Janet wrote:
If you're painting them it might take an extra day. In the kitchen we
refreshed, we stripped and refinished with a tinted poly, still showing
the original natural wood, but changing the tone a bit. Also note that
there are dryer additives you can add to many finishes that will
significantly reduce the drying time.
I have both laminate and granite here and I definitely notice the
difference in noise and hardness.
I have a roughly 3' square section of granite, with the rest of the
counters laminate, and I find that to be optimal.
You can get a powerful range hood, not in stainless, and with regular
lighting which will be functionally equivalent. If you need a showcase
kitchen that is your choice, but the extra expense does not get you
extra performance.
Since I favor function over cosmetics, I've never needed to search for
an entire kitchen worth of appliances.
My current house came with a Kenmore Elite dual fuel range (made in
Canada, if I recall by Maytag) with 5 LP burners (one high output, two
simmer, two normal), a large main convection oven, and smaller non
convection side oven (electric ovens).
This range works quite well, and I've never had any issue with it's
performance. I have run out of oven space on a couple occasions and
spilled over to the oven in my camper, so if I decide to remodel a bit
I'll add a double wall oven (probably GE) to give me 3.5 ovens.
The last time I looked at wall ovens a couple years ago, if I recall GE
and Kenmore Elite had models I liked with good features at sane price
points.
Quite likely. I've used a number of GE ranges and cooktops and I haven't
had any issues, however I'm a cook, not a decorator, so I have had no
issues cooking in everything from crummy bargain basement apartment
kitchens to actual commercial kitchens.
My current kitchen has the Kenmore Elite range that came with the house,
a GE Profile Arctica refrigerator I brought with me, an ordinary GE
dishwasher that came with the house, a Sharp microwave, and a Hobart
mixer (N-50) I brought with me. Clearly I'm not one who cares about
matching appliances.
Nothing wrong with that, not everyone can DIY it all. I'm certainly not
typical since I can DIY damned near anything and do it well, even
painting, which I hate, but still do well.