In our Kitchen/DR remodel we did a beverage center in DR and were sold a U-line undercounter fridge by Remodeling Company. It has a cabinet front and partially recessed toe kick for an almost built in look. Price installed was around $1000. The fridge is not worth it by any stretch of the imagination. It is basically a dressed up dorm or office fridge. Probably same box and compressor as a Sears. I spent almost 3 hours refining the door closure. In other words it would not close properly as installed. I actually re-hung the hinges to get the unit to level properly then had to change the hinge attachments since it comes with sheet metal screws threaded into plastic trim as fastening for the door. Entire hinge attachment wobbled like it would fall off any moment. Unit was too high to fit properly - to be level alongside standard cabinetry. Adjustable feet had sharp metal burrs which scratched our new hardwood floor. IMO only reason remodellers sell these is because of a protected market by mfgr. Installers could never have spent the time I did to get it work right. I wonder how many of these get pulled afterwards. In the end I conclude it is jsut a piece of junk. Sometimes in life you get what you pay for. With U-line it's a different story. You pay for a Porsche and get a Yugo.

My intent is NOT to hijack the thread but I thought jsweenc would appreciate this info... The farmhouse was built in 1790 and the barn in 1786. Here's some pics of our cellar that may interest you and show you how well old houses were built. They don't build them like this today . . . This is a fireplace in the cellar. I can't get a nice photo from right in front of the fireplace without seeing the unsightly furnace (which is placed to the right in this photo and vents out the chimney above the mantel area). The cellar has a dirt floor. This arch cellar is directly underneath our kitchen. It limits where you can place plumbing. The last thing you want to do is drill through a solid foundation like this. Obviously, we haven't done any remodeling in the cellar and we don't plan to. It houses the furnace, oil tanks and misc scrap material (lattice, spouting, old wavy glass windows, etc) Don't mind the cobwebs - they're harmless. :-P

Frieda, interesting what you say about Americans sliding around in social status. Is that a financial thing rather than 'breeding' (and I don't like that expresion either)? I remember watching an episode of Roseanne some years ago, where Dan has just lost his job and R says (or probably shouts) "We used to be a middle-class family, look at us now." I can here Hyacinth B snorting at that . . .but then the thing about poor HB is that she never quite gets things right. She tries far too hard! There is still certainly plenty of class divide/snobbery in the UK although I feel that since probably the 60's many people in the UK have gone out of their way to make out they come from a 'lower' social group than they actually do. I first met inverted snobbery when I went to college and was questioned closely as to what my father 'did'. This was often followed by "Oh, I suppose he has a car?" Well, yes we did have a family car I had never given the matter much thought, but it seemed to enrage my questioners. "My Dad's a miner (it was always a miner), he only rides a bike and he's proud of it." It was all very Jimmy Porter/angry young man of the period. You have a good ear for accents Frieda and must have noticed the difference in how English people speak. A great watering down between the classes . .. Princes William and Harry could almost be the boys next door. Of course some think our speech patterns resemble the Mid Atlantic tones of the popular DJ's and soon Estuary English, as spoken in the Thames Valley will take over the land. How about the stories by P G Wodehouse for the humour between the classes? Do you notice that whatever the situation it was always Jeeves or Beech,the Blandings butler who had all the answers and held all the cards. I don't think this was deliberate 'putting down' of the nobs, but I think it was something unsaid. Lord Emsworth, Bertie W, and all the other young asses and flighty girls that people the stories, couldn't function without this array of staff that ran their bathwater, told them what cuff-links to wear or sorted out their love lives. Re similarities between Cold Comfort Farm and I Capture the Castle. Except for the time in which the books are set I see litle comparison (and admit I haven't read CCF for years). Dodie S wrote I C the C while in the US, and although she went on to own a cottage in the prettiest village in Essex I don't think she had any particular feeling for the countryside. Her book does not contain many/any country characters. I don't know where Gibbons got her country info but she certainly managed to nail that particular 'type'. Up until about 10 years ago I knew several houses that could have stood in for CC Farm . . the sort of places where casual cruelty to animals was a part of everyday life and where it was wise to wipe your feet on leaving someones kitchen. Most of these properites have been gentrified and are bought by pop and football stars and change hands for millions of...

So great to hear everyone’s comments on the beautiful slate. We had a turn of events financially and ended up keeping our white fridge, so went with a LG stainless gas range - we got the convection with a Zephyr slimline Pisa hood, stainless trim. We are going with Silestone Eternal Statuario countertops. So basically white w/white flat panel cabinets and brushed nickel hardware. I still think the slate appliances look amazing with white! Just couldn’t afford to do both the range and the fridge....thanks everyone for your feedback.