@lithigin... It would be ok to vent through the roof and that is within our Residential Building Code. But, ours was never vented through the roof. The duct just ended inside the attic, near an existing attic vent to the outside. @lithigin and @artemis78... Well, I did not get to take a look at it in the attic. And, I would like to believe that it was a miscommunication, but they told me they ran the new vent duct into the attic next to but separate from existing ductwork so that it ended behind the attic vent to the outside. They said they also fastened a screen over the end of the duct. So, the unfortunate truth is that the cooktop vent ductwork was simply never truly vented to code. Whether or not it was vented to the outside, I guess, is in the semantics. The contractor and carpenter stand by their original work insisting that having the duct near the attic vent is appropriate as the attic vent goes to the outside. The dishonest part is that they led us to believe the cooktop duct had been vented to the outside TO CODE, when they knew it wasn't, even after my questioning them about it on several occasions. We did end up allowing them to correct the situation the way they suggested, through the outside wall. (At the time, I had asked them if a roof vent would be better, but they said it wasn't due to possible leak problems and my husband agreed with that.) So, now there is a separate grill vent directly below the existing attic vent. It works (the flaps lift up when the vent is turned on) and isn't particularly obvious or ugly from the street. I suppose once the new custom decorative chimney is up on the cooktop wall this won't seem nearly as bad as it does right now. (I have already found a fabricator and someone else to put it up --a recommendation from my real estate agent friend.) It's just that my trust was violated and it stings a lot right now. Instead of sitting around feeling sorry for myself, I am going to have to spend some time learning how to post pics (thank goodness for the instructions!) so everyone can see the finished results. Thank you for taking time to respond to my post.

I have one and love it too, mine was a gift from my sister for Christmas one year. She had one and I commented to her how useful it was and the next year she gave me one! They make a beautiful turkey and you can make huge batches of stuff in them, I have made soup, gumbo, dirty rice, jambalaya, etc. Plus it works great as a warmer to keep things warm at an event or party. I too have the warmer trays that go on the top to serve from, that was a gift from my other sister. Mine is a GE I know they got it all at Walmart, I have seen them there in the past. My friend saw mine at one of our summer cookouts and loved it she went to walmart and got one just like it. They sure come in handy when you need to use the regular ovens for other dishes. Only problem is they are large and take up a lot of storage space, I keep mine in the original box and store it on our shelves in the garage.

And here's another good one. Make a day in advance. 2 8-oz. pkgs. cream cheese, room temp. 2 small cloves garlic, minced 2 T. minced green onion or chives 2 T. chopped fresh basil (or 1 1/2 to 2 tsp. dried) 2 T. chopped fresh dill (or 1 1/2 tsp. to 2 tsp. dried) 1/4 tsp. salt (or to taste) Garnish: Lemon pepper and chopped parsley Combine ingredients and mix well. Cover and chill. Form into ball, then lightly sprinkle with lemon pepper and chopped parsley.

While ironing tablecloths for the party, I've been thinking about this thread and glue guns. Lars reply especially started my thoughts about how I could use the glue gun in some of my jewelry designs. For the last couple of years, I've been experimenting with dried leaves and flowers. They are very delicate and fragile and I have ruined more than a few carefully placed scenes while trying to glue them into place so I could preserve then in resin. They must be glued down in some way before the resin is poured or they will start floating and moving out of place in the resin before it starts to set. It's very time consuming and fiddly work and waiting for the glue to try while holding the flowers/leaves in place is very tedious. So my thought was that if I can get better control of the glue gun and expel tiny pin points of glue rather than big blobs, the glue's quick drying action would be perfect for my needs. Maybe something like putting it on a toothpick and then applying would work. The quick drying would also mean that the leaves/flowers wouldn't get wet and saturated from the glue like it does with other types of glue I've tried. Getting wet make the flowers even more fragile. The other thing I don't yet know is how or if the glue gun glue will react to the resin. Resin can be fussy stuff too. I see a lot of experimenting in my future, but I am very excited about getting in the studio to see what I can come up with. This pendant took forever and I think the glue gun would have made it a much easier and less time consuming project. The hat was all for fun, but I'm deadly serious about my jewelry and ways to improve my product. Thanks again to Lars and to the rest of you who have given me ideas to ponder while ironing. Speaking of ironing, I'd better get back to it!