I know this is a little late in posting, but I wanted to actually use it for a while before reporting back. We finally got it installed a little over a month ago and I'm so far very happy with it. We got the SHE68T56UC as I couldn't find enough differences with the 800 series that I cared about. It is very quiet, it fits way more stuff than my old dishwasher did, it doesn't dry things quite as good as I would like, but plastics are no different than the old one. The one drawback I do have is that my tall pot doesn't fit unless I rearrange the racks which to me is more of a pain than washing it by hand. Dishes comes out way cleaner and my glasses that had some kind of white haze that I thought was etching are returning to looking clear again. I only switched the dishwasher - not the detergent. It does take about an extra 40 min than my old dishwasher, but it hasn't bothered me as I can fit so much that at times I end up putting some stuff in and running it not completely full as there isn't enough space to fit more plastics for example or glasses in the top and the bottom isn't fully filled. I have yet to be left with anything on the counter to feel like it is taking too long to run so I can load it again. Edit: Forgot to add that I don't pre-wash the dishes except to scrape off large stuff, but DH does pre-wash, although he is starting to come around. So each wash is a mix of the two. Hopefully I can get a chance to test out it with nothing pre-washed at all, but I think it will perform well. I took the wash filter out to clean as the installer said to do it if things started to smell. It didn't smell, but I figured I'd make it a monthly thing just so I it wouldn't get there. There was nothing in the filter so really didn't need to do it. I'm sure as I go along I'll figure out how often it will need to be done. This post was edited by lyfia on Wed, Mar 12, 14 at 12:32

There is a recent discussion on pendant lighting originally specific to larger pendants but the conversation has covered a lot more. I would recommend you check it out. I purchased my bathroom light fixture at faucetdirect & had great customer service dealing with a part that was back ordered. For pendants, these are the sights I have found most useful but I have yet to buy from any of them except lighting by gregory & that was a few years ago. Note - I have been looking for contemporary or simple period "style" pendants (such as schoolhouse) so the list leans that way. Consolidators - carry many manufacturers (more contemporary) http://www.lightology.com/ www.shadesoflight.com - good pricing for copies of higher-end stuff like restoration hardware www.lightingbygregory.com www.ylighting.com Only carry their own stuff www.schoolhouseelectric.com - period lighting www.rejuvenation.com - period lighting www.restorationhardware.com - period lighting www.techlighting.com - contemporary pendants & some period style through one of their brands - Wilmette which has a link on the homepage Here is a link that might be useful: Pendant discussion

If, by any chance, you want authentic schoolhouse style fixtures, be sure to check out Olde Good Things. I also seriously heart the original and repro lighting offerings in Urban Archaelogy on Franklin Street (but, alas, not the prices.) Besides RH, you may want to try Gracious Home. And then, of course, there's the whole lighting district on the Bowery! There, I especially love browsing in Lighting by Gregory and Olampia Studio. ogtstore.com urbanarchaeology.com lightingbygregory.com olampia.com HTH

For the last decade, I have used SW Westhighland White throughout my house -- all trim (semigloss), all ceilings (in flat), and closet interiors (matte), and even my exterior trim (exterior semigloss)). I think it looks fabulous with everything. I have all sorts of wood tones (natural oak, medium cherry, many antiques), grey paints (including Mindful Grey), and lots of colors (cottage-y colors of blues and greens yellows and even some brighter colors in kids' rooms, etc). I haven't found a color it doesn't look great with. I also have some (cheap) white big box cabinets in laundry rooms, with Westhighland White for the trim (including baseboards) in those rooms as well. This is actually the second house I used it in throughout for trim and closets, and it looked great in my old house, too. Great color, IMHO. Not yellow, not beige, but not cold white, either. I used SW Extra White as my trim color in my first house (over 20 years ago), and, over time, I didn't like how cool it looked, and it also didn't cover very well -- I think because it is just such a pure white. It looked almost purple in some rooms, especially when I used a cheaper SW line for some rooms (never again, but I was a poor grad student back then). Westhighland white has just enough pigments to cover really well in one or two coats (one if repainting white trim or primed white boards, two if being really picky or covering a color). Check out Westhighland White. It's a great color IME, and as my go-to white for 11 years, I still love it and can't imagine not loving it. (FWIW, I use Duration for walls and have recently discovered Masterhide -- tinted to my color -- for ceilings. Great coverage and much cheaper than the ceiling paint.)