Hi Meileguy, With the exception of the fridge and venthood, this is the identical package that I purchased (in Ontario) a year ago. There was very little movement in the prices for Miele and that was before they took over and the store did have a bit of flexibility.They made up the discount on the other stuff I bought. I am quite happy with the appliances except the speed oven. Because it is so hard to clean and also becomes quickly soiled if you do any baking/roasting in it, basically I have a $3500 microwave. I also find that because I am only 5'2" that it is awkward to use above the oven. I am always afraid I am going to burn my arms when using it as an oven.I had also purchased the warming drawer and the 3 are in the tower. You are probably not going to have that problem. If I had it to do over I would probably do double ovens and just have a microwave built in a cupboard or drawer. I think that Miele Canada is offering free 10 year warranties for a limited period of time...can't remember the dates I had our builder reinforce the floor under our second floor laundry room and have had no problems with vibration. I love the induction cooktop, I have the excella dishwasher (a colleague had the igcognito and opened it a couple of times not realizing it was on and water all over hardwood floors-didn't want to risk that). The only other comment I can make and it won't apply to you as they now do all their own installs. I had the company I purchased from do my installs (the installer installed all of the Mieles before they had their own) as I was having to travel >100 km to the new house and wanted everything installed at once. There was a minor problem with the warming drawer, not related to the install and the Miele service rep spent the whole visit giving me grief and questioning why I hadn't had the stuff installed by Miele. Anyway...I just wish they had had the chocolate washer and dryer!! Barb

We have had the same problem sheesharee does for years, and it's only gotten worse recently. On average, if I call (or rather leave messages for, since no one actually answers a phone anymore) a dozen people, maybe five might call me back and schedule a meeting, three show up for that meeting and one or two actually produce an estimate which might or might not be detailed enough to make sense. It sort of traps me into a VERY small selection of contractors and makes it very difficult to compare apples to apples. I would really appreciate it if people would take the two minutes to call and tell me "I'm not interested", "I'm too busy" or "I charge $20 for a detailed estimate" (which I'd usually be willing to pay) instead of just leaving me hanging, but it's VERY rare for anyone to bother. People who don't return phone calls, show up, or follow up when promised are put on what I call the "when h*ll freezes over" list and I do tell other people about them. I tend to group together small projects to make at least a half-day's work and preferably a full day to justify things like travel time. Since my schedule is quite flexible, I do have the luxury of being able to be fitted in when the contractor has the time between jobs, inclement weather delaying another project, etc. Angie's List is pretty much nonexistent in my area, the couple of friends we have who own homes either have sorta-handyish relatives who wouldn't know building code from Morse code or are using the prayer method of maintenance (aka "pray real hard nothing goes wrong"), and it's pretty obvious that my neighbors aren't prioritizing home repair!

the material looks the same,, but i am worried about the color variance and weight and sheen differences. i may head back to the drawing board on this one, i have valances made from the material already, but with a fringe i don't care for. a local couple makes them, i don;t have to do the swewing myself, thank goodness! anyway, if i have them remove the fringe and use something different, i think i could be happy with sheers under the valances. part of the problem is figuring out the best design for my room. the three walls are mostly windows, with a foot of wall betwenn each window. i'd like to have the sheers/drapes gathered there, but also have the capability to draw them closed sometimes. also, the north and south wall windows are three foot wide double hungs, while the windows on the east are four ft wide stationary on either side of an eight ft slider with a transom over it!! aaarrrggghh---you see why one needs proffesional help here!! i haven't even begun to address the valance for the transom window... and of course moi is on a budget---so maybe i'll be using cheapy sheers after all, and tweaking the valances. the bedroom is 24x14, love my windows, love,love,love the view, but especially on cold winter nights, we need the cocooning feeling drapes or at least sheers will provide. sigh, back to the drawing board...

I had fiddled with ordering Starmark a few months ago and the discount was 70%, with the caveat that 3% needed to be added back into the final cost for a price change. I didn't pursue buying from the website as I found a distributor for Starmark about an hour away from me and once I saw the finish options available knew that the cabinets weren't appropriate for my home. Nothing wrong with them - I have built in bookshelves in the family room you can see from the kitchen and they didn't have a finish that wasn't noticably different. But no - you aren't losing your mind. Cate