grass1950, what is not true? I agree with both y'all. Back in 2001 I got the organic bug when a local radio talk show guy suggested using ordinary corn meal to get rid of powdery mildew on roses. That sounded like a dumb idea but a harmless one. He seemed pretty convinced. I tried it and was shocked at the results. Not only did the powdery mildew stop and disappear quickly, but that rose bush has not had a single aphid on it in the past 10 years. For the 10 years prior to that I called it an aphid hatchery because it was always covered. Having had that experience I came here, joined, and learned a lot from the gurus on the organic gardening forum. Organic lawn care wasn't even a thing back then. Why? Because of the triple stigma of being extraordinarily expensive, stinky, and might kill your lawn. And why was that? Because back then the only things to use were compost (expensive and might kill the lawn) and manure (cheap, stinky, and probably would kill the lawn). I'll speed through the rest of the history...in the 90s it was discovered that microbes were the reason organic fertilizer worked. Then I made the discovery that expensive organic fertilizers were made of food like alfalfa, corn, wheat, soy, cottonseed, etc. Anyone who wants to dispute the claim that I discovered that is free to counter claim. I just never saw or heard it anywhere prior to that. Anyway I brought it to the public here by writing the Organic Lawn Care FAQ. Search the Internet for that and read it. Then gradually organic lawn care became a thing. Forums popped up and I was usually asked to be the forum moderator. I have since dropped a few, but I still moderate two actively and one very passively. Organic lawn care became such a popular thing that folks who never would try it, tried it. Now most of the moderators I am aware of have at least tried it. Some are mostly converted, but I believe most follow a mix like tiemco and grass1950 do. The most important thing to know I believe is that if you use only chemicals on your lawn from now on, your soil will never be as healthy as it is today. The microbes in the soil need to be fed with real food periodically. Chemicals are not food. Is it hard to follow? No. There are people on other forums who are trying to make mistakes with organics. The only mistake you can make is pouring a bag out in one place and not shoveling it out and washing it away. That smothers the grass. Otherwise it is extremely hard to make a mistake. I guess underfertilizing is a mistake I am guilty of. The more organic you use the better your lawn will look. What makes this work is you can use it all summer whereas you cannot use chemicals all summer. Is it expensive? If you want the yard of the month every month all summer long, then you will probably pay a little more. Why? Because with chemicals you cannot use them in the summer and with organics you'll be really tempted to just to show those chemical guys!!! The other thing with organics is I believe you use less insecticide - and that costs money. Proper care should take care of weeds so there is no herbicide cost benefit one way or the other to chemicals or organics. At the end of the year you might have paid a little more per 1,000 square feet, but not by a huge amount. Had you used compost, then yes you would have overpaid by a very huge amount. Is it smelly? Not like manure was smelly. If you overuse a high protein organic fertilizer, then it will smell sour for a week. If you start gradually and let the microbe population grow into it, then you will only notice a faint aroma. That smell is the loss of ammonia gas (NITROGEN!), so you don't want that smell. Is it effective? Surprisingly effective but you have to wait 3 weeks. It will make your lawn more dense and improve the color. This is one aspect you have to see in person to really believe. I can show you pictures all day long but you need to see it. Try this: drop a handful of dry dog or cat food on the lawn and moisten it. Don't scatter it out a lot, just put it in a hand sized area and water it. Come back in 3 weeks and take a picture for posterity. What about organic pest control? There are very good organic controls for caterpillars (sod webworms, army worms, etc.) and for grubs. BT Worm Killer (a bacterial disease affecting only caterpillars) works immediately on contact to stop the caterpillars from feeding. It does not affect real worms like red wigglers and fishing worms. I believe spinosad (a bacterial disease in insects) products would be effective on the other soil/sod insect pests, but I don't like the fact that it is non selective. The Fire Ant Control with Conserve (spinosad) is extremely effective as a bait. A pinch will kill an entire fire ant mount mound overnight. I have been very successful using corn meal against fungal disease in the lawn. Hope this helps. These forums use to be rife with bitter arguments about which was better, organic or chemical. With more people trying organic, at least the discussions come from experience instead of ignorance.

Actually, contrary to william612, you're missing the most important option. Most folks looking for a "wood or drywall look" in a hood will build a custom hood surround out of whatever material they like--wood, stone, drywall, copper, whatever--and then put a hood liner inside it. That gives you 100% freedom to get the exact look you want, and then pick a liner from any of dozens of sources. As to cost, of course it varies. If you choose a hand-hammered copper hood surround, as a friend of mine did recently, then bring $$. On the other hand, a simple wooden surround can be built by your cabinetmaker for not a ton of money. Even with the addition of the hood liner, your total costs may not exceed those of an off the shelf unit by much. As always, the best option is to search this Forum for threads on ventilation and hoods. There is an abundance of information.

@luv2putt Viking has extremely uniform pricing within any single distributer region; I am in SF, and recently bought an induction range (FWIW, through BSC Culinary - Charmen there is very helpful). I found absolutely no variation in price from any authorized retailer. All were exactly the same, to the dollar. I also quickly confirmed that Viking dealers outside the area will NOT sell and ship to you - there may be some exceptions willing to bend the rules, but I didn't find any. When comparing prices, note that colors cost significantly more than stainless, black or white, and sometimes it isn't clear which they are referring to. Also, I have noticed that some online dealers take the current "instant savings" promotion off their advertised cost, and some do not, so verify whether any price is before or after that promotion. If you are looking for stainless or white, you might be able to find a deal on a floor model, or on ebay, but if you go that route make sure you confirm that the warranty isn't affected (and be aware the promotion might not apply). I'd also make sure, in the case of any floor model, that it wasn't produced too long ago - they made some improvements and changed producers for their induction elements not all that long ago (I think about a year and a half now? might be slightly longer).

Thanks for your replies! These aren't things "I" have to have... most of these came from a thread from about 3 years ago and I wanted to eliminate things that are unnecessary or overkill which I know is quite a few. Allison, I apologize for the length. I, many times, have opened loooong posts and quickly returned to the main page. Thanks for coming back. ;) David - I should have removed Cat 7 from the list. Electrician already told me he uses Cat 5. You're right they were copied, that's why they don't make sense. As far as expense, if I pre-wire for many of these will that cut down a lot on the price initially? I should have added that in my first post. This is a whole house remodel and addition, and unfortunately we won't have a garage anymore, just a storage area, so the outlet for the extra refrigerator will be in the laundry room. I'm deleting extras now. I thought the 4 light switches were a bit much myself. Thanks for your help.