Hi Manbike and other experts, I just bought an Elite full top-grain, aniline plus leather sofa that is made in their California plant. They use tempered steel sinuous springs for both the back and seating suspension. From their site... Depending on the design of an individual style, our frames are made of responsibly forested Pacific Northwest alder hardwood or of Forest Stewardship Council (FCS) certified hardwood plywood. The hardwood plywood frames we produce also meet the strict standards of the California Air Resources Board (CARB). We create the frames in our own mill and reinforce our fames to ensure proper tailoring of the selected covering. And, while others may not use corner blocks at all, we use many in each sofa to enhance its strength. I do not have it yet. Most of the better sofas like HM are out of my price range. I sort of got warn down on my research and took the plunge. I did read a few bad reviews but apparently they have a cheaper side line sold at Macys and a few other stores that is made in China. I'm a bit nervous as I did not try it out in person. Also, if plywood is bad what do they mean by hardwood plywood? Does that mean crap? The choices are so limited around me so I ordered from a dealer I have used in the past. Do you know anything about Elite quality? I have read that not all sinuous springs are bad and that some can be very good. I should add that I did write the factory and ask if my sofas had any China on it, they wrote back and said no, it is made in the California plant. Now granted in the world of furniture I am not making a huge investment. It is however a big investment to me in my world. I bought a four seat Aero sofa and a three seat Aero sofa, both in the top grain leather for a total of $4800. IâÂÂm just hoping that IâÂÂm getting a good mid to mid high quality and not over paying for a poor quality. Trying to get the best bang for your buck in a mid to mid high range is incredibly hard. Not everyone can spring for a HM. With H&M you know what you are getting. Not so much with other brands these days, even brands that formally had a good reputation. This post was edited by jterrilynn on Thu, Mar 13, 14 at 10:14

Jim, I just cant see you diging up really old posts, going on and on about it, with out some type of goal. Exactley what are you trying to prove??? Go to my site, All the ipe projects have 116 on them. As you can see they are not Red or Redwood or anything close to that. Saying it is makes me Mad clear and simple. Now if you put 116 on say preasure treated,garapa or any light color wood then Yes its going to come out a different color than 116 on ipe. This is basic 101 wood finish. Any of the resin base twp products can be mixed together to come up with a different color. I have used combos like that when puting finish on Garapa and other woods. I put cedar tone natural on ipe one time because the Wallet asked for it the result was bad but I did what they wanted however for ipe its most always the 116. Ipe itself is not one color it ranges from almost black to a light tan 116 levals out the differances but the result is not Red. Any color chip you get from Any finish store is going to be different on another kind of wood other than the wood used on the chip you cant expect them to have samples of finish on every kind of product. Just get off it Man. Its up to the Customer to know if one finish is the right one for them. There is no way twp is showing product online / samples / or color chips that dont match up with what they sell. You might not agree with what they call it if so just pick another name for your self and call it that but it Defentley is what they say it is and what they say they sell is what they sell. The JonMon has been a little tense latley after a long term project was real hard on me. This is a mixed site if I could I would edit my last response but O Well. J.

Sorry to be MIA - life and keeping an eye on by GC and subcontractors got in the way...I followed this for a little while, then got out my checkbook and wrote a check for the full amount of the bill, not because I felt that it was fair or that I got what I had asked for, but simply because I didn't want to talk to the designer again. And I was really turned off by some of the "scolding" I received, simply for asking what others would do in my situation... And to those of you who were sympathetic and offered their interpretations, thank you for the support and kind words! Here's my thoughts on the entire situation: I was naive about this entire renovation project. I trusted "professionals" and now I know that not everyone has the same ethical nature that I have. I honestly thought that by starting with "professional" architects, having them recommend "professional" GCs, having the GC (and architects) recommend "professional" decorator that I would end up with people who knew what they were doing and who would make sure that I understood the process. I started each conversation by explaining that this is the first time I've ever undertaken a project of this scope/nature and what my goal was. What I found was that the architects would cover for mistakes/omissions made by the GC, the GC didn't check the work of his subcontractors and would often cover for them, and the decorator was completely a joke - recommending that I get rid of furniture, then, 6 months later, recommend that I purchase almost the exact same piece...I end my project much wiser, much poorer, and with not the best opinion of people who call themselves professionals. It's not that the GC hasn't made the subcontractors return to fix their errors/problems and that the architects didn't back me up when I pointed out the GC's errors/omissions, but it was clear that unless I did the research and inspections, no one was looking out for my best interest, although, when explaining what their role in the process was, both the architects and GC proclaimed to be my employee, my advocate and to work in my best interest. Hahaha...I still chuckle when I realize how I swallowed that hook, line and sinker. As to the decorator dilemma, I appreciate those posters who offered insight, advice and were sympathetic. I think I must have struck an extremely sensitive nerve with some, especially palimpsest and marcolo, as I felt they were quite defensive about the situation and I didn't particularly care for what seemed to be a condescending tone in their posts. I didn't ask for an itemized bill from the decorator because I didn't want to be charged $120/hour for the decorator to sit down and list all of the time that was supposedly spent giving thought to my project and I honestly felt that given my experience with the decorator, I'd have about $300 tied up in getting an itemized bill - which still wouldn't have made any difference in the bill. Was I going to say, um, did you really spend 3 hours looking through magazines to select that sofa - you know - the same one that you selected for another client? Rip me off once, shame on you. Rip me off again, shame on me :) What irritates me the most about the designer is that I specifically asked for recommendations for floor stain and paint colors and instead I got a bunch of furniture and fabric recommendations. I can't help but to think that there was more money for a decorator to make by selling me furniture than by recommending floor stain and paint colors, thus the decision to start with the furniture. If furniture and fabric needed to be chosen before paint colors, shouldn't A PROFESSIONAL have educated me to this point? Shouldn't there have even been a discussion as to how we intended to spend time in the rooms and if there were any special pieces of furniture that we wanted to incorporate? I don't think it's unreasonable to expect to have that conversation prior to someone charging me for their time to make recommendations as to what furniture I would like. Would an attorney go ahead and draw up a divorce settlement proposal without asking me what I wanted in it? What assets we had to settle? would a doctor go ahead and prescribe tests and drugs without asking what was wrong...what my symptoms were? Then why should a decorator feel it's ok to recommend furniture purchases when what I've asked for was stain recommendations and paint color suggestions? I'm almost finished with my renovation and have to say that I'm doing a much better job than the "professional" that I hired...Sorry to offend those who thought so highly of the decorator's suggestions, but they weren't appropriate for our family and personally I feel taken advantage of by the decorator. For what it's worth....

Hi, Letter! No problem with the questions - my pleasure. The brand and model # of the fridge is in my very first post. And yes, we have a "wall" on the right side of our fridge, too. See what's green in the above photo? That's the wall. (It "jigs" then, beside and behind the fridge) What's creamy white is all cabinet and trim. I think you can better see what I am trying to explain if you look at the two pictures of the plans, posted very early in this thread. That should make it clearer to you. Let me know. We couldn't recess the fridge, either, our steps to our upstairs are on the other side of that back wall. But I think the counter-depth fridge works nicely to really look "built-in". I really love the fridge, BTW. It is beautiful, works GREAT, holds a TON, and is so user-friendly! The granite overhangs the peninsula 11.5" and I think it's perfect. Even my 6+ foot tall hubby doesn't have any trouble. And the peninsula seating and the table nearby is also quite nice. I find that we tend to use the bar mostly for informal breakfasts and snacks, and the table for dinner. And while we don't have small children anymore (or grandbabies yet!) I can envision (for larger meals) the kids sitting at the bar while the grown-ups sit close-by at the table.