The manual does say 3 inches for the electrical outlet. So I guess someone screwed up the text for the gas line paragraph. I mean, it's less likely that a diagram would be wrong, right? The 18 inches would have made total sense to me with a cooktop but with the range it just seemed so odd. I'm starting to think the problem is the way they installed the gas line. If the nozzle was flipped around, it probably wouldn't look so odd. I want to be able to push it back against the wall (once it's finished, of course) and that seems unwise/unlikely as it is now. I guess I'm asking the plumber to come back.

There isn't much to go wrong with a gas cooktop... that's why you're finding mostly good reviews. Ovens are quite a bit more complicated. There is only one oven I know of that gets consistently good reviews, that would be the Gaggenau. But I think that starts at over $6000 and that's not even for a double oven... The rest of the ovens have their fans and their haters. Here on Gardenweb, it seems like Electrolux is the 2nd least complained about oven, and the vast majority of people seem to be happy. If you put too much weight on online reviews, though... you'll never end up with an oven! When I was shopping for slide ins GE had the best prices, but for wall ovens it looks like you get a lot more for your dollar with Electrolux. It would be tough to get an Electrolux Icon for $2000, but you could certainly pull it off with the regular Electrolux line. They really are the same inside. This is what their line looks like right now: Top of the line Icon: 3 glide racks, pro handle, wave touch controls, around $2500 on ajmadison Middle of the line: 2 glide racks, wave touch controls, around $2000 on ajmadison Bottom of the line: 1 glide rack, IQ touch controls, around $1800 on ajmadison Even though it it still on their website, it looks like they've discontinued the non-prostyle Icon.

well I ended up finding some vinyl or wicker type outdoor fabric which would be fantastic, it's just a lot more expensive than I would expect raw furniture fabric to be :/ so I just ended up nabbing a medium outdoor hardy area rug for a cheap price

I don't foresee 4 inches of topsoil in your future. Looking closely at the walkway there is some bit of a drop off down to the soil level, but it looks like you could bring in a few bags of topsoil to even that out over toward the middle of of the yard. If you bring in 4 inches you will definitely change the way water drains off of your property. If it drains back into your basement you will regret paying for that extra soil. I don't see a need for a lot of soil. Your clay soil is already being fixed by all the roots from the weeds. Those roots are a gold mine. What I would do is weed eat the existing weeds down to about 4 inches tall and keep them mowed at your mower's highest setting. Even a weed patch can look much better when it gets regular mowing (ask me how I know that). You will find you have a mix of grassy plants and broadleaf plants (clover, dandelion, etc.). Then what I would do is spray the yard with something like Weed-b-Gon to kill the broadleaf weeds. You're on a compressed schedule, so all this has to happen immediately. After the weed killer you should be left with grassy plants which are well adapted to your area. Keep mowing weekly until you notice the grass has stopped growing. At that time, fertilize the "lawn" with a high nitrogen, fast release fertilizer. Urea is good if you can find it. This will set up the grass to awaken healthy next spring. Then in the spring, after you have mowed real grass for the second time, then spot spray any broadleaf weeds you see. The grass should come in fast and furious with the late fall fertilizer. You may have to mow twice a week to keep up with it. Some time in late May you should notice the grass slows down and is not growing as fast. That is the time to fertilize for the first time in 2019. I usually target the end of May for that. Organic fertilizer is great, but any chemical fertilizer works, too. If you need grass seed, I would tend to stay away from typical lawn grasses and go with a prairie grass adapted to your area. I would look at the many varieties of wheatgrass. Talk to some livestock ranchers to find out what grows well for them. The main difference between what they do and what you are going to do is you will be mowing every week. Some prairie grasses can handle that and some cannot. You will find that niche grass eventually. What is the grass growing in the pathway across the street?