I have the dual fuel. I love it. It has been a great range for our family. I wrote this on the link but if you don't have time to visit the link here is my quote.. I have a Bosch duel fuel range Integra 700 with warming drawer. I love it. Bosch makes an induction cooktop that I wish I had considered before rushing to buy this. I researched many ranges in my price range. ... I researched on Epinions.com too. I urge you to check this out because this really helped me choose my range. What I love about my Bosch... I love the heavy grates. You can put them in the Bosch dishwasher to clean them. Awesome for me. I love the large knobs and the look of stainless and black. I like the convection oven options, the dehydration for fruit or meat options, I like the racks and how they pull out very far for me to baste, marinate or check over stuff. I like the warming drawer to keep stuff warm for a busy family. I lvoe the quick convection broil, or conv bake or just regular bake. I love how fast my burners boil water. We were staying at a friends ski lodge over MLKing holiday. They have an old stove in their place that was so slow by the time it boiled water I did not feel like hot chocolate anymore. I realized how fast my range is. I like the time cook plan and the auto on or off. I like how fast the oven warms up. My son prefers to cook his snacks in the Oven and used to be a Micro only kid for his corn dogs, nachos, hot pockets, bagels bites.... I don't like the gas on glass feature. I am told it is easier to clean than a stainless with gas grates. However glass really is a pain to clean because you have the burners to content with. BUT, the sealed burners are wonderful. If you have ever had food boil over onto a burner you know too well the horror that is to clean and make the burner funciton again. But the sealed burners mean when hot melted velvetta cheese boils over because your dimwit daughter wasn't paying attention it can not ruin the burner. My daughter never has to worry about boiling over velvetta cheese again because Bosch has this cool opti simmer burner. It doesn't boil over. Well, lets just say she can text, listen to music and be distracted from cooking and the cheese has not boiled over yet. Best of luck on your search. ~boxerpups Bosch vs GE Profile http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg031438357072.htmlWall Ovens Appliance Choices? Bosch, Electrolux, Miele http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg0221102417792.html?6 Any Oven complaints? Monogram, Bosch, Electrolux/Electrolux ICON? http://www.thathomesite.com/forums/load/appl/msg1023434531563.html Here is a link that might be useful: anyone have a Bosch range? Like it or not?

There are assymetrical lazy susans available. A 33/36 one could let you use the 33" dimension where space was critical but give you a larger half of the door in the 36" dimension to help with clearance getting objects in and out of the cabinet. I try to use a 33" susan as rarely as possible because the door is so small that it's difficult to store anything but canned goods in it. Your food processor, blender, or other small appliances won't really fit through a 33" door, and only the very small cassserole dishes will without awkwardly turning them sideways to get them in and out. WHen you have to turn an object sideways to get it through a door, that's when you get smashed and bumped fingers and hands and broken objects.

Depending on the stairs, they can be costly. I have been nagging my cousin to get one. She has a 96 year old husband! She now is having issues. They live in a townhome and actually saw one that was installed, their same staircases. She said if would cost $10,000. They can afford it, but for whatever reason she claims her husband doesn't want it. He is not spry, has to practically crawl up the stairs. He uses a walker! Don't get me started. That said, I tried to talk her into it by saying the same as Yaya mentions., You can use it to send up laundry, packages etc. Roxanna, of course your other option is to explore ways to add a walk-in shower on your lower level. The least costly would be if you have a straight staircase. Once turns are involved, the price goes up.

Elmer - I meant "in the high performance house world" - net zero energy is the most common goal. Certainly not the most common in other worlds. When you start talking passive house, I took that to mean vs other high performance houses. An assumption for sure. My house is net zero energy with a roughly 15 year payback which is pretty reasonable in the world of super low interest rates. And I haven't mentioned it to any of my friends or neighbors. In CA, you certainly have solar as a financial decision. Very different world than other places. As far as "cool factor" - I am pretty sure that no one knows my ACH or my above code insulation. Even in CA - do you really thing most people do solar for "cool factor"? I mean maybe - but that seems a stretch. I could certainly seem some element of cool factor mixed in with personal philosophies along with financial self interest. Nothing really wrong with that I think. Bry - you are right - the bicycle is better. But that is really hard to work into most cities and climates and jobs. And how many solar panels are in landfills? Since there are 40 year old examples out there still working and a tiny amount of 40 year old panels, we can't really be talking about a lot. It is a pretty stubborn and short sighted person to remove perfectly functioning panels ... like Reagan did. Solar was also moved to China just like every other manufacturing. Unlike iphones, there are solar panels made in the US and Germany. And the manufacturing byproducts aren't exactly tossed into landfills either (ok don't know what happens in China). Nuclear is just so darned expensive. That isn't my fault. And there isn't anything we can do about it. All energy harvesting creates a problem. Complaining about the problems of renewable sources is often a distraction and I think you know that. Windmills cause cancer and all that....