Neo

iTrader: (3)

Hi guys,

We are in the final stretch for getting into our home. There are a few items I need to get for it:

Cooktop (Thermador)
Hood
SS kitchen sink
Kitchen faucet
Washer/Dryer
Granite Countertops

I've been to the Home Depot (regular and Expo), Lowes, Sears, and BestBuy. I am now looking into more independent (not chain) stores to see what is available.

I am just pick your brains to see if you have had good (or bad) personal experiences with any shops in particular. I am in the OC area right now and will eventually be in the Murrieta/Temecula area so shops in either areas would be OK.

Thanks.

aznxguy714

hey congrads on the home. Exciting isn't it. I bought a house in sept 2004 in victorville but i stay out in huntington beach most of the time and go home on the weekends. anyways have you checked out The great indoors. there is one located in irvine ca. its a 130,000 sq.-ft. store, you'll find over 80,000 great selections for your home including:

• Appliances
• Home Entertainment
• Kitchen & Bathroom Remodeling
• Flooring
• Lighting
• Home Furnishings

check out their website at http://www.thegreatindoors.com. I bought stuff from there and than most of my appliances i bought from this place like near where i bought my house. Had some really good deals and it was not one of those name brand stores or have you ever tried like bizrate or shopzilla.com. I saved like over 500 bucks on this 55" flat panel lcd tv buying it from shopzilla thanks to my folks. i had originally purchased it from circuit city but they don't price guarentee with websites so i returned it and ordered it online, same warrenty and stuff. anyways congrads again.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

theres also a great place for furniture if u ened it in Chino off of central.

Willha418

pacific sales in irvine. i believe on main and cartwright... somewhere in that area, cant remember.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

We went through Expo when we bought our kitchen appliances. Thermador, Ventahood, Kitchenaid. There was a rebate at the time and the delivery charge was flat rate, so we loaded up based on that.

Just as an FYI: call Thermador and take in one of the cooking demo's they put on in Huntington Beach. You'll get a demonstration of the products and a nice meal. Figure about 2 hours some odd for this demo. You can also arrange to use the test kitchen to try out the proposed products. They were very accomodating when we were planning our kitchen.

If you are considering a cooktop with XLO, the XLO setting can be problemmatic. Have read of incidents on the HomeGarden web and our's had had the solenoid replaced. It may also buzz which is kinda annoying. Aside from that, I feel is is an excellent user cooktop and we've had it for 4 years now. Oven has been excellent.

The Ventahood with halogen option we like. Not as quiet as a remote fan but liveable.

Pacific Sales in Cerritos snubbed us. We told the guy we were looking at Viking stoves and ovens but he didn't care. We approached several different sales people and were basically ignored.

Our choice for countertops was a quartz composite, Caesar Stone. I have some friends in the lapidary trade and their suggestion was that for a working surface that this was suitable for our uses. After a day she sprays them with bleach and wipes it off. I'd have had some stainless countertops built but she didn't want that full commercial look. The finger prints are enough of a PITA.

Neo

iTrader: (3)

Thands for the detailed info RA40.

It is a little disconcerting to hear about the XLO burner problems. DO all XLO burners work the same way? I read about the ones on the cooktop cycling on/off to perform the simmering. Does the pro cooktops (rangetops) do the same thing? This is the one I am looking at getting:


http://www.thermador.com/product.cfm?product_id=30

We are also looking at the Ventahood wall-mount range hood. The way the cabinets are setup, we can only do a 36". How is the power with only 600cfm? Do you feel their claim of "equivalent" 900cfm is justified (even partially)?

Looks like these pieces will be similar in our kitchens.

As for the countertops, we considered the man-made stones for price and ease of maintenance but the surface is just way to uniform. The patterns created by the nature in the granite slabs just pop to us. Yes, it is a bit more work but we are willing to try to do the upkeep.

We went to Pacific Sales in Cerritos a few months back. They were somewhat helpful when they finally came around but we just used it as a showroom to see some pieces in an installed environment.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Neo-

We have the SGX365ZS. The burner that had given us the problem is the small 8,000BTU. As far as I recall, they all cycle the same. In the 4 years, perhaps they have improved on the electronics. I would say simplier is better but she does use the XLO like a dozen times in the year. Whether the added cost is justified... In the demo, they put chocolate chips on a paper plate and melted the chocolate chips while not catching the plate on fire. That was impressive.

I like the front mounted ***** and the one you have pictured is the style I originally wanted. If you can demo this one at working height, I recco it. While the ***** are generally hook free, they protruded enough that she got a bruise when working up against the cooktop. Since she is sometimes prone to bumping into things, we felt the ***** and she was safer with a top mount. YMMV.

Our Ventahood is the SL9 in 48" with halogen lighting (600 cfm fans). We use it mostly on low and it is more than adequate to clear the air. On high, it moves a lot of air. I don't think I've had any issues with whatever she is cooking overwhelm the house. That is a combination of the oven and cooktop going. Cleaning it isn't bad and I preferred it over the screen type systems. The Viking was quieter but I didn't think the hood was as well made. The Ventahood felt thicker and the welds were clean. Viking had tacky welds IMO.

Go with granite...the natural stone has appeal due to the random pattern.

Neo

iTrader: (3)

There are 2 schools of thought; one where you are able to really maintain a very low flame and the other with what Thermadore is doing. I am not really sure which is better but I have heard that the clicking of the ignition on and off can be annoying.

Sadly, I did not even consider this as an issue. Although I don't think it will be a problem, I will test it out to make sure. Thanks.

Good to know. I think having a 48" width help coverage but the 21" may or may not hinder you. We have the reverse problem. We don't have enought width but are getting the 27" depth to help. We are considering the PRXH18 or NPXH18 in 36".

stock4now

With regard to the granite counter tops, I would suggest looking on State College Blvd in Anaheim. They have an area called "tile row" where there are several shops selling tile at discounted prices. My girlfriend just finished putting in a granite counter top in her place. She actually did granite tiles and it looks great. I know people might have something against tiles and say that slab is better, but it's nice. I can email you pictures if you're interested. I can also get you the # for the person she used for the install.

Neo

iTrader: (3)

Where along State College Blvd are these shops?

As for the tiles, we had them in our last home. We got in late so the builder picked that option. It was nice enough but after awhile, we just did not like the grout. Also, because they are tiles, there was not a soft edge to it. There is also grout there the top tiles meet the edge pieces. These areas are somewhat rough.

Funny story about the roughness. After about a year of living in the last house, I started noticing that the bottom parts of my shirts were getting frayed. It started with only a few shirts so I just chalked it up to wear and tear. Eventually, too many of my t-shirts and polos were getting damaged so I started going . They started to become little holes as time went by. I was like WTF for the longest time trying to figure out why. It could not be any kind of moth or anything because these holes were forming in roughly the same spot.

It took me a few years to get to this point and I developed a theory. When I cook, clean, prep on the counters and island, I tend to lean up against the granite. After enough times, the shirt would rub on the counter/island edge. There, the shirts probably encountered the tile edge, the grout between the tile tops, and the grout between the tile tops and sides. I cannot say 100% that this is the cause. I did, however, tested several of my shirts and sure enough, the damage on the shirts was exactly in that area of the counters.

So, just in case, you be careful when you are over and tell your GF to be careful.

stock4now

If you exit the 91 frwy at State College blvd, head south for about 3 miles and you will begin to see warehouses and showrooms on your left and right hand side.

As for the tiles in your previous home, if am understanding you correctly, it's the edge of the tiles that would fray your shirts. You probably didn't get what is called "bull nosed" tiles then. The place where my girlfriend got her tiles sent the tiles out to be "bull nosed" (at an additional cost). This is a process where they smooth out the edges of the tile so that there is a nice smooth, round curvature so that when it is installed, you can see the rounded edges on your counter top. The place where she got hers also sells granite slab.

Neo

iTrader: (3)

Thanks stock4now. I will see if I have time to go down there.

As for the tiles, the builder did what they did before we bought the house. We never looked into what can be done with tiles because we were always interested in a slab, both then and now. I don't know how thick tiles can be but ours were not that thick (10-15mm). The way they installed it, they had the tile on top, then grout below the thin tile edge (basically under the tile), and then a side piece about 1-1.5".

So if you are looking at the counter/island at counter eye-level, you see a pattern of grout crosses where the to part of the cross is the grout in between the top tiles, the horizontal part is the long grout (the length of the counter or island) that attaches to the side granite pieces, and the bottom vertical part is the grout in between the side tile pieces. There was a soft bezel to the top tiles but nothing close to a bullnose.

With this layout, it is not necessarily just the edge but whereever there is a grout/tile transition. The grout itself is also not completely smooth. All this just makes for a lot of roughness in that area. I am not saying it will snag and create a hole right away. It took me months/years to start to notice some holes.

If what your GF has is setup differently, you may not have this issue. Again, I don't know about tile options. Our slab will definitely have a a simple bullnose (not sure about single or double).

RA40

iTrader: (6)

The XLO works very well for maintaing low heat applications. Hearing the ignitor click on may be annoying but it doesn't bother us. I forget how Viking, Dacor and Wolf do their low settings.

In the previous kitchen, I'd bonk myself in the forehead when I would lean over to check the back burners. At 5'7" I'm not tall and in some homes, the hood is even lower. We designed the hood to have 32" from cooktop to edge. Once the airflow is establish, I have not seen smoke travel outside the hood. Many variables and if I had more counter depth, I might have opted for a deeper one. Ventahood had ours made & shipped sub 3 weeks.

The tile places on State College begin at Ball Road and continue south past Edison Field. A good mile or so of shops. A bit further south just past the 5 FWY is the Block of Orange. ..a wealth of eating places to much down while pondering all the choices from the tile/stone shops.