SO, there was no word from Mr. Appliance today AND Miele was also unable to reach him ??? Did they not offer to put you on their in house guy's sched. at that point ? Do not disagree with you about EXPECTING a working DW - floor model or not. However, you didn't get that and there is no going back to square one. It's like a wrecked car - it's not EVER going to be unwrecked. You chose to pursue a remedy and that's what has turned into a fiasco! I'm not convinced that if you had gone in on the 9th ( which makes it only 20 days, not a month) that FL Builders wouldn't have stonewalled you then too. Perhaps they would have convinced you to have it repaired and they would have sent their "guy" who just may have been from your favorite: new york minute - then how much agro would you be writing about. Additionally, your first contact with the actual manufacturer who underwrites the warranty was on the 15th or 16th making it 5-7 business days depending on how you count em. Now 7 days doesn't exactly make me feel all warm and fuzzy but it's not an eternity either. I'm more concerned @ MR. Appliance going AWOL and Miele's inability to get movement. The svc. cntr. is still open the left coast crowd - maybe another call to them for an explanation @ Mr. App. at least. Maybe they'd bump you up their guy's list - though the person to make that happen won't be in until tomorrow on the East Coast. "What silly things have I done? " Not exactly silly , but going back to the unhelpful , and stonewalling dealer to expedite the repair and alter the terms of the deal ( xtended warranty refund ) was not your finest moment. I understand you wanting to be rid of this mess, and I hope you can get you $$$ quickly - but prepare yourself for another battle with FL. B and your cc co. If it (battle) doesn't happen, great - but you'll drink less and have fewer grey hairs if in fact it shakes out that way. Remember the dealer experience when they wanted your $$$ - think about how they'll act when asked to give it back to you ! Be sure to get EVERYTHING IN WRITHING from the dealer when returning the DW.

I'm not sure I followed the explanation you received from the GE rep. Or maybe the rep was giving you an engineer's explanation of "Pulse Width Modulation." PWM is a way of using power in bursts to effect energy transfer equivalent to turning a traditional electric or gas burner up or down. It is kind of like averaging. You cycle the power on and off slowly to simulate lower energy transfer. Cycle it faster and with longer pulses, you get more energy transfer and the effect of turning up the power or gas on a traditional hob. That's how most microwaves work, btw. What we're talking about is how much energy gets transmitted into the cooking vessel. The PWM is just a way of governing the amount of energy being applied to the pan. The net effect is the same as turning power or gas up and down. Maybe somebody else can better explain the theory of the what the rep suggested? On your question about cookware to buy, let me suggest try a new post with links to the cooking and cookware forums here where you can get more direct responses. Also, rather than have me give a cookware 101 lecture (pontificate?), I suggest you try a site like Serious Eats which already has a pretty good discussion of "essential cookware." (Click on the highlght to go to the article.) I think Cook's Illustrated also may have one if you have access to their site. My responses to your specific cookware questions are: 1. I certainly would and do mix pan from different brands and lines. Most folks here would advise you to do so. Nothing necessarily wrong with buying sets, of course, but you may do better by picking and choosing. 2. I have only two Demeyere pans, both labeled as "Demeyere 7 TripleInduc.." Bought them on clearance from the Zwilling website you noted above for the plancha. One of my pans is a ten-inch frying pan. The other is the 21"x13" big brother of the plancha/teppanyaki/griddle you linked above. 3. I have both a roasting pan and a dutch oven. Frankly, if I had neither one, I'd look at the recommendations on Cook's Illustrated and Serious eats for decent dutch ovens and then I would also get a good , sturdy half sheet pan (it is a baking sheet with a short raised rim around the outside.) I'd use the baking sheet to impersonate a roasting pan by plonking in a cooling rack and setting the food on that. Also, if you get that plancha/griddle/teppanyaki, it can do a bang-up job as a shallow roasting pan, too. These days, I use my big roasting pan mainly for very big and juicy birds. YMMV. 4. Re "straight-sided" versus slope-side skillets, there is no "must" for induction. Get the slope-sided pan that you think you will like using better.

@Ron Natalie: "Rightfully so. Kitchenaid only sold the rebranded FP drawers which were maintenance nightmares (in addition to the fact that despite the neato factor, are a pain in the butt even when they work)." That is not correct. The first generation KA drawer units introduced circa 2004, KUDD01 models, were rebadged F&P. Second generation KA units, KUDD03 models (there was no KUDD02) were not sourced from F&P. They were a completely different design Whirlpool got with the purchase of Maytag in 2006. F&P did not produce them. Fulgor was involved in the manufacture if I recall correctly. KUDD01 service manual is document KAD-9 "Drawer Dishwasher" in Whirlpool's tech library. KUDD03 service manual is document KAD-10 "2008 Drawer Dishwasher." Try searching for those documents, and also search for parts diagrams, to see the differences in the design vs. F&P. It doesn't use the SmartDrive motor, has separate electric circulate and drain pumps. Has a turbidity sensor for a soil-sensing function (F&P does not). Has a whirly-gig manifold mounted on the back of the tub that sprays forward over the dishware, fed by a hose routed on the exterior from the circulation pump. A formed heating element similar to a frontload washer vs. F&P's flat/disc ceramic element. Among other differences This other design was also sold under the Kenmore Elite brand (both single- and double-drawer models), check parts diagrams for models 465.13333, 465.13339, 465.13342, 465.13343, 465.13349, 465.13322, 465.13323, 465.13329. 465 is Sears manufacture code for Maytag/Jenn Air sourcing

Some other advice... Do online shopping. There are so many options and great deals available, especially for fixtures I would advise using online pricing to negotiate better prices at local supply houses and shops. It is rarely worth the trouble to return and/or get warranty service on items purchased online. An installation of a defective item can destroy all your savings from online shopping. Many supply houses will match or give you some discount to make them a better choice. For items that are easily replaced such, such as lights, online shopping can be great as a defective light will have little collateral damage. Talk to local stores for bargain, discontinued stock, deals, clearing sale, etc This is great advice, but you must be ready to purchase when the items are available and have a means to store the item. I purchase closeout items for my rental properties that I don't currently need in anticipation of needing them. I have replacement faucets, toilets, etc waiting for breakage or lease end. Talk to the builder and get builder-discounts at some stores This should be nearly automatic. I get my painter's discount, my plumber's discount, and my electrician's discount for projects they are working on even when I buy the stuff (supply houses will usually just give me the discount even if they are not doing the stuff). Use basic standard stuff and upgrade later, especially appliances This is incredibly common bad advice. This is essentially the same thing as put your money in the toilet, but wait a few years to flush. There is only a marginal cost of upgrading today. Why in the world would you want to not only ignore the reduced cost, but increase cost by buying stuff you don't want? If you can live with cheaper stuff indefinitely, then buy cheaper stuff. Don't make your financial situation worse by buying cheaper stuff that you don't want to live with so that you can buy more expensive stuff later. Current mortgage rates are barely above inflation rates, you are not going to be better off by having a lower mortgage and deferring costs. A wild suggestion from a co-worker: Use no -interest-for-2-years credit card to buy some of the stuff instead of charging it to construction loan. Once you finish the project, then you get some time to make the credit card payment. This is not really saving anything for me. Just a suggestion to defer the initial burden. This is actually solid advice. In fact, for the last 10 years I have been carrying a zero percent credit card balance. I just balance transfer it to a different promotional card before the interest period kicks in. Interest free money is great. Even ignoring my investments over that time, every dollar I financed at zero percent interest back then is only 83 cents of purchasing power to pay off today. However, that debt should be factored into your loan app when you apply for credit. You can get in trouble increasing your debt while working out a mortgage loan.