I'll stick with the scientists on this one. Good for you, as virtually every major scientific organization on the planet has stated that man-made climate change is likely real, and here now. And the non-scientific denialist organizations admit it too (albeit the report was buried), as I said above, & they insisted that the denialists "theories Âdo not offer convincing arguments against the conventional model of greenhouse gas emission-induced climate change". Plus, the 400/650...then 602 "scientists" quote was indeed from press releases that announced reports authored by the Swift Boat creator (a report written by a PR guy, not a scientist). The excerpt from the WashTimes was a cut-paste from a press release announcing a book (written by a PR guy for CFACT, not a scientist). Both of these statements are mendacious distortions of reality, well-documented and long-ago refuted. Fortunately, decision-makers and their staffs are not duped by press releases and most are fully versed in the scientific evidence (which is why we have maps depicting USDA Zone changes). Dan

You have no idea how close I came in my previous post to asking if there was a heat mat underneath. I advise you to talk to your installer before he does the repair and ask what happens if the heat matt is destroyed during the repair. Making repairs over a heat mat makes things considerably more delicate. It depends on the type of mat and where/how it was installed, and how the installer intends to make the repair. I have a squawk box that I made from parts at Radio Shack. It's essentially a continuity tester. I clip it to the leads of the heat mat when I'm working. If at any time one of the wires is broken, the continuity of the circuit is interrupted and a buzzer sounds. He definitely needs something like that, and it needs to be used during the repair. Mongo

Hi - I'm trying to look through because I think we have a lot of appliance overlap. We just redid our kitchen and "moved in" to use it in April, and I LOVE every appliance. Looking at your list, we have the Electrolux Icon All Fridge/Freezer, the Double Ovens and warming drawer. We're really pleased with all of them, especially the ovens. We did have one slight issue with a drawer front pulling off in the fridge, but hasn't been a problem in the freezer (on your list.) We have the Sharp 27" microwave drawer and while that was new, I really like that (as do my kids!) We got the 27" b/c our cabinet was 27" (and the 30" is really the same size microwave,) just has spacers on the side. Some people complained about the open/close mechanism being slow so we went with the model that you can either pull/push open/close OR use the button on the microwave. That works out well for our family. My kids love it b/c they can reach it (and I don't worry they'll spill boiling soup on their face!) We have the 36" Thermador gas cooktop. Love it! Can never go wrong with Thermador! And, last but certainly not least, we have a Miele Futura Dimension Plus, which both my husband and I agree was the best appliance purchase we made! The dishes are SPARKLING clean and we LOVE the cutlery rack, especially the little part that drops down in the middle for spoons and service pieces and such. I didn't need the LED lighting in the Diamond (for so much more $ - I don't tend to empty the dishwasher in the dark!) And the Futura Dimension PLUS has the feature that the DW pops open after the cycle is done so your dishes dry completely. EVERYTHING we put in is dry when we unload, including an entire top rack full of Tervis Tumblers (plastic) and tupperware lunch containers for my kids' lunches. (For a comparison, we have a Bosch in our wet bar and the stuff is sopping - ahem, 70% dry - when the cycle is done. It's ridiculous!) LOVE our Miele FDP! OK, let me know if you have any specific questions! And, good luck! It feels so good to have appliance purchasing behind you - then it's just the fun of using your new appliance heaven! :-)

Been there, done that...lint is such a HUGE annoyance to my life. We're in a 2nd floor condo where the dryer vent ducting goes to the roof through the attic over 20 feet and several elbows. My husband bought the condo years before we met, and the ducting was clogged after several years. At the time, he decided to disconnect the vent from the duct. The resulting moisture did some damage to the cabinetry (swelling of the particle board, even under layers of oil-based paint). Soon after we married, he decided we needed to fix the problem correctly. He went up into the attic and disassembled the ducting, brought it outside, and blew it out with his air compressor. I pushed some cleaning tool through it as well. We can't be doing this regularly! I mean preferably, never again! So, I had him put a filter -- a gallon paint strainer -- over the dryer vent where it connects to the machine. This clogs every month or so, we pull the machine out, disconnect the vent, clean the strainer, and put it back. This is still an annoying chore, but not the nightmare of dealing with the whole duct run. My husband had a cool idea, that what we need to do is sew a new, longer strainer that tapers to a skinny point, so that even when it clogs at the point, there can still be air flowing past the clogged strainer, and we should be able to go longer between cleanings. We got a new dryer last summer, and pulled the ducting out of the attic to clean it -- but it was already clean as a whistle. So, our secondary filter system has kept the duct run clean for 9 years. I found you can buy secondary lint traps with a door that opens to clean them out, but we don't have room to install the box in our laundry room, and I don't think it would work any better or be easier to clean than our homemade filter. When I redo the floor, I plan to put magic slider thingies under the dryer feet to make it easier to move in and out, plus I won't want to gouge my new floor. I have researched other solutions. People claim that solid metal vent will maintain better airflow than pleated, but I think it will still clog because we need 2 90-degree elbows to get it connected to the duct in the wall. And if it clogs, how do we pull out the machine with a non-stretching vent? If we could move the duct in the wall to match the dryer vent outlet, that would eliminate 2 elbows and would probably help... I also found you can install a secondary fan in the ducting near the exit, increasing the airspeed in long ducts so the lint won't clog. They cost $150-200, but if I never had to clean out the duct run or pull out the dryer to clean my makeshift secondary lint trap ever again, it would be well worth it. I also think that our ducting is leaky somewhere, because rooms on the other side of the wall (our master bath) get crusted with lint all the time. Finding and sealing those leaks would probably improve airspeed some, plus save me tons of work cleaning the lint all the time. I think the additional fan is the way to go. In 2 other areas where we replaced an ineffective low-cfm cheap fan with a high-cfm good one, like the hood over our cooktop, it made an amazing difference, night and day. Here is a link that might be useful: example of dryer duct fan