I am a long time CU subscriber who is currently trying to buy an 18,000 BTU AC. Aside from the fact that CU doesn't rate anything that size, what I find, time and time again, is that user reports don't match the ratings. The same is true on refrigerators. So let me talk about what I we going on - CU has often used oddball criteria to evaluate products. Back in the 70's, water usage was key to a washing machine's review. I am sure this sill goes on. They are, after all, engineers. -no one looks at the long term. If you think this is a problem with appliances, think about what has been going on with pharmaceuticals. - CU doesn't realize that style or design exist, therefore, you cannot sort refrigerators by counter depth or near counter depth - you can select by size though. For stoves, you can't sort by slide in. This is really annoying if you need a specific design. -Perhaps the most famous example of CU calling a product wrong was a top ranked American Standard toilet, which became a class action law suit and which on, I think, Terry Love's plumbing site, there are an unbelievable number of negative reviews and criticisms. None of these guys could figure out why CU doesn't ask plumbers for their experience. I can pros and cons to this, but they have a point. - there is no question that appliances are made more cheaply than in the past, so they don't last anywhere near as long. Parts that were formerly metal are now plastic, often cheap plastic. Add to this the fact that appliances often aren't packed with sufficiently strong materials so they often arrive damaged. Repairs of any type are out sourced, so they are not do e properly and are a major source of hassles. - It is hard to evaluate user reports, because of all the fake reviews, positive and negative on sites. Also, many products have few or new reviews on line. In the end, I found it impossible to figure out which AC to buy because the reviews and the rankings didn't agree. I planned to go to some privately owned stores, but THEY all had reviews that were as bad as the big boxes. So I went into the ONE store that had good reviews and bought what the salesman recommended, a GE, despite all the comments about the quality of GE products. One review said the store pushes cheaply made GEs - but everything is cheaply made. So I decided to trust what the salesman said "In this neighborhood, we wouldn't dare sell anything that isn't good." Now THAT is true - Park Slope, Brooklyn is famously whiney, entitled and quick to complain. It is also quite affluent. Did I make the right choice? No idea. But I need an AC and this is as good a way to decide as any. Good luck!

"nowhere in the installation or selling or sales training does there appear to be the sensible question for second floor installs, which is placement close to the bearing wall.. Actually almost all manufacturers have a statement regarding positioning the washer in a corner and possibly adding a sheet of plywood to the floor to increase rigidity. Frigidaire, GE, Bosch, LG, Maytag, and Whirlpool all make similar statements like the Miele but Whirlpool probably does the best job of explaining the "how and why". I've also seen toploaders have the same problems with vibration on second floor installs so it's not unique to just frontload machines. As to adding double stick tape. I have seen floors where the concrete or tile was very slick and no matter how well a machine was leveled the unit would scoot. I have actually started carrying tread tape in my truck which looks like heavy coarse sandpaper with a sticky back. I cut 2 in squares and stick it to the floor where the feet sit to give the feet something to grip.

Every time I respond the this mold issue I feel like a broken record. I sarted using Fl way back over 30 years ago in Europe. I never ever had mold or mildew problem. I never use the cleaning cycle, why waste water if you can use sanitary cycles w/ whites and light colors on regular basis. Now I have 2+ years old LG set and few years old tiny european washer. The small one washes better whites b/c it heats water to 194 and rinses better too. The LG does good job but I always use water plus and always add extra rinse and spin. The only maitenance I do is clean the bottom filters on both machines.Threads and hair get stuck in there and it can smell if you leave it for a year. The rubber gasket dries out on its own. To prevent smelly issues, use hottest water possible ALL THE TIME! If you use aditives and bleach, use extra rinses! I never believed detergents cause problems. I used anything from powder to liquid,non HE too,cheap all the way to Persil which I now alternate with Roma.I use vinegar in the rinse. I put all detergents right in the drum so no cleaning of the dispenser. All my drums are stainless which I think is better. I also learned full load in my LG needs few extra rinses otherwise you can smell that is residue left behind.1/2 to 3/4 loads rinse out fine w/just one extra rinse and spin.I never use bleach,Cascade works better for me. For me this worked all my life: 1)hot or sanitary always-never cold wash unless it's comforters, than I use warm water. 2) more detergents for very dirty laundry, more extra rinses is needed. 3) clean filters 4) use prewash for most cycles too 5) always waterplus and extra rinses I'd like to say that from reading here, I think lots of people doesn't use enough detergent which I think can cause musty gunk smeared inside the washer.Combined it w/use of warm or could water, you have a mess.If there isn't enough soap to bind w/ dirt and luck of rinsing water on top of it,it must be causing problem over time. Todays Fl use very little water, not like back in Europe years ago when my drum filled 1/3 andno extra rinses were needed.At least mow we have all the buttons to push to add the extra water or rinse to it. If not,use one fast cycle without soap after. And I have to say I tried Tide after ages and I hate it and it soaps up in my machines too! Specially in the tiny washer. Suds spilled from the bottom everywhere!.It never hapened to me before even w/ non HE detergents. So I gave the Tide to lady at work.

I'm in the process of updating our island and for budget reasons we went with Thomasville. I only need 3 cabinets- a trash cabinet, a standard single door cabinet and a 3 drawer pot/pan base. Well the finish was awful. It's a stain finish and it was as if they didn't fully cover the top edge of the drawers and there was something stuck in the clear coat finish on the finished end panel. There was a chip out of the bottom of one drawer and some kind of scratch on another one. We called home depot and they are ordering a new drawer base so that's another 3 week wait time and delay in our project. I hope the next one is acceptable. After we got home and I inspected things further and I thought even the trash bin finish could have been more uniform on the top edge of the pull out, but then I feel like I'm getting picky so I'm accepting it. Fingers crossed it was a fluke.