I'm with azzalea re: Advantium, but first a few observations about over-the-cooktop microwave ovens from someone who's installed several: They are restricted in depth compared to microwave ovens that are designed to be built into a 24" deep cabinet or countertop units. Since wall cabinets are only 12" deep, microwave/rangehood combos can't be much deeper than that. The exhaust fans are usually wimpy - most are 300cfm, a few manage 400cfm. Another problem is that they don't stick out as far as separate range hoods, so they don't catch steam and smoke from items cooking on the front burners of your stove very well. A small number of these (made by LG I think) have a retractable extension that pulls out at the bottom that helps solve this problem. OTOH, they are a space saver. Building code requires the bottom of the cabinet over the cooktop to be at least 30" higher, but the exhaust hood can be any size, and for code purposes an over-the-cooktop microwave is just a big exhaust hood, since it does incorporate a fan and is non-combustible. Now back to the oven itself: If you can afford it, get an Advantium. More specifically, get the 240 volt version, not the 120. The Advantium 240 also runs on a 30 amp line rather than the 120's 15 amps. Result is that is has access to 4x as much power - 7200 watts rather than 1800, and this makes all the difference not just in cooking speed but also in taste and texture. I know of whence I speak; I've used both. The A240 is an incredibly versatile appliance. It's a microwave, it's a convection oven, it's a broiler, it's a warming drawer, it's a proofer, it's a monster-sized toaster. And most importantly, it's a restaurant-style high-speed oven that uses something like 5000 watts of halogen lights, ceramic heaters, microwaves, and conventional heating elements that combine to cook food with near-microwave speed, but without that soggy microwave taste. Most foods come out crispy as if they were broiled or even grilled. According to manufacturer General Electric, the 120V version takes twice as long to cook as the 240V version. It does, but what they don't make clear is that it relies much more heavily on microwaves to achieve that result, so food doesn't quite have that regular-oven taste. In speed-cook mode, there isn't enough power in the A120 to even use the conventional heating element, and the halogen lamps are about 1/5 the power. That said, I still would rather have an A120 than just a microwave or a convection/microwave. But the A240 is worth the extra cost of the appliance and whatever it costs to have a 240V/30A circuit installed (same type used by an electric clothes dryer). My preferred setup is an oven cabinet with a good wall oven and an Advantium 240V above it. The built-in Advantiums are big enough inside to use as second ovens when necessary, and they will be lower and more accessible than the over-the-cooktop versions of the Advantium.

Hello! Long-time lurker, first post. Please forgive me if these are foolish questions. We are landscaping our yard in new construction and one of our elements will be a store-bought rectangular natural gas fire table. This one:https://www.restorationhardware.com/...yId=cat2980003 We will be using licensed plumbers and applicable permits, but I want to understand what we're getting into/what our install options are. Per the instructions (https://images.restorationhardware.c...50079_info.pdf) for this fire table, the appliance connects to our gas source via a flexible metal-mesh tube of 10' length, coming out of the bottom corner of the fire table. This is my question -- are we supposed to bury that 10' tube underground in a pipe or something? Or does it: a) rest on the ground, or b) hang in the air above ground? Frankly, none of the above seems likely but I'm confused because I can't find info on what type of conduit/sleeve I'm supposed to use to cover this metal-mesh tube so that I can safely run it underground. I'm in Southern CA, BTW. Can anyone help?

What are you concerned about - the remedial work needed to fix the issue or compensation done to your neighbor's apartment. I live in a high-rise condo and there was somewhat of the same situation. A bathroom was being remodeled and the plumber installing the fixtures in the shower removed a valve and broke a pipe. There was a tremendous amount of damage since this was a ninth floor unit and almost all the apartments in the same stack below suffered significant damage such that the owners had to move out of their units for several months while their apartments were fixed. The impacted homeowners put in claims to their insurance companies and then the insurance companies dealt with liability. My friend lives in one of the units and so through him I know that the building was sued for having old pipes; the plumber was sued and the homeowner was sued. In the end the plumber's insurance company was the one that actually was on the hook because he had done the work and in some kind of way caused the pipe to burst. First thing you should do is contact your insurance company if there is significant damage to your neighbor because of the water intrusion. If there isn't you would probably not want to make a claim since it would appear on your record and impact future premium rates. Then as others have posted, it comes down to negotiation and who has clout. It would appear that some degree of responsibility is shared by all - the plumber knew that pipes running against studs need to be shielded so he should have put in larger enough plates to full protect since he knew the purpose of the plates and could see that the size of the plates wasn't sufficient. The installer couldn't see the studs and would have assumed the pipes were sufficiently protected - perhaps someone can offer assistance regarding whether a prudent glass installer should have made this assumption without further investigation. And since you are acting as the GC in effect, you would also have some degree of responsibility. One of the reasons a GC earns their money is because they (and their insurance) take full responsibility for this kind of issue. It wouldn't matter who or what caused the damage - the GC would have the subs remedy it - whether he paid for it or he and the subs each ate a certain portion would be irrelevant to the homeowner.

M is correct, the problem is when the power goes out - which is generally during storms. We seem to have more storms, more freaky weather, etc. I wouldn't put a heater outside. I don't want to rely on heat tape that often goes bad. Design it to avoid problems in the first place. I've installed tankless water heaters in the last two houses. I've located them near the point of use and used small supply lines. If I had it to do over again, I'd install an electric hybrid tank heater. My tankless have all side vented - not through the roof.