Joining the party a bit late - but going through the same issues on our kitchen redesign. Should be easy as I am only dealing with cooking. After a month of reading reviews and playing with ovens and cooktops, I think I decided on the following: Wolf e series oven (was very close to the elux icon as I loved the racks). Final decision - size of the oven, 2 convection fans and on sale! Wolf 36 inch induction cooktop - Ann Arbor building inspectors are following the make up air handling very strictly and need to keep the vent under 400cfm or would have to add a make up air system - which outweighed the benefits. Also considered the miele, thermador, and a late addition - JennAire - but the sleek look of the Wolf won plus it is on sale. GE Advantium Monogram speed oven - This will be over the Wolf oven and I think it will look OK - similar handles and overall appearance. Also considered the Miele and Elux. I have a newer Elux French door fridge and love it - it has the LED lighting.(but no ice/water through the door) It cost a bit more than some others but it has saved me $$ in less wasted food. When I headed out of town for 2 weeks urgently and returned with the milk and lettuce still usable - need I say more? Also, I took my favorite serving dishes and tested the various units -the elux was set up best. I also have a Miele dishwasher. It is several years old and I will re-use it. It is so quiet that I have to put my ear near to verify it is running. The door pops open to assist in drying at the end of the cycle. I also took my favorite dishes to try in the dishwasher - I can put 14 place settings in the dishwasher and run my china and crystal in the dishwasher! Hope I made the right decisions on the new appliances - the posts have been helpful!

I spent some time online looking at cove heaters and trestle tables. I think the window seat will be the type that you remove the cusions and open the top. With the table in front, it might be too combersome to have door or drawers that open into the table. It will be storage for less used items anyway. I have to do up the plans before DH can get to work, but that won't be that much work. At least we already moved the light in the kitchen when I was crawling around in the attic back in December to move the dining room light. I'll have to be back up there to install the cove heater though - crawling around in the attic is one of my least favorite DIY thing to do. The bulk of what is left to do are things I'll be doing, but I need DH's help with making the cabinets. He's great with woodworking, but I don't let him near a paint brush/roller - not even to prime.

My uncle says it doesn't look like water penetration, but since it's going to rain tomorrow I'll wait to see before I fix it. Now, he said don't cut through and remove the back of the sheet that's there b/c the vapor barrier is right on the other side? I always thought vapor barrier was over insulation and sheathing. Maybe he was talking about the paper on the drywall being "treated" and not the Tyvek? Do they make special drywall for exterior walls? Also, I never sealed under the windows after the new stool was put in. I pulled out the builder's fiberglas and used low-expansion foam around the windows before we put the finished casing up. I was wondering if I could just fill the hole with the same stuff, since it's toolable (is that a word?) and then either mud over it (don't fill all the way), or tape and mud. The DAP stuff is paintable but it would likely be a different sheen/texture than the surrounding wall so I wouldn't just use that - it would have to be skimmed with mud. But I was thinking it would be easier to apply as a backer material to fill the 1/2" deep hole than the setting compound, and I'm not comfortable with just taping and mudding over the hole with no insulation or backer under (not that the original gypsum is a great insulator, but it's better than air). I'm afraid my patch would sink like the original paper did if I leave a void behind it.

You'd be doing a super wonderful thing to give him a home! Would that be enough to convince him that you might save that dogs life? My DH didn't want 2 dogs either. DS moved home over winter, bought the Chihuahua Mac, moved out and couldn't take him. He is our inherited boy. I love the little fart now, but there are times when I wish we still just had our baby Miss (doxie)We don't go places very often but DH will NOT travel with them and Mac I am not sure I'd trust in someone elses house. Its a pain to find someone to watch them. Miss I'd take with me in a New York minute and she'd love it once we got there but gets car sick. The only other problem to me is the expense of one more.