Saw this guy on YouTube. Liked his common sense approach to design!
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Yeah - we sent them an email back saying we really wanted to continue down the path of working with them, but the cost was just too high. Hopefully they will lower the cost.
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If you pump your septic every 3-5 years, why would it fail?
I have a friend who lives in an older home (1800s) with a slate roof. She says it’s very, very difficult to find people who will work on the roof. She learned from the roofer she used that as the old roofers are retiring, they can’t find any young apprentices. Apparently, it’s important to use people with experience.
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The septic tank didn’t fail. The field became saturated.
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That happened to us in 1988. It was no fun, and very expensive.
In our House1, the builder added a reserve drain field just because it was possible. We only pumped the tanks twice in our 18 years of ownership because it was not needed per septic monitoring reports which we did every 3 years because we did not install a garbage disposal. With a disposal, our county required annual monitoring. At $200 a pop plus time spent waiting for the service to show up, it could add up.
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Looking for recommendations for a smoothtop electric range (please suggest another thread or starting a new one if better).
Our 1993 Whirlpool RF366PXY that we had installed when the house was built has worked well for us, except for a few knicks in the white paint (filled in with appliance paint). Alas, last night my husband noticed a flash on the oven element… and it is no longer working. Normally we err toward repairing our beloved old, simple appliances. But the diagnosis fee is like $150 (applicable toward repair), and it’s possible we’ll pay that and then still end up buying new. Have not ruled out gambling that the $44 replacement part is all we need… if installation steps are straightforward.
Not crazy about a lot of whizbang features / control boards etc. But maybe there are new functions these days? One online description seemed like it had airfryer-like oven setting(?)
I highly recommend induction if you’re looking for a smooth top range. Cooks so much faster and more evenly even compared with gas!
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Thanks. That is something to consider. But… it sounds like cookware needs to be induction-ready (ie pass the “magnet test”) - right? That would rule out my three Revereware stainless steel pots/pans and one Visions pot. My skillets and cast iron pan should be ok.
FYI - a recent review article, in case it helps others
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Maybe it is time for a new set of cookware? 
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Maybe. I actually have never been keen on getting whole sets. Could get away with just replacing the dutch oven and the 4qt. (With sadness I could part with mom’s 1960s well built 1.5qt… don’t use it much, just sentimental value. Hmm - maybe I could unload it on one of the kids.)
My husband and I had once discussed getting a one burner induction burner (like we used at a cooking class) just to see if we liked it. But we never pursued that idea.
So far I am liking that top pick GE. May go look at it later today ($699, claims list price is $1049)
We don’t need a lot of fancy functions in our cabin kitchen, but DH wanted the air fryer feature also, so we have this Samsung. It’s electric, not induction, but does everything we need it to do very well, and I like the low-profile look.
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I was concerned about having to buy new cookware when we switched to the induction range, but it was the only range that fit into the space where we had a Wolf gas range. It turned out that we only had to buy 4-5 pots. In addition to the cast iron pots/pans (mentioned above) all of the Le Creuset we had worked on the induction range.
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Our broken oven element (a common failure) part is under $50, easy to install ourselves. So at this point, we plan to remove the old one and reconsider our options. Our old range is 32 years old, but it is very well made. The new smoothtops seem more vulnerable to scratches than our old Corning glass top. And our current pot drawer is quite nice, even has a ridge that makes it easy for me to open with my foot. Still a new unit also has some appeal.
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Wow on your dishwashers - average is about 12 years, and that is what we have ‘run’. Latest should last because we don’t run it but maybe once a week for the two of us - not cooking much.
We built our house 22 years ago and in the last two years have replaced: a stove, two dishwashers, an ice machine, a wine cooler, a microwave, and just recently, our wall range died. The biggest problem has been getting appliances that fit into the spaces we have without having to make changes to the cabinetry/walls. For the wall oven, I called tons of appliance places and finally found a local store that sent out a technician who measured the space where the new oven would go. Based on that, the salesman found one (only one) wall oven that would fit easily–a Fisher Paykel oven.
I checked the reviews and people either love this brand or hate it!! If I order this week, I can have it installed before Christmas. (The sales person gave me $1K off and will deduct the price of the tech visit from the final price.) Anyone have experience with Fisher Paykel appliances? After this, the only appliances we haven’t replaced are the SubZero fridge and freezer. (Ugh!! I don’t want to know the price of replacing these!!)
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My in-laws are still on their original SubZero refrigerator and freezer. They built their house 40 years ago. I wish you the same good luck.
When the glass of my Dacor wall oven broke I searched for a replacement glass for the reasons you mentioned. Finding something that fit was going to be a problem. It ended up costing me over $500 for the part and labor but it was worth it. The repair person had to buy the glass used off of EBay.
We have replaced our dishwashers, the built in KitchenAid refrigerator (again had to replace with same model to fit). That was during Covid and took 11 months to come. We have also replaced the built in microwave( again with the same model to fit)
My daughter is doing a big remodeling job and it was interesting to go to the appliance store with her. So many people are now opting for ranges.
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