Can you help me (and perhaps others) add some steps to the 'hood size guidelines' to think through hood size for the Capital Culinarian 36" rangetop, or one of the other 'monster' home rangetops (e.g., Bluestar, Viking, Wolf,...) The usual rule of thumb I've seen is: 100 CFM / 1,000 BTU rangetop Width same as rangetop, preferably 6" wider (e.g., (36", 42" better) Depth same as rangetop, preferably 3" deeper (e.g., 24", 27" better) The problem is that it is extremely unlikely we'll run the Capital at its full 138K BTU (or any of its monster brethren). Does the following make sense, or can those knowledgeable improve on it? At top actual use, we'll be using: 1 Burner wok = 23K BTU 1 Burner soup/ water boil = 23K BTU, but limited need for venting, call it 10K 4 Burners Realistic Max Average = 10K BTU (e.g., 1* 15K averages w/ 1 simmer) Total Effective = 73K BTU, and thus need 730 CFM Hood Suppose we do the 'best practice' of turning the hood on a couple minutes prior to any 'high-vent need cooking' such as wok cooking. If the range top is against a back wall, would we then be comfortable with the 730 CFM fan in a 36x24" hood? If the range top is in an island, would we then be comfortable with the 730 CFM fan in a 42x 27" hood, as long as we limit any activities that would cause strong drafts in the kitchen during wok cooking (e.g., opening the door from kitchen to patio.) In our case, we're looking at 6 burners, no grill or other top. We look forward to your help.

Well, "smaller" is a relative word. I have both 5K and 6K (kilo) Miele machines and an Asko which is somewhere in between that. I do an extraordinary amount of wash and I've never found size limitations of the machines to be a problem. I regularly wash queen and king sized bedding, with the exception of no down comforters of any weight in king size (king sheets, mattress pads, cotton and wool blankets do just fine) and no heavy weight queen-sized down comforters. The few times per year I do those items, I go to a laundromat. I well remember on this forum before the XXL-sized FLs appeared how much effort was made to get people to understand that the dishwasher-sized true horizontal axis Euro FLs could take as much laundry as they can. I must have written down the recommendation to actually weigh your current laundry load dozens and dozens of times. I got the feeling that even if people did that, they still couldn't wrap their heads around the unfamiliar loading parameters of Euro Fls. Plus they seem to be operating under the common US compulsion to choose the extra-large sized option in most instances. And maybe we've gotten so overweight in this country that we need huge machines to wash our duds. I don't know. As for the temps: most people may not care if their machine go above 140-160F. (Heck, some people apparently wash all their stuff in cold water; fortunately these people are also usually dedicated dryer-users so at least some heat is applied!) But if you want really white cotton and linen fabrics without having to bleach the devil out of them (or use a lot of chemical additives) then being able to go much higher is a distinct benefit. It seems absurd, wasteful and, even, dangerous to me to be advise people to raise their water heater temp to heat all their household water that hot when they need it for only a few gallons per load on the few loads per week. A beefy on-board water heater seems like the ultimate in energy savings since most of these machines can be fed unheated water, and then only heat the very few gallons need per load. It seems like perfect energy titration: only what's needed and not an ounce nor a degree wasted. As always, YMMV. L

We recently needed a new washer after the front loader we inherited when we purchased the house gave out. We bought a TL for ergonomic reasons - having to bend down to get the clothes in and out of the FL was a (literal) pain. Maybe FL's wash better - I don't know, we're not that particular. Outside of mud on some kids clothes and the occasional food stain our clothes aren't really 'dirty'. They just need to be washed from smells. And a faded, as opposed to erased, stain on a kids sports gear is hardly something for us to care about - these things last a season and they'll get muddied up the next go around. And the new machine and dryer are very large - we're a family of 5 so it's nice to be able to get through with fewer loads.

shambo, the chicken was marinated in buttermilk then dipped in a mixture of flour, salt, pepper, a little paprika and garlic powder. I sprayed them with a mist of olive oil, I have a oil sprayer that I love, it has a "trigger" instead of those pump Misto types that work twice and then stop. Anyway, spray the chicken, put it into the preheated fryer, bake for about 12-14 minutes depending on the size of the pieces, flip them, spray the other side, cook until they test done. It's not quite as crispy and not quite as moist as real fried chicken but it's close and it's a lot healthier! Walnutcreek, here's my pork chop after nearly 35 minutes in the fryer. I wasn't a fan, so I just cut a piece off the end for my portion at supper, and I didn't finish it, but that's because the marinade was a bit too spicy for me. You can see that it wasn't particularly over cooked or too browned, although the fatty edge got nicely crisp and it temped out at just a little over the minimum 145F, in fact I'd have liked it a bit more done. It was a big chop, not thick, but big, it weighed about 13 ounces and had that large center bone, much like yours. I have to use a thermometer on everything, the fish is overdone, the pork is underdone and the cooking guide they gave me with the machine is so far off it's useless. Annie