i agree with alley ... choose the best looking specimen ... length of show is ambient air temp variable .... if temps seem to spike right at elongation ... its a short show ... if air cools at that moment at time ... longer show ... either way its a one to two week show ... golden feathers is otherwise green the rest of the season .. buit oh what a show in spring ... blue version i have .... is always a short show ... and a rather pale yellow ... and much slower growing .... i do not know if its the same as spring blast ... ken Picea pungens 'Spring Yellow' .. the name i bought it under

Thank you all for the comments. It's definitely given me more to consider. I probably should have mentioned this but the credenza is going into a new apartment with no existing furniture, so it's a blank slate. I did consider the height and read a few articles. The seating area will be about 10 feet from the tv and it's a 65" screen. This chart I found says the max height for this size and distance is 38" from the floor to the bottom of the screen, so I think either credenza should work. The mcm is 29" and the black trim is 30".

Where are you located. If there is a Miele Experience Center anywhere within a few hours driving, it might be worth your while going there -- and ideally, taking one of their cooking classes. Unfortunately, I believe there are only 10 for the entire US. Miele is the leader in domestic combination steam ovens, though. A steam oven is essentially a fully-featured wall oven, albeit somewhat smaller in width. They generally all measure 24", and Miele is one of the few manufacturers that optionally makes an extra tall oven that is 24" instead of 18" in height. In addition to being a regular oven (i.e. top/bottom heat, convection, broiler, ...) it also has the ability to control humidity from 0% to 100%. It only heats up to at most 435°F (that's in the middle of the pack for wall ovens), but it can precisely control low temperatures down to 85°F. That means, it also works great for defrosting, melting chocolate, sous-vide, proofing yeast dough, and it can double as a warming drawer. Moisture control goes far beyond the obvious advantages (e.g. for making bread), but it also vastly improves the time that it takes to heat things up. Moist air transports heat much more efficiently than dry air. This means, a CSO can often be a substitute for a microwave. It is a little slower, but not as much as you'd think. Heating up the food on your plate might take 1½ min in your microwave, whereas it takes 4min in the CSO. But you end up with much "fresher" looking food. It doesn't get as mushy as in a microwave. And as an added bonus, your plate is warm too, so your food doesn't get cold as fast. If you make proteins, you can use the low temperature sous-vide function (both with and without vacuum bags!) to get perfectly medium or medium rare steak, great salmon, or super-fast cooking juicy roast chicken. And the Miele CSO has built-in recipes that can help with some of these functions. You also get perfectly blanched vegetables without any hassle. The interior of the oven is all stainless steel and it uses the water to go through a basic self cleaning cycle after each use. I find, it it very easy to keep clean. Much better than traditional ovens. You can use it as a super-fancy rice cooker to make perfectly fluffy rice. You can make the best soft-boiled eggs. You can easily make creme brulee. You can make perfect melt-in-your-mouth BBQ ribs. Typically, all of the fancy sous-vide recipes on Serious Eats directly translate to use in a CSO. But the nice thing is you can also finish them in the same appliance -- although, admittedly, the electric broiler element is less powerful than I'd ideally like. So, I still find I use other techniques for finishing some of my dishes (e.g. outside BBQ, in-range gas infrared broiler, pan fry, blow torch, ...). Quite frequently, you can cook multiple dishes at the same time without any flavor transfer. The oven keeps track of the order that you have to add ingredients so that everything is done at the same time. There obviously is some learning curve, and I have made recipes where I feel they need some more adjustments before they are exactly right. But overall, it's a joy to work with, and probably the most versatile tool in my kitchen. If I had to pick one appliances that I wouldn't want to give up, it would be this one.

My favorite frying pans are my carbon steel wok, and my 7.25 qt Le Creuset...yes, it's not a pan but the sides keep the actual frying (chicken etc) process less messy...and yes, it takes longer to heat up but it holds the oil temp well! I use both all the time. I have an actual fryer for my homemade fries. Or are you just asking about making eggs in a frying pan ;) Then non-stick is my favorite!