So, the range top is easy to keep clean, but not easy to keep spotless. I wipe splatters/spills pretty quickly with a wet paper towel, and then use barkeepers friend for occasional stuck/burnt spots. That said, I'm learning to get used to the look of well used appliances, which is tough for me because I am generally the guy that wants everything to look new forever. This appliance will from the kitchen, but not when looking down on it while cooking, if that makes sense... Basically, the stainless front rail, and visible front of the stove are easy to keep new looking with regular cleaners, but the beaded steel top itself, while clean, will show signs of use pretty quickly. The barkeepers friend will make it look great, but not new. We have a few scattered brown spots (tiny) here and there that just won't come off. That said, it doesn't look gross - just used. Even my old ceramic top had some spots you couldn't quite get off, but the black background color made them harder to see.

I've had my Benchmark 800 30-inch double ovens less than a week, and unfortunately, they were damaged in shipping as evidenced by some dents. Our contractor had them installed so we could pass final inspection, but they're in the process of being replaced. I love the side swing doors. I had old (and small) Gaggenau double ovens before, so I knew I wanted side swing doors again. The Bosch doors are solid and seem unlikely to swing closed accidentally (family members worry about this). The telescoping rack is great. The keypad interface is easy to figure out. So far we've heated up pizza and made a pan of cornbread. The cornbread didn't brown evenly but baked evenly under the crust. Then the ovens started chirping and the display kept coming on like I'd pushed the button to turn on one of the ovens. I couldn't figure out if I'd done something weird with the keypad, so I finally disabled the sound in 'settings.' We bought through a local appliance store and when I reported this, no messing around, the ovens will be replaced. I hope the uneven browning is the result of being damaged and not a regular feature. I'm curious to hear what others have experienced, too.

I have one. Great. Low maintenance and concrete decking with coating. I don't recall the exact name but it's a fine glass/sand coating (sounds counterintuitive) and the finish llooks like a turtle shell or lollipop and has a nice sheen to it so it always looks new. I chose a cream-white color. Never gets hot and looks great.

You know, it's funny that someone posted on this thread just now. Just two days ago, I ended up accidentally dropping a plate from normal carrying height in the kitchen. The plate shattered and ended up scratching two planks. Well, one of the planks is more like a gash, while the other one has two surface scratches. Not bad, but still kind of annoyed. My original floor installers will replace the planks for me with my spares whenever they install some new baseboards in my garage in July. Other than that little incident, my floors have been pretty durable over the last year with no real issues, although I did freak out once when my bug guy dragged my stove out from its spot to spray. I told him to not do that again. I did, however, send a snarky e-mail to Mowhawk, telling them that they probably shouldn't market a floor as "scratch resistant" while conveniently excluding scratches from the warranty. It is what it is, I guess. I still haven't done my upstairs yet, which probably won't be until next year, but rest assured, I'm going to always make sure I have extra boxes of planks at all times. Better to overprepare than underprepare. As for the creaking. I still have some creaks in a few spots and do notice some "play" in certain areas around the perimeter, but these are typically in areas that I never walk on.