I see you're up in MA -- You most likely have cool season grasses up there. If you're mowing TTTF or KBG or ryes, or blends or mixes of those, then a tall cutting height is very important. I'd definitely recommend the Scotts Classic because it can cut as high as 3" tall. The Brill for example can only cut as high as 1.8" and you definitely should take cutting height into consideration. My 2 cents Good day, Dan

Have you considered one of these? All you do is program it, turn it on, sit back, and watch your lawn being mowed. Haven't mowed my grass, except for the street piece, in close to 8 years!

We have an Ariens 624, 24 inch wide, with plug in electric start. It's 3 years old, and always starts on the first pull, so I have never set up the extension cord & used the electric start feature. The snow exhaust chute has pretty slick paint, and very rarely gets clogged. The chute control is manual, & I do stop quite often and make adjustments. We live in the city, so where the snow lands is usually an issue. We got the blower because the city plows often leave a thick, wide, and heavy deposit of compressed snow & ice at the foot of our driveway, and it can be really hard to remove with a shovel. The Ariens will chop up this material & throw it about 20 feet. The downside to snowblowers is the cost, and the need for a truck to transport them to and from the repair shop. So far, ours has not required any repairs, but I am careful how I use it. That worm & ring gear unit, that drives the augers, runs around 250 dollars to replace.

You didn't mention where all these garage doors are in relationship to the front of your house. 3 identical doors in a row already sounds almost apartment-like, and adding a 4th begins to look like an auto repair shop. I think you need to do something different on the right side, just to break up the long wall full of garage doors. Could you design something for that right section of wall that provides access to your snow-blower and other equipment, but makes that wall contrast with the existing set of doors? For example, what about a double set of french doors (four doors total) that have fixed panels on the left and right, and opening panels for the middle two sections. You could open the two middle sections to get a 4-5 foot opening to move equipment in and out. I'm not sure how it would look, but it would certainly give you a lot of light into that area. Bruce