Marcolo, this isn't necessarily for you, but for someone who might be considering linoleum type counters in the future. When we were first married, we lived in an old farmhouse that had red lino floors, and red lino counters, perfect U shape postwar remodel, sigh. (It looked like they used the cutout of the floor to do the counters!) I don't know if the problems came with the age of the lino, or what, but every time I tried to lift something warm up off the counter, it would stick fast. So, things like a bowl of soup or a bowl of oatmeal would stick. When I'd finally pry the bowl up, a small chunk of linoleum would be stuck to the bottom of the bowl. Yuck! We were very happy when we could replace those counters with some laminate. I hope you find that durable finish you are after. Have to wonder if hard wood countertops might be a good option. I think they'd still give you somegrounding with the colors you are considering. This kitchen is especially bright, is it grounded enough?

"Judgment & punishment are not yours, or mine, to dish out' Sylvia, you might do well to take a dose of your own medicine that you so freely dish out. You castigate people for being mean, vicious, disgusting, critical, mud-slinging, gangbanging, mob-mentality, judgemental, piling-on a$$holes. Yet *you* never miss an opportunity to get on your own "bully" pulpit to beat a dead horse with your personal biases. And you repeat it over and over and over to make sure none of us miss a single little nugget of your very important input. Pot. Kettle. Black. It is becoming predictable and frankly, more than a little hypocritical. You could do to practice a little more of that tolerance that you beat over everyone else's head. Oh, and by the way my point must have gone over your head. Kobe's wife was willing to look the other way in exchange for a high profile lifestyle which bought her a $4 million dollar ring in exchange for her standing by her man's bad behavior. Janay Rice's instagram quote: "I woke up this morning feeling like I had a horrible nightmare, feeling like IâÂÂm mourning the death of my closest friend. But to have to accept the fact that itâÂÂs reality is a nightmare in itself. No one knows the pain that the media & unwanted options [sic] from the public has caused my family. To make us relive a moment in our lives that we regret every day is a horrible thing. To take something away from the man I love that he has worked his ass of for all his life just to gain ratings is horrific. THIS IS OUR LIFE! What donâÂÂt you all get. If your intentions were to hurt us, embarrass us, make us feel alone, take all happiness away, youâÂÂve succeeded on so many levels. Just know we will continue to grow & show the world what real love is!" This post was edited by tally on Fri, Sep 12, 14 at 0:30

Eh, she's o.k. I guess. I've seen short pieces of her show here and there. I'm talking 5 min. or less. I prob wouldn't like watching the whole show all the time. Now Oprah on the other hand, I can not STAND that woman. All she did was talk over people and look at the camera to make sure it was on her. I will never in a million years understand how she got so popular and ridiculously rich. Everyone always says what a class act she is, not in my opinion. Her shows were trash in the beginning, like Jerry Springer, Maury etc. trash, now that she's filthy rich everyone thinks she classy. Nope, she can just buy expensive stuff, lol.

eam44, You have to be careful with the term “open” as it can be ambiguous. Burners are pretty sophisticated and have several design features that contribute to performance. You have to consider all of them together. “Sealed“ just refers to the burner tray and some people have a preference about what is easier to clean. You can buy this “open” burner now. Viking came out with the first prostyle burners and called this “open”. The burner tray is open but it still has a cap. The cap is what causes the flare of the burner flame on high heat and impacts performance. When you are looking at high BTUs, the uncapped burner keeps the heat to the center. Wolf also had a “semi open“ burner because the tray broke down for cleaning but still has caps. American has called its Performer burner both “semi open”, because the burner tray lifts off in one piece for cleaning and “open“ because it has no burner cap. Because it is high BTU, uncapped and star shaped, it is the closest in performance to the BS star burner yet almost has the cleaning like a sealed burner tray. Hard to recommend it though because the company seems to be non responsive to any service issues. Thermador also has a star shape but a cap so not the same. Wolf, Monogram and others have dual stacked burner which helps with the flare and gives you a very low simmer. Many gas burners are ring burners and Capital has the triple ring to disperse the burner ports and no cap. Kitchenaid has this.