When you say "electric" I assume you mean the flat glasstop? and when you say "reasonably priced" I assume that must mean under $2500 if you are considering anything like an Electrolux or GE Cafe. In Consumer reports the Kenmore model 92163 and the GE Cafe rate the 2 highest in that order. The Kenmore starting today has a 30% off sale so is going for $1200. If you have the option to go for gas instead of electric then your best bet is an NXR Gas Range which you can get for between $1800-2000 which would beat the manure out of any electric range at any price point.

Thanks, dennisgli. Glad to hear from a happy F-P person. I haven't been able to see the model you have, or the one that replaced it. It doesn't seem to have a FD option any more, which is livable for us. The one in the appliance shop is just a titch bigger, which is actually a downside for us as we want to keep things as low profile as we can. I was impressed with the amount of fridge space, though. Particularly on the door... There were a few GW threads talking about both the freezer and the fridge not being able to get cold enough that scared me off of F-P when we were prepared to purchase. Now, I am rethinking it again and will do more research (ugh). ahoyhere - what people talk about on-line, and it resonates for me, is that when short people with a small arm research (or bad backs) try to bend into freezer drawers and pull large things out of the bottom, it can be difficult (or painful). This resonates with me, as someone with a short reach and bad back. In those cases, it is actually easier to open a bottom door and have full access via squating than having to bend over and reach down and in. I totally get your loathing of squating for the crisper drawers and we are sold on a bottom freezer for that reason. Surely we access the freezer less than the fridge. However, it doesn't negate the point that proper back mechanics (which matter to those of us with back pain) involve using the knees (squatting) versus bending over and using back muscles to lift ourselves and items up. Your Pininterest page is a lot of fun. Appliance eye candy, which I couldn't appreciate until this remodel. I took some repins for my own underused pininterest page. Thank you! By the way, we have one of those single induction burners that we purchased to use during the remodel - it sold us on getting an induction range. Just LOVE it. Ginny20 - I have no idea about whether Samsung's ice maker/water can be shut off. And I really, really do not want water on the door. I'm not loving that the Samsung CD sticks out so far past the cabinets, either. And, apparently the service and repair issues are nightmarish up here in Alaska. The appliance repair folks who used to repair them have dropped them because it is just so bad to work with them. I really don't want to treat a major appliance like a disposable item, which is basically what I'd have to do with Samsung. Take my chances that I get a good one - be prepared to take it to the dump if it breaks... I went out again and did the rounds. Fell in love with the Liebherr's looks again, as I do every time I see it. For sure, it would look the best. It's the thinnest, narrowest and most integrated look. It's also freaking pricey...and the freezer storage seems pretty slim. Thanks for the feedback, folks. I'm still not sure where this boat is going to land.

We used Teragren Synergy bamboo floors in our bedrooms when we renovated a couple years ago and never noticed an "off-gassing" type smell (like some of the bamboo samples we brought home). Even when we opened up the plastic wrapped boxes, we didn't notice anything. This is from Teragren's website: Teragren floors are certified by FloorScore�, which ensures the quality of indoor air for high performance schools and offices and meets stringent standards for 78 volatile organic compounds, including formaldehyde. All Teragren panels are SCS Indoor Advantage� Gold-certified, which means they've been tested to meet emissions standards, including formaldehyde, and comply with the California Special Environmental Requirements Specification 01350, which is designed to ensure health through good indoor air quality. It is also one of the United States' most stringent indoor air quality standards. I'm not sure if that's really what you're looking for, but I thought I'd share our experience with it.

If you can put together IKEA furniture, then I am sure you can put together their kitchen cabinets. We put together a few things in our kitchen (this was the old IKEA line) because we built the island ourselves and because I just wanted to (carpenter had left for the day so I assembled the drawers for a drawer stack and stuck them in the already installed cabinet because I wanted to play with it). I am very not handy and it was easy. I do find it difficult to do this sort of thing with little kids around. My Dd especially would be moving hardware around and generally making it take three times as long as it should. So that's my only caveat. Our house was about 45 minutes from an IKEA store and we paid for delivery. We were living on the other coast at the time and I faxed our order in. So I never actually went to the store we purchased from. We sold 18 months later (unexpected job transfer) to rave reviews from prospective buyers for our kitchen. House was on the market for less than a week. And it sold for over $700,000 so it wasn't an inexpensive starter house or anything.