Thank you, mitchdesj for your reply. The sort of problem that I'm worried about is leachable metals, like lead, that are ingredients in glazes (and glassware). After doing a quick search on Google, I came up with these two articles: Some imported glassware hazardous FDA Consumer, March, 1990 Several patterns of imported glass tableware sold last spring at Macy's, Nordstrom's, and several other department stores in California, New York, and the Northeast may contain dangerously high levels of lead that can leach into food. The patterns are "Crackle Rim," "Murrina Clear," "Cracked Gold," and "Murrina Transparent Silver" collections of dinner plates, soup plates, bowls, stemware, vases, and ashtrays. Some of these patterns may also be sold as the "Orofolio" collection. Consumers who purchased any of this glassware should immediately stop using it and return it to the store where purchased. Eating off these products or even handling them could cause acute abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea in adults and children, or central nervous system damage in fetuses and small children. Lead leached from samples reached levels higher than 16,000 parts per million (ppm). (Currently, safe levels for ceramic products range from 2.5 to 7 ppm. An FDA proposal now is calling for lowering the allowable limit to 0.1 ppm for some items.) FDA discovered the problem during a routine inspection of a shipment that arrived at the San Francisco port. Other shipments were sent to the New York port. The glassware was manufactured by SI-AN di Cioni & Busoni of Florence, Italy, and sold to various U.S. companies. R.H. Macy Company and other retailers have taken the glassware off their shelves and posted warnings of the danger to alert customers who had purchased the products. ....Here's another article: A rapid lead test: Public outreach and testing to detect leachable lead in ceramic ware Abstract A modification of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lead screening test of ceramic ware was made to screen large numbers of samples in a short time frame. Ceramic ware in use by Davis and Sacramento, California residents was tested. Lead was leached from ceramic ware with citric acid and identified by rhodizonic acid in this quick, qualitative test. Of 92 individual pieces of pottery tested, approximately 6.6% were positive for leachable lead. Approximately 67% of the positive samples were handmade in Mexico. This rapid test is sensitive to two (2) parts per million (ppm, g/g) leachable lead. Ceramic ware with detectable leachable lead levels may present a health risk to individuals who habitually use such items for food storage and/or consumption. Because only 2030 minutes is needed to perform the test, immediate communication of results to the participant is possible. . . . . Both of these articles are at least 10 years old, so maybe the problem no longer exists. However, a good friend just bought a child's lunch box last week from LL Bean which was vinyl on the inside (and made in China). The enclosed directions said to throughly clean the vinyl interior to remove residues from manufacturing. China does not have the regulations in place that keep toxic dangerous compounds like lead out of the air, water, or soil. In fact, food grown in certain areas contains lead, so I try to avoid foods made in China (like honey). This is one of the reasons why stuff from China is cheap. I think you're right about clear glass (is glass naturally clear?). Also, given that I'll be storing stable ingredients like flour and sugar (rather than acidic foods), I think it should be safe. I don't subscribe to women's magazines or health magazines, the newspaper, or watch the news, so I wanted to check here to make certain that what I purchased was food-safe. I'll give them a good scrubbing with lots of hot water and call it a day. Oh, and I think that the lids are aluminum. Thanks again!

Inherited a set of Visions pots, the purple ones, from a neighbor who moved to a retirement home. Was sooo happy, they looked gorgeous. She used the smallest pot for 15 years, still perfect looking except for a slight fog at bottom, the other two larger pots untouched. Though she had no incident with respect to using the smallest pot for 15 long years, all the information about Visions exploding makes me nervous. When you have pets or kids, you think twice about things... If I start using these beauties, I will have that image in my mind and be on constant red alert and edgy, not the most comfortable way to cook... I will probably end up tossing them... :(

The problem w/the short sides, whether ROTS or drawers, is that things can fall off them when they're in motion or while getting something else out/off them. With the higher sides (close to the height of the drawer front, in the case of drawers), the sides will stop things from falling. Open shelves/ROTS...my personal opinion is that I don't like them. I don't like having my pantry items all out in plain sight like that...assuming the above pic is in the kitchen & not a pantry or side room somewhere. To me, and remember this is just my personal opinion & YMMV, it looks unfinished...but, keep in mind that I also do not like open shelves, so it's probably all part of my preference. Yes, I'm sure they're more functional than standard ROTS behind doors...but since the walls of the pullouts are tall & there are no doors, they're really drawers...just drawers without a drawer front. BTW...another idea for a space like that is a pullout broom closet...a pullout w/pegboard would give you a place to hang a broom, dustpan, swifter, mop, etc. As to lazy susans, most of today's lazy susans no longer have the "falling off" issue. The walls & back now follow the contour of the shelves and are so close to the shelves (probably within 1/8" to 1/4") there is no way anything can fall off. You also have a limited front exposed so there's also very little likelihood that anything will fall off the front either. Even my old kitchen's cheap builder-grade cabinets from 1995 had the "new" lazy susan. We never had anything fall off (b/c there was no place for anything to go) and the lazy susan itself was in the best shape of all the cabinets in my old kitchen...as a matter of fact, it operated as smoothly the day we demo'd as the first day. OTOH, my mom has the "old" lazy susans in both the upper & base corner cabinets (from 1960). Both lazy susans have room for things to fall off, and things do fall pretty often (especially if you spin them too quickly). While it's probably nice to be able store boxes of cereal or rice on the sides, it's a real pain to retrieve those fallen items. If that style was the only option out there for lazy susans, then I would join the ranks of those that hate susans! jsweenc...if I had found this Forum years ago, I might have taken the plunge and removed those shelves and put in ROTS as a DIY project! Instead, I lived with them for almost 13 years!

When I last moved I learned one thing from the previous move: Box everything! There's that little pile here that you think doesn't need a box, and then there's a little pile there, and another and another and... No matter how little - put it in a box. Get some colored tape. A roll of bright green electrical tape and a roll of yellow, wider if possible. The boxes you will need immediately get a band of green (or whatever color you have for your code) tape around it so it's visible from all sides. Yellow is for boxes you'll need soon, but not necessarily immediately. Then you can relax a bit on unpacking. Get a roll of red for FRAGILE. Pack your clothes in the suitcases. They both need to be moved and everything should have something in it, including laundry baskets, wastebaskets, etc. Have one box or tote that's your "briefcase" - a briefcase if you have one, for your medications, eyeglasses, aspirin and things like that. Put important papers (including vet records, car keys and things in there too. And *you* are in charge of that one and don't let it out of your sight. Also some Band-Aids, ointment, aspirin and the like, just in case of a cut or a bump. Could Buster stay with a friend while you're moving? It's better than putting him in a carrier or something. That way you don't have to worry about doors being open, him biting or scratching someone accidently, tripping someone or whatever else. Church groups and scouts are great to hire for grunt work. Have trusted people handling delicate and valuable items and some of those kids can be very trustworthy. There's places like "2 Men and a Truck" who are great to hire. Not super cheap but they'll have 2 wheelers and can move you quite rapidly. You just need to be packed and organized. Pack ahead of time. Get people to come and help you pack. It's much more fun and easier on you. DON'T YOU DARE TRY TO DO EVERYTHING YOURSELF DOTTIE!! Make use of friends - cash in on some favors. Hire people if you must. Someone who can't lift and move things can still keep the coffee pot full, answer the phone and things like that. 2-wheelers, 2-wheelers and more 2-wheelers! One for each person is the ideal. A 4-wheeler for moving furniture. Teach people how to use them and how to load them and you're going to speed things up, save everyone's back and make everyone, including yourself, very very happy! When you have to grunt stuff all day, that makes for grouchy people and that can cause damage to possessions and to people. BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER! Repeat: BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER! Remember to contact the utilities, and everyone else that you're moving. Read the meters yourself if you can so you don't get cheated. I have a list of people to contact if you want me to send it to you. It's best to move the biggest and heaviest stuff first, while people are fresh. Once they get tired it's much harder on the person. Don't unload dresser drawers. Pull them out of the dresser and stack them on the 2-wheeler, hidden part of the drawer against the bars of the 2-wheeler. Move the frame then bring the drawers and put them right back into the drawer - no unloading, packing, unpacking and reloading. If you have a lot of stuff, and can get into the new place early, a pre-move can be nice. Move a lot of stuff then. Things you don't use much, extra lamps, etc. Keep a cooler of soft drinks, a pot of coffee and some sandwiches or hot dogs, chips and some bar cookies around with paper plates, plastic cutlery and lots of paper towels. Sloppy joes work well. Expect something to be broken, scratched or something. It happens. Life goes on. Valuables need special treatment so as I said, have someone trusted handling those things and maybe save until last, when everyone is gone. If you have jewelery, cash, and/or other valuables around, well, don't. Or at least keep it in your "briefcase", with you at all times. The doors will be open at both places and anyone in the building can walk in and grab something. Fortunately, you don't have to worry about tracking mud and things. You have limited time to gather boxes and stuff since you're moving so soon. You might just check with U-Haul or something about buying used boxes that they'll buy back from you. Or if you can have friends check Freecycle or Craigslist for moving boxes and materials but they have to get it to you so it might be cheaper or a wash to just buy some. The more consistent sized box, the better. Try not to have a bunch of odd sizes or too many different sized boxes. They don't stack well on the 2-wheelers unless people *really* know how to use them. Unfortunately not a lot of people really know. When I moved I printed off a *bunch* of sheets and put room names on them: Bedroom 1 Bedroom 2 Bathroom Living Rm Dining Rm Kitchen (etc) Print some sheets saying FRAGILE and use the red tape circling the box. Then I packed the box, circled the room and taped it to the box - no writing on each box required. Get some good box-sealing (aka packing) tape and a dispenser. Some boxes should be sealed from prying eyes... Make a checklist. You did start one already, right??? :) A spiral notebook to keep everything together is great. Notes on things to do, people to contact, trip to the bank or grocery store, etc. Check them off. Make a timeline. 5 days before, day before, etc Trash anything you can trash now. Or donate, give away, sell or whatever. Again, it depends how much you have. Somehow, I don't see you as a packrat! If you have the original boxes for things like TVs, computer, printer, etc, use them. But I wouldn't expect you to have a lot of room for storing them. Don't worry if you need to have an unpacking party. That can be fine. Use paper plates a few days or eat out or with neighbors. If you have to take something apart, have some Ziplock bags (heavy-freezer type) to put the small parts in and tape it to the item. Remote controls for everything should be in your briefcase BTW. If you pack even 2 boxes a day, in 3 weeks you'll have over 40 boxes packed. You won't be overly tired that way either. Ask for favors to help clean up your apartment you're leaving or even hire if you must. Don't kill yourself moving. Enjoy yourself and make it a pleasurable day. Maybe make the first night special with a nice meal (crockpot?) some flowers, soft music and a glass of wine? Or pizza and beer if that's your thing! A lasagna can be put together the day before, or a pot roast, or whatever. If you know your postal person, tell them you're moving so you get your mail. When you move the furniture, try to have someone set up and make your bed for you so you can lie down and take a nap when you want. And it'll be familiar when you go to bed that night. Have some basic tools handy or available from a neighbor? Know where your phone is at all times. Put out some extra waste receptacles for pop cans, cups, paper plates, etc. Even a box with a trash bag works fine. Less mess. Do you have renters' insurance? Double check liability with your agent if someone slips or trips. Settling in? Unpack a box or two a day. Put it away where you want it. Don't rush. Spend quality time with Buster. It'll be a bit stressful for him. Well, there's a couple ideas for you! :)