Hi, Handyfrank: I may be a bit late to your discussion, but part of the beauty of natural stone is in the variations. No two slabs are identical. Blue pearl is my choice for an upcoming project in my own kitchen, and I have loved it since I first saw it in mineralogy and petrography classes in college too many years ago. When I pull the trigger on my project, I will be looking for a slab with a good bit of blue, but I want the depth of color as well. I'm not concerned about being too dark, as I will be doing mostly white cabinets and the dark horizontal surface will be an exclamation point on the light colors elsewhere. For the backsplash I'm leaning toward a granite called 'ashen white', a light grey with fairly strong lineation in the texture and that includes red crystals of garnet in the matrix. I will have stainless and black appliances, and a hammered copper sink which will be the focal point of the kitchen. Best of luck! Winston and Baldurdash, the Wonder-Elghund

London staging, unfortunatly that little table can’t be moved, it holds a zillion compone for our tv and sound system. When the av people came to wire everything they were supposed to build a little shelf to hold everything but where unable to because of the window ledge. That’s the smallest table I could find to hold everything- my husb originally had a black glass what I call “dorm room style” huge shelf. There are also speakers (surround sound speakers are everywhere- it’s my husbands thing) on the wall behind the couch. Because of them, it makes putting that art on that wall impossible. This probably isn’t the best picture but I actually really like the art where it is, it adds a pop of color to a room that really needs it.

I did find a video where a dendrologist explains some of the features of Picea mariana. He shows the needles and explains that the needles are 'soft' and 'short'. Finally! This is the first correct explanation I've found that puts to rest my confusion about this tree. At about 55 seconds into the video. https://Picea mariana. From my own experience and from pictures I've seen from credible institutions, the above is the first needles I've seen that come even close to my trees needles. I still don't know why my tree grows so much each season. Is it stuck in the 'Rapid growth stage' seedlings are known to have? I generally just water it when needed, being it's a water loving plant. This will be its 4th season in the ground.

I completely agree with Patricia’s point about making sure you have service in your area. Every brand of appliance will, if it is serviceable and not disposable, (like some of them are these days ), need to be serviced at some point during its useful life. If you decide to purchase one of the luxury brands such as those you are looking at, just remember to investigate not only the geographical availability of repair service but also the.QUALITY of the customer service that the manufacturer has. While certainly not perfect, Subzero-Wolf is known for exceptional customer service; going above and beyond for the customer. I’ve had the same high standards experience with my Apple digital products, which is one of the reasons I pay a super premium for Apple. Thermador makes some compelling products just like Subzero does, and their price point reflects this, but their customer service leaves much to be desired. When I spend that much money on any appliance, I very much appreciate being treated well by the manufacturer when an issue of service inevitably does present itself if you own an appliance long enough. Just remember how much your own time is worth to you when you reach out to a service centre that may give you less than a 30 minute wait at the most to speak to someone(Subzero), or you’re waiting for two hours, having your call dropped, or leaving messages with no call returned because the customer service is so poor with the vast majority of appliance brands out there. High quality customer service is not cheap and running call/support centres with highly trained reps is a big investment, which almost every appliance manufacturer no longer budgets for at a premium level. Even Miele, according to the number of posters here on the forums, has slipped in the quality of their customer care, and this is not because they don’t know how to administer high standards of service. They have done this, to reduce their costs. One of the things you pay for with something like a Subzero is the support behind the brand. I don’t know the official number of years, but Subzero keeps parts available for repair of their appliances for longer than most brands. after they discontinue a model. Thermador, being owned by Bosch, is far less supportive with a model that is out of production. This matters because when you pay a premium price for a luxury brand, one of the benefits you “should” be getting is longer service life, along with the specific features that compelled you to purchase that appliance in the first place. Also, the cost of storing and warehousing parts for appliances affects a company’s bottom line.. When a manufacturer no longer sells a specific model, they are no longer motivated these days to keep parts for that model for very long. All appliance manufacturers do this kind of “sunsetting“ on their spare parts, production, and Bosch is notorious for running out of spare parts so fast, it’s hard to believe they had much of an inventory, even when a specific model was still in production. The pandemic, not withstanding, it is extremely unscrupulous for manufactures to not keep parts available for appliance models for more than a bare minimum amount of time after they are sold. It is one of the most unsustainable things these producers do, and it accelerates “the march to the landfill“ for all of these new appliances we purchase. There are some countries in Europe that are initiating “right to repair laws“ that start to specify, at least a minimum standard of time that manufactures are required to support the repair of products they sell, whether it be appliances, or any other manufactured consumer product. So, I ramble and say all of this to suggest that, if you were going with one of these two brands, I would choose the Subzero hands-down!!