Wow, way to revive a thread that is almost 8 months old. Alisonn, I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that you are referring to my posting regarding split foyer homes. As I've been living in mine for almost 5 months I will tell the OP (as I did before) that this home works wonderfully for my living situation and business. If it works for her, she should go for it. There is NO other home layout that would have worked for me within my budget. Several real estate agents have asked to see the interior of our home since it was finished because they had heard through the grapevine that it was an interesting and unusual layout...every single one has fallen in love with it as I have. If I am the person you were referring to I was not "offended" by anyone's opinion that I would not be able to make a profit of the resale. In fact the majority of the thread had very little to with talk of resale and much more to do with certain individuals' personal dislike of that house style. I WAS annoyed by a poster or two trying to tell me that they knew my lifestyle better than I did when they insisted that a split foyer would not work for me or insisting that I was heartless if I did not build a handicap accessible home. But nowhere in my thread did I imply that I was offended by people's opinions of the resale value of my home. I readily admitted that I was not a real estate expert by any means but that there were plenty of split foyers in my area that seem to sell just fine as it's a fairly common house design around here. Personally, I hate cookie cutter McMansions. I'm also not a fan of town houses, studio apartments, mobile homes, yurts, or log cabins. But there are people who love all of those and happily choose to live in them. And to each his own. Where does it say that a split foyer is the least desirable home? I'm fairly sure that there are homes that many would consider much less desirable than a split foyer. And again, if you're not referring to me, I sincerely apologize...but considering my original post regarding building a split foyer is the one that comes up when you search for split levels I'm fairly sure you're referring to me. I do resent having someone reference me and my situation incorrectly. This post was edited by sparkler39 on Sun, Jan 26, 14 at 2:15

Posted by annie1992 "I don't like lamb in any form, so won't conjecture on the proper cooking of it. (grin) ----" Annie, I didn't use to like lamb at all, until they start charging a lot of money. Expensive = taste good ? LOL FOAS, thank you. I look forward to seeing more of your sous vide creations. Alexa, at the risk of being accused of anti Occam's Razor law, let's take a little time to chew the fat. First, the pictures might be a little misleading. I take food pictures using only the auto setting on my camera to save time. Depending on if the light is from the window (day) or from the CFL (night) or if the shot is wide-angle or close-up and the predominant color of the food item, the camera's built-in software takes charge and determines the red/white/blue balance for each picture. The colors on the first two are closer to the real thing. Rack of lamb, very expensive. If you take away the fat, and the bones, and shrinkage, it probably comes to $60.00 a pound here in NYC. Meat, bones and fat have different thermal conductivities, adding to it, the small size and the shape of a rack of lamb, it makes it very difficult to cook it perfectly unless you prefer the whole thing well-done. It is challenging to find a way to maximize perfection to every tiny morsel of this wondrous victual. At the temperature I set at 135F, it is too low to render the fat. Since I don�t eat the fat, it does not bother me just to scrape the fat off while I eat. But if I were to serve others who are not followers of the Paleolithic diet, I probably BBQ the fat a little longer and that will make the issue go away. No, you cannot make Schmaltz using a sous vide cooker. I think it needs to be emphasized that sous vide is merely a particular way of cooking with a special appliance. There is really no recipes for sous vide, no more than recipes for microwave, or cast iron frying pan, etc. It is unfortunate that the French word "sous vide" gives this concept a lot of unjustified mystique; the fact that top chefs and upscale restaurant use it makes it appearing un-approachable. It makes it seem like practitioners of this way of cooking belong to some religious cult. The truth is this: sous vide is just a water oven that can keep constant temperatures. If I were to name this appliance, I would call it "Cookware For Making Perfect Meats For Dummies" If you show a 10-year-old kid how to set the temperature, the kid can cook the meat sous vide just like a top chef. A sous vide cooker simply will not allow you to overcook or undercook, it makes no difference if your piece of meat is frozen on one half and the other half at room-temperature, thick on one end and thin on the other end. No doubt, sous vide is going to go thru similar fade as the microwave oven did. First microwave oven was scosting like $5,000 and there were many myths and fears surrounding these bizarre new electronic "radar ranges." By the seventies, more and more people were finding the benefits of microwave cooking to outweigh the supposedly risks, and none of them were dying of radiation poisoning, going blind, becoming sterile, or impotent. As fears ebbed, acceptance began pouring into the kitchens. dcarch

Our refrigerator only has water in the door...no ice (but, there is an icemaker in the freezer). Our old refrigerator had an ice dispenser in the door and constantly froze up until, in frustration, we turned it off. With cold water in the door, we find we don't use the ice as much b/c the water is always cold. Yes, for other drinks we use ice, but since we drink mostly water the dispenser works for us. Another reason I didn't want an ice dispenser in the door is that it takes up quite a bit of room in the refrigerated portion....where we already lost the most space by switching to a CD refrigerator. Our freezer drawer is one drawer, but it has two pullout baskets inside it...so there are 3 areas of storage. Things rarely get lost in it and, like someone else said, nothing falls out on you! +++++++++++++++++++++ The carcass/box of a counter-depth refrigerator is approximately 24" deep (it varies by a couple of inches depending on the specific model). In all cases, though, the doors & handles stick out beyond that...in some cases up to 6" more (door depth + handles). The carcass/box of a standard depth refrigerator is anywhere from 30" or more deep (depending on size). Like cabinet-depth, the door(s) + handles stick out another 6" or so. The entire refrigerator (carcass + door(s)) of a built-in refrigerator are approximately 24" deep. These refrigerators are also usually very tall since the mechanics are above rather than behind the refrigerator. Cost-wise: Standard depth are the least expensive; next are the counter-depth; with built-ins the most expensive (often by a lot). Note that counter-depth can be made to look built-in by surrounding it with 3/4" finished end panels & a putting in a full-depth cabinet above it. Standard depth refrigerators can be made to look cabinet-depth if you recess it into the wall and room behind it. If you do that, then you can also make it look built-in as described above. [Note that in most cases you cannot recess into an outside/exterior wall.]

I have had Braziallian slate counters for 3 years. LOVE them. LOVE them. LOVE them. I REALLY wanted them for the new house, but our budget is going crazy. DH has talked me into doing honed absolute black granite instead. We're saving about $1000 on a large kitchen. And the slab is bigger, so I don't have to have a seam. Also, I intend to be a lot harder on the granite than I am with the slate. Yes, my slate counters scratch easily. I cringe when someone drags something across the counter. But they come out so easily. I've been told to use a wet, very fine grit sand paper. And I think I did that once when the counters were new. But I've had scratches that disappeared on their own before I got around to fixing them. If the material is soft enough to scratch, it doesn't make sense that it wouldn't be easy to fix. I've never had soapstone counters, but I grew up in native communities that used it for sculptures. It's SOOOO much more scratch prone. I'm told it's different stuff that's used on counters. But I imagine it's still at least as soft as the slate, if not softer.