I just bought (with great apprehension) a Bosch range on Ebay. The seller did have a very good rating. I actually saved $900.00. I was worried, but $900.00 is alot of money when you are building a home and have many extras that you weren't planning on. The range was really packed well. It was on a pallet and it had foam around it, plastic wrap and more plastic wrap. The seller had that it was only curb side dely. I was really afraid of that becoz being single, I really didnt' have anyone to help me bring it inside. Well, the driver actually automatically brought it into my garage. I then gave him $20.00 which he didnt' even want. before I signed for the range, I unwrapped it and it was totally dent free and seems fine. Maybe I just lucked out - I haven't had it installed yet, but so far it was a smooth transaction. Good luck in whatever you decide. As for the mfg. not honoring warranty if not bought from an authorized dealer, that's crap on their part ! It's thier product, they should honor the warranty no matter where you buy it. Why should it matter?????

The only acceptable solution I've found is to drill into the vinyl casing and installed the inside mount blind that way. We have Atrium vinyl windows and this will void the warranty. But with only 1 year of warranty left, I'm not gonna worry about it. Had I realized this upfront, I would have done a better job on my homework and would have chosen a different vinyl window mfg. Window World in my area will allow you to drill and mount on the vinyl casing without voiding the warranty. But that is 20/20 hindsight. So a couple days ago we finally got tired of living in a fish bowl and ordered blinds for the recently renovated first floor.

Sounds like a pretty easy decision when looked at from a purely objective perspective. One option reduces the number of parties involved for improved accountability and less finger-pointing should issues arise, specializes in window installation all day everyday, has a high level of familiarity with the intricacies of the given product, and also has an established weight with the manufacturer/supplier that can get things done, again, should issues arise. It checks all of the boxes IMO to ensure to best possible installation and best service in when something is needed. The distance is a slight concern, but I'd say it is pretty well outweighed by the other points.

Hi a_little_odd. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one in this boat! Right now we are awaiting an appointment with a window+insulation company in the hopes that they will give us some definitive guidance about the correct way to do things with our window, and also double check that the current installation of the window is perfect before we put any work into the inside. The countertop fabricators say that our only option with the current setup is a small step up, to put the countertops on top of the plywood. But they're a bit foggy on whether we can get away with a thinner piece of plywood in the window, to let the step be smaller, and they also didn't know much about supports on the exterior of the house; they advised us to have a contractor build that before they come, if the window experts say we need it. (They said that usually in these situations they just have the countertop extend out from the inside and the overhang is short enough not to need exterior support, but this situation is slightly different.) Whatever we end up doing, we will take SashaDog's advice and have a seam so any future window work won't interfere with the countertops. If you can do a partial demo sooner than later to get a better picture of your situation, I'd recommend that for sure! I'm glad we ripped out the wood of the window and learned what was happening now, rather than waiting until everything came out and then trying to resolve all of this with our countertops off. It's helpful to see what yours looks like with the tile. When I talked to this window company on the phone, they said that they generally recommended putting tile in kitchen garden windows. We will have a white tiled backsplash and white-ish countertops, so I'm trying to come to terms with the idea that maybe it wouldn't look bad. Also, the tile would be thinner, so it could sit level with the countertops and not need a step up. But countertops would be so much nicer for cleaning, obviously. Let me know what you end up doing! I'll post an update when we have a decision here, too.