thanks for the tips...I spent half a day at a local showroom looking at these units and asking questions. I've narrowed down my choices, and I'd love to go Wolf/SZ all the way, but the price delta is quite significant since the builder seems to have some sort of special deal with viking...and these end up being significantly cheaper than wolf even though msrp may be comparable. FRIDGE - We're going with the SZ built-in 48" :). The local store prices are better than what the builder offers. Has anyone been able to negotiate better pricing from their local dealers? RANGETOP - I went to the showroom yesterday and looked at these. The salesperson said the Viking Professional range tops have been re-engineered so they don't have the previous written about ignition problems. Has anyone installed these recently, and can you comment on this? I do a lot of Wok cooking, so I like how the Viking Pro 6 burner has one 18K BTU burner. Wolf stops at 15K (or 16K?) BTU. But I also bake a lot, so the low simmer on Wolf is appealing too. BUILT-IN GRIDDLE or SEPARATE - Has anyone compared and used the built-in griddle versus the separate add on? I know there's a separate griddle plate available for Viking, not sure about Wolf. How are the results using this compared to the built in version? I can get the Viking Pro (VGRT536-6B or VGRT536-4G) for $1500 less than the Wolf (SRT366 or SRT364G). That's a huge price delta. For the same price, I'd pick Wolf, but with a $1500 savings on Viking...I'm torn. Any thoughts from those who have these units? 30" DOUBLE WALL OVENS - I've narrowed my choices down to the Wolf E Series or L Series and the Viking Professional Premiere Electric with Knobs or Touch. Viking Knobs vs. Touch - Does anyone have experience with these two options/variations? Wolf E vs. L Series - I like the look of the E series better, but prefer the double convection in the L series. I've never had a double oven, so I'm wondering if I would mind one convection, and a second non-convection. For those that own an E series, do you even wish you had 2 convection ovens? Finally, the real reason I'm torn is because the Wolf units are $2000-2500 more than the Viking Professional Premiere double ovens. Is that worth it? Or for this price delta, would you consider going with Viking? (I really wish our builder had a deal with Wolf/SZ instead of Viking. It would make my life so much easier....).

mikec I am attaching a fuel comparison calculator which can be used as fairly close guide for potential fuel savings of HPs vs oil. Plug in the numbers. You will note that even straight electric baseboard heat is significantly lower than oil but HPs really offer significant savings. Assuming you are sized correctly, I would estimate conservatively savings of at least 50% over oil.That would be a very quick payback. If you are only planning to be in home for up to 10 yrs and would not do geothermal until the following heating season, then I think your choice is fairly easy. Go with a properly sized XL15i HP. Really you can not afford to pass up the potential savings of a conventional air-to-air HP or GEO by postponing your decision. Why? Money down the drain. And one final thought. You could also pair Am Std Heritage 15(same as XL15i HP) with the air handler you have which gives you a little more flexibility and possibly a better price. Even with a small backup heat strip with a HP to extend heating range would still offer good savings. Ductwork will need to be looked at if you go up from four ton to five ton. If GEO, you better act quickly. You have some good choices with good savings potential. IMO Good LucK! Here is a link that might be useful: Fuel Comparison Calculator

I could almost have avoided buying radish seed this spring, for there were quite a few radishes about an inch high in the fall, volunteering from the radishes that had gone to seed earlier. There are a good deal many more this spring ... and some from the area where the radishes were, the year before. Anyone want some radish seeds? I have a few lettuce plants starting on their own, as well. Last year had quite a few zucchini from the ones that had spoiled that I threw directly on to the garden rather than into compost ... plus some volunteer tomato plants in a part of the garden where they were not planted, as well. I had about 60 some asparagus plants, last year ... but the landlord nicked some when he ran the tiller down the rows, last summer. And this spring when he did the initial tilling, to chew up the residues from last year and let the chewed up pieces start to rot ... he nicked a fair chunk of one row. Plus some died, I think ... so I think that I have only about half as many plants, now. Quite a few more seeds, so will fill in the blank spaces (but will need to mark them, as they'll need to be transplanted later than the originals). I save some of the first run of cold water out of the hot water tap in the bathroom/kitchen to water the cats, as well as flush the toilet. You guys in the sunny south-west should do a lot of that, cause you sure are short of water. They had a note on the radio the other day that they're worried that the rivers in rather dry Alberta are polluted now, and the flow is largely allocated ... ... so if some of you come wanting us to ship some down the trench between the mountains to California, Arizona, etc. ... we may be tellling you to get lost! The glaciers that feed them have been shrinking ... and if (when?) they die, Calgary may be crying big time for water, themselves. Have yourselves a lovely spring, everyone ... it's getting so that one can drop most of the winter clothing sometimes, in the last few days ... sort of a relief, that. ole joyful

Can you provide us with a little more info. I think your age and geographic location play a huge part in your decisions. Are you a grandparent, live alone, young children, health problems, etc? There's alot of gadgets & gizmos in today's market claiming to make things easier and when perfectly set-up they might, but often times set-up and lack of an easy user interface can be more stressful than helpful. A neighbor of mine bought a home security system with multiple cameras and an array of feature yet upon closer inspection I noticed he wasn't actually storing any of the footage and was oblivious to how the whole thing worked. I live in the northeast and with the winter weather I would love an ice/snow melt system to keep the walks and driveways from freezing over. Not sure on your choice of heating but an electric radiant floor heat can warm up bathroom floors that can get cold especially with tile floors. If your gonna have ceiling fans-spend the money on good ones. They're designed to spin over and over and over and many times the cheap ones will wobble and put of alot of motor noise. As for lights and switches, if you want life to be simpler avoid making things complex. Whole house lighting control systems are great if you do alot of entertaining or have interest that would really benefit from them if not be practical. Avoid 4,5,6,7 gang switch plates that need labels to remember what does what and plan a switch location wisely, if its a laundry room imagine you have a laundry basket in your hand when you enter the room, use a rocker switch you could hit with your elbow or a motion sensor switch that'll turn on when you enter. If you have outdoor lighting (not landscape lighting) I like to think of it as 2 systems. One is to help guests and the pizza find your house and approach the front door safely, install a conduit to the end of the driveway for a simple street lamp with a convenience plug on it and then a set of lights for the front door, you can have them share the same switch. The other outdoor lighting is the shock and awe type perimeter lighting, the no nonsense 4 corner 500 watt halogens that if you hear a noise outside or your trying to finish something outside and its getting dark then these will let you see a large area fast. They burn hot and are not energy efficient but when they need to serve their purpose they are generally pretty durable, place around exterior of house but still only one switch, I've heard some people say to put an additional switch in their bedroom for these lights as well but its a preference thing. Obviously LEDs lights are taking over the home, I know in NY you must have 50% low-energy lighting, I still like the color given off by incandescents all the way down to my Christmas tree, so I still used them in the places that mattered to me and loaded up my basement with cheap fluorescent shop lights to satisfy code. Technology is a big part of today's home, keep it simple and install leviton home media hub in your basement or anywhere out of sight. Run all your cabling to one spot. It allows you to easily convert and route all your systems with ease. For instance if your fortunate enough to have fiber-optic internet service to your home, the leviton media hardware will accept the fiber and convert the signal to be used over your cat 6 cabling system. It's not state of the art and if your really serious about home theatre and high end audio you'll probably end up adding other components outside of the unit but its a nice user friendly setup without breaking the budget. Wifi is a must now a day; stay a cat 5e/6 to each floor for a wireless router that should cover any signal problems don't by a ridiculous high end router. Today's mid grade routers do such a l good job handling data speeds that its likely you won't be pushing more than they can handle over a wifi connection. Stick with same brand and for god sakes take the time learn the password. Consider a installing a few floor boxes in the living room if you have an open space. They can be discreet and put under the couch or end table to plug in lamps is gonns be better looking than stringing a cord across floor. Last but not least, USB charging outlets in the couple places your likely to charge your phone daily. Again leviton makes and they're not that expensive and are very practical. . Finallh you'll find that even the smallest upgrades can add up quickly so be prepared to justify what your really need. If your prepared to spend money on quality upgrades like these then an electrical contractor even considering tinkering with 14 awg wire is a sign that you haven't found the right one yet. Good luck. I'm building now and its fun to plan your own place Leviton USB outlet: http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/SectionDisplay.jsp?section=53874&minisite=10251 Leviton home media hub. : http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/SectionDisplay.jsp?section=55914&minisite=10251 Here is a link that might be useful: USB receptacle