[ooooh, can I enable Red once again?] Red, you know I had to be a bit skeptical about all this! [Mr Vix remains skeptical blah blah blah nothing wrong with old one. Has he showered at home vs gym since I installed? No!] Neatitems does have a return/exchange policy that seemed fair, so that helped me get off ye olde caboose and just choose. Let me tell you, the Danze soaks my also-thick, nearly shoulder-length hair VERY quickly -- and thus gets out the shampoo/conditioner much faster. Honestly if I weren't in there lingering my showers would be speedier. If you want rainshower, you might want to take a look at the Aussie showerhead too (I've seen it on other sites, but NI does sell). It's the same spray intensity, and it comes in 3.5" and 6" and has a lot of testimonials there. I just liked the vintage vibe of the Danze a smidge better! If you want mega-powerful, the Giessdorf 6 or 8 Jet may be your best bet. [I think you need a strong shower arm for them, though -- I got the 6 for use on half the strong dual arm and that sucker is HEAVY!] IME Christina's great re: emails so if you're wavering, I'd say contact her. Feel free to tell her a now-happy Oregonian sent ya. Let me know if you enter the Blissful Shower Zone, ha! Here is a link that might be useful: Neatitem's shower spray comparison chart

Many of these people at AIG were hired and promise a bonus for a specific job. They did their job and are entitled to that bonus. They are no longer working at AIG, but because of so many threats to them and their families cannot get work in other places. It is NOT their fault. If your were hired for a one time situation and then found out could not get your bonus and have to take your children out of school, leave the area you too would feel bitter too. We need to look at the whole picture and listen to the other side. How about the oil companies. Mobil Oil made the biggest profit ever and yet the price of gasoline, food, materials and other items are going up. Yes they got their bonus also. We all need to investigate what the real story is, not just what the media and the politicians want us to hear. Look around you and find out why many small and median size businesses are failing. Are they failing because of money, or not knowing how to run the business, charging too much, not enough help, taxes, people stealing items and not being punished, etc We need to stop blaming every one else for our own problems. We must assume responsibility for our own mistakes, and stop expecting the Government to do everything for us.

We got ours from word of mouth. So far everything has been word of mouth (sometimes the "mouth" has been this forum). We asked on my husband's workplace electronic bulletin board, "We are planning to do a remodel. Blah blah blah (specifics). Has anyone done something similar? Who can you recommend? Can we see your XYZ?" We got several contractors' names and several architects' names. We asked the contractors about architects, we asked the architects about contractors. And narrowed in. Then of course everyone at his workplace knew we were doing a remodel, and we were then referred to a KD by still another colleague. We saw the referrer's place and figured it wouldn't hurt to talk to said KD. From having interviewed all the zillions (it seemed like) architects and contractors, AS WELL AS READING THIS FORUM OBSESSIVELY (important), we had a massive list of likes/don't-likes for the kitchen (though we were still keeping open minds). It didn't seem to take too long in talking with our KD before we realized she 1) understood what we were saying, 2) knew what she was talking about and (3) made some interesting suggestions that showed that she had "heard our words." We had, after all, interviewed zillions of architects and contractors. Usually we spent about 2 hours with each, going over the house room by room, but it didn't take 2 hours to come to our conclusions about the architect or contractor. So yes, ask around. As far as expectations being over the top, I'm thinking of starting a new thread, "Oh you hateful Gardenweb-Kitchen-Forum-ers! You have sharpened my eyes - way too much!" :) Between the posters on this forum and our rental house landlords and their 14-page single-spaced Instruction Manual for their house, I feel like one of those crime shows where my eyes are like zoom-in microscopes on fingerprints (that stainless steel surfacing ought to be a boon for crime-busters!), dirt, dust, mold, but now I include cracks, scratches, dents, mis-alignments, and the like. I try to keep a lot of these thoughts to myself but when I was at hubby's office yesterday, I was thinking "pretty marble table - wow, chipped already!" or "this is what you want your cabinets NOT to do" and other helpful insights like that. :) drb

Layout Help Threads... Issue: Lack of Pertinent Information...Some people don't read the "Layout Help" topic and post asking for help without giving us very much information about the poster's goals, family composition, plans for using the space, etc. Trying to design a kitchen in a vacuum of knowledge can be frustrating and can lead to "generic" kitchens and lack of responses because it's too labor and time intensive to draw the information that we need to help with a layout out of posters. See the "How do I ask for Layout Help and what information should I include?" FAQ topic. Often, the layouts themselves don't have enough information for us to work with. A full set of dimensions is very helpful! (again, see the "Layout Help" FAQs topic). If you're trying to decide whether to post a computer-generated drawing that shows the elevation (things shown as they will be against a wall with cabinets, etc.) vs an overhead plan (2D as seen from overhead) - choose the overhead! It can be computer-generated if it has alldimensions, etc.or a hand-drawn diagram using graph paper. Issue: Layouts with dimensions that are difficult to read. If I have to open a layout image in another window and fiddle with resizing and then still not be able to read the dimensions, I often bag it and move on to another thread. If you need to draw a layout/floorplan up by hand, keep in mind that it takes no drawing skill. All you need to produce a drawing to post here are: Good measurements of the room Graph paper which you can download and print from the web if you don't have any on hand Pencil & eraser (for sketching in the first lines) Straight edge (ruler, piece of plastic, triangle, etc., because even with graph paper it's easier to draw against a straightedge, and most kitchen lines are straight) Dark, fine or extra fine Sharpie (or similar marker/pen) to go over the pencil lines before taking a picture of it for posting. Without the dark pen/marker, most drawings are too faint. A camera or scanner to convert the drawing into an electronic version for posting here Using graph paper forces you to pay attention to scale.