Hi Anna! Just got your message. I can give you lots of feedback on the TC, but the most critically important piece for you is that we DO NOT use the self clean feature for the speed oven - and in fact were advised by the TC folks themselves not to use it!! (long story cut short is that we had a TC technician from Dallas install the oven, and he was the one who told us this). There have been various threads about self cleaning ovens in general and you may want to start a thread about that here and x-post to Kitchens. It seems many do not use the self clean feature. So, if that is important to you maybe it should be your starting point. As to more general feedback (warning! this is long!), here's an excerpt from an email that I sent recently to another GW'er asking about our TC. Important to note is that ours is the first model off the block, and I am sure that TC has continued to refine the ovens based on consumer feedback. We are a two person household. But we do entertain a lot and cook frequently during the week. Pros: - I love having two wall ovens. The convenience and ease of preparing food for entertaining is great. I would imagine that would hold true for a family of four, for instance. - There are some dishes that are now TC standbys for me, the most popular of which is roast chicken. I can roast a stuffed chicken in less than 30 minutes and it is DELICIOUS. Cooking fish in the TC is also something we do frequently, as well as roasting veggies, which take a fraction of the time. I've also made quick breads with great success, and rack of lamb - something we do less frequently - is a breeze. - Overall, I would say that all of the food weve cooked in the speed oven is excellent - From a pure aesthetic perspective, I love the look of the ovens, and I also think the fact that the oven door colour can be customised is a pretty neat feature. There are about 190 RAL colours to choose from and although it may not be obvious, our red is custom - the "standard" TC red is brighter and we wanted a deeper, almost cherry red. - The conventional oven is excellent Cons: - Cleaning the speed oven is a nearly impossible task. The extreme high heat means that the ceramic plate at the top of the oven is constantly "dirty". Now by this I donÂt mean that bits of food are sticking on it; just that the plate is completely darkened. With the extreme high heat that oven reaches, I am not concerned about whether that is a problem, but it is definitely a consideration if you are a clean freak and like things to look as you bought them. This definitely doesnÂt. BTW, the oven sides are also affected by this but less so. I do two things to clean the oven: first is something I read about on GW, and that is to leave a small bowl of ammonia in the oven overnight. The fumes flake away the residue on the top and sides and donÂt harm the plate. I also bought some cleaner directly from TC. ItÂs not something they advertise or talk about on the residential site, but if you go to the commercial part of their site, they have all kinds of info about all of the products they sell (I bought extra oven racks for the bottom oven as well, for my Christmas baking marathon). - The bottom oven is the same to maintain as a regular oven  no issues. But note we don't use the self clean feature there either - After more than a year of use IÂve come to the conclusion that the speed oven is really designed for ppl who either donÂt cook frequently or who are less confident with cooking. In other words, itÂs highly pre programmed and even though TC touts the fact that you can adjust settings for your favourite dishes, it is only but very small increments way from the presets. This hasnÂt created a problem, as I can always find something that is close to what I want to cook and you can stop/alter the cooking process along the way, but it bugs me that I canÂt adjust the temp settings more. - And speaking of temp settings, because the bottom oven dial is analog rather than digital, there isnÂt the fine increments of temperature that there might be in another model. For example, there isnÂt a 225F, 275F or a 475F setting. - The fan is LOUD  and the oven takes a while to cool down. If you eat in the kitchen (as we do), it can be annoying. Even more so if you have guests over I guess the bottom line is: would I buy them again? I would certainly put TC in my consideration set. I love the speed of cooking esp when I have several things on the go. The bottom oven is excellent and I use it more frequently. I look the look, and the few times weÂve had to deal with TC for service issues theyÂve been great. At the same time, I would also consider more closely other speed ovens  the Advantium for instance, or Miele. If you have the opportunity to test whatever you buy "live", that I think would help. We did see a demo of the TC, and that helped sell us (3 min roasted cauliflower that was addictive!). Regardless of model  FOR SURE I would go the double oven route  love that! HTH! Eliz

I just want everyone to know that the picture of the window that hartford has put up is not a sherfield window. while true that window world uses alside windows the sherfield is the base model window which is not pictured. what is pictured is the top of the line window which has a better u factor rating. the frame is much wider and is designed so that if the homeowner like me has shutters the 501 or 601 which is the wide window that is pictured on the right will still allow you to tilt the window out to clean it. if you get the 201 which is the medium grade window or the sherfield (which is not pictured) your windows will hit the frame of the shutter and you wont be able to clean your windows. also the 501 or 601 will allow you to upgrade to a triple pane instead of a double pane. while it is true that there is less glass to see out of, the window will save you money on energy because there is less glass. the 501 has the slope sill the 601 doesnt. what is pictured is the 601 so dont let a guy who clearly has no idea what he is talking about change your mind about window world. i do not work for window world but i had those guys show me all the windows and the salesman came to my house 3 times before i made my mind up. i got 4 quotes they were about 700 bucks less. foam does come from the factory on the ww windows however if there are big gaps between window and frame you should get your installer to you foam spray. the 201 501 and 601 model windows are fully welded together. also there are a lot of companys that use alside windows not just window world. again i do not work for window world. i am a car saleman. i took there paperwork home from a homeshow and studied on it and surfed the web before i made my choice. i am sure that ww does have its issues but i mean really who doesnt. i hope this has helped some of you out.

Simply amazing. Yep, you guys are right. Especially you Calbay, I mean you researched windows for a whole year, you're definitely an expert. I've been polite up to this point, but if you want to mock me for simply having conversation and expressing my opinion (oh my gosh, oh no, someone has a different opinion than me, I better spend the next hour on a website where I have absolutely no accountability formulating a mildly humorous and rude response) then let me tell you how I really feel. I mean are you kidding me? Did I try to sell you something? What if I did? Oh my God, that would be the worst thing to ever happen, you could actually end up buying something. And, what if you ended up actually buying a really good product, or a really good idea? And what if the idea or product actually turned out to be great? But what if it cost more than you thought it should or would? Putz. Where are all your test specifications and results? Did you perform all of those tests in your secret lab? I mean, you claim to be just a homeowner. Where did you get all your information that is so much better than mine? I've based ALL my information on credible industry experts. From which sources did you form your own 100%, absolutely correct, no one can have a different opinion, OPINIONS that you now stand behind so arrogantly. Tell me this Mr. I'm just a howeowner who researched for a whole year: IF 2770!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS say it costs $1044 per opening for a midrange vinyl window, why are you so so upset that mine costs a whole $100 more???????????????? Do 2770 experts all have it wrong too? And why in God's name do you keep saying money is no object and then continue to cry about that fact that good vinyl windows are expensive? Yep, you are brilliant, after all, earthquakes jump right out of the stinkin' ground and impact windows (I've actually seen earthquakes before that throw rocks at windows), so why bother having a fusion-welded window sash that can withstand 2500 pounds of pressure when you can have a really good wood one that, yes, a person can pull apart with their bare hands, at least if they're really, really, super strong like me. When your house is shaking violently from an earthquake, you could put one of your bullet proof windows in front of your other bullet proof windows to keep all the projectiles from impacting your sashes. That way when the windows fall apart, atleast they won't be all dented and stuff. Are you nuts? You claim that I am generalizing my information even though I am the only one, with the exception of Oberon, who is actually giving very specific information! "Generalization is often the first hint of a sales pitch." What on earth are you talking about? Is there something wrong with somebody selling something? You claim to have actually bought windows, which means that somebody actually SOLD YOU WINDOWS dummy. I ask again, what am I trying to sell you? The fact that good vinyl windows are worth more than you think they are? So what if I was selling you that idea and I was wrong, do you think you're helping anyone reading this? Wood windows are a lot more expensive, in general, than vinyl. Yeah, even the expensive vinyl's are less than wood covered in vinyl. So what's your point? What are you so mad about? It doesn't seem like you would really want anyone to buy vinyl windows. What are YOU hiding? What stake do you have in this conversation? Do you sell crappy wood windows? Did you spend too little on crappy vinyl windows that fell apart? Or are you just a "concerned" homeowner who, after a whole year straight of research, has nothing better to do than butt in on an otherwise productive debate? If you're upset because I mistakenly used your name in a previous post, then I apologize and you should get over it. I can hardly believe you accuse me of generalizing and trying to "sell" something when I can not find one useful post from you on this entire site. You obviously think I'm a sales person, and you're dead wrong. But what if I was, is that really a good reason to get personal. Whatever dude, you're silly. You should put a patent on your super duper window and then sell it for free. Hey Skydawggy, heh, heh. Way to go buddy. You and Calbay make a perfect couple. Yeah, but before I do the model home drop, I bump the price. It's called a bump and drop. Heck man, there's no other way I could make a window worth $1100. Yep, we just make it all up. The things are only worth about $50 and we mark them up 2,200 percent. We are the most profitable company in the universe. I grossed $150K last year, how bout you? You guys are silly. So. . . anyway. . . if there's anyone else reading this who wants to jump in this otherwise useful debate and personally attack me for voicing my opinion (which IS backed by fact), after you get done chuckling to yourself in your pathetic heh, heh's, why don't you at least throw in something that might be useful for the OP.

LOL 'Just remember, you can grow to love reliable and utilitarian a lot easier than you can a demanding diva.' !!! Thanks Joseph I understand now - sorry I misunderstood… I completely agree which is why clearstone is off the table for us….I know nothing is perfect - I was pointing out that for the cost I don't want to end up with a product that scratches more or at a minimum shows scratches more With very low expectations I am going to take one last look at some granite slabs (though I have no expectations of finding anything since I am not a fan of the 'speckling'), see if there are any quartzites I like (real quartzites I mean - not the super whites etc) and then make a decision before I kill any more brain cells….we will probably make a decision between the caesarstone calacatta nuvo or LG's minuet - (I agree Sophie that you still need to take care of these) with 4 yr old twins eating/drawing etc at the island I think I will be a much more relaxed mommy!