Whatever you choose, make sure that it can be serviced easily (and well) in your area. It seems every mid- level has success and horror stories on this board, but you already know that.

No problems with going with different appliance brands for each appliance. That's actually exactly what is recommended here on the forum. No one manufacturer makes an excellent total line (i.e the references to the GE fridges above). On the GE Profile question--I have the GE Monogram, which the dealer said the oven was actually the same as the Profile line just with a Pro-look exterior and name plate. I have been very happy with my ovens so far. My sister has the Profile double oven with convection and she loves hers too-bakes evenly, roasts beautifully, broils nicely & self-clean (you can even leave the racks in during the clean cycle) to boot! What more could you ask for? So, I would go for the Profile ovens/range. My sister also has the Profile smooth top electric cooktop with built in downdraft vent. She really likes it as well. She says the only challenge she has with it is when she's sprinkling spices into pots on the cooktop and has the fan on--it is so powerful, it sucks the spices right in--however the same can be said for many over the range vent hoods too. DW I would opt for Samsung or KitchenAid. KA DWs have a solid reputation, many come with hard food disposer, heated dry, are quiet and they have a very broad range of prices and features. However, many of the reasonably priced KAs now vent out the side vs the front--the vent opens 6 hrs after the end of the cycle unless you open the door before the 6 hrs elapses in which case it opens immediately and releases steam into adjacent cabinetry. Since I didn't realize this before purchasing, I tend to run the DW right before bed so no one is opening it too early. If I run it during the day, I simply crack the adjacent cabinet when I turn the DW on just in case DH or DS come through & open it. Samsung DWs offer most if not all the features KA does but with a fan assist dry and venting out the bottom. Easy to stack, hard food disposer, reasonably priced and quiet. I would definitely recommend either of these DWs. Refrigerator--word on the forum is stay away from GE. I personally only know of 2 people with GE fridges that are happy with them (although 1 of my friends has had to have the repair guy out 3 times!). I would recommend Samsung, LG or a Kenmore badged Samsung or LG. Food stays fresh for much longer than standard fridge, LED lighting, ice maker available in the door, in the freezer compartment or in the fridge portion depending on what model you're looking at. We have the Kenmore Elite badged Samsung counter depth SxS and love it. It's got a 60/40 split between the 2 compartments which means plenty of room for larger items like frozen pizza boxes, turkeys, etc in the freezer. Fridge side is plenty roomy with nice sized bins, standard dairy/butter compartment, gallon size storage on door, built in wine rack & soda rack. I would definitely buy the fridge again. Just a heads up on where you can snag some deals--In Oct, Sears usually runs a 1/2 off wall oven sale for just a day or two, so be on the lookout for that. Also, you can get Friends & Family pricing at Sears anytime--just ask for it (make sure its a better deal the one they're currently running, though). Lowes and HD will often run model year end clearance on their floor model ovens--some really deep discounts are applied. If you find one in a high volume Lowes store, see if they'll hold it for you and then check with any surrounding lower traffic/volume Lowes/HD stores as they will often have a better discount. Hope this helps!

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

I'd pick them at the design stage. No later than when you do the kitchen cabinet design. I'd also not cut it too close-- "standard" sizes have varied across time and brands. I'd leave the space a little big and use the face frame/trim to fill gaps that are too big. I one of our houses we ended up doing a (needed) full rehab of the kitchen when new fridges turned out to be about a half inch bigger than the one we had. No possible way to shoehorn it in without rebuilding both an upper and lower cabinet to be smaller. Stepping down to the next smaller size ordinary fridge would have left several inch gaps on the sides, and been a tiny fridge for us.