Well said, Pattie! I'll throw in that my 'Perle d'Or' is beginning to grow after a slow start, and is as beautiful a rose as a person could ask for. I too am looking forward to seeing her get big, and also to taking cuttings this fall. What a lovely rose. Melissa

we bought a new house from a builder, it's a new experience for us. we didn't have a model home so we tried our luck and someone that was already living in such model agreed to show us the house, obviously we didn't have the time to pay attention to every part. the 1st impression of the kitchen was WOW and that defiantly made us go to the sales office and later on sign an offer. only later we came to know that the WOW kitchen was actually custom made. with the builder i don't have an access to a Kitchen designer, we just need to pick the colours and that's killing me. i like the European style - the slab doors, but EVERYONE says it's only for condos and we will have 3000 sqft of a house. meanwhile there were two house for resale - same model. one did only a range without built in, the other with built in. the thing is that the built in are too close (in my opinion) to the eating area and can be seen from the family room. i dont like having a 30'' oven so close and feels too big and bulky for me. so if we do a built in , it should look nice and i like the Miele as this is the only flush one i could have fine. and of course the quality, i'm not the type that will change things every 2 - 3 years. i'm trying to force my self to go with a shaker style and not a slab door, doing all of this thinking by myself with a kd. budget - $15k. i'm trying to avoid from radiation, so no induction cooktop. microwave using , but as minimum as possible and move a way. if there is an alternative way to heat food - would love to hear. i have a few pics of the houses , will try to post them. that's for now, apologize for the long post.

I also used Amerock Revitalize (ORB on white cabs). I almost went with their Highland Ridge instead but am so glad I didn't. The Revitalize project out more than most other pulls, so they are easier to grab, resulting in less wear and tear on your cabinets since you shouldn't end up grazing them with your fingers like you might with other pulls. They don't look like they are bigger though - they are just very elegant.

Frieda -- if your pans are well seasoned, they shouldn't need much more than a bit of boiling water in them after you are done and then a swish of an abrasive something. Then wipe out with a paper towel and a bit of olive oil in them. Return to a warm oven or very low burner to set the oil. No Soap. Ever. Carrie -- the drawer in the photo is my current drawer, not tall enough. I was playing around when I took the photo. The drawer is 20 inches long by 10 deep in the photo. My new drawer will be 23 inches long and 12.5 inches deep. How they go side by side like that is because the two trays are staggered, not directly lined up. If you look at the drawer photo, the first pan on the front left (down stage right) is in the gap created by the front tray sitting ahead of the back tray by about 2 inches. No space is lost because the gap in the front left is filled and the gap in the back left can be filled because the tray in the front will support the handle and keep the pan front falling forward. We have two deep drawers planned. The CI and lighter All-Clad will be mixed to spread the weight. I have a 14 inch that won't fit of course, but that usually sits on the cooktop with a favorite 12 inch nested in it. We don't need them all, but if they sit and don't get seasoned, they rust. Our kids will get them when they finally settle down.