I hadn't seen this thread when it appeared in Oct. I actually find it kinda odd. The OP has never posted again. Maybe it was indeed spam? Either way, I have really found the original Range Hood FAQ very helpful, and have emailed the link to friends cause it's such a good summary. I don't think the OP has added anything helpful to the hood FAQ, and his additions might confuse someone new to the Appliances Forum, or someone struggling with hood choices (the hardest choice for me in my kitchen!). As others have pointed out, it's odd he chose a 36" hood for a 48" range. Odd that he doesn't mention Wolf hoods in his discussion of high-end hoods, even though that's the range brand he chose. Why does he say baffles are not standard in high-end hoods - that's incorrect. And indeed, despite his contention, the greater component of noise in a hood is the airflow. You can have two identical hoods in two homes - the home with the problematic ductwork (i.e. more bends, longer, or narrower) will be noisier despite the identical motors. I think the Futuro hoods are a good brand, judging by what others have enthusiastically written on the Gardenweb about them. But I hope that people looking for helpful info on hoods in general will look at the original Hood FAQ rather than the OP's additions.

Oldhousegal, I am in Portland, Ore! I haven't gotten the soapstone yet -- just ordered it on Monday. They told me it will take 2-3 days to leave the warehouse, and then another 5-10 days of transit. Our cabinets will be here in 2 weeks, so I was holding off on getting the soapstone until we had an ETA on the cabinets so that we didn't have too much construction stuff clogging up our staging area (the garage). I will post pics once the stone comes, though! I ordered 4 slabs of Barocca. I was also told by several places that soapstone was not readily available in Portland, but you can find it at Pentel (on NW Yeon). You can visit their warehouse and see the slabs in person -- the slabs are beautiful, but they only have one variety. The frustrating thing is that Pentel only works with fabricators, so they will give you a list of fabricators, but won't tell you how much a slab costs! Annoying. Our contractor has an account through CFM, who is one of the fabricators on the list at Pentel, so we asked them for a quote -- they said it was going to be $4,700 for the soapstone, including installation. Ordering from Texiera and getting my carpenters (who I love) to cut and install will cost about half of that. So far I have been pretty impressed with Texiera. They have been very responsive to my emails, and phone calls. The sample pack that I ordered arrived within a few days, and they were happy to answer all of my questions. I ordered my slabs, but could not find a way to order the tinted epoxy w/o ordering the entire DIY kit (my carpenters have the necessary blades already), so I emailed them -- they got back to me within 10 minutes and added just the epoxy to my order.

justalurker.. wow. I came here hoping to find the best solution for my familes water needs. Yes.. the "how" with the backing of the "why". You seem very passionate about water conditioning and I appreciate that. I never said anything insulting and only asked for help. I would hope you would. As for insinuating my GC abilities.. you should find out what I do and what my abilities are. Most of my work is commercial work in and around the City of Chicago. Every job i've done relies on Lake Michigan water and most people find it acceptable from the tap. The only water conditioning done has been on restaurants we've built. This is usually a contract with the client and EcoLab(there are others, but they are the biggest). They supply water conditioning, cleaning agents, sanitizing, etc.. on a contractual basis with the client.. post GC work. So to answer your question, I've NEVER told anyone to just go buy a "Sears Softener". I also grew up in Chicago and suburbs and never had well water. We moved far away as possible to raise our kids. Hence this being our first home with well water and my lack of experience. So again, if would be all eyes open to the screen if you'd help me out. Or ears if you'd like to call me and discuss? Up to you.. thanks!

Hi All, Thanks so very much to everyone for their help! We finished most of our kitchen (only need the backsplash) and after the helpful debate here on this board, and working with our installer and the granite fabricator, we wound up with an incredible 6 cm, stepped edge counter! Everything fit perfectly, including the stove, dishwasher, etc. I know there were a couple of people here who expressed doubt this was possible or would work out very well, but after doing the math on my own, listening to the more supportive comments on this board (thank you!) and speaking with the team here, we proceeded with our dream kitchen counters and it worked fantastically! I spent a ton of time with the shop guys at the fabricator and detailed exactly where I wanted the cuts for the laminated, stepped edge and the average person cannot tell it is a laminated... the granite lines up perfectly and no obvious seam since it is stepped! Have a look and please let me know what you think of the outcome!