hvtech42: "The funny thing is that not a single Samsung model was rated 'excellent' for gentleness by Consumer Reports, whereas LG, Whirlpool, Electrolux, and GE all managed to earn that score on at least one of their models despite not having a 'diamond' drum." Hvtech24, I once was a huge supporter of Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports. I personally knew the late Prof. Colston Warne, who founded the organization, and I treated the detailed tests results in the CU publications as if they were engraved on the tablets that Moses brought down from the mountain. Even today, I do not question CU's objectivity. But I gave up completely on CU several years ago, for one reason: Repeatedly and consistently, they ask the wrong questions. The reports will give you honest answers to the wrong questions, but if the wrong question has been asked, the answers are irrelevant. I have not read the report to which you allude, and therefore cannot comment on what went into CU's blanket assessment of "gentleness." It may mean nothing more than that one machine has a preprogramed cycle for "hand wash" and another does not; you tell me. But I can tell you -- keeping it strictly to laundry appliances -- that CU blackballs any clothes dryer from a Recommended Rating if the door of the clothes dryer is hinged at the bottom (hamper door) instead of at the side. CU automatically gives every dryer that has a hamper door a Not Recommended Rating. Yet we -- our laundry appliances are in the basement which has an old poured concrete floor that is impossible to keep clean -- look for a hamper door as the number one criterion in a dryer purchase, because the hamper door catches articles of wet laundry that fall during the transfer from the washer to the dryer before they can hit the dirty floor. Back to the washing machine: we encounter less pilling and broken fibers in our washed laundry since we replaced our former front loading Frigidaire (= Electrolux) washing machine with our current Samsung. That is OUR experience, but it may have nothing at all to do with CU's evaluation of "gentleness."

Hi Megma, Chris Russell made cabinets for my neighbor's kitchen. We were going to use him to put in new cabinets in our own kitchen. Instead we decided to keep the cabs we have. The reason I know he is so easy going is she raves about Chris Russell. My neighbor's kitchen is amazing. There is a curved counter, detailed drawers, doors, molding... Not sure if there is a website or not. I do have a cell phone number on his card. (978) 337-2902 And another kitchen GC closer to where I live Christopher Cahill (603) 465-7124 I think they work together on large projects. Not sure. I do not know Chris Cahill but have heard good things. And a third company but this one is NH 603)525-6687 D. Huntington I believe they work on the coastal towns like New Castle, Rye and the Lakes Region too. I have no idea what they are like but I have heard they create kitchens for the wealthy & famous... Sununu, Steven Tyler, Umma Thurman, woodwork in the State Capital of NH, Adam Sandler,... I think Chris Russell is probably the best best. I hope it works out. ~boxerpups

Thank you so much Lucille, I appreciate that!! I guess with the bottom, I got off pretty easy because as you can see, it was in reasonably good condition. I just sanded down the original white paint, first with a medium grain paper and then with a really fine paper so everything was good and smooth. I didn’t worry about stripping it because I was going to be using white again. That Behr color is the same color we used for all of our trim and doors and I love it! It’s a very soft and creamy white, so when I found that cabinet, I paid the consigment store to repaint it and requested they use the same color. (They had done a crackle treatment on it that was nothing short of hideous). I love the shabby worn out look but didn’t know if it was right for the room. I went solid first knowing I could sand down the paint here and there if I wanted to age it a bit, but when it was finished I was smitten with it just as it was. Then I went on a chair hunt and found these and thought they were perfect. (Their seats are walnut and the white is a perfect match to the table) I think going with the white bottom would be really lovely with the cherry wood top especially when you consider how much poly work redoing the bottom would take. If you were going for a color that leaned more towards vintage, like a teal or worn red, using one of the specialty paints would make sense, but for white, unless you want that old worn look, I really don’t think it’s necessary, if anything, I’ve found that the latex wears better especially with the table. (It’s a semi gloss and easy to clean) I ended up doing the top of our table a couple of times because I didn’t care for the stain I had used. I also had a couple of poly spots that I didn’t like. For those I used some steel wool to get the spot out of the poly and then I polyed back over it but I didn’t mix it with anything I just used straight non yellowing poly. It’s all trial and error, right? Also, you’re probably already aware but I’ll throw it out there anyways, cherry wood darkens over time, so in the beginning, you should avoid keeping any kind of runner or mat on it for longer periods of time or you’ll have a permenant reminder of them being there. :c)

Hi! After MONTHS of debating this….I went with Nacre…had the living room and kitchen painted and FREAKED out. It was way too light. Before I had the whole house painted I had the painters do the dining room in Canvas Tan and loved it. They had to re-paint the kitchen/living room and finished the rest of the house. I HIGHLY suggest painting an entire wall the color you’re debating before letting the painters get started.