I don't own a Bluestar. My nephew does, because I told him he should buy one (and he loves it). One of my friends owns an original Garland restaurant stove, which I have cooked on several times. For many years, I cooked on an open burner O'Keefe & Merritt range, a 1948 classic. It was a great stove1 Not as much horsepower as today's ranges, but the open burner system is a cinch to maintain. Line the pullouts with foil and it takes less than a minute to change both. I've cooked on two different closed burner ranges for over 20 years: a Frigidaire/Kenmore, and a Whirlpool/Kenmore. They both had/have double PowerPlus burners, running 14.5K BTU. Neither one has half the guts of the Bluestar or Garland when it comes to fast, efficient high-heat cooking. Now, they're not bad ranges. Both my current and past ranges had nice large ovens and beautiful low simmer controls. They have timers (which I use a lot) and you can set both delayed bake and timed bake. But I would happily pay FIVE TIMES what I paid for one of these closed burner stoves, for a pro-style open burner range again. I can't, because the space I have is so tight for the range, I can't fit one in. I lack less than 1/4" of the necessary width, and believe me, I'm bummed that it's not possible. I cook a lot, and often that cooking is NOT high heat. But for sear-roasting and stir-frying, and to have a great broiler? Yes, I could really use those things. What I find most appealing is the lack of electronics. I've replaced circuit boards three times and they are VERY costly. I also find, as many others have, that cleaning a closed burner stove when you do a lot of high-heat cooking, is a real nightmare. I won't even let my DH clean the stove any longer - he got so frustrated one day by the inability to get the area near the burners clean, he actually attacked it with a knife to try to scrape the gunk off, not realizing that in doing so he permanently scratched up the glass so now it can't be cleaned at all! OTOH, if you are not as serious about cooking, there is no reason to pay the premium for the Blue Star/Capital/Wolf/Thermador/Viking/American pro-style ranges at all. A mid-level range will work fine, and DCS, Electrolux, GE Monogram, etc., will be more than adequate for at least 75% of people who are only cooking because somebody's got to put dinner on the table tonight. Most people don't rate cooking as an activity they would voluntarily spend a lot of time on. My friend with the Garland only has it because her partner loved to cook and put it in. But her partner died ten years ago, and all my friend does is boil water for pasta every once in a while. She can think of a dozen things she'd rather do than cook, so the Garland goes pretty much unused. For her, it would be a waste of money to pay for open burners over closed burners.

harley, LowE2 (or more correctly LoE^2 - squared) is Cardinal's copyrighted designation for their dual-silver coating. Since Cardinal is the 800lb gorilla of the residential LowE market, it is pretty common to see folks using the term(s) LowE-two or LowE-squared when speaking about any of the various dual-silver coated products - whether a Cardinal-version LowE2 coating or not. Are LowE2 and LowE "...the the same and it is window lingo in the window business..." - well, absolutely no to the first comment - and a qualified "sort of" to the second. While it isn't uncommon for folks to refer to LowE2 as simply LowE - even in the window business - when speaking specifics, as you asked, then I suspect that the person with whom you spoke is somewhat ignorant of his ignorance in this area - based on what he told you. They are definitely NOT the same thing, and while folks in the window industry may refer to various versions of coatings as "LowE" at times to one another, it is with the understanding that everyone involved understands exactly what product is being discussed. If there was any question then the speakers would likely be more specific about which coating they were refering to. A typical softcoat LowE may have from five to seven layers of metals or metal oxides. The primary or "active ingredient" of those layers is a single layer of silver. A LowE2 coating may have from seven to 11 layers of metals and metal oxides with two of those layers being silver. Thus the "squared" part of the name - twice the silver in the LowE^2. The silver layers are the actual reason that the coating works - the other layers are also important for a variety of reasons - but it is the silver layers that block the heat. By definition, a LowE coating can be either a hardcoat (primarily a layer of tin-oxide that is applied when the glass is still hot in the furnace) or it could be a single-silver layer softcoat product. A LowE2 coating, on the other hand, is always a softcoat. While a LowE coating will benefit you in a heating climate, a LowE2 will benefit you in both heating and cooling areas. Following up on skydawggy's reply: who is the window manufacturer? Give them another call and ask what coating is on the window's - is it Cardinal's? AFG? Guardian? Pilkington? Other? If they answer yor question about who manufactured the coating then ask for the "name" or designation of the coating - from that we can tell you if it is hard or soft coat and if it is dual or single silver - if a softcoat - LowE or LowE2. I also agree with skydawggy that it isn't a matter of the price difference, it is a matter of a potentially major performance difference that is at issue. Hopefully the label was as ignorant as the individual that you spoke to on the telephone and that you do have a LowE2 coating. One other quick comment - there is something of a common misconception (even among some otherwise knowledgeable window folks) that while LowE is a coating applied to one surface of a dual pane IG unit (applied to surface 2 or 3 in the IGU), and that LowE2 consists of a LowE coating on two surfaces (2 and 3), this is not the case (see LowE and LowE2 as explained above). While there have been, and without doubt still are, some companies that do build IG units with LowE coatings on surface 2 and 3 in a dual pane window - if anyone is dealing with a company that advertises such - then RUN (don't walk) away from that company. Having two surfaces (2 and 3) with a LowE coating in a dual pane is a sales gimmick that will cause problems with the IG unit due to heat retention between the lites. It is a very bad idea that is best avoided - completely. Triple pane IG's are a totally different story, however. In a triple pane coating two lites works very well and is a primary reason for the increased energy performance of triple pane IG units over dual pane IG units.

Thanks for correcting me on information - not totally clear from Sunrise website and as I am looking to replace 2 patio doors in addition to rear windows began to look at it again. I have Sunrise windows in front of house and am very happy with them with Loe366 glass (they call it something else). Doing them in rear now. At time I installed in 2012, no Okna dealer dealer at time in VB area, now there is one and a good friend installed them, loves them as well. Based on that might consider Okna for the doors but will stay with Sunrise for Window as I like consistency of look and I get raves about them. So my question to Pros is what is the normal up charge for vinyl door in a width that is half way between 60 inches wide and 72 inches, apparently the standard widths. Right now have one fixed in-swing 66 wide french door. Any suggestions? Thanks.

I really appreciate all these comments, suggestions and perspectives. For the record, I definitely agree that the design of the whole kitchen is the problem, especially at the sink area. The reason I’m trying to keep costs (and work) very limited is that it is likely we will be doing more of a full kitchen renovation in future years, so it doesn’t seem to make sense to do half the job short-term (plus there are other home projects that are more pressing at the moment). When it comes time to re-do the kitchen, for instance, we will likely want to remove that defunct brick chimney that’s to the left of the sink. I’m not sure it makes much sense to get new counters and cabinets with the chimney still in place. We might add some square footage to the kitchen, or we might possibly move the kitchen into the current dining room. My secret dream is to build a big addition with the kitchen in a totally new space—but that’s probably not realistic. So that’s why it might not make sense to redo cabinets and counters at this stage. But I will likely HAVE to replace the dishwasher, which is what got me thinking If it’s worth kicking a small amount of money to lessening the issue, even if the issue isn’t fixed. A new dishwasher is something I could probably keep in a kitchen renovation, if it’s still doing well when the time comes. Anglophilia, can’t agree with hand-washing instead! ;). Did that every day in our last house, and again now whenever the dishwasher breaks. I’ll grumble and moan about the layout but still prefer it to hand-washing, especially now that I have kids! Nhb, no worries :) Dadoes, thanks for clarifying and correcting. The terminology isn’t my strong suit. Example: I also realized my first post referred to a French door fridge when I really meant a side-by-side fridge. I meant the double-drawer unit.