I understand that the oven door on older versions of the BlueStar RNB could get quite warm (I've heard this described as "very warm" and "surprisingly warm" by two personally-known owners and in various ways by folks posting on the internet). My range is from this spring, 2011 -- I wouldn't say notably warm for either the door or the knobs. I can place my hand flat on the oven door, while the oven's in action, without any discomfort -- half a second, ten seconds, it just doesn't matter. It's not hot. Three kids and two small dogs and it's a non-issue. The culinarian is probably a very fine product -- certainly the specs look good and far be it from me to dispute anybody's happiness with his or her purchase. Folks should keep in mind that problems and praise for that range or any other on this board -- for all of this board's virtues -- represent a very small number of reports that may be more or less representative (or wildly unrepresentative) of the larger universe of consumer experience. With the culinarian, especially, we're talking about a very small number of reports on a fairly new product. Reported problems have not been many, but they have not been zero. Reports on Trevor's interventions have been very, very favorable, but not everybody has been instantly pleased by the company itself. I really don't mean to suggest that there are any major problems with the product or the company -- not at all. And for any particular person, for all I know, this may be an excellent choice -- maybe the best one possible. But surely folks know that the record is limited?

You can have a convection oven without the third element and the fan will circulate the air very well and there is nothing faux about it. I have baked/roasted in 3 ovens set up like this and had great results. Gas ovens like the BS, the Culinarian and many commercial gas ovens just have a fan. The third element is beneficial if you bake/roast with your oven packed out. It is beneficial but not essential. There are huge differences in convection ovens based on the amount of air moved by the fan or fans. Some will bake a cakes nicely and some will blow it over to the side. You really can't make generalizations about evenness of heating based on a fan vs third element. Heck I have had non convection ovens that heated very evenly. Evenness of heating is only one benefit to convection. There is so much more to it than that. As far as the third element, I have owned and baked, for at least 9 mos with three brands of ovens with a third element. Even in the convection bake/roast modes it only comes on part of the time. The Electrolux oven is the only one that has an indicator light for each element when it is on and it doesn't come on that much. It bakes and roasts very evenly. I had a Dacor oven that actually burned the food on the side facing the element. The Wolf range oven also bakes/roasts evenly when fully packed. I have never used the tru convection no need. It is very hard to evaluate ovens and the best thing is to try them out. This is probably next to impossible though. One thing I did was buy my Electrolux oven at a store with a return policy that would allow it to be returned within 2 weeks if it didn't work right. I think it had to be an in stock item. I would clarify that with the salesman though and read it/ get it in writing. Good Luck!

You know, I agree with you that the island perpendicular to the window wall doesn't feel as right as the island parallel to the window wall. Interesting. I stopped and thought about why that would be. My first thought was that, with the island perpendicular to the window wall, the end of the island closest to the living room now feels as if it's intruding into the walkway between the kitchen and living room. Even though the island ends in line with the side of the fridge closest to the living room, the island still feels as if it's intruding. However, when I look at the island parallel to the window, I also think the end of the island closest to the dining room feels as if it is intruding into the dining room. Even though the island ends in line with the side of the perimeter cabinet closest to the dining room, the island still feels as if it's intruding. So when you're standing in the living room, you like the perpendicular-to-the-window-wall island orientation less (because the island feels as if it's intruding towards you). And when you're standing in the dining room, you'll like the parallel-to-the-window-wall island orientation less (because the island feels as if it's intruding towards you). Given all that, I actually think this shape island (posted earlier upthread) feels the best from both perspectives: That is because the island is completely and clearly inside the invisible borders of the kitchen as delineated by the side of the fridge closest to the living room and the side of the perimeter cabinet closest to the dining room. A square (ish) island doesn't even touch the borders -- it's well inside them by a foot or two, making it impossible for the island to feel as if it's intruding into another room. This home layout is so open that it lacks some of the normal cues (walls/doorways/floor changes) marking where the kitchen ends and another room begins. So in this island's case, a setback from the technical kitchen border helps to clarify things. The island's definitely in the kitchen and only in the kitchen. Here is an edited version that stops the island a foot or two short of the borders in both directions: I'd recommend having seating just on the living room side of the island. Seating on the dining room side puts those chairs back to back with dining room chairs, and I always think that looks/functions a bit oddly.

Great advice above!! At the helpmefind.com web site they list Lady of Shalott as being bushy and only 43 inches in height. That doesn’t sound like a climber to me. I have a few climbers and all of them after a few years of growth have very few blooms on the lower 4-5 feet of canes. It’s all at the top. To get around that I run them horizontal about 3 feet off the ground. Two 12 foot climbers, planted at opposite corners or your 5x7 plot, and run horizontal around the perimeter, 3 feet off the ground, would give you a ton of blooms. You could even plant Lady of Shallot in the center of the plot.