As promised... :) IMHO, there are several reasons why appliance prices continue to rise and in some cases, they are not so much rising as adjusting for inflation and perhaps improved standard of living. Prosumer products in any market tend to carry a higher price tag due to lower demand so less volume efficiencies in cogs and manufacturing. There's also less price pressure since those that are looking for the higher-end products tend to be willing to pay a bit more for them. In extreme cases, people will buy something because they cost more which makes those items identifiable with a certain status. The latter case usually needs to combine identity (brand/marketing/etc) with higher cost. Now aside from that, why are prices rising when technology prices usually drop over time? Well, large appliances have an expected lifespan of over 10 years compared to computers or TVs and such which has an average life expectancy of 18mo to no more than 5 years. That produces a different pricing model and in many ways makes consumers more willing to pay a bit more since they expect to own it for a while. Add that to the fact that most large appliance replacements are disruptive, that makes people tend to err on the side of caution which is buy more than they think they need so they don't regret it later. Now, the question is.. Are prices really going up once adjusted for inflation and other improvements? A 30" gas range can be had for under $400. This range is similar to what my parents have at their house from 25 years ago. I'm sure they would have paid more even back then for the same unit. So comparing near identical features and adjusting for inflation, prices have come down over time. Rococogurl, give some numbers which is very helpful in this type of discussion. Let's take those and adjust for inflation. At an average annual inflation of 3% (based on well established historical info for the last century) the $1200 DW in 1984 would cost $2,512.53 today. So in effect, the price has decreased since the value of the dollar has decreased in that same time. I can year the objections now. :) "But I priced out my Wolf range 10 years ago and it's doubled in price now." Well it probably hasn't doubled but for sake of argument, let's say it outpaced inflation in that time. In this case we have to look at the price affect of an emerging market space. Remember that 10-15 years ago, the prosumer appliance market was in it's infancy. Prior to that, people basically bought restaurant ranges to put in their homes if they wanted the extra performance. Restaurant ranges back then (and even many today) are nothing more than a chassis and gas plumbing. They use pilots which is largely abandoned in the home market for instance. You can buy a 36" Vulcan 6 burner range *today* for well under $2000 but not many people would be happy with one in their home since it lacks many of the features people want today. When Viking came into the marketplace, they in effect defined a whole new market of built for the home high-end appliance. Wolf's residential offering back then was not much more than their commercial range with the burners tuned down to meet UL certification for home use. When new markets like this start to gain traction, there's usually a period where prices go up. The reason is two fold. First, manufacturers need to attract new consumers which might balk at a 4x jump in price but will accept a 2x jump in price for the better performance. Second, as I mentioned above, initial products in the area (from established companies like Wolf) is usually nothing more than their commercial products so costs starts out low. Once they start to redesign for the home and create a more fractured product line, manufacturing volumes goes down so cost goes up. Redesign costs and new material costs also get built in. Couple that with the additional marketing required, glossy brochures, dealer incentives, mass media marketing, etc. they eventually need to raise prices in order to cover those increasing costs. These efforts do work however by convincing more people that there is value in buying these items. The result is more people are willing to pay higher prices for the more refined finish and features. In fact, people start to demand these refinements and are, for the most part, willing to pay for them. This trend does tend to level out so I don't think you'll see prices going up faster than inflation for the next 10 years. Finally I'll say this, Gary is exactly correct. The reason prices are what they are is because people are willing to pay for it. This is the foundation of a free economy. But also realize that if nobody is willing to pay enough for manufacturers to make money off of this market, then we'd all be living on hotpoint ranges right now. I just know I'm gonna get flamed by the zealous hotpoint people. :) Ok, my fingers need a rest now. ;)

Yup, you will have to pay taxes on a prize if you win it. Read the fine print on the contest rules. Sometimes a winner can take a lump sum cash prize in lieu of the advertised prize if they offer that option. The cash prize is way less than the "value" of the advertised prize but at least you won't have to worry about shoddy workmanship and the taxes are way less on the cash prize than the inflated value of a remodeled kitchen. There has only been one winner who took the actual HGTV Dream Home. The rest all took the cash prize substitute. HGTV also has a team of legal advisors to fully inform the winner of all the legalities and liabilities when accepting the prize no matter what the choice. Smaller contests aren't so caring. With Oprah's car giveaway the winners found out they had to pay taxes on the autos and many claimed they could not afford the taxes. This was very bad PR. Oprah then coughed up cash to give to each winner to pay the taxes but that only INCREASED the winner's tax liability by increasing the amount they won. What the heck was she thinking???. I hope she fired her legal advisors. You don't have to be a JD to figure that one out. LOL. With those TV shows where they remodel a room or whole house they sign a contract. I never thought anyone every "won" a remodeling. They are only looking for certain types of homes and situations. Location is one of the biggest factors for appearing on the show, plus having enough room for camera equipment and what not, both inside and outside the house. Zoning laws and permits from the city for filming are also a factor in whether one is chosen or not. The money and items received may be defined as payment for being on the show. The cash and items gained through the arrangement are still taxable with the only difference being what line on the tax form is used to report the income.

The island has to be at least 9” smaller than the slab size all the way around to technically do this and wrap the same stone onto the miter. . Most islands these days are more aircraft carriers and would be far too large to have that detail without some of the stone not matching somewhere. Yours falls into that category on width, and possibly length, depending on brand. . One of your long sides for sure will not match. And still will not match, even if you buy another slab. The island would need to be redesigned to become narrower. Could be that the extra slab needed to do the mitered edges at your requested size is being factored into the price. But he doesn’t understand quartz enough to tell you that it will not be bookmatched. Because stone from two different man made slabs won’t bookmatch. That width would be challenging even with natural stone because of how granite blocks are sequenced and sold. To get a 2 piece longitudinal butterfly bookmatch requires precise selections from adjacent blocks, not the same block. You don’t get many wholesalers importing stone that way. That’s very custom. The charge for this change order is entirely up to the builder to determine when you are dealing with a typical tract or “semi custom” builder. He could put a 20K price tag on it if he wanted to. :-/ Especially if he doesn’t want to slow the build down with specialty details that cost him time. It’s only if this is a cost plus full custom contract, then the cost of the change from the sub plus the builders fee is a document that you are entitled to view.

When I go to a sit down restaurant I very rarely order a burger. I am there for something different. I will order an old fashioned open faced chili burger or a patty melt in a diner. I also like a large cheese burger served on their special house bread that a family run Italian restaurant serves. It's more like a steak burger and requires absolutely no condiments to enjoy. I grabbed a burger at my favorite drive-in the other day. Old school burger, cooked to order. Lettuce, tomato, pickles, sliced red onion and thousand island dressing. I added thick cut bacon and the grand total including the buck for a generous amount of bacon was 4.75. I don't get cheese when I add bacon because it competes with the smoky goodness of the quality bacon they use.