Thank-you people! We now have a fairly long dry creek which needs to handle a high volume of water. It has two levels - water comes in from the top and is "visual" and then directly under this is a hidden french drain - they all drain into a dry pond which will be filled with moisture loving native plants to clean the ground water - then it all goes back into a pipe and down the way. There are also funky tributaries to our dry creek to handle all the water coming down the bank, a few more areas need to be incorporated. It was made by the contractors and we just used rip rap but I will also add in my concrete "chunks" and the few nice found rocks the contractors dug up while grading. Eduarda, thanks for that article! It's perfect. Essentially I want mine to look like a cross between Cameron's beautiful dry creek and the Fine Gardening dry creek. Cameron, I will need to get some ideas from you about the native grasses you planted in here. Luckily I will have the ability, if necessary to "reverse" the flow of water from stored water back into the dry creek to keep everything moist. A pump and an underground water line that runs back up to the "front" of the stream will do the trick. So far our "project" is shaping up very well. A few more things need to happen before the patios go in - more retaining walls and drainage. I've got a LOT of planting to do these next few years. I have a feeling winter sowing will be my best friend!

Hi All, Interested in you which you would buy, based on price and bang for the buck factors. My choices are; 1) Monogram 36 cooktop on sale @ $1900.00 cdn Monogram ZGU385NSMSS 36 Inch Gas Cooktop 2) Wolf 36 cooktop on sale @ $2850.00 cdn Wolf CG365TS 36 Inch Transitional Gas Cooktop Is the wolf worth an extra $1000.00 ? Cheers!

I've never purchased Hestan kitchen appliances before and so I wanted to give them a try this time. I've ordered the Hestan Smart Induction cooktop, single wall oven, microwave drawer, and a dishwasher from Appliances Connection. Big mistake ever. Appliances Connection charged my credit card immediately even though the items were not available for shipping and are still on backorder as of today. My kitchen remodel project was put on hold for a long time because of. After waiting about 10 weeks or more, I've finally received the induction cooktop only. I was so excited and could not wait to try it out. Right after the installation, we did the test the very first time, and one of the back burners failed to power on. I immediately called Hestan customer service, they picked up the phone and advised me to email the information and someone will get back to me. Emailed them per their request and no one contacted me. I waited a few days and called them back. This time they promised to have a service agent to call at the end of the day. A month went by and still nothing. I then had to contact Appliances Connection to see if I can return the defective unit. I was advised that once the unit is installed, they don't accept the return even though it was a defective unit. Is this how people doing business nowadays? This is not just a few hundred dollars order. They took my money, 3 months after they shipped the defective unit, and didn't want to do anything to correct the issue or refund my money. What a rip off. I am going to report to BBB and hire a lawyer to get my money back. Save yourself money and headache, please tell your family and friends to stay away from doing business with Appliances Connection and do not buy any Hestan products. They do not stand behind their products. I would give them zero star if I can.

In Europe, buying a separate cooktop and wall oven is a very common configuration. So, if you are in that market, I wouldn't hesitate. But in the US, manufacturers don't really plan for this particular configuration. Wall ovens often are too tall, resulting in the door being too close to the floor and the top of the appliances hitting the cooktop. I'd strongly discourage you from going this route. If you do want a cooktop, then put the wall oven at roughly countertop height into one of your cabinets. It'll work much better that way. If you prefer a cooktop, get induction. I would never recommend cooktops for gas; it's just not as functional. Instead, with gas I'd get a rangetop (i.e. controls are on the front face of the cabinet). Bluestar makes a wonderful gas rangetop, by the way. If you do consider Bluestar, do not get the closed burner model. It's not playing to this brand's strength. We occasionally have this discussion on Houzz, and inevitably most people regret their decision, if they don't heed our advice. I strongly discourage you from buying a hood based on looks, only. While a hood looks like a very simple appliance, it is actually one of the more difficult things to get right. You'll regret your decision if you end up with something that looks good, but that is otherwise just noisy and doesn't actually vent. I probably would buy from a reputable vendor such as ModernAire or VentAHood, rather than from a general-purpose vendor. Miele makes great appliances in general, but vent hoods are really not their specialty. I am not even sure they make their own rather than rebranding somebody else's product.