Calvin I have found a guy here in Columbus who sets me up with an appliance set, stainless steel, almost brand new for $600 a pot.

All stainless steel.  

Proof of how many slots were rented for what length of time.

If the potential partner can't be slotted into one of these 3 reasons to be a partner, then DON'T have them as a partner:1 - Do what you can't do2 - Do what you don't want to do3 - Do what you shouldn't do.

For example, they build the steel frames from scratch from raw material and the cabinets from scratch using the parts sawed off of the floors.

Just my quick 2 cents on this, I would say the following might be some: Flexibility of termsNo credit impact (don't use one of your Fannie/Freddy slots either)Ability to quickly negotiate and adjust if something comes up where you can't payI'm sure there are more, but those are just a few

It also seems like it is a good opportunity to connect with a local self-managing landlord like myself.It feels like if I am up front with him and tell him I am a landlord a few streets over, he might feel I am wasting his time filling an appointment slot to tour his property. 

I see a lot of stainless steel refrigerators that look like banged up tin cans. 

I usually get a stainless steel package of a electric glastop stove, microwave, dishwasher and side by side fridge with icemaker for about $2,200Now I had a hard time getting a package together for under $2,800, talk about inflation.

@Jay Hinrichs, to sum it up succinctly, Texas is where Napa was in the 1960's. Lots