Looking at GE's press release it indeed looks like they will only offer the combo oven/Advantium in a 120V version, and probably only 30" wide although it doesn't explicitly say that. It does allude to the new model being intended for remodelers replacing competitor's oven/microwave combo units, which use only 120V/15A for the microwave. The cutout opening would usually be too short to accomodate a separate Advantium over a single wall oven, but the combo unit is shorter since it needs only one control panel for both ovens. The press release does say they'll be available with both Profile and Cafe styling; thusfar only the Profile is on the main GE website. The Cafe would be the first Cafe-series Advantium to be available in a wall oven of any sort; until now only an over-the-cooktop model was offered in the Cafe line. Both models will list for $3,999 and assumedly have the same features.

Alisonn, I had a pool removed too when I bought my house here in NJ. There is a requirement from NJDEP that your removal company needs to comply with. Basically it concerns the fill material that gets put into the hole, how large the pieces are from the concrete that is broken up and put back into the hole, etc. In Atlantic county, I needed a demolition permit, and then had to get inspections once the pool was removed and the cement chunks put into the hole, then again after the final fill was completed. $3500 is a good price. Mine cost $5500 to remove. Good luck!

When we first moved to Colorado from NY in 1990 we purchased a 1200 4 bedroom 2 bath house. We had 3 kids and since it was our first house together we had no gauge for how big was big. To us, since we were just starting out 1200 felt huge! Once we moved in though we realized for 5 people it was tight. One of the problems though was the layout of the house, 3 or 2 bedrooms and more living space would have probably worked out much better. So we moved into a larger house about 10 years ago which is 1850. I always wanted a formal dining room and den, so now it is just 3 of us (we have a 7 year old son, and the older kids are grown and have homes of their own now) and to be honest it feels "huge". I actually got rid of our dining room set and we never use that space. The extra living room area never really gets used much either. We have a rental that is 850-900 (2 bedroom, 1 bath) that eventually i want to move into. My husband thinks our current house is perfect for us, i would eventually like to downsize to our rental. Maybe he is right but for me, cleaning this house is a lot of work. Sometimes i feel like moving from our smaller house to begin with was a mistake. In retrospect, while it was a bit cramped, our smaller home was cozy and had a really wonderful backyard with a covered patio that i missed once we moved. While I do love our current home sometimes it just feels way too big for 3 people.

@shead, it is not an either/or between engineered and onsite finishing. I am planning to get an engineered floor — that will be supplied with the raw white oak top layer (to the thickness I specify) and it will be finished on site. There will not be bevels between the planks. I can specify the quality of the wood of the white oak (character grade or less knots — I’ve forgotten what all the grade levels are called). It is my understanding that if I want boards over 3 or 4” wide, the engineered boards help prevent cupping, curling and etc distortions. The humidity in the house also needs to be controlled. Although I love the look of really wide planks, I understand that people have more problems with 10” and wider boards so I plan to stay around 7”. There are various companies that offer this raw wood engineered product. The color of the white oak varies from where the trees are grown so that may impact your choice (and mine). I haven’t yet decided on what sealer (or stain) I’ll use — the installer will provide samples on site. If I go with Bona for the sealer, I also plan to use the Bona water-based protective coat (leaning towards 3 coats of Bona Traffic HD as the installer uses that a lot and is not as familiar with the similar quality Loba product). The installer also uses Rubio Monocoat; I haven’t researched that yet to see how it compares to Bona. So far, I haven’t heard a downside to taking this route — if there are any pros out there that think differently, please let me know.