Based on what you said, I think you may want to go with Side by side? I have the pro48 and I absolutely love it. I'll do it again. I have two kids. I don't' think water dispenser should be an issue. I never like them too much because water usually taste a little funny from the fridge based on my experience. If you are doing remodel, add a hot/cold water dispenser on your counter. Here is a list of pros and cons for the Pro48 Pros: - Commercial look, heavy duty contruction - Glass door is great for adults/ cook. It shorten the time the door is open because you see everything inside - Big drawers on the bottom for vegetables and other things.. so you are only opening part of the fridge. - lots of space to but "big" things on either side because of extra depth you get Cons: - you need to keep your fridge organized all the time - it can be challenging accessing some things if your fridge is full. (think about a deep cabinet you put your spices) Things in front will block things in the back. - There are only 5 shelves in fridge, so with the best settings i have, we can't put tall things standing up (soda bottle is too tall). If i make one shelf taller, the other one will be too short. If you get door shelves (in side by side), you can get more configuration for tall things. - Pro48 doesn't have the "air purification" filter system.. I don't know why and I don't know if they have something else to do that job instead.

My fiance and I have been looking to buy our first home for almost a year now. We have been looking for an older home (pre 1930's), because we love the historical feel, especially victorian architecture. A lot of us have that same dream. When I was a teen, I was dating a guy that was in a fraternity that was out of a beautiful Victorian. I remember the stairway, the flowers that were engraved in the wood. I remember the "dome room" and while it was a PITA to put furniture in, amazed me every time I went into it. I remember beautiful moldings, everything was etched and 3 or 4 fireplaces. It had a decent sized kitchen from what I remember, also had a servant room. Man I loved that house and swore that one day, if I could afford to have the house moved I would. The house was located in one of the worst neighborhoods. You had to lock your doors to drive there and run in the house. I bet that in it's day, it was one of the grandest houses. They ended up knocking it down, don't know when but I drove by about 16 years ago, there was nothing on the lot. Anyway, a lot of us have the same dream, to own a beautiful, grand house. Reality is the lack of things needed to live in it in today's world as Tricia said. Since you are not married with kids yet, it wouldn't really matter much, you would probably get by fine. Once you have kids and they start getting older is when you will notice how hard it is to raise a family there unless you luck out and get a house that has larger rooms where you can make closets, or one that has a decent kitchen. I wonder then if my fiance and I should actually change our dream to accomodate the current economy and the deals available? IMO, this might be a good idea, at least for now. Being newly married can be stressful. Unless the 2 of you are currently living together, you have to learn to live with your partner. How do both of you handle stress? Buying a house that you are working on all of the time is very stressful and could eventually start pulling you apart. You'll come home from work some days so tired but you have to sand & throw another coat of spackle on, or paint, or run out to the home store to buy supplies. Hubby & I worked on our last house starting 2 years after I moved in. We removed paneling, faux brick, painted, put in floors as well as putting a new floor frame on a concrete slab in the laundry area to build it up so that we could put a floor down. By the time we sold we were tired & cranky. Add to this a roof, electric upgrade, plumbing, which was a job in itself since there was only 1 shutoff valve, which meant we lost water for the day. We also did central air, a hot water heater as well as new furnace, and had planned to redo all of the baseboards as well. Are there any houses that are in between the old house and new construction for a compromise? You might be able to live a little bit more comfortably and not have to work as hard. It will also give you an idea of how the 2 of you work together as a team (or not). You can save the Victorian house for later on

Saz1, I had the weirdest experience with Crystal not that long ago. I had existing cabinetry by Crystal and we were trying to add a couple of cabinets to the layout. The cabinets were a current style etc. I contacted Crystal via email to get the name of the local reps. Brian, the person on the other end of the email, wanted to try and locate the original dealer. I explained that we just wanted a few matching cabinets so it really wasn't worth that level of trouble. I told him we just wanted to go with the closest supplier and gave him my zip code. Several emails later he still wouldn't give me basic contact information for a local dealer. He was insistant that he know the location of the house so he could try and connect me with the original dealer. So I by passed him entirely and found two crystal dealers on the internet in my location. The first was very nice and simply never actually called me back with a quote. The second one refused to even talk to me because the amount wasn't high enough. I eventually spoke to the supervisor there and basically bludgeoned him into taking my needs to give me a quote. I told him that I expected them to provide some level of customer support and that the cabinets were only a few years old. How could they sell to people if the response when they needed a new piece or a replacement piece after a few years was to go screw themselves? He finally had someone call me back and take down the cabinets I needed. I did recieve a response weeks later that basically was scribbleing on the back of a napkin as far as I'm concerned. Also, it didn't contain any amounts at all! Apparently they had questions but if you can't quote ANY of the 3 cabinets I need I think it's pretty sad. So. My experience was really poor and I would never order from them on a customer service side. What I ended up doing was having a cabinet guy make me a few matching cabinets. He was very frustrated because each of the cabinets was slightly different than the others so trying to match them was a real bear. He showed me how all the drawer fronts were actually slightly different sizes, heights, etc. YMMV.

I was looking at this thread again for pictures of my brass lamps. I am not too happy with the adorable crystal lamps I bought on Ebay (good price but expensive shipping... and I paid extra for the lamp shades) since despite being too cute, I can't seem to find a place in my home for them. I may take pictures and see if anyone on this list wants them for what I paid for them. Everyone that sees them falls in love with them but my new stereo I just bought is so modern with the piano black speakers. Maybe I will find a place in the room.... I had also bought another antique crystal lamp from the same seller to save on shipping. I am finding out that I am more of a modern, traditional girl with a touch of country, a touch of traditional and a touch of victorian. I love antiques in the homes of others but I am finding out I like newer things that are not old. I guess I am learning my style. I still love the modern crystal lamps that I bought at fortunoff, especially the pair of Hannah Lamps that I put on the double dresser with flowers in the middle thanks to Squirrel's visuals. I will have to post pics of my satin brass lamps in my other room that I loved in their until I just recently bought the white wicker dresser and now I wish I had white lamps. That are beautiful but I am learning that things must go in the room and not just be a beautiful object. :) I sold my friend my perfect stereo that was perfect in every way but was too big for the room for a smaller book shelf stereo that looks better in the room but has so many less features and sounds very nice but not as good. I guess I can't have everything. :) It has a silver receiver and black speakers that looks good in the room but now the brass lamps look out of place.