reply by theodocus struck me as coming from the desk of the ad agency of MTD. No mention of the actual operation that involves rolling over uneven terrain and jarring action from bumps and uneven spots and the fragile fabricated axles that bend and crack easily. Oh, there is also the bushings used in place of ball bearings: bushing use requires higher horsepower to move the newer units. The Deere has points and condenser; cost $5.00 and 9.00 respectively and the sears is a solid state igntion. Newer technology is wonderful as long as it is coupled with quality assemblage in a product. I have a 1968 Sears GARDEN tractor with a 12HP Tecumseh Heavy duty cast iron engine with ball bearings and cut with a 42 inch deck and also have a 1976 John Deere GARDEN tractor with a cast iron 10 HP engine with ball bearings and cut with a 42" deck and use both alternately for mowing two acres and for tilling and moving earth, etc.. Each has cast iron axles and mutli-speed hi-lo transmissions and EACH is used for plowing, snowblowing, tilling earth, hauling 1100 lb loads in attached large carts. EACH will run circles around the new 20 plus HP light LAWN tractors made today. Spend 5,000.00 and you will have a comparable heavy duty GARDEN tractor. By the way, good luck on getting even 10 years of use with the new wonders.

I am getting dangerously close to ordering a 30" RNB and am looking for some advice... 1. burner placement--is it better to have one 22k burner in the back instead of both in front? Scorching shouldn't be a problem because the range will be 5-6" from the backsplash (which will be fireproof if it ends up close enough to be necessary). 2. ventilation--we can only go 30" wide but can do 27" deep IF we can find an appropriate hood. It does need to be under and in-between cabinets. VentaHood seems to have some, 18" high, that go up to 600 CFM. Is 600 enough? Are there other brands with lower profiles? I assume a 19" deep hood would be inadequate, even with 600 CFM. Would it be OK for most cooking though? (There's a nice selection of 9" and under models, but they don't go out to 24+"). If I put both 22k burners in back and get a ~20" deep hood, could that be mostly OK? If I could pull off a compromise with the spouse that would involve a 36" wide hood, but only 20" deep, would that be approximately as good as 30" wide and 24" deep? (I might be able to pull this off for 2 reasons--first, the 20" deep one would have more reachable storage above that would partially replace the cabinet space lost because we could get a shorter hood and second, the shorter hood would not be as visually overpowering as the 18" tall one in a 36" width. It's a small room.) Are there other cabinet-compatible brands that are as good as VAH that have 30" wide, 27" deep hoods, preferably shorter than 18" tall? I haven't been able to locate any, but they must be out there! 3. Any potential issues to to having the range not quite against a wall but instead tucked into a 30" deep counter with island trim and an appropriately mounted hood? 4. Where the heck can I get an RAL color chart? The local shop is more than happy to sell me the appliance but won't loan me their color book--not even long enough to run to the hardware store to make my own book. Not sure I'm making sense here....but thanks for trying! :D

cynic: Someone else mentioned the position of the heating elements in an electric water heater in explaining why the lower water temp at the bottom, where the cold water inlet is, can encourage bacteria growth. Perhaps electric tank design will change to a bottom-heating element as in gas heaters to address the bacteria growth issue? I can't help but wonder if there's more contaminants in our water today that is making this a problem now, or if it always existed but we simply didn't know about it? It seems like if this involved an automobile manufacturer, there would be a recall. There was a period when electricity rates were much lower and in low-demand situations (like mine), an electric heater cost less to operate than a gas model. This is because electricity is 100% efficient when used for heating purposes. Standby heat losses with an electric water heater are also much less than a gas model because it can be totally encapsulated with insulation where a gas heater requires exposure of the bottom surface for the flame to transfer heat to the water. A gas water heater loses some heat to room air from the flame and the exhaust as it is piped outdoors. This is "free" heat in the winter, but it increases the air conditioning load in the summer. The difference in cost per energy unit of gas vs electricity has widened considerably over the last thirty years. In fact, natural gas prices in my area have recently declined, while electricity rates have continued to soar. The electric water heater is the original one installed by the builder thirty years ago and it is still functioning problem-free. I know of several homeowners who have conventional gas water heaters that required replacement three times during this period. Tankless on-demand water heaters sound good in theory, but they don't achieve the energy savings originally claimed by manufacturers. In fact, those claims had to be modified in point-of-sale displays. Reliability issues and high repair costs merely add to their high initial purchase price. I closely monitor my energy consumption and utility bills (as you might have guessed). I have all my utility bills filed from when I purchased the house in 1986. A new rotary compressor refrigerator and an LED TV take credit for some of the reduction in hydro use. While electricity consumption has decreased, but the bills have not. If it weren't for all the extra fees, charges and taxes, the monthly bill would be closer to the $20/month I paid in 1986 and not the $50/month bill I receive today. On the brighter side, my phone bill dropped $10/month to $15 when I switched from a dial-up landline to a pre-pay voice only monthly cell phone. I have a roof antenna that receives 42 off-air TV signals, but what I save not paying for cable I pay for Internet (which didn't exist thirty years ago.) Water/sewer used to be flat-rate in the good ol'days with no restriction on consumption. Property taxes however, have increased far more than any utility where I am located. We used to be a small, efficiently-run town that amalgamated with a much larger city. My property taxes have increased from $2,000/year in 1986 to $10,000 this year (which doesn't include a huge increase in water rates). Policing, fire, social services, schools, garbage collection and public transit are responsible for most of the increase. There's also been some extremely wasteful spending/mismanagement reported by the local newspaper. Bigger is definitely not better, or more efficient, in this case!

Our island is 9' so it qualifies as an archipelago. It is the single most distinctive thing about the kitchen. We love it! Islands are not overdone if they provide awesome function. We have seating at ours and it is the best feature when you have parties as people can access food from all sides. We also have not tired of our Desert Amarillo granite. We love it as much today as when we put it in. The patterns are always interesting to us and people always comment on it. Our knotty alder cabinets, and we especially love all of the the drawers. Don't forget to put in soft close on the drawers. Big deep single Kindred SS sink. Best invention ever. Okay that's four but who's counting?