Christin, FWIW I have grown Salvia 'Rose Sensation' from seed and it comes true. Have also grown Salvia 'Caradonna' from seed, but most of my plants didn't have the dark stems that differentiates it from other cultivars. It did have the nice dark flowers. regards,seedmoney

Ovens are very hard to figure out. As far as the space in an oven, you have to measure the usable space on the rack and the height of the oven above the rack. Try your pans out. The listed cubic feet has little to do with it. There are tremendous differences in what convection means. How it bakes depends on the number of fans and fan speed. I think the idea of the third element is a little over sold. You have a heating element around the fan that creates a blow torch effect so you have to have a way to diffuse the air currents with baffles or the reversing fan. I use a profile in a beach rental and the fan was much less than my Wolf or a Electrolux. That may not be a bad thing. I have been happy with my Electrolux oven as far as the way it functions but it has had issues with blue enamel chipping and now with the computer board. I don’t know what color these ovens are on the inside but I would not buy anything with a cobalt blue liner. I also had Dacor and Wolf with blue chipping. Does your oven you have bake evenly? I think it is very difficult to get an oven to bake evenly with 2, let alone three racks. Besides the pattern if the airflow, you have radiant heat, so more heat from all of the sides of the oven. I’m not a fan of the hidden bake element which seems to be the source of many oven problems. Did you look at Bosch? .

susanrhill34, we're ordering MSI Q Soapstone Metropolis quartz in a concrete (their word for honed, or what some manufacturers call "natural") finish. It's gray rather than blue, with thin white veining, and the concrete finish is satiny without having the highly-polished look of granite. I know this makes me a philistine, but I prefer the faux-natural finish on the manufactured quartz to the actual natural finish of some real soapstone I've seen, which can appear so matte it seems more rustic than we're shooting for. Kimberly Skinner, I've heard that quartz can get water rings, but we had it in the primary bath in my previous home and it never showed the least bit of wear or staining. I liked it more than any of the other counter materials we've had, from formica to Corian to granite and marble. From what I understand, it's not the water itself that can leave stains on quartz, it's the minerals in hard water. We have a water softener and water filters, so I'm hoping to avoid rings and stains.

Hi Laurel! Wondering if you ended up going with these slabs, and if so, what has your experience been? I am in a very similar boat. I was looking for soapstone for my kitchen, but it is hard to come by where I am in Nashville at the moment, and I have found many places that are selling this exact looking material, labeled as black soapstone, but I feel fairly certain that it is actually phyllite . I have done all of the testing on a sample at home with knives, wine, lemons, coffee, etc., and it is held up as I would expect soapstone too, but I still would love to hear someone’s experience in real life. Thanks!!