location of pool and pool equipment and a/c unit was there already. 6. Says to use existing ducts and vents/registers. Will probably use same lineset since it will outlast my lifetime. 7. This guy is the actual installer. Company is so busy, they couldn't send me the salesperson. He came from finishing an install at another house. ----------------------------------------- Costco affiliated HVAC company (www.airtro.com) will also send me quote via e-mail tonight or tomorrow. Sent the salesman who says he'll be the supervisor for the job at the start. 1. Says that I can go with 3 ton a/c unit with new evap coils. Keep lineset. Says that double-pane windows help. Says Fraser-Johnson was low end unit. Says Lennox is much better. 2. Says furnace should not be upright in attic and says it's a bad installation. Recommends new furnace. 3. Permits will cost about $200 to pull. 4. Will bring a company to test ducts/energy efficiency to qualify for best possible rebate amount(probably $1500). Can't promise, but says that's his company has not been denied a rebate yet. They will do all the paperwork. 5. Recommends new ducts and a new vent/register in kitchen. Recommends dampers in ducts to evenly distribute air. Says some existing ducts are the rigid ones and might have moved/shifted over time, so he's certain that I'm losing 30% of air. $2000 to do all new ducts. 6. Problem is he only offers Lennox Merit equipment for $7000, $2000 for ducts, $200 for permits. I'm expecting a detailed quote. He says equipment is the best in the industry. 1-year labor warranty and the standard 5-year equipment warranty on the a/c unit from Lennox. I can upgrade to Lennox Elite for $2000 more, but it's a 2-stage system that I don't want. Did not recommend anything outside of the Costco price list. 7. Showed me awards from Angie's list and local newspaper, BBB certificate, insurance coverage, etc. True salesperson. My overall impression is that the American Standard independent installer seemed to say that he's been doing this for xx years and he knows what's best for me. Don't need rebates and don't need permits. That's what it felt like, but I told him I want permits. I told him I want all American Standard equipment like the Gold SI compressor, matching coils to maximize SEER, and a compatible AS furnace at 80% efficiency. The Costco affiliated company wants to charge me for a full-system (cut-in) which includes new ducts, new registers, new equipment, etc. I think that he wants to put a new register in the kitchen to justify the $2000 duct charge on the price list. I felt that this salesperson was recommending the package rather than my needs. He did have a checklist of items to go over, so it felt like we had a more complete conversation minus a technical discussion on how to ensure that all the Lennox components fit my needs and achieve the best possible SEER. I think that after reading so many posts here and getting so much advice, I was expecting more. I suppose that I'll find out more when I get the quotes via e-mail and see how detailed they are. Also, I'll see how they respond once i start making changes to the equipment based on opinions from this board.

Old uncle had two freezers and I defrosted and cleaned them when I came to spend a couple of months with him seven years ago after the death of his wife. His major pains caused us to worry that, going out to care for his cattle in his mid 80s, he might fall in a snowbank and be unable to get up: with no one in the house to call help after a short while, he could well freeze, so I stayed with him for a couple of months till his cattle went out to pasture. On his death, five years ago, his nephew got the newer chest-type one and the older chest-type one remained in the basement, so when I rented the house from the new owner I've been using it. Most freezers keep goods near zero Fahrenheit and most of the ones in a frig keep things just a few degrees below freezing, so folks with separate freezers say that it keeps ice cream better - meat and a number of other things, also, for that matter. I'm pretty sure that the old freezer hasn't been defrosted since I did it several years ago - I know that it hasn't in the last five that I've lived here. It does need it, fairly soon. As I live 8 miles from a village, where the small store is somewhat more expensive, and 13 miles from the city, I like to have various items available without making special trips, and like to buy a quantity of goods on sale. While I store some produce from my fairly large garden (just tripled in size, at least) in the basement, a major portion of it is best stored in frozen state ... and I do that for not only my needs, but my son's, a friend's and a couple of agencies that feed the poor, the homeless and some addicted persons in rehab, as well. Frost-free freezers as it freezes for a while ... then heats up for a short time ... then re-cools the stuff that began to thaw a bit while the heating was going on ... uses more energy, that's not only costly to produce, but adds to both climate heating and pollutants. It seems to me that the cycling will mean that frozen goods should be used sooner and will deteriorate more rapidly. Same story for frost-free frigs, for that matter. Also, it will of necessity add to your electric bill. Freezers with doors cost more to operate, also, for, as someone said, the cold spills out to the floor and your ankles the minute you open the door, then must be replaced when you close it. Chest freezers may have a little heated air enter the box when the lid is opened, but only minimally so, so there is little extra cooling required after the lid comes down. Freezers with doors add more to your electric bill, as well. To simplify finding things in a chest freezer, make a map on a fairly large sheet of paper, in pencil to allow for editing, or on a white board, of the goods in the box. Use five large boxes numbered 1 - 5 for locations back to front, with small boxes in each of four lines in each of the five boxes, the small boxes labelled A - K for left to right and each large box has four lines labelled a - d showing depth. 1 Aa Ba Ca Da Ea Fa Ga for stuff at back, on top Ab Bb Cb Db Eb Fb Gb for stuff at back, just below Ac Bc Cc Dc Ec Fc Gc for stuff at back, near bottom Ad Bd Cd Dd Ed Fd Gd for stuff at back, at bottom 2 Same routine, for stuff next to back, on top, just below, near bottom and at bottom 3 Same system, for stuff in middle of back to front, on top, just below, etc. 4 Same again, for stuff next to front, on top, just below, etc. 5 Same again, for stuff at front, on top, just below, etc. Use different number of lines or boxes as it appears to suit your need. Chief problem - when moving goods to get at stuff behind or below it, to replace it in the same place. Leave large margins for notes. Write small in the boxes, so when something far down is used and the item above it drops down ... best to erase, but works to cross out the the item gone, use an arrow to show that the item above has dfropped down. You noted that one respondent spoke of her freezer as being 40 years old. They don't make them to last that long, now: we're lucky if modern frigs last for much more than ten years. Don't tell me that modern engineers are stupider - they want them to wear out early, so that we need to buy new. Let's demand that they make them to last for 50 years ... at least. We'd be money ahead if I bought one for my house, then in ten years continued to use my old one but paid for one to be "given" to someone in a Third World country who can now afford one, with him paying the price into one of the development banks that make small loans to other Third World people to help them get started in business. The ones built in 20, 30 and 40 years could be shipped to the third world to meet their growing demands. In 50 years, the one that I bought now will need replacing ... but it'll be by my kids, as I'll have long since departed this mortal coil (mine would have been sold at a yard sale when they cleared out my house). Oh - that'd not work for me: I live in a rented house, with frig. provided. In any case - this house'll still need a frig (if it's still standing). I hope that you're having a great summer week. ole joyful