Sorry-can't get my iPad to upload the photo.

The Integrity wood/ultrex is a nice window, but unless you have to have wood interiors, vinyl would be more affordable. I’d recommend looking at Sunrise, Okna and Soft-lite windows for premium vinyl options.

We have a craftsman style house, so I am afraid that vinyl may look about of sync. Plus the Infinity dealer kept telling us that vinyl will never last more than 10 years, could warp, and would be less energy efficient (which seems inconsistent with some of the threads here, particularly regarding Sunrise).

I understand your concern about aesthetics, but I think you’ll find that the premium vinyl manufacturers offer windows that don’t look like the typical vinyl window. While low-end vinyl windows are susceptible to warping, the brands I had mentioned previously will hold up very well over the years, and will easily outperform the Infinity in terms of energy efficiency. While I like the Marvin Integrity and Infinity lines for aesthetics, the fact is they’re very leaky on air infiltration.

+1 to Ultra Windows feedback.

Vinyl might not fit your ideal aesthetic/visual goals. That said, there are some good looking vinyl windows these days and if you are going with a white/white window...vinyl is tough to beat on price or performance.
Most vinyl casements will have a fair clear exterior and look nice from the outside.

The Infinity salesperson's comments are laughable to be honest. Everyone knows that well engineered products hold up these days. The irony is that the Infinity is one of the draftier windows out there in the marketplace.

Just MHO, but I think vinyl windows would be a mistake aesthetically on a 1917 house. Especially cause you said they'd be on the first floor. Maybe you could get away with the look on an upper floor, but not on the first floor of a 1917 house. Don't take my word for it - go to a showroom that has any of the vinyl windows recommended here and you will see what I mean. This is not a comment on the vinyl windows' performance, just the aesthetics.

I replaced some of my Pella wood-clad (as an aside, avoid Pella) with Marvin Ultimates wood-clad double-pane. They look great and perform fantastic and I am in the Chicago area, so my climate I think might be worse than yours (this is not a competition haha). However, when I needed to replace a sliding glass patio door, the Marvin Ultimate price for it literally took my breath away. I chose instead the Marvin Integrity wood-ultrex sliding glass door which was about 30-35% less costly. I am very happy with it, and its combination of wood on the interior and low-maintenance fiberglass on the exterior. I do not have a 1917 house though, so again, check the aesthetics on the exterior before choosing to make sure it doesn't look jarring with your home's exterior.

That is good to hear! Our windows are 48" wide, for additional info. We are going to the Marvin showroom on Saturday, after spending a couple of hours reading this forum last night, I am currently leaning toward the Integrity wood/ultrex. Our interior windows will be stained a medium brown. While I appreciate that Pella does not get good reviews, and we aren't considering them because they don't make a double hung wide enough (and because of the comments I've read here), every time I look at the Pella Architect windows in our bedroom I think they are beautiful. My husband thinks fiberglass will outlast the wood, but I am not sure the EverWood will look as good.

Leighaf - just curious, how old are the Pella Architect windows you have? I agree they look very nice. But expect to have problems at 5 years old, or maybe you can get away with 7 years old if you don't open and close them often.

The Pellas are 3 years old. We rarely open them. They are in a master bedroom/bath addition on the second floor. We chose them because it's the brand our contractor used. Since we are replacing so many windows now, I have done much more research. We want a something that will last but have a similar aesthetic. Thanks!

+1 on the comments above. Today's premium vinyl windows offer a pretty compelling proposition. Service life over 30 years no problem. That said, they don't check the beauty box quite as effectively as a wood interior window, but neither does fiberglass IMO. I agree with Ultra's recommendation of the wood/ultrex integrity. It a richer looking unit with the real wood interior unlike the Infinity, and it will last much longer than a clad wood unit like pella in most cases due to the fact that the wood is better isolated from exterior moisture as Ultra also mentioned.

The everwood on the infinity is a veneer. More like a paper to be honest. Definitely not as authentic or warm feeling as the wood/ultrex combination.

We are heading up to the Marvin showroom this morning to check out the different models. I'll let you guys know what we think. I appreciate all the feedback!

So you're going with the window everybody tells you is over-hyped and under-performing? LOL!

As for "aesthetics", the 200 year old farmhouse I grew up in had all the interior of the windows (and exteriors for that matter) painted white anyway. The idea that a vinyl window would somehow reduce the appearance of an older house is quite literally ludicrous. However you can EXACTLY repeat the original windows if you want authenticity.

Just get some low-quality wavy glass with lots of bubbles in it, cut it to about 4" x 6" panes, glaze that all in to a 100% hand made wooden window with ropes and pulleys, and cover it up every winter with plastic and firring strips nailed to the frame.

Voila, authentic original windows. The same ones I grew up with.

Yeah. I'll go for a quality vinyl window EVERY SINGLE TIME. I just wish they weren't so hard to identify!

If the original inhabitants of that house had been offered even poor quality vinyl windows that had to be replaced every 8 or 10 years, they'd jump at the chance - to have a low maintenance long-lasting window with large expanses of clear glass that doesn't have to be reglazed in part or in whole every single season.

They didn't have those "original" windows because of "aesthetics". It was simply all that was affordably available to the vast majority of the public at the time.

"So you're going with the window everybody tells you is over-hyped and under-performing?"

I don't recall that being that was said and the op also stated a preference for a wood interior. As for the rest of your rant I did get a good chuckle from it, intended or not.

We have not made a decision yet. The interior of our windows will need to have a dark stain applied. We looked at samples of the EverWood stained yesterday. The light stain, frankly, did not look great. With a dark stain, however, the EverWood was indistinguishable from the real wood around the window. We have also asked for a quote for the Integrity Wood/Ultrex to compare pricing. In response to zensojourner (who seems like he or she could use a little more zen), I have probably spent five hours reading every post on this forum about Marvin Windows. The vast majority are positive, and especially once you take vinyl windows out of the equation. We are not considering vinyl because the wood look vinyl is not appealing to us. Trust me, we could put the worst modern window in our house and it would greatly outperform what we have now.

Zensojourner - your tone way out of proportion to the posts on this thread. Take it down a notch or two. I told the OP to look at vinyl windows for herself to see if she thinks the aesthetics of them go with her 1917 house; I mentioned that IMO they do not, and I am allowed to have an opinion. It is not "literally ludicrous" (hate the misuse of the word "literally" like the Kardashians and all reality TV do constantly). Love the handle "Zensojourner". And you chose that name, why?