Cooktops and a House Visit

Early this afternoon, I went to Lowe's, to look at cooktops. I pretty much knew that I wanted Jenn Air, because that's what we have in my parents' house. Narrowing it down to a brand doesn't make it that much easier. I have until Tuesday morning to decide which one I want or at least know the size of the cutout. I'm primarily looking at two models. One is the JED8430, which has four radiant heat glass/ceramic smoothtop burners and the other is the JED8230, which is modular. The modular one comes with one grill cartridge and one open bay, so you have to buy a burner cartridge, which is extra. In theory, you could get two burner cartridges and just keep the grill one for when you want to grill something. You can get either electric coil or the radiant smooth top cartridges. One of the things I like about the JED8430 is there is a small burner that is close to the edge, in addition to the large one. I don't think you can get that with the cartridges, because you can't turn them around. Of course, I can go around to the other side, since it will be on a peninsula, but the small burner is the one I will use the most often. I don't know how often I would want to use the grill cartridge, but probably not that frequently. Looking at the pictures again, I'm not even sure that I wouldn't prefer the black one over the white one. How will I ever decide?!

Not too long after I got back from Lowe's, I met JJ, EB, MP and their friend, D, at the new house. It had been a while since I had been there, so I noticed a lot of progress. The fireplace has been installed, which looks very cool. They are starting to put the insulation in the attic. All the electrical work looks all tidy now and there are several air ducts in the attic. All the exterior doors are installed, except for the main garage door. Unfortunately, that still allows birds to get in. There was a dead finch in the great room and D rescued another small bird by catching it and releasing it out the front door. The sheetrock has to go up before the garage door can be installed. It's all moving along pretty fast, though!

Actually, I may have just found a cartridge that has the small burner closer to the front. I don't know if this will make my decision any easier or if it will even work with this model of modular cooktop. I'll have to investigate further... According to the manual, the answer is no. That cartridge model won't work. It must be for one of their other cooktop lines.