I checked on a custom stainless hood and the price made me kinda sick. I can only imagine copper would be sky-high. But beautiful!

Have you looked at craftsman style kitchens on Houzz for ideas? They have some great pics on there. I'd do that and an internet search for craftsman kitchens and just see what others have come up with...

Good luck!

Deedles, I fear I'm going to encounter lots of sickening prices as this project develops! I have done some "Houzzing" & Googling, but just seem to be seeing the same things over & over - I'll have to delve more deeply. Would love to find something unobtrusive rather than a big thing hulking down over the island. Thanks for the moral support!

Quetzall, I appreciate your posting your experiences w/ Elux ovens and Sharp MW - very encouraging. Didn't know about the front-vs.-down vent issue - will check that out. Our existing ready-for-appliance-oblivion Caloric gas oven takes at least 25-30 minutes to preheat (maybe because the door is ready to fall off?!) - hoping the Electrolux is faster than that?

The Elux ovens are nice, though I prefer the (only slightly more expensive) E30EW75GSS from the Electrolux Icon line, which has a nice full-width glass that's easy to keep clean on the inside and a smoother appearance inside and out IMO.

The Miele DWs confuse me too, but any of their higher-end machines should be good.

I'd steer clear of the KA fridge.

Not familiar with Miele's induction cooktop. Certainly check out the Bosch/Thermador and maybe GE Profile and Monogram units too, and for that matter Electrolux's.

Thanks for your thoughts, lee676 - we'll look at the Icon oven also, and glad I'm not the only one who gets Miele DW selection overload. May I ask whether you've had bad KA fridge experience yourself, or heard horror stories? Last night I tracked down more Liebherr reviews online, & what I found was really, really not promising - so discouraging for what looks so beautiful.

Would you consider black hood ? Here are some other options as well ...

http://www.ajmadison.com/b.php/Black%2CCustom+Colors%2CCopper%2COther%3BIsland+Mount%3BRange+Hoods/%3BN~32+4294960153+1422+1450+1455+1425

Our 36" side by side KA refrigerator is now about ten years old and we've never had a problem with it. Zero service. It works great still. You hear the ice cubes plunk into the cube bin as well as the self-defrost when it kicks on but it's totally tolerable. The freezer side in-door ice/water dispenser has never broken. Freezers a tad small but pizza boxes fit sideways with effort. Fridge side holds a lot (some times I find myself moving and searching) but the door holders are sturdy for the one gallon of milk jug, orange juice and other big items.

I hope to redo my kitchen someday. I'd not hesitate on a KA, although maybe we just got lucky (with our ten plus year KA DW too)?. Next time, due to its location, I'd get a left swing top fridge/bottom freezer. I reviewed Liebherr's 36 inch top/bottom refrigerator spec sheet just last night ($5K)!. Read some of the reviews too and did not realize it was made in Canada who sent techs down to NYC customers on occasion.

If you go KA, find out where it is made and check around a little about that point. KA is Whirlpool I think. Maybe Mexico made of late. The appliance experts might comment-I do think there has been a recent change in factory.

JD Powers rated Samsung Refrigerators #1. I have no experience with them.

Angela12345, we would consider black & so thoughtful of you to include the link - quite a variety of RangeCraft styles! - am just having difficulty envisioning anything of the bulk apparently required. Thinking I should get busy building a cardboard mock-up, although we haven't done any demo yet so spatial volume & ceiling height of kitchen-to-be are only in our minds right now. Plenty of blue tape marking things out on the floor, though...

SparklingWater, it's so helpful to get your KA experience. Our current fridge is a bottom-freezer Whirlpool that we bought in 1992, & in 20 years it has never needed a single repair. I cringe reading appliance reviews and realizing that the chances of finding that quality again are slim-to-none! Come to think of it, was just reading the resurrected toaster thread, and our Salton long-slot toaster is from 1991 (still chugging along), and our Panasonic microwave is from 1990 and has only needed 1 repair. The Whirlpool will replace the REALLY ancient fridge that previous homeowners left in our basement (changing of the back-up fridge guard); even at 20 yrs. old we expect it will result in energy savings compared to the one down there now. Guess we haven't been doing our part to keep appliance manufacturers in business up to now!

I added a question to my corresponding thread on the Appliance Forum. Saw the Heartland Classic counter-depth French-door fridge last night when I removed the "panel-ready" filter on my search at AJ Madison. Thought of the recent "end of stainless steel" discussions here (how about Cranberry or Cobalt?!), but no user reviews on the AJM site, or anywhere else I've found yet. Does anybody have any info on Heartland fridges?

Oops - meant to include link to the fridge on AJM!

Here is a link that might be useful: Heartland FD CD fridge

I am looking for appliances for a new home that it is being constructed. I would like to have a list of appliances that do not have clocks, or tell me when I have to clean , etc. It is a pet peeve of mine to have to reset a number of clocks I never use after an electrical outage or time zone change, and I am about to throw out my coffee maker because it will not work unless it goes through a mandatory periodic clean cycle. Applicances should serve me, not annoy me.

" Last night I tracked down more Liebherr reviews online, & what I found was really, really not promising - so discouraging for what looks so beautiful."

If you're talking about the door issues, they were resolved a few years ago. I've spoken with several appliance places and all had nothing but high praise for the Liebherr. And I'm talking about places that could easily sell me on the Thermador columns or SZ. I will be going with the same Liebherr.