In some forums, people don't like too many posts with pictures. I can understand this attitude in a forum such as the rose forum, where there are many posts only with garden pictures. Not having the Gallery there would tend to overwhelm the posts that only want info about rose care. However, in most other forums, there aren't that many posts, and posting in the Galleries is almost a waste of time since few people seem to actually view the posts in the Gallery.

As requested earlier from Davidro who wanted to understand traffic flow, below is a whole house "sketch" which shows our first floor layout (upstairs is only a loft) and second diagram is where I'm at with regard to kitchen design after input from you guys and after Ikea consultant/designer who was at my home today gave as far as cabinets fitting. Also, from the earlier discussion, I had some confusion about whether I could relocate the washer/dryer to the hall. The contractor who visited today didn't have any problems with the relocation. It helps a lot that our foundation is "pier and beam". Moving plumbing around is a whole lot easier. New location of washer/dryer may be a bit claustrophobic in the hall way outside the bathroom but I only do laundry a couple times a week for short spurts. I'm in the kitchen a whole lot longer and since the relocation of washer/dryer is the only thing keeping me from having the kitchen layout I REALLY wanted from the beginning (barring the fact the pantry has gotten quite a bit smaller), I am a happy camper. I'm going to lie low a while and get our bathroom done and maybe a roof before I come back with any updates on the kitchen. And for anyone who is in doubt, the Ikea prices for all cabinets is half of what price was quoted for Innermost cabinets by Home Depot. And the Ikea quote includes several of the appliances though I'm not sure yet if that is how I will really go. But cabinets -yes - their prices are too good to pass up. The money we save can go for the bathroom we're getting that has a curbless shower, and several other expensive details which Ikea can't help us out on. I'll still be listening but hopefully everyone can see the aisles around the island are considerably wider (maybe even too wide with my feet problems). If I need more pantry space, I'm fairly sure that several of the drawers in the main part of the kitchen will not all be used so I can use them for pantry space spill over if there is any. THANKS AGAIN (though I will definitely be back - still need to pick out countertop/backsplash/flooring/hoodOverCooktop and make decisions about appliances..) And since I haven't marked it well, let me explain that there are upper cabinets on either side of the cooktop and also to the left of the fridge. No uppercabinets on the sides of the "cleanup sink" with the large 6 foot wide window. Think I may wait until kitchen is done and probably install some open floating shelves on either side of cleanup sink - more for esthetics than function but I think I can wait until the last minute for that. (Maybe even some art work...)

I also don't understand why folks write reviews that are plot summaries; I always imagine that their high school English teacher required them to do this and somehow they just carried on thinking that's what other people want. I do write reviews of many books I read, I'm not sure if any of them qualify as "lengthy" reviews. I write them to say what I would say if a friend asked me "Hey, is this book worth reading?". I say what I liked or found useful, what I thought was off, and if it's a novel, I say people who like X, Y, or Z might like it, and if it's a book having to do with my profession, I say what kinds of practitioners might also find it helpful or what they may want to be wary of. Mostly I write reviews because I find the process helps me to "digest" the book, but also because I want to do for others what good reviews have done for me--lead me to great books and away from bad ones.

My experience: like the above comments from Christine Abuharoon and Michael Green (11 months ago, from 11/28/23) regarding the oven door not fully closing. I purchased a model KRG365-NG. (A 36 Inch Freestanding Professional Gas Range with 4 Dual-Flow Burner System, 5.8 Cu. Ft. Capacity.) Installation date: April 2022. The oven door has been causing issues since nearly the first time it was used. Some of the knobs at the top become extremely hot to the touch (enough that one requires oven mitts to adjust certain knobs while in operation if one isn't excited about a trip to the local ER). Unfortunately, Hestan's service repair technician has attempted to adjust the door but it seems to get misaligned and needs adjustment shortly after or he hasn't actually fixed the problem. (The repair technician: he's really nice, polite, respectful, and sympathetic -- we're on a first-name level of familiarity at this point, nearly on the verge of sharing a beer every second Tuesday!) Regarding warranty service issues: Hestan hasn't been responsive in timely communications (weeks of being ignored or pat emails saying "your request has been transferred to the right dept blah blah" and then crickets...) or been honest regarding honoring their warranty coverage for malfunctioning systems. I have had multiple service requests to fix the oven after it stopped working, always sometime after the oven is used on high heat for several hours. (SHOCK! It's an oven, Watson. How dumb of me to expect it to operate on high.) To put it starkly: That's a non-working oven, folks, for a household that cooks a whole bunch for extended family and friends and hosts on the weekends. Significant levels of creativity and a whole lotta flexibility/patience are required to substitute on-range cooking for oven roasting. The most recent exciting saga has been extended to a 6-week special (grab your popcorn, folks. This one has sequels!) Hestan didn't bother responding to a detailed letter sent to their warranty dept. in October of 2023. Nor to a follow-up letter 2 weeks after it. (This is the third or fourth time, the oven has had the same issue amongst others.) (Another tantalizing exclusive: In the San Francisco Bay Area, home to a population of over 7.5 million humans there is a dearth of authorized service technicians. It takes time for them to be available for repairs; anywhere between two to four weeks. Then when a part needs to be ordered -- many times being a requirement -- add another several weeks to your broken-cooking-appliance-saga aka. buddhist-exercise-in-patience.) My household's experience with Hestan has left us with a bad taste for the company. (And we are really good cooks.) We would not recommend their appliances to others - based on their awesome lack of responsiveness to malfunctioning parts coupled with their lack of honoring warranty assurances (by replacing or exchanging the model) in situations where several service repair visits have occurred -- with no lasting fix. I wish I had known that the ability to endure and practice stoicism is a requirement when purchasing from HESTAN. (Apparently, some products have quality issues -- that's to be expected. What isn't expected is not honoring their part of the warranty agreement. It's a lack of integrity and feels like betrayal. Scheduling repeated service repair visits, [no fault to the repair dudes] I'm assuming, is a deliberate business decision to string along disgruntled consumers until the consumer gets exhausted of keeping up with the whole saga, they get deported, immigrate to Finland, convert to outdoor bonfire cooking, lose their memory, and drag on the non-response company policy till the pesky issue of a valid warranty expires. [pun intended.] Case closed.) Bears repeating: Our model had issues with the oven (whether heating up properly or heating up at all) since a few short weeks after it was first installed by a licensed electrician. As well, the oven door has issues closing fully so as to be flush against the oven cavity interior - to prevent escaping air, uneven baking temperatures, and hot, Hot, HOT, range/ oven control knobs. The gas range, contrastingly, has always worked well, except for one burner whose simmer function has stopped working. I am filing a complaint with the BBB. (I wish I had read their reviews, and had read this thread before choosing this company. It does place the company in an unflattering light). I wonder if the company will magically become more attentive. Also looking at arbitration alternatives (warranty states either JAMS or the American Arbitration Association.) If anyone has gone the arbitration route, please share your experience. I am posting on this most useful thread for other consumers to let them (you) know that if one is dealt a bad hand with an appliance from Hestan, good luck with the fulfillment of the warranty promise. Or with timely service visits. (Easily over a month until the issue is addressed.) If you want to play roll the dice with your appliances worth between $7, ooo - $12,000 plus installation costs, plus purchase of a (useless?) extended warranty, go ahead: Sprint, don't shuffle, to your nearest HESTAN authorized seller.