juddgirl, we have one blind across all three sections. As dilettante says, you might like a motorized blind (not sure if they sell them though for a blind that large). We have a motorized bathroom honeycomb with a remote, and like it a lot. With a non-motorized blind that wide you do have to be careful to pull the cord correctly; if you hold it out too far it can affect the mechanism, although Hunter Douglas fixed ours without charge; it was only a problem once. On another window that's larger than the maximum HD offers,we do have three separate double honeycombs, and they hang nicely together when they're down; no problems. Good luck!

There is a 6" bump out for my windows, a bit like a garden window. I actually got the idea from pictures of garden windows but liked this approach better (and better windows.) I thought about water, too, and checked around and people don't think water will be an issue. The windows themselves are 43" high. Yeah, counter depth windows meet the counter, though what that means exactly varies a bit. In contemporary applications, the counter can run all the way to the sash, covering the jamb. This gets tricky with casements, though, because if you don't use push-out casements, you need clearance for the cranks. In other applications, the counter abuts the jamb. This gets tricky, too, given that close but not quite even looks worse than less even. My house isn't modern, so the design style of covering the jamb isn't correct. My windows are stained VGDF, so exposing the jamb looks correct. On top of all that, the size of the windows for me is tightly constrained. Obviously they can't go below the counter top. Normally I'd just pick a close enough window and set the window at the counter top. But in my case, the top of the window must align with a nearby door which has the same casing. So I have to use the next smaller window and add some extra VGDF casing. I have to make up about 2", split between the top and bottom. It's a bit like the jamb extensions required for my walls.

Thought I would let you know what we decided. Kolbe Ultra pushout french windows with top loaded retractable screen. We looked at the windows at the Kolbe showroom in Seattle and felt confident with the product and personnel. In the end decided the inswinging might be too intrusive in our small room even though I like the look of the swinging screen doors. We asked for Low e 180 glass as the 230 bothered my view of the garden (I know, fussy). Wooden interior and extruded aluminum outside sash. Our only hesitations are the pulldown screen and the fact that we can't get the Ultra View screen with the French windows. Any problems with retractable screens? We eliminated Marvin due to $1000 price difference and the fact that the retractable screen is horozontal and felt a little wobbly opening across the window expanse. Going to call it in Tuesday so would appreciate any last minute advice.... Thank you.

I really appreciate all the advise you folks are offering! You're giving me lots to think about that I didn't know and a new perspective on things I did know. yes it does, the narrow meeting rail gives it away, it would be more noticeable if the windows were side by side. I I'm glad you said "narrow" because that made me realize I really need to compare this to the brand/model of DH window I choose, because if the meeting rail is wider, it will be much more noticeable. the encompass is a pretty cheap window, I am not to familiar with there casements so I am only referring to there double hungs at this point. Good to know. The encompass is the one we were looking at for DH and the 250 series for casements. I'm realizing now that our window budget of $11k is probably too low. I had never purchased/priced windows before, so I didn't question the builders number. Now that we are looking at them....I wish I had put some more thought into it. A quick window count and a trip to Lowe's would have caused me to question that a little more. We are supposed to get the builders discount, but even with a decent discount that price would be hard to meet. What other brands does your building supply store carry? I'm not sure. I know they carry Ply Gem, Pella and Anderson. The one time we spoke about Anderson, they said they were about $700/ window, so the conversation didn't go any further. Are Anderson really THAT expensive? Just the screen on the inside (casement) vs the outside (double-hung) will make windows in the same bedroom look different. You would need to use casements in all bedrooms and casements are more expensive than DH's. perhaps you could use an in-swing casement but I don't think they're made in PVC. This is an excellent point. I knew the screens were inside on a casement, but I've been so focused on the exterior view, I hadn't thought about the screens on the interior. I guess I forgot because in our last home all the screens were stacked in the garage instead of on the casement windows. :) Although the casements cost more it might not be any more $ since we were adding windows to the side of the house instead of just changing a DH to a casement.