Searching_2008 No problem with the questions! I know how hard it is to get first hand info, so I'll provide all I can for you. 1. The only issues the in-laws have had are with the cooktop. It is a five-burner, 36" model. The stainless surface gets very hot with continued usage, and oversized pans can actually allow flame escape out of the side near the handles... they actually melted a handle! (Electrolux sent them 2 new ones... they are more careful with pot arrangement now). Their ovens have been great, very even. The DW is very nice too. 2. Our range so far has been wonderful. Both ovens are very even (much more so than any other oven I've owned, and other convection ovens I've used). I purchased a oven thermometer to check accuracy of temperature... the big oven is spot on, the little oven seems approx 10 degrees cooler than the knob says... we simply adjust for this now. Standard bake, convection bake, and convection roast work very nicely. Using the smaller oven, I baked 2 quiches last evening (convection bake). They came out perfectly. No hot or cool spots to speak of, crust was very evenly browned, no difference between the top / bottom / front / back. We haven't made multiple sheets of cookies yet in the larger oven, but single sheets have been very good. We end up using the smaller oven 90% of the time, but both are wonderful. The ovens come with 4 racks each, which is too many, so I've taken two out of each one. I guess if someone was doing large batches of cookies, this would be handy, but for us 2 racks per oven is plenty. 3. Burners / Simmering. The power burners (17K btu) are very powerful. The simmer burners do go "low" well, but not low enough to keep a wine reduction sauce in a 8" pan from evaporating too quickly without the simmer plate. We have ended up keeping the simmer plate on the range (over the small, back right simmer burner), and this has worked out fine. It comes with a wok ring, but we haven't used it yet. It also comes with a griddle / grill pan cover for 2 burners, but we haven't used it yet either. 4. Broan Hood. We decided to go with Best by Broan for a few reasons. We liked the idea of an in-line blower, and wanted to go with a manufacturer who makes a lot of hoods. The style was exactly what we were looking for. The Best was a few bucks cheaper than the ICON, and seemed like the best choice for us. (pun unintended). We also have the baffle filters for easier cleaning and reduced airflow noise. The unit came with mesh too, but I haven't tried them yet. 5. Cleaning. Cleaning is pretty straight forward. The grates come off (very heavy, but in a good way), the burners have a cap and brass ring, which also simply lift off. The "pan" under the burners is glossy enamel / porcelain which I clean with Windex Vinegar. It can look a little "streaky" at times, but I think I'm the only one who notices. The grates I clean with soapy water / plastic scouring sponge. They say the grates are dishwasher safe, but I haven't tried yet (nor have I had to... the grates stay pretty clean and are easy to sponge off). The front of the unit / oven doors are very simple to clean (I use Windex Vinegar (not the blue stuff!))... the design keeps drips from really getting onto the oven doors. 6. Reliability / Value: I'd agree that the ICON is in the same class as the Monogram and the DCS. Function wise, it is virtually identical to the Dacor 48", but is much less expensive. I guess that is because of name, but also because it doesn't have Dacor's fancy computerized controls. Which gets me to my second point... reliability. I have a general distrust of computerized controls where they aren't needed. I'm no technophobe (In fact, I'm a bit of a gadget freak), but I've never liked electronic displays / computers on my appliances. I researched the Dacor model, and the electronics seemed like the major source of complaint / repair. Give me knobs any day! Living in a cold / snowy environment makes a gas range of any type a nice thing... you can still cook without power. As far as Wolf / consumer reports... take those ratings with a whole lot of salt. CR is great, but for "niche" products, they often don't really "get it". If money was no object, I'd have picked the Wolf 48"... but for us it was literally twice the price of the ICON. All in all, though we've only been using the ICON for 9 weeks now, I feel I can safely say I'd purchase it again without question. Same goes for my Advantium 240. Jury is still out on the fridge.

Wow, this is an old thread. We were all so confused by Casey's change in behavior back in 2009. I thought I would tell you all what happened with him. I did take him for private and group training lessons, and this is when we noticed he wasn't seeing well. For a while, that was our major focus with him. Putting bells on Bina did seem to help cut down on attacks for a while. Then, on Christmas Eve 2009, pre-dawn, Casey had two gran mal seizures. Strangely, we have a 24-hour neurological ER about 45 minutes away. Casey and I got an appointment there for mid morning. The physical exam showed that he had neurological deficits. He was weak on the left side and not paying as much attention to the left side of his vision. The exam indicated he likely had a brain tumor behind his right eye, maybe as far back as his ear. I did not want to do brain surgery, so paying for a CT (done under anesthesia) made no sense. We opted for medication to keep him as comfortable as possible for as long as possible. Once he was on meds, his eyesight improved and he usually did not run into things anymore. He could see treats again. Casey was put on Prednisone to shrink the tumor, phenobarbital to treat the seizures the tumor was causing, and continued on pain meds, which were changed to Tramadol. He clearly still had spinal pain. I asked that his thyroid hormone levels be checked because I remembered the incident here on the Pets forum where the lady in a western Canadian province was waiting for a ride to go to the vet to have her dog euthanized due to uncontrollable seizures, when she stopped to write to us about her sadness at having to do this. One of the people on the forum wrote to her to have the thyroid levels checked first. The lady did so, and they were terribly low. The dog was put on synthetic hormone, and was saved. So I asked about this. The neurologist said I was welcome to have my vet check the thyroid, but he definitely had a neuro problem, likely a tumor, either way. We did have the thyroid check done, it was quite low, and Casey was on levothyroxine the rest of his life. Casey never had any more seizures that anybody saw. He did improve greatly with the aggression, then would become worse again. When he did, we would talk to the vet, who upped his Pred, later added Melatonin, and then upped the Melatonin when he started aggressing again later. He also got an herb for liver function added when those labs got elevated. He never resumed playing with Toby. He continued to counter cruise. Towards the end, he was so restless each evening that we were giving him a rawhide chew each night and he worked off his energy/discomfort or whatever was happening inside him by chewing. He enjoyed short walks. His muscle tone deteriorated and he adopted a wide stance to feel more secure on his feet. He would lie down in a froggy position anytime he was not actually walking. He loved his home and his friends and treats, getting into things, outsmarting me and getting me distracted so that he could steal food or drink (he loved fancy coffee drinks that Dad's caregivers might bring in, could take the paper cup off a table and onto the floor, pry off the lid, and drink from the cup without spilling it.) Casey died a week after his last vet exam, in October 2012. I thought that he had a GI problem and spent I a night up with him cleaning up vomit and keeping him away from water because he just vomited it back up. We got about three hours of sleep before the vet opened and she saw him straight away. He had deteriorated drastically while I showered that morning. My friend and I carried him to the car. The doc euthanized him after she examined him. He had apparently had a stroke that morning. His heart was likely behind all the vomiting the night before, she said. I was glad I had stayed up with him. Casey lived two years and ten months after the diagnosis of brain tumor, and 3 years, eight and a half months past the date I posted this question. Bina had died a year earlier, following surgery for cancer in a toe. Her kidneys failed after surgery and we could not get her to eat and drink to get them working again. Toby, our oldest and smallest, is still here with us. Here is Casey before the diagnosis, when he still thought he was my lap dog.

Yes we do live in the city. Right at the edge as Steph said. I am three long blocks from city hall,my office. Tonight my office was my recliner. Needed to work but I do not like to work in the building all alone late at night and when I do have to I let the sheriff know. Living in the city still allows the critters. Our city is so tiny (about 165 people now) even the critters hardly notice it is here. LOL The dog that got the worst of it the first time is the one barking at them still. The other dog heads to the back bathroom to hide as fast as he can. We laughed at him so hard. I do not think he wanted to have to have another bath.

I've gotten some good info from Mike Holt's forum for years but I don't consider it to be a competitor or alternative to this site. As fubar411 pointed out, it's been a pro site for a few years now. Once upon a time, Holt's was more DIY friendly but it shifted to the all-Pro audience. It's not a matter of whether this site or Mike Holt's is better--they're simply different. For my money, this is the best and most accurate DIY site I've found to date for residential wiring problems and how-to-do questions. Kudos to the sparkies here who are willing to dig in and help folks get it right even if it means a bit of debate and disagreement from time to time.