Congress enacted the Tariff Act of 1930 and "COOL" (Country of Origin Labeling) mandated all goods imported into the United States be conspicuously and indelibly labeled with the product's country of origin so that the ultimate consumer will know where it was produced. Shortly after Congress passed the Tariff Act of 1930, a list of products - including fruits and vegetables in their natural state - were exempted from certain aspects of the labeling law. Even today, items on this so-called "J List" are required to be labeled with the country of origin only on the outermost container in which the imported product reaches the ultimate purchaser - in other words, the shipping container. If the products are removed from the container and placed in holding units or display bins, those units or bins are not considered to be "outermost containers" and, therefore, are not required to be marked.

"If you don't get a straight answer then its from overseas. Does it matter if it was made in China, Vietname, or Indonesia? Not really." While I agree with your first statement (I have no doubt that the furniture is not made in the USA), for me it does matter whether it's made in China or some other asian country. It used to be a political issue, but now it's personal. The tainted Heparin made in China but packaged in the states could have caused a near-tragedy to become an actual one for our family. I've learned not to ask if something is made in China, because company reps will tell me no, and then when I press for the source will reply Hong Kong or PRC as if those are not the same. So, while I prefer domestic goods and have paid a premium for them, it's not always feasible to buy only USA-made products. I've bought furniture & decor items from elsewhere (Canada, France, Italy, Norway, etc.) and have been very pleased. I feel rather lukewarm about the H&M items I bought, due to small defects, delivery issues and a not entirely positive retailer experience, but I would consider H&M again. However, H&M doesn't make the sort of things for which I'm now shopping. I'm trying to do this online, as we live a couple of hours from any good furniture stores, and that complicates things. If I don't get some information soon, I guess a road trip will be necessary.

No they aren't stacked. In the beginning they were quiet, not so much anymore! Sounds like an airport in here when they are in the spin cycle, and shakes the kitchen table! They are downstairs, cannot imagine them upstairs. Looking at the large Elux- 4.4 cu feet, don't know the color yet, debating between Stainless, Red, or classic White. Model number varies between colors, but ewfls70J, they are on the Electrolux website. I also saw a good review of them in this forum! I like quiet, in a house of loud children. Other than that I've had no problems with the Duets. Just remember to keep the door open after each cycle, and crack open the soap dispenser, and run the clean wash cycle every so often then you will not have smell or mold issues.

Granites are all made of rock, so most of their quality is pretty similar, except some colors that has many small cracks on the surface, like Ubatuba, which is a really soft granite. But black granites has more density than other color granite, it weighs more, harder in other words. I don't really see a difference in quality on absolute blacks, once you put them on, they are all the same.