maurdel

Yes, they are not as deep as a standard fridge. But, it looks like you'd have room for a very wide one, so it might still work. When we redid our kitchen, we really didn't have any choice but to get a counter-depth fridge, if we wanted to be able to open the pantry door. I compensated by buying a no-frills regular sized fridge and sticking it in a storage closet in our sunroom. It's worked great. I keep often-used stuff in the smaller kitchen fridge. We use the other one for wine and beer and the freezer for the stuff I put up in summer. At holidays, I cram both full. onrushpam, you are right, the counter depth would look very good there. I think they are better looking fridges all around. I think I am working with the very same fridge set-up as you describe. There are a lot of different counter depth fridges on the mkt. now. I actually like it that they are not so deep, I can easily see everything. Nothing seems to disappear in the "way back". The fridge seems to stay better organized. You may not be able to slide a half-sheet in the long way, but other than that I think it's a better configuration. Chris A. looks like he has plenty of room to work with either way.

I am going to edit this idea after looking at your pics again. Replace the thermidors and the cabinets above and below with a refrigerator nook. It looks plenty big enough and much closer to the sink. Then, as I suggested above, have new double ovens installed where the old fridge is.

How about this idea: Keep the Thermidors, use one for storage and the other as a warming/dough rising oven. Install a new double oven cabinet in the space where the fridge is now (since you don't like that location anyway, it looks pretty tight for a new fridge anyway) and figure out another site for a big refrigerator. That's a fantastic kitchen! What a huge number of cabinets. Congrats.

I believe you can tell by the recycling number which should be on the bottom of all plastics, in the triangle of arrows. It is my understanding that 1 & 2 are food safe. Number 7 is definitely not. The following link has a good explanation of the codes: http://ecovillagegreen.com/2009/04/what-do-the-plastic-recycling-numbers-mean/

I'm not sure if this would fit into your idea of french garniture but it seemed an interesting way to handle the sidedish trouble. I was reading a food blogger the other day who has found a new vegie solution of his own. It involves keeping a vegie broth at hand (in his case a corn broth) and mixing a melange of vegies into it and serving the star of the meal on top. alforno blog"]alforno blog hope that link works maybe this one: alforno blog

I was shopping in my Fresh Market in Little Rock about 2 weeks ago and they were selling "Fresh Corn from Florida" It was pretty fresh, pretty sweet bi-color. Does Florida have a winter crop???? Nice to have had it.

They seem to like OXO over at that test kitchen. Oxo sponsors lots of PBS cooking shows. Often times though, I'll give them credit, it is not the favorite choice.

I refuse to buy any OXO. I bought two vegie peelers, both broke in a very short time. Got no response when I tried to contact OXO. Now have acquired 2 or 3 other brands that work great AND have lasted quite a long time (a couple of them were also less expensive). I had something else........ can't even remember, Oh, a type of spatula. Threw it away. I do remember all these things leaking water after washing, as someone else mentioned. Now I make a point to tell others to avoid OXO because they are everywhere and it seems like other choices are becoming rare.

How did you measure the effectiveness of your methods? I do my fruit cleaning with almost blind faith that I am having some impact.

We use filtered tap water for most cooking, coffee, tea ... even washing produce. I use spring bottled water for bread baking, starters. Though filtering removes the harmful chlorine, it apparently also removes many beneficial minerals which the yeast likes. Hopefully my choice of spring water has all the right minerals. Bread seems happy. Many restaurants do use filtered water. I guess you'll just have to ask each one. Also, filters will vary in quality of output. I was visiting a local hospital a couple of weeks ago; I was told the water was filtered, it tasted terrible. I could smell it before it hit my lips. Our city tap water is notoriously good. I wonder what kind of filter they could be using that would make the water worse than untreated tap?

Can anyone say if a break like this could result from improper handling while sharpening the knife? Could the metal become stressed during the sharpening procedure? Just wondering if there is something else to be worried about when I hand the knives over for sharpening.

The very same thing happened to me about 3 years ago. The blade of my favorite Henckels paring knife snapped. I wrote to Henckels online. Apparently reaching Germany. They offered me the US email and an address to send in the broken knife. They also wrote Henckels USA a note to do an exchange when I send in my broken knife. They said they would like to see the break to see if there was a defect, for their own edification. Very nice, and pretty quick as I remember. I am so happy to have that knife back. It truly was my favorite. ...now if I could only find someone I could trust with sharpening.

Very recently, I heard that common white vinegar is effective in removing the waxy coatings put on fruit and vegies. When I don't do the boiling water dunk & wipe, I will soak fruit in water with some white vinegar, then wipe well. I have no way of measuring real effect, but I do it with good intention and can only hope it is cleaner than when I started.

Sometimes I think it may have to do with the "eating conditions". If it is stand-up eating, some people don't like to get too involved with the food, therefore a cookie is chosen because it's easier to eat than a whole slice of pie. If there is a lot of mingling, someone might not want to eat garlicky, spicy stuff. Or perhaps something is too messy, lot's of sauce and they are wearing special clothes, so they don't want to risk drips. These may sound a bit silly but it may well depend on the situation, and what folks might feel more comfortable eating in certain social situation. But I do agree, you have to know your "audience". They may have different ideas of what constitutes good party food.

Though I have not been participating in this challenge, I have in fact done a week or 2 several times in the past on my own and it barely made a dent. I've enjoyed checking in on all of you and from what i've seen I'm now worried I don't keep enough on hand What I will be curious to see, and I hope it becomes the continuation of this exercise, is what folks will decide to buy first major shopping trip, and which particular items would all of you stock up on again. Also, would there be any new items you will add to your regular pantry. Thanks for the good read.