I wanted to add I took neither offense or joy at this piece. Just pointing out, in the above post, that it's not a review and how these sorts of stories are quite common. I in no way, shape or form think it's a diabolical Bluestar plot for world dominance or the like, and absolutely see why it's a perfectly good, useful and pertinent piece for people on this forum to read. I've said it before: I have a Bluestar. And I like my Bluestar ... When it works. But I've had some horrendous service problems and found the people at this company, including Mr. Trapp, whom I've had the personal misfortune to correspond with, to be pretty close to awful to deal with and frequently flat-out dishonest. Based on my experiences with the company-not the product itself, per se-I would never buy another range, or anything else, from them, and would never own the one I have without an extended service contract in place, something which has been all-too-frequently called upon these past five years. What Mr. Trapp forgets when he's making his "Rolls Royce" analogy-and I have zero doubt those were his words-is that Rolls Royce is not just a top-of-the-line car, but prides itself on top-of-the-line service, too. In my experience, Bluestar may be TRYING to provide a high-end product, but their service is anything but. And I say "trying" because there have been enough build-quality/quality control issues with the brand to give one serious pause about that level of quality as well. It's possible that, in stove terms, I just got a bad one, but the treatment I received from the company, echoed by others I've spoken with, whom I came into contact with via my distributor, have been pretty much beyond the pale and, yes, those bad interactions have admittedly tainted my view of Bluestar as a whole. Where I stand now is I'm trying to make the range I have work, at least for another five years, when the extended warranty maxes out. My feeling about Bluestar as a whole is: great-in-theory, not-so-great execution, and if you do get one cross your fingers and toes that you'll never have issues, especially more than one (for me it's been: stuck oven door, banging oven floor, bad ignitor modules, etc), because that's when the nightmares begin. And, oh yeah, always, always get the extended warranty. I'm a convert!

there's more than one glass factory and galleries in Seattle. also need to consider the display of Chihuly's glass, at the old railroad terminal in Tacoma. do a google search for that.. there are fabulous works of glass art at the airport at Sea-Tac and so many things, one couldn't see them all in a day or even two. I met up with chickeemama about two weeks ago. we started out with breakfast at a favorite restaurant and headed straight over to Shipwreck Beads..from there it was a fast trip halfway up the loop on Hood Canal. Back to Olympia to some fun quirky places and a coffee factory and back to Shipwreck. not nearly enough hours in that short day...it's good I live fairly close, so we can do this again one day. Becky .(*_*).

Got The ODE To Klinger done!!!! Took Slow's advice and decided that I would use my stained glass tools on this heart, it is a 1/4inch thick x 2 inch heart, so I wrapped it with 1/4inch wide copper foil, then soldered and added hooks(wire)! Loribee2: There is a stained glass factory in Oregon called Uroboros Glass. I toured Spectrum Glass and Tacoma Glass Museum.

This forum has been brought to my attention and I think I can add something useful. I'm Milton, and my wife Amalia and I are architects and interior designers with our own firm archspaces (archspaces.com) We have worked with moda cucina, as well as water and fire, as well as Weston kitchens, metropolitan, and others. We did two water and fire kitchens, and also three moda cucina kitchens. The water and fire kitchens ended up being beautiful, but were long agonizing ordeals to complete. The parts kept coming damaged, incorrect, wrong size/finish, from Canada and Italy. It was one excuse after another from water and fire and their suppliers who I ended up calling directly. Paul got a group of investors and partners together to buy into his moda cucina concept of locally made premium kitchens that can do not only traditional, but true european finishes. My wife and I loved the idea, if you look at our website you will see we are modernists. Each moda cucina went off almost flawlessly, with two minor exceptions, 1 kitchen which was somehow incorrectly measured. An entire 17 foot run of cabinets was re-built within 2 weeks and delivered before we even had to break the news to the clients. And one kitchen which had custom backpainted glass, the glass imparted a green tint to the paint and the client rejected the glass. The glass doors are being remade with starfire (crystal clear) glass. The response time has been fantastic, better than we've experienced anywhere, and the freedom as designers is tremendous, we've been able to think much more creatively with their custom work. I don't want to take away from the validity of what the disgruntled water and fire customer had said, it sounds inline with what happened there. The first few years we heard nothing but good things about them, then as they grew, and their suppliers got busier and moved away from small specialty producers, things fell apart. I gave Paul another chance, and we've been very pleased thus far. I've been to the shop and it is very impressive, it takes a lot of guts to put it all on the line and say enough is enough, and make your own factory. If anyone has any questions please feel free to email or call us through the contact information listed on our website.