laat2 - I guess I'm not sure why doing a massive remodel would necessitate an external wall in our kitchen. Our current kitchen is on the top story of a 4-level split. We're moving it downstairs, into a re-done main level that will put the kitchen in the center, essentially. It will be located as "east" as it can go on that level, but to the east of it will be the basement (a half-flight down) and a living room (a half-flight up). To the north is the garage. To the west is a family room. To the south is a long sunroom that spans the length of the family room, kitchen and basement/livingroom - i.e. runs the length of the house. Four-level splits are a monster to deal with, but essentially, the kitchen is the "heart" of that main floor, and thus has no external wall within 15' in any direction. We're coming from a decade of cooking on an electric range with an OTR microwave that we really never turned on while cooking - we only use it when we roast our coffee beans. Venting has never been a priority - we never gave it any thought at all. I think I'm really only aware of it now because I read these forums. Otherwise, we probably would have stuck an undercabinet hood over the cooktop and never thought twice about it. Even in my childhood home, where we cooked daily with NG, the exhaust was only turned on if someone burned something in the oven. We're reusing our current frig and dw...bought a double wall oven off Craigslist...so I don't even really have any other places to scrimp from. Most of our remodel cost is in true construction (framing, roofing, siding, concrete, windows) and very little in "allowances" such as appliances. Our flooring has been purchased - nowhere to scrimp there. Can anyone tell me what the result will be if we do have to run the duct down the wall and out across the basement? The option that had the three 90-degree turns? I know it's not great - I just want to know how truly bad it is...will it cut the 650cfms down to about 200? 100? 50? Essentially nothing??? AP

Thank rmkitchen, I love the site too. When i first came across it, the prices seemed so reasonable that I was a little skeptical. But I have been quite happy with the quality, and shipping was not bad. And what I really like is that they have stuff I didn't see anywhere else. Much of it is from a company called Chehoma. I looked high and low for someone local who carries Chehoma but got nowhere. When I had to call Deco et cie with a question, I even got to use some of my high school French. I did see the wire cage fixture, the whacky one with the birds, at ABC Carpet in NYC, for more than twice what I paid. I have that one in my 8yr old DD's room, and she is in love with it. I bought and can vouch for: Suspension NIckel - mudroom, Suspenion poesie - one over each sink in my girls' bath Suspension desir - guest room Lustre voliere demi grande - DD2 bedroom Lustre brindelle 4 lumieres - over my tub, or so i thought Applique crenalieme - DS bedroom Applique josephine - guest room Applique projecteur nickel - DS bathroom I inquired in advance about which ones would work in the US. I think I only rewired the last one. It was maybe $30 to rewire. Here are some of the other sources I have used and been happy with: Il Fanale. Italian products imported by Country Gear of Southampton, NY. SImple lines but a bit unusual. I bought my kitchen and breakfast room pendants there and also fixtures for a bathroom. Prices quite reasonable. http://www.countrygearltd.com/Results.ihtml?c=94&increment=6&step=2&startnum=1&maxvalue=6&m=26 Skinflint UK - If you like the industrial look, they have really cool things. I bought some old ship bulkhead lights, french darkroom lights, real cargo lights, etc. Again, pretty good prices, and he will rewire them for the US. Do note though, that some of these items are very heavy and you may need to reinforce your ceiling to hang them. You may also find that the amount of light they give once rewired is insufficient. The prices are good value for what you are buying, IMHO, but not as inexpensive as Deco et Cie or Il fanale, above. http://www.skinflintdesign.co.uk/store/ceiling_and_wall_lights/ The last one is the budget buster, but oooh they have nice stuff. I bought two of the Chisholm Hall for our entry hall. I also am having them copy a fixture for me. http://www.urbanelectricco.com/#/Collection/By_Category/Ceiling/ PS CALI WENDY - Deco et cie has a sconce like those lights you liked that sold Here is a link that might be useful: cali wendy - sconce for you

Our thoughts on IKEA products.... We read a lot, went to a lot of showrooms and got quotes on a broad range of things. We are not strangers to the building/renovating process having redone four previous residences and three retail stores, as well as building two new stores from scratch. The prices we got from some of the kitchen places shocked us. None of the showrooms we visited had workamnship equal to that of the cabinetry we have in our shops - yet the prices were higher. While I understand the high cost of providing good customer service, and the fact that this cost must be built in to the retail price of cabinet lines, I honestly believe that there is a lot of greed out there and hope that it is geting blown away in the current economic storm. There are three things we have learnt about renovating/building and ourselves over the years: Renovations never, ever cost what they are supposed to. Borrowing money to renovate a residence is a really bad idea. We are always going to make change$ along the way. So we decided to use IKEA cabinets. We are ending up with a combination of white painted (not thermofoil) and oak veneered finishes with self-closing doors and drawers equipped with dampers. If we get bored of the colour or finish it's easy to have them redone or replaced. The interior options for the drawers and cabinets are more extensive than any other manufacturer's line, and if somehow we need more, there are all the Rev-a-shelf products. The boxes are good particle board. After having had water damage in one of our shops, we will never use anything but particle board for cabinets again. Our taste does not run to the stark, modern look so we'll dress the cabinetry up with mouldings, corbels, etc. and change the glass in the door frames. You can do that with with Ikea more easily than with any preassembled cabinet. Ikea's guarantee is 25 years. At our age that's almost(but not quite!) a lifetime gurantee. To compare: - we went to a mid-range cabinetry firm and received a quote of just over $60,000 for the kitchen section of our main floor. This was Cabinetry, mouldings and interior fittings without installation. They estimated installation at 3 to 5 thousand. We purchased cabinetry from Ikea for the same area with the same interior fittings for just under $10,000.00 We spent another $3,400.00 on corbels, light rail, legs, etc. In our area, IKEA has installers who will come and assemble and install things for $40.00 per linear foot. That would be about $1,200 for us. Finish carpentry would be another $3,000.00 or so. The biggest benefit though - outside of the fact that we are saving money - is that we have changed our layout about five hundred and fifty times, and gone back to Ikea to exchange cabinets about four hundred of those times. No Problem ! No Charge ! When I look at someone's kitchen cabinets the things I notice are the colours and the detailing. Most of the time I never see the inside of the cabinets and when I do I'm usually concentrating on the contents rather than the cabinet walls. What makes or breaks a room for me are gorgeous handles and pulls, lighting, trim, colours, countertops, floors and architectural detailing. I buy good quality items but I look for intrinsic value there too. But all of those things though are secondary to how much I enjoy myself in the space. I remember the wine and the conversation long after I remember anything else. So on a reno project that recently edged its way into six figures we chose to use Ikea. We could have paid the prices the other companies were asking without hardship, but every time I looked at the kitchen I would have felt like I had overpaid. I don't want to deal with that for 25 years.

Another place to look for wood flooring is local mills. For various values of "local." I know of at least 4 in my state or an adjacent one that will happily ship here. Three of them only do solid wood flooring, and all have more limited choices in species/finishes. The place that is nearest me gave me a decent quote for solid ash. (He has bunches right now, because of all the trees that came down due to the Emerald Ash borer. He snapped them up as the city cut them). Ash is tonally similar to white oak, although the grain pattern is a little different. But not nearly so costly. He also did a quote for all the millwork. Our place is stylistically outside the box, and this guy is an artist. It's good to work with talented people. Not sure where you are, but this is one of the "local" to me manuracturers. They offer solid and engineered products as well as a variety of distressing and tinting effect that might get you closer to that 100-year-old wide plank floor you're looking for: https://www.launstein.com/ Both the options I've provided are likely above the "midrange" option as you described it above. But they're higher quality options than, say, Lumber Liquidators.