I will try and answer/address some of the above comments: the bamboo steamer in the Chinese kitchen is, indeed, sitting atop a large wok on top of the second Cooktek burner. I have a gas burner in the kitchen because my large traditional clay stock pots (used to make pork or chicken stock) will not cook over induction, and also for searing meat on a cast iron griddle (done in the Chinese kitchen because of the smoke). The exhaust hood in the Chinese kitchen bobbie46, was custom made by a local company with (I think) about 1600 CFM and a large surface area for catchment, made when we thought we would be using a Robert Yick commercial propane wok cooker. It is perhaps a bit unnecessarily large as the induction woks give off no combustion fumes. In the main kitchen we used a Ventahood, the least expensive that exhausts about 900 CFM. The sprayer was one I found on the sale table that is no longer made, the pot-fillers are inexpensive commercial ones. Fancy residential companies make all these things, but they are pricey. I went into the back remainders room for them at a local plumbing supply. Cpovey, to respond to your AGA comments: I watched as the AGA was put together; it is not only insulated by the heavy cast iron itself, but a huge amount (came on its own pallet) of insulation is packed inside. Indeed, it does "leak heat", however in our house--as in England and Scandinavia-- we need the extra heat to keep our main room/kitchen warm enough in Spring, Winter and Fall. In the summer I turned it off for a little while (making it possible to really clean it)--but boy did the cooks miss it!

We put down a trex deck on east side of our home with lots of shade 3 years ago. No problems with mold until we had a very wet spring and summer in minnesota this year. I expected to have to wash and maintain this low maintenance deck. We had lots of mold staining everywhere on deck. After tring Behr deck mold and remover with no luck I was extremely unhappy. Tried Simplying Green full strength with no luck. After pulling out my hair and complaining to my husband about why he wanted composite instead of wood I told him I would have been better off spending 2 days staining a real wood deck. After lots of reading on various threads on composite decking problems and trex websites on how to clean it,I finally found a product that working amazing! I used Mold Armour ez deck wash from Home Depot. I know the product contains a bleach solution but it worked in a matter of min. I did wet down the surrounding areas with a water hose including the railings and grass. Wet down the deck boards first before applying the product with a soft brush in an ice cream pail. No scrubbing was required but I had control with application by this method. I did small section at a time and rinsed off after only 5 min or so. You can see the product work! Be careful not to let solution on boards to long because it does contain bleach and bleach will fade anything it comes in contact with. I did this project on July 4 and want to see how long mold stays away. I plan on buying a more eco friendly product in future like Corte Clean but didnlt try it this time because no stores in our area carry it and it is quite expensive. You also have to watch expiration date and have to buy it on line. Has anyone had luck with this product with mold spots and how long does the mold stay away with Corte Clean or Mold Armour? By the way my deck looks amazing and has no structure problems like some I have been hearing about. My husband built deck himself and followed all the proper guidllines to install. We also used hidden fastener system for instalation and used proper support system underneath. We have the saddle color with accents brand. Hopefully the mold issue will be a controllable one since we plan on staying ahead of it this time and not wait so long to wash it. We also had alot of snow this winter and I didnt always get out there to promply to remove snow. Let me know if you have had better luck with other products as I dont want to use a product so often that contains bleaching agents. Still wish my husband would have agreed with me to use cedar but I lost the battle and had to settle for composite. I keep telling him I told you so about composite and I am stuck with an $8,000 deck that is not low maintenance. I appreciate any feedback on a sealer or something to put down so i only have to wash deck to maintain and keep mold spots at bay. Any luck with sealers or stains?

@Windows on Washington Ltd and @quasiexpert Sorry if my last message came through in a different tone, I'd been up for awhile and was just stream of consciousness posting. From my research here on this forum, it just seems that invariably quite a few posts discount the entry level windows and recommend the Anderson 400 or Marvin Integrity ++ type windows. Hoping that I can learn from you all. Our situation is a new construction in the deep South (Birmingham AL). About 60 windows on the house. Front facing windows I believe have to be aluminum clad, the rear might be able to get way with a vinyl window. Rear will be facing the South West, but looks like there will be some tree coverage as well as decks/roofing for the majority of the windows. The builder has spec'd Piva Group vinyl windows. They are Argon filled, double glazed, Low E 366. U-factor 0.26, SHGC 0.21, Visible Transmittance 0.49 and air leakage < 0.3. He mentioned that the Anderson 100's might be within the same price range, and we would be interested in the Smart Sun if it's available with the low E4 coating to help protect the wood floors. While I can appreciate the beauty of the wood interiors, our preference is for something low maintenance and can handle sun without fading. We've never had a double hung window before and a single hung is fine. We open the windows in our current house maybe 8-10 times a year to air the house out, otherwise they stay shut. Sadly, we wash our windows even less times /duck Given the above criteria, might you have some thoughts or recommendations, or are there any additional questions I might answer?

Perhaps not, but as we know we can use the best material in the world and if not engineered properly or quality control standards adhered to you can a product that is subpar in performance. Have you had any experience with the higher quality vinyl windows, ones that have higher PG ratings, better air infiltration ratings better U-Value ratings? All these would have far better numbers than the Marvin unless you want to use there numbers that are using tests that are irrelevant .