Thanks for your opinions all. I opted to go with the Miele Dimension Plus model. I had it installed last week. Dishes get very dry, although I am still learning how to best load it. I opted for the 5 year service agreement from Miele for peace of mind. It is very quiet for those who care. It's also rather stylish. My dad, who usually doesn't notice these things, commented on it. He said "That's a nice dishwasher." I told him: "Well, we'll see how well it performs" and he said "Who cares how well it performs? It looks great!" However, I was not all that happy with the installation process. First Miele said they would be out on Saturday. They then changed it to Wednesday saying that the first date was just an estimated date. The installer showed up by himself. He said that usually it is a two man crew, but his partner was on vacation. He pulled out my old dishwasher and we discovered (not surprisingly) that it was hardwired. This is supposed to be okay. However, there was no ground wire. He called his supervisor and they said they could not perform the install that way. He said he'd have to come back (in about 6 days!). I told him I could not go without a dishwasher for 6 days, so he installed the dishwasher and we connected it with an extension cord to a nearby outlet so that at least he could test that it was working correctly. He said that Miele will not do any carpentry, electrical work, or anything else, really. What they mostly do is level it. This was a surprise for the price. Meanwhile, I called an electrician. Luckily, the electrician was able to come out in less than 2 hours, but the Miele tech said he had to leave before then. He said he would sign off on the install and write "Customer responsible for providing grounded outlet." He also could not get the toekick in because of my cabinetry. He tested the dishwasher (worked fine) and left. While waiting for the electrician, I uninstalled the dishwasher myself given what I had watched him do. The electrician found that the outlet was indeed grounded, but that there just wasn't a ground wire run in the Romex. He said it would have been trivial to install a new grounded wire. I asked him to switch to a receptacle, which he did in about 15 minutes. I then reinstalled the dishwasher myself. However, prior to reinstalling I read the manual VERY CAREFULLY and the dishwasher was not really installed in the BEST way. I won't go into details, but the way it was installed was considered "acceptable" by Miele, but not "preferred." I have no idea why it wasn't installed in the preferred manner, but I just reinstalled it the way my tech did except that I was able to fit it into the cabinets much more evenly and (IMO) better-looking. (The tech said "I tried, but there's only so much I can do with your cabinets as they are.") I also noticed I am missing some small parts that should have been included (screw covers/plugs and some other misc. small parts I can't recall right now) and I will call Miele and ask for those. I still am left with installing the toekick (I have a custom one) myself. The tech told me how he'd do it and I will follow his advice, but he said he's not allowed to do it. Now the fun part: I ran the dishwasher and the whole underside of my sink flooded! I had not flooded when he had run it. I had no idea where the leak was and I was filled with dread. Every time I ran the dishwasher (as a test) it would leak a few tablespoons of water under the sink where the drain attaches to the disposal. Long story short, I disconnected everything and found little styrofoam balls in the disposal. Also, when I ran the disposal I heard a crunch. Fishing around, I pulled out a plastic circle about 1/2 inch in diameter. I removed that and now the dishwasher drains fine. I think this was something he was supposed to remove. Later on, I called the installer the appliance store uses and they said that they used to be certified Miele, but that Miele took all the work in-house. They said that if they had done the install then they would have been able to do whatever cabinetry and electrical (and gas for appliances that need it) was required, but that I would not be able to get the extra warranty from Miele. Be aware of this! Overall, I liked my technician (seemed friendly, honest, and very hard-working), but I do not feel I got the level of service I was expecting. As far as the actual machine, it is great so far and I feel I made a good choice.

We just bought a home that had an existing Culligan water softener system installed. We had a technician (and yes, you will be married to a Culligan dealer for ANY issues/repairs/service) come out and check to ensure the equipment worked properly and was at the correct setting for our water & our usage. My husband said the guy was in & out before he knew it. The technician told him the equipment was working fine. He never even checked our water quality which cough, cough I'm not sure why hubby didn't insist it be done. We used to have well water & a very good softener years ago, and we never had the issues we have with using this Culligan system. I taste salt in the water, our faucets all have white scale on them, 3 months into moving here our brand new fridge ice maker doesn't work, toilets are lined with orange, our white laundry is dingy and my daughter & I use tons! of shampoo and soap in the shower and our skin is not soft at all. My husband adjusted the ? I'm not sure what to try to correct, but I'm not even sure he's done it right. Hate to call the technician again and get their $250 charge for nothing. Wish I could remember the brand of the old unit we had. After reading several sites, I am leaning towards the Fleck brand. But, like other readers have stated, it's not about the cost of the unit initially, it's more important to LOVE our water!

@opaone: your numbers, while still higher than my estimates, are at least within an order of magnitude, which in this business probably is reasonable correlation. I agree that this could rise to a significant concern with 10 people really cranking away in a poorly ventilated room. So we're on the same wavelength. @spurpura: you are correct in that I've not invested in air quality monitoring devices or hired PhD's to test my house. But my calculations are grounded in simple physics. The only assumption I have made is in the estimate of CO2 production during exercise, and that was from an academic sports physiology laboratory, authored by a PhD and published in a peer-reviewed journal. If you have figures showing that CO2 production during exercise is roughly 10 times higher than my estimate (which is what would be needed to support your observations), I'll await the citation. There are really only three possible scenarios: You are measuring local concentrations of CO2, presumably close to where you are exhaling. Your PhD consultants and their equipment are wrong. There's an exogenous unidentified source of CO2 infiltrating your exercise room. Enough of that dead end discussion. But...as to your original question, I think you're on the right track. As noted upthread, our 1200 cfm hood runs through a straight run of 10" duct, about 25' upwards, with an attic-mounted Fantech LD10 silencer and FKD10XL blower. It measures 60db (LCS weighted, ear level, roughly 4' from baffles) on high. So we hit the mark you are shooting for and I expect your setup will too. Good luck!

@Sammy, the caps are all seated properly. This range will not light at all if they aren’t. I just tested both sides. I would say they are just about even in how long it takes for them to light. The left rear burner is the smallest. I rarely use it and if it do, it is usually to keep something warm. Once, I had that burner turned to the lowest setting keeping a pot of something warm and the flame totally went out! I noticed when I started smelling gas. Good thing I’ve got a sensitive schnauz! btw, my kitchen isn’t in a wind tunnel. @Sherry8aNorthAL, I love the look of the Cafe! I would love the white with gold trim but that would require replacing my vent hood that I dearly love (Zephyr Typhoon - pulls lots of cfm without a lot of noise). And then I’d need to do something about my SS fridge and DW. Then the whites wouldn’t match my cabinets so I’d have to paint them.... (It’s the “if you give a moose a muffin” syndrome!) @badabing2, I appreciate your info! I always like to see what CR has to say. @DLM2000-GW, this thread is cross posted in Appliance Forum and the Kitchen Forum. I may need to make a second separate post just about induction. I live in a very small, rural town in the south. I’m going to check around to see if anyone else has an induction and if they’ve had trouble getting service. It’s just like I’d love to have a Tesla, but I fear being stuck on the side of the road with no one knowing how to fix my car.