MelissaH's Kitchen (Renovation) Dreams

[MelissaH]

Oh! I forgot to mention: We tested out the oven last night. At the supermarket yesterday, we got the parts for my favorite initial oven test: two cans of "whomp" biscuits. I followed the directions on the can, and the biscuits were done right in the middle of the time range given in the instructions, which means that my oven's thermostat is pretty darned accurate. Furthermore, the biscuits browned evenly, which means that the oven is also pretty even-heating. The second can of biscuits is waiting in the fridge still, since as it turned out we didn't need to adjust anything and try again.

We ate the resulting biscuitoids with local strawberries, macerated in a touch of sugar while we ate dinner, and ice cream. Yum.

Watch out, butter cake recipe!

MelissaH

[MelissaH]

All the really big stuff is now done, unless you count backsplash and toekicks as big.

Painting the dining room wall and ceiling was a group effort. My husband and cousin put the first coat of paint on the wall:

(see, they have faces!)

And then I finished up the task. Once the paint had dried and we removed all the blue tape from the fan and the ceiling, we brought up the dining room table. It's a perfect fit for the space, looks good with the cabinets, and is a huge improvement over our previous table. The new chairs also work well, and the new fan looks terrific with everything. I'm thrilled and delighted with the improved dining room, as well as the new kitchen.

(Yup, that's the same old molding around the door. We might replace it when we build the box around the former baseboard heater pipe.)

The changes are getting smaller and smaller, harder to see unless someone points them out. Probably the biggest thing in this picture is that the under-cabinet fluorescent lights are installed, as are the valances to hide the lights themselves. There's stuff in the cabinets (and I like how the textured glass doors hide any messiness inside) and stuff on the countertops. (The wine bottle is Ravenswood Zin, Vintner's Blend 2004, IIRC.) We've even got some of the decorative stuff up. The towel is what we've been using to dry the stuff that gets hand-washed. We need to find a better solution for that. The window molding (and painting the quarter-round trim with three coats of shiny paint, same color as the ceiling) really finished off that area.

The hood vent is also in. That took a bit of doing, and we wound up with a cap and flange that will need to be painted so they don't corrode. But the ventilation system works, well enough that after cooking shrimp and scallops indoors, there was virtually no trace left behind. It took a bit of doing to get the vent cover installed, because the only way to attach the cover to the hood is to basically sit on the stove and reach up. I didn't take any pictures of that. We also don't really have a great place to keep the giant roll of plastic wrap, which we acquired in the process of packing everything up to move here three years ago. Sooner or later we'll use it all up, and go back to normal-sized rolls of the stuff that fit nicely in a drawer with the aluminum foil and baking parchment and ziplock bags.

I've used the oven AND the baking area now. We had cherries and blueberries to use up, and I have a dishwasher to clean the food processor after I use it. So I pitted the cherries, and kludged a pie together. I started the night before, oiling the butcher block with a thick coat of mineral oil. In the morning, I wiped off the oil that hadn't soaked in, and realized that it really could use a light sanding. So I hauled out the old pastry board, and rolled my dough on that. (I'll be sanding after dinner tonight, so next time I can use the butcher block for its intended purpose.) The filling turned out well, but the crust wound up a bit tougher than I would like. I think that's because I used the food processor to mix in the water, which I almost never do, so next time I'll go back to folding in the liquid by hand. But I did weave a beautiful lattice top, that would have been even prettier had I remembered to brush it with something and then sprinkle it with a touch of sugar to make it sparkle and shine. Oh well, it still nicely showed off the cherry-berry filling inside. I've also now sacrificed the first bit of skin to the kitchen god: I touched the oven rack with my bare wrist. I got ice on it right away, though, and it didn't even blister. (Note to self: if someone asks what we need for the kitchen, tell them some nice LONG oven mitts! Kitchen god and construction god are two different things, and the construction god got many blood sacrifices in the course of building the kitchen.) I tested out the convection function of the oven with the pie. Don't know what difference that may have made.

The towels hanging from the oven door were a gift from our friend Bruce.

The ceiling and walls have been patched and touched up now. All that remains is some of the light valances and the aforementioned toekick and backsplash work. Today's purchases included some boards to make threshold pieces, for the doorway and the transition to the dining room carpet. (No sense in going through a lot of effort for those, because the carpet will be GONE within a couple of years at most, and when we put hardwood in, we'll need to redo those transitions anyway.)

Random thoughts:

*I'm definitely seeing good reasons to keep the fridge door as it is, not reversing it. If I'm in the baking area working, someone else can get into the fridge without disturbing me!

*Lyon tried to go under the cabinets yesterday. He stuck his head underneath, looked around, and then decided that he really didn't want to go there. Toekicks are definitely a good idea in our kitchen.

*When I oiled the butcher block and left it to absorb overnight, someone went exploring. I found oily pawprints on the laminate countertop next to the butcher block the next morning. Don't know if it's related to the 5 AM hairball. <yuk!>

*I should remember to pick up a brand-new paintbrush to oil the two other sections of butcher block. It should be easier than wiping oil on with a washcloth, won't get my hands as gunked up as the washcloth, and probably (I hope) won't leave behind as much lint.

*This kitchen is amazing, because it lets us do things we like, that never would have been possible before. Even stupid things like someone doing dishes (meaning, "someone loading the dishwasher") and another person prepping food.

*We like being able to seat as many people as we could ever want around the table.

*The cats have taken a liking to our new red IKEA chairs. We need to get a lint brush to keep nearby.

*I should really make some Korova Cookies in the very near future. And something with salty caramel, since I have such an embarrassment of wonderful French salts. Maybe some caramel ice cream, to go with Korova Cookies? There was a recipe in the new Gourmet magazine that looked promising. There are four freezer canisters in the deep freeze, just waiting for me.

*I should start thinking of things to feed our friends for when we hold the Kitchen-Viewing Party. The tapas book by Jose Andres will probably have some good ideas...like the potato chip tortilla. Should test that out.

*This must mean life is getting back to normal, WRT kitchen matters, because I'm spending more time actually planning things to cook rather than making building decisions or daydreaming about impossibilities.

MelissaH

[Lori in PA]

Melissa, I'm so pleased for you that everything is coming together. I haven't read every word, but I've followed you with interest. How long has the project lasted, start until almost-finished?

[MelissaH]

Melissa, I'm so pleased for you that everything is coming together.  I haven't read every word, but I've followed you with interest.  How long has the project lasted, start until almost-finished?

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Lori,

We started packing up stuff from the kitchen on 1 June. The dumpster came the next day. Before the end of the month, we were cooking in the new kitchen. That's about a month sooner than we'd originally figured! (We attribute the speed to three things: first, the lack of nasty surprises; second, the IKEA cabinets going together and in much more easily than we'd figured on; and finally, everything being delivered early so we didn't get stuck waiting.

We had fish for dinner last night. Nothing too exciting: some tilapia filets from the freezer, defrosted and cooked in olive oil and butter. But the exciting part is that our vent hood works! Had I not known that we were cooking fish for dinner, I wouldn't have known at all! Hooray for hoods!

As far as totally finished, we're still close. Other (work-related) projects have taken precedence over the last day or two, but maybe over the weekend we'll get nearer the end. I did buy a brand-new paintbrush today, which I'll dedicate to mineral oil for the butcher block sections of countertop. Tonight I plan to give both sections around the range their first coats of oil. If they suck all that in overnight, I'll do it again first thing when I wake up tomorrow, and then lightly sand them down just before dinner. My goal is to have the countertops totally ready to go before the weekend, so I can crank out some fresh pasta for the first time since forever.

Tonight is market night. It's a beautiful day today, sunny with light breeze and temps in the low 70s, so it will be a wonderful market night. I'm hoping to find some good pie filling material, but I think it still might be a little early.

MelissaH

[Kouign Aman]

I'm right there with your cats - I like your new red IKEA chairs too!

Congrats on getting so much done, so fast, and so personallized. All that planning time really paid off, eh? :happy dance:

Dishwasher drying - we shut ours off when it gets to the dry cycle, crack open the door, and things dry well. Sometimes we have to mop off the tops of mugs etc after we crack it open. Perhaps that option will have a place for you occasionally too, if its not completely drying over night.

[StephMac]

Oh, it's lovely! And all the more so for the sweat and effort and work you've put into the choices and layout and construction. Bravo!

I do have a fridge question - you said at one point that you have an Amana bottom-freezer fridge... how do you like it? We need to get a new fridge for our new house (whoo-hoo!), and hubbie is pushing hard for a bottom-freezer. The dilemma now is whether to get a fridge like yours or splurge for the french-door types, since the smaller doors won't block off the kitchen walkway when open. Any advice or opinions?

P.S. I can't wait to see what the lion looks like on the wall

[MelissaH]

I'm right there with your cats - I like your new red IKEA chairs too!

Congrats on getting so much done, so fast, and so personallized. All that planning time really paid off, eh? :happy dance:

We actually started thinking about renovating a kitchen, oh, about seven or eight years ago. That was in the house we lived in before we moved here. That kitchen was a completely different shape, which presented completely different challenges. But we started talking about what we liked and didn't like, and what we wanted from a renovation, that long ago. Ultimately, we moved out before doing much work on that kitchen, but we were able to use quite a bit of that planning in the process of planning this kitchen.

In retrospect, I'm very happy we spent so much time planning. We knew we'd be on a tight time budget, and by having most of the decisions made before we even started, we were able to get done ahead of schedule. That, having a handy husband, and not finding anything horrific enabled this project to proceed well.

Dishwasher drying - we shut ours off when it gets to the dry cycle, crack open the door, and things dry well. Sometimes we have to mop off the tops of mugs etc after we crack it open. Perhaps that option will have a place for you occasionally too, if its not completely drying over night.

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Yeah, stuff in the DW doesn't necessarily get completely dry. Especially things like the bottoms of mugs which have a bit of a lip so they hold water, or the lip of an upside-down Rubbermaid container. There's no dry cycle clearly marked on the Bosch, so what we've started doing is running it through its cycle last thing before we go to bed, and then in the morning popping it open slightly (and dumping out the bottoms of mugs, etc.) but not actually putting things away then. The bigger issue for us right now is the stuff that gets hand-washed: the good knives, the hand-blown glasses, the ice cream scoops. They sit out overnight, and when it's humid they don't get completely dry by morning. That happens sometimes in the summer, but more often in the winter when all the windows are closed and it's snowing a couple of inches every day. I guess we might have to start drying things by hand, if they don't get dry sitting out overnight. But I'm not complaining, as it beats washing everything by hand!

Speaking of dry: I've been oiling butcher block like mad. For some reason, the two surfaces on either side of the range are drinking mineral oil like it's gone out of style. I'm completely out, and there are *still* sections that will easily take more oil in. Guess I need to go to the drugstore tomorrow and pick up another bottle.

Last night, when I went to bed I left a thickish coating of oil on the butcher block. In the morning I found little oily kittyprints on the front of the range. And tonight, there was another hairball on the floor. Coincidence?

Oh, it's lovely!    And all the more so for the sweat and effort and work you've put into the choices and layout and construction. Bravo!

Thanks! Most of the sweat and effort and work belongs to my husband, not to me. My part was really in the planning, but that was a joint effort too.

I do have a fridge question - you said at one point that you have an Amana bottom-freezer fridge... how do you like it? We need to get a new fridge for our new house (whoo-hoo!), and hubbie is pushing hard for a bottom-freezer. The dilemma now is whether to get a fridge like yours or splurge for the french-door types, since the smaller doors won't block off the kitchen walkway when open. Any advice or opinions?

Advice: Think carefully about whether a counter-depth fridge would make a difference to you. We don't have one, because two years ago you paid a huge premium to get counter-depth, but the only options available seemed to be side-by-side, which I don't like at all. Things have gotten a little better since then, but you still pay a premium for the counter-depth. And if you don't want side-by-side, you pretty much get stuck with french doors on a top fridge, which is nice but costs you even more.

We love having the freezer on the bottom. It means that the fridge is on top, so there's no bending to get into the veggie drawers. However, with our narrow kitchen, the big door causes a little trouble, because it's so...urm...big. The designer's original plan called for the fridge to be right opposite the range, which wouldn't have worked because the door handle would have banged into the oven handle and we couldn't have opened the fridge. A french-door version would have solved the problem, but boy, they're pricey!

We didn't care about having water in the door. It's not that big a deal for us. YMMV.

One thing I'd definitely look at is the freezer door vs. drawer options available. I know Amana makes both, or at least they did at the time we were looking two years ago. We really like our drawer. I think you may lose a little bit of freezer space with the drawer, but it's really easy to get at. (We have friends with a bottom-freezer door.) Again, if you want a counter depth model, your choices will probably be limited.

P.S. I can't wait to see what the lion looks like on the wall 

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I'm about ready to put a Lyon on the wall sometimes, as I'm nearly positive he's the guilty party who knocked over a half-full water glass on the dining room table last night while we slept! (I think this because Leo spent most of the night on his pillow, which is on our bed.) Fortunately, most of the water soaked into a placemat and the tablecloth, and the table's finish wasn't damaged at all. We're apparently still in the new-surface-that-must-be-fully-explored phase, according to the cats. And the old dining room table and countertops being off limits apparently doesn't mean diddlysquat about the new dining room table and countertops!

We're going to Syracuse tomorrow, to run errands. Among other things, we discovered a paint specifically designed to paint on glass. You paint it on, let it dry for 24 hours, put the glass item in a cold oven, slowly heat it up to 325 °F, and then turn the oven off and let the oven and item cool together. At the end of the cooling, the paint is baked onto the glass more or less permanently, and gives a stained-glass effect. We've found a Lion of Flanders emblem on line (the official version, black with white trim inside and red tongue and claws) that we were able to enlarge without destroying the resolution, and printed a tiled version that's nice and big. We're going to see if we can find some of the glass paint and test it out. If we like the effect, we'll be ordering a big sheet of glass from our local supplier, taping our lion emblem underneath, and painting on the glass.

Also on our list: looking for 4 inch square bullnose tiles, to use in the backsplash. We're going to do 2-by-6 bullnose tiles for most of the backsplash. But we realized that the butcher block in the baking area is a smidge thicker than the laminate that butts up to it. If we used the same tile, straight as it comes, we'd wind up with a little bit of a bump that would look like a mistake. So we can either trim the bottom edge of the tiles that would form the backsplash over the butcher block to get a common tiletop height, or we can get a different tile entirely for that area, to make it look completely different and therefore not a mistake. We've opted for the larger tiles, but our Lowe's doesn't have them. Home Depot seems to have a better selection of tiles. If the HD glossy black doesn't match the Lowe's glossy black of our 2-by-6es, I'm lobbying for glossy red to match the lion's tongue and claws.

I now have toekicks all the way around, and light valances everywhere except over the lights to the right of the baking area (which is hidden by the fridge anyway). Tomorrow I may get the last light valance, and we should also be able to mount the paper towel holder. I haven't had a paper towel holder since I moved away from home! (I'm so excited to have a home for my paper towels that's off the countertop!)

What's left: backsplashes (as described above), threshold pieces for both floor transitions, and shelf for iPod. We've pretty much settled on the under-counter mounting system from iHome, but haven't ordered it yet. I'd like to have a subwoofer, but when I look for the one with the subwoofer that was supposed to be available on 1 July, nobody seems to have it and it's nowhere on the iHome Web site. I wonder if it got delayed. In any case, we can't put in the shelf until we know what's going on it, and we both like the idea of keeping the iPod safely out of harm's way.

Time for me to go push oil around on the countertops, to move it from the areas that have apparently taken in all they can to the areas that need more. I'll be glad when that's all evened out.

Must remember to get heavy cream. I have eggs already. I want to make that caramel ice cream recipe. (Two things to do on the new stove: make caramel and cook eggs for custard!)

MelissaH

[Anna N]

...

The bigger issue for us right now is the stuff that gets hand-washed: the good knives, the hand-blown glasses, the ice cream scoops. They sit out overnight, and when it's humid they don't get completely dry by morning. That happens sometimes in the summer, but more often in the winter when all the windows are closed and it's snowing a couple of inches every day. I guess we might have to start drying things by hand, if they don't get dry sitting out overnight. But I'm not complaining, as it beats washing everything by hand!

....

MelissaH

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Don't know if this will help but I put a towel on the counter then a cooling rack to hold the dishes/cutlery. The hand washed items dry quickly because the air can fully circulate.

[Varmint]

And you may have already mentioned this about the dishwasher, but make sure that you've set it to use the high water temperature feature. It's not as energy efficient, but the dishes do get dryer.

[MelissaH]

Don't know if this will help but I put a towel on the counter then a cooling rack to hold the dishes/cutlery.  The hand washed items dry quickly because the air can fully circulate.

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One possibility that I've come up with: when we were doing dishes by hand, we regularly filled the dish drainer that sat in the second tub of the double sink. So we got a wooden cutting board, and my husband ran it through the dado blade of the table saw both ways, to cut a criss-cross with holes so air can circulate. We set this wooden drainboard over a kitchen towel, as a supplement. The only problem with the wooden drainboard is that if really wet stuff went on it, the water caused the board to arch and bend. (When it dries out, it flattens again.) I'm thinking it may be time to put this special board in with the cutting boards, so that when we hand-wash stuff, it's easy to get at, but when we don't need it, it lives out of sight.

And you may have already mentioned this about the dishwasher, but make sure that you've set it to use the high water temperature feature.  It's not as energy efficient, but the dishes do get dryer.

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I'll have to look into this, to see if we have things set properly. There doesn't seem to be much to set temperature-wise on this dishwasher, at least that's obvious: just six buttons on the front panel, plus a power button. I'll have to read through the manual again, since there doesn't seem to be one on-line for quick reference now, but I'm wondering if part of the issue might be our lack of rinse agent. We don't use a rinse agent because it leaves a film on everything in the dishwasher. The problem with a film is that it would kill the head on beer poured into glasses. Something I read on line talks about the DW automatically adjusting the water temperature, so it may or may not be something I have any control over.

In other news: we have music in the kitchen now!

We ran errands in Syracuse this morning, and decided to stop in to BJ's (our warehouse club) because they're the least expensive source for the kitty litter we use (among other things). And lo and behold, we found the iHome under-counter iPod dock for about 2/3 the cost of Amazon. We liked this dock because it has a radio (FM, TV, and weather band) and because it actually pulls the iPod inside, out of harm's way. So we got it, and as you can see, my husband has installed the outlet and shelf for it. (I suspect he'll patch the drywall tonight, so we can finish painting the wall tomorrow.) It looks good and sounds great. The remote conveniently comes with a magnet, so it's attached to the fridge. If anyone takes it off the fridge and does not put it back on the fridge, I will wring their neck! Our other BJ's purchases were not tremendously interesting, other than the two racks of ribs which are currently on the grill. I'll be making a batch of =Mark's South Carolina mustard barbecue sauce once my husband finishes in the kitchen. He's doing the last of the light valances right now. Tomorrow I suspect he'll be working on the threshold pieces.

We did look at tiles at Home Depot. They had the black 4-by-4 bullnose tiles...two of 'em. I think what we'll wind up doing is going back to Lowe's and getting normal 4-by-4 tiles, which we'll then edge with the 2-by-6 bullnose. We can even get 2-by-2 double-bullnose tiles for corners.

We got some glossy paint (not the stained-glass stuff I mentioned before, but something that's supposedly opaque) at the craft store, which supposedly bakes onto glass, and we'll experiment with a Lion of Flanders on some scrap.

As soon as I got home, I realized that I'd forgotten to add a stop to the drugstore to our list of errands, to get another bottle of mineral oil. I realized this because I looked at the butcher blocks next to the stove, and noticed that they were pretty much dry, despite nobody doing anything to rub in the oil. Definitely time for another coat tonight! Since it's been a glorious day here, I jumped on my bike and rode the mile and a half or so downtown. (When I was a student, I had no car so I rode my bike everywhere. Ask me sometime about transporting a vacuum cleaner 50 miles on the back of my bike. Since Ohio, though, I haven't done much utility cycling. I'm slightly appalled by the lack of good places to lock up a bike here!) I found my bottle of mineral oil; the Wayne Drugs in downtown Oswego had both light and heavy versions. I went for the heavy, since it was about half the cost of the light. I'll coat the counters one more time tonight, and I hope that will do the trick for a month or so.

Now that we've pretty much cleared out the electrical appliances from the downstairs temporary kitchen, we've been able to put good things in there. For one thing, we finally got the dehumidifier up and running. This is important because the family room is in the lower floor of our house, and the tiles on the floor were laid pretty much right on the concrete slab. The concrete acts as a giant heat sink and stays at a constant temperature year-round, so the floor feels really cool in the summer. (How cold? Cold enough that the Lyon Thermometer says "Cold!" and he hops on three feet!) We start to have an issue if it gets humid in the summer: the warm humid air hits the cold tile, the humidity in the air condenses onto the tiles, and voilà! we have droplets or puddles on the family room floor. For the past two summers, a dehumidifier took care of the problem. We'd sit it on the bar, run the hose into the barsink, and turn it on when we weren't trying to watch TV. But while we were cooking in the family room, we had neither the surface area nor the electrical outlet for the dehumidifier. Within about half an hour of having that beast turned on, we got the water on the floor under control.

The other nice little addition to downstairs is a wine fridge. We thought about putting it in the kitchen originally, but ultimately decided that it would be better downstairs, out of the way. It's completely loaded already, but with more beer than wine.

But I haven't even gotten into the biggest score of the week. That happened last night. We don't have trash pickup here, unless you pay for it, but every couple of Mondays the town comes around and picks up the brush, leaves, grass clippings, and other natural stuff that you put out front for them. Well, one of our neighbors around the corner from us had an apple tree that was about halfway dead, so they put out a bunch of apple logs! I knocked on their door and asked if I could have them, and they said yes! (They're going to let me know if they wind up taking out the rest of the apple tree, so I can get that applewood also.) Now that I'm not cooking outside by necessity every night, I feel like I can spare the room, so yesterday I put in an order for a WSM. But that's really a note for another topic. Watch out, butt and duck!

MelissaH

[coquus]

Another beautiful thing about upstate NY: all the old apple trees, my SO's father tells me they come from the discarded cider mush sprouting trees. Some really ugly, really good apples. Not to mention good smoke.

I can't wait to see the Lion of Flanders when it's finished.

[Smithy]

The kitchen's beautiful! I love love love the woodwork on those cabinets, and the gorgeous horizontal glass fronts on the high cabinets. Congratulations!

ETA: Oooh, and that floor is beautiful, and I have a serious case of vent hood envy, and the lighting looks terrific, and...well, you should be very, very pleased.

Edited July 11, 2006 by Smithy (log)

[snowangel]

Melissa, does the Ipod docking station have independent speakers? I opted for a car radio with CD player and we ran the speaker wire to my Bose bookshelf speakers through the soffits (which you don't have). I had literally shake the house!

[MelissaH]

Thanks, everyone. It's so amazing to me that people actually read my agonizing!

Another beautiful thing about upstate NY: all the old apple trees, my SO's father tells me they come from the discarded cider mush sprouting trees.  Some really ugly, really good apples.  Not to mention good smoke.

I can't wait to see the Lion of Flanders when it's finished.

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We've figured out how we're going to do the Lion. We found some glossy bake-on paints, and ordered an 18-inch-square piece of tempered glass with ground edges. It should arrive next week sometime. Our tests indicate that the paint should work well, and then we'll just need to find some nice mirror holders.

The kitchen's beautiful!  I love love love the woodwork on those cabinets, and the gorgeous horizontal glass fronts on the high cabinets.  Congratulations!

ETA: Oooh, and that floor is beautiful, and I have a serious case of vent hood envy, and the lighting looks terrific, and...well, you should be very, very pleased. 

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Now I also have wood floor transition pieces, too. The only things left are the backsplash, and boxing in the piece of baseboard replacement pipe that shows. And the Lion, of course.

Apart from the looks, I'm even more amazed by how well the kitchen functions. I've been in overdrive for the last two days, making such things as homemade pasta (the roller clamps beautifully to the overhang, and the butcher block surface is wonderful because the dough doesn't stick!) which we served with a cream sauce with home-frozen peas and smoked salmon; a cake (the chocolate cloud roll from RLB's Cake Bible, filled with whipped cream that I whipped with "wildberry" jam that I pressed through a sieve to de-seed); caramel ice cream with candied peanuts (read the details in the Ice Cream cook-off thread); and cookies with the egg whites left over from the ice cream, almond flour, cocoa, and sugar. It's been lots of fun!

Melissa, does the Ipod docking station have independent speakers?  I opted for a car radio with CD player and we ran the speaker wire to my Bose bookshelf speakers through the soffits (which you don't have).  I had literally shake the house!

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The iPod docking station has two speakers of its own, but no other speakers, and no way to attach them. We were looking for something that specifically would dock the iPod, because we wanted to not just get the music but also to keep the thing charged. (You can attach an iPod or any MP3 player to a stereo system via a cable that goes from the headphone jack to the Aux input of the stereo, but the downside of that is no charging for the iPod. Ditto on the adapters that go from headphone jack to cassette deck, but we no longer have a functioning cassette deck other than the one in a boom box.) We liked that this one was small, and the sound is adequate, with enough oomph to get into the dining room. (We don't shake the house, but that's fine with us.) We would have liked the sub-woofer system that was supposed to be out at the beginning of the month, but it doesn't seem to exist and we got sick of waiting. The Bose system sounds wonderful, but the lack of tuner killed it for us. (Which seems like a really silly omission on Bose's part, IMHO....)

We did consider putting ceiling speakers in, and connecting them to our existing stereo system in the living room. But we decided we'd be happier with something independent.

More to come later, including pictures. But my Internet connection's gone fritzy today thanks to some power line work that disrupted the cable line, and I want to get this up while I still can!

MelissaH

[Kouign Aman]

cookies with the egg whites left over from the ice cream, almond flour, cocoa, and sugar.

I think I need this recipe, please. I can only make so many plain meringues & pavlovas with the extra egg whites now that it is icecream season...

I too cant wait to see The Lion! Will he be painted on the front or the back of the glass plate? Will you frame, or try for an invisible mount?

Its been fascinating reading.

[MelissaH]

cookies with the egg whites left over from the ice cream, almond flour, cocoa, and sugar.

I think I need this recipe, please. I can only make so many plain meringues & pavlovas with the extra egg whites now that it is icecream season...

Happy to oblige. I thought about making meringues, but the downpour we had all day on Wednesday dictated otherwise. Hence, these.

This started out based on a recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Paris Sweets book (page 12 for those of you who have the book). The original ingredients:

8 1/2 ounces (250 grams) blanched almonds

1 cup (200 grams) sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 3 tablespoons (20 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder, and/or 1/2 cup (50 grams) finely chopped pecans, to flavor (optional)

3 large egg whites, lightly beaten with a fork

And the original directions are along the lines of: heat the oven to 375 °F, and line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment. Grind almonds and sugar in the food processor till fine, add flavoring (unless you're using pecans), dump in the eggs with the machine on still, and stop when everything's combined into a batter. (Add the pecans here, by hand.) Drop spoonfuls on the lined cookie sheets and bake for about 20 minutes, rotating halfway between. Cool on a rack. The original recipe claims to make about 2 dozen cookies, and instructs 1 level tablespoon of batter per cookie.

Now, you may see where my changes originated from, if you look at the ingredients and then consider typical quantities sold in America. Start with the fact that the ice cream recipe I tried required 6 egg yolks, so double everything. This means that I'd need 500 g of nuts. But, going back to my pre-dishwasher days when I abhorred using the food processor for anything because I really hate washing that beast by hand, I quickly became addicted to the ground almonds sold at Trader Joe's (or at my local health food store, but at a much higher price tag). To this day, whenever I'm in the same city as a TJ's I make a point to stock up. I don't think the TJ's ground almonds are made from blanched almonds, but I don't really care about that because I always add chocolate so you'd never see the difference. The kicker: TJ's almonds (and hazelnuts, which also work) are sold in one-pound bags, which translates into metric as 454 grams. But double what the recipe says, and you get 500 grams. I'm not opening up a brand-new bag of nuts just to get at 46 grams! My solution: I replaced the "missing" 46 grams of nuts with 46 grams of cocoa (I used Hershey's silver label, because that's what I had on hand and I wish I could still buy it). General assessment was that the cookies were a very dark chocolate flavor; less cocoa probably would have worked if you aren't into dark chocolate. I did not use any other flavoring. I also cut back on the sugar, because I don't like my desserts too sweet, and used only 325 grams instead of the 400 grams the recipe called for. (Other members of the family thought I probably would have been fine going up to 350 grams of sugar, but I like them this way and I'M THE COOK on this one, so if you don't like them don't eat them and there will be more for me! ) So here's what I did for my cookies:

6 large egg whites, straight as they came out of the eggs, aged in the fridge in a big bowl covered with plastic wrap for three days because that's how long it took me to get around to them, still nearly fridge-cold

325 grams sugar

46 g cocoa

454 g (a 1 pound bag) ground almonds from Trader Joe's, also cold in my case, as it came straight out of the deep freeze

Before you start mixing, turn on the oven to 375 and line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment. (I always use parchment in a half-sheet pan for these, never a Silpat.)

Whisk the egg whites with the sugar and the cocoa until well combined.

Dump in the bag of almonds.

With your stiffest spatula (or a wooden spoon, I suppose) mix everything together into a batter until all the almonds are wet through. You are NOT trying to beat air into this! The batter will not be at all runny, but it probably will be somewhat sticky.

Get a couple of spoons. I use the teaspoons from our silverware. Drop spoonfuls of the batter onto the prepared cookie sheets. On my half-sheet pans, I generally put 3 cookies per row across the short way, but I stagger the rows so that the cookies in one row are between the cookies in the adjoining rows. If I stagger properly, I can get 8 rows of cookies on each half-sheet pan and still keep each one about an inch from its neighbors. With this batter, aim carefully because once the batter touches the parchment, it won't want to move easily.

In my new oven that heats evenly and has a good thermostat, I can bake two pans at once. They take about 20 minutes in all. Be sure to rotate the pans halfway through, top to bottom and back to front. In my old miserable oven, I was stuck doing only one pan at a time. I did these on the normal bake setting, but I'm tempted to try them with the convection fan going.

When they're done, they'll be a little bit puffed up, even though you didn't consciously try to beat air into the batter. I let the first cookie sheet rest on top of the stove while I retrieve the second from the oven. Then I get my cooling racks out. I transfer the entire sheet of parchment onto the cooling rack, and let the cookies get most or all of the way cool on the parchment. (No grease, so you probably won't even need to wash the cookie sheets!) Then, when they're cooled enough, they come right off the paper without leaving their insides behind.

This batch wound up nice and chewy, probably in part because Wednesday when I baked them was humid and rainy all day. (No flooding here, but some problems south of us.) On drier days, I've been able to get a slight crust on the outside, but those batches with the crust also had a little more sugar, proportionately.

The original recipe says they keep for up to 4 days at room temperature, and can be sandwiched together. We've never kept any around for even 4 days, and they always seem to disappear before I get around to sandwiching them.

I too cant wait to see The Lion!  Will he be painted on the front or the back of the glass plate? Will you frame, or try for an invisible mount?

Its been fascinating reading.

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We're still figuring out what will work best: front or back. My vote is for the back, because I think that will be easier. If you look, you can find plenty of versions of the Lion of Flanders on line. My husband found a nice one that has the red tongue and claws, as well as the most intricate white highlighting. I'm thinking the easiest thing to do is to tape a printout onto the glass so you can look through the glass and see the picture. Then, we can paint the red and white "trim" very very carefully, carefully add the black outline, and fill it in without tearing our hair out. We were told in Flanders this summer that the Lion of Flanders always faces to the left. So we'll print out a version that's mirrored, facing to the right, if we take this tack. Easy enough. I'm thinking that if we try to paint the front of the glass, we'd be giving ourselves an impossible job because either the black would have to go down first everywhere and we'd have to freehand the white (and red, to some extent) or we'd have to take infinite pains to put the white down first and paint the black around it (or paint the black first and leave spaces to add the white after). From a purely practical standpoint, I'm thinking the back would be easier than the front.

I'm leaving the frame/frameless details up to my husband.

I would have loved to do a tile mosaic of the Lion, but that turned out to be cost- and time-prohibitive. I may still try to do a cross-stitch or needlepoint to add to the kitchen, if I find myself with time on my hands this winter. There's also a shop in downtown Oswego that specializes in yarns and weaving, and Dan there is willing to work with me to weave a tapestry with the Lion, to show me the techniques I'd need to know for weaving a pattern. But that would be a huge undertaking for both me and Dan since I'm really a novice, and this summer I couldn't say for sure when I'd have the time to devote to something like that. We have plenty of wall space, and who knows: maybe one of these trips, my husband will get a beautiful photo of a flag flying somewhere in Flanders to add.

Maybe if we win the lottery, we'll do a custom tile backsplash. Or maybe that will need to wait until we redo the countertops.

MelissaH

[MelissaH]

The Lion is partially painted on the glass, and I may have a backsplash before the end of the weekend.

Something truly momentous happened earlier this week: there were four of us working at different tasks in the same kitchen! (Washing stuff in the sink, constructing a salad, cooking at the stove, and putting things away.) And to think, it was a major project to even have two different activities in the old kitchen.

Last night's dinner (my husband's doing) was concocted largely out of pantry materials. We had thawed a pork tenderloin, which got cut into medallions and seared. To go with, my husband concocted a chutney out of a couple of fresh mangoes, the remnants of a can of pineapple chunks from the last time we made pizza, and the remainder of the dried apricots. Cider vinegar, black peppercorns, allspice berries, cinnamon stick too. And salad.

After dinner, my husband asked me when and what I wanted to cook on the new range. I've baked several things already, but I haven't really cooked anything beyond scrambling a couple of eggs. I didn't really have a good answer for him, but I'll be smoking outdoors tomorrow.

I should start working on a galette dough. I have sour cherries to use up, and I plan to make a sour cherry galette with gingersnap crumbs in the filling, similar to the plum galette I made last summer. But that's still baking, not cooking.

This weekend is our annual Harborfest. Our town grows from about 18,000 people to over 100,000 for four days. The car's not moving again till Monday.

MelissaH

[coquus]

Maybe if we win the lottery, we'll do a custom tile backsplash. Or maybe that will need to wait until we redo the countertops.

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You can paint the lion on regular tiles with glaze, dry them, and take them to the local studio or school kiln, it will cost you energy charges to fire up, but I can't see the whole thing costing more than fifty-seventy five bucks with their take included for the trouble of one kiln's worth. I saw an article about how Jacques Pepin had a studio kitchen built in his house where he did the same thing, it actually inspired me to make my own backsplash for my kitchen, it took about three weeks to accomplish: I did two inch tiles all around (872 of them) but didn't get really intricate with any glazing or pattern work. I have to say it is the nicest part of my new kitchen by far, it was worth every extra ounce of effort and every single second of not being able to move in that it took, so if you get sick of the Lion on Glass or break it by accident, remember me. Hell, if you can't find someone to fire it up there send it to me, I'll get her done.

One thing that I found kind of tricky was the glazing however, a professional's advice here would be helpful, I was going for abstract so precision didn't really matter, but if you want nice bright colors you should carefully choose your glazes and technique as I wouldn't be able to recommend any. There is a whole lot written about the subject so it shouldn't be too hard to find. Or do some leg work, there are plenty of the craft glaze houses around where someone would be willing to give some free advice, I'm sure.

[MelissaH]

I have a backsplash! The black tiles are up and the gray grout is in place. By the beginning of next week, the grout should be completely set and dry, and ready for a bead of caulk between countertop and backsplash.

The Lion on glass is in progress. We actually thought it was done, but technical issues have forced a redo. My husband started with the red claws and tongue, and then added the black. He let that dry for a day, and then baked it off to set it. It baked pretty well, but a few areas flaked off (maybe from fingerprints on the glass that we didn't notice before starting the painting?) and a few places have small bubbles. I should note here that although the claws were painted with a brush and the black outline was also carefully done with a brush, my husband did the big areas of black by dumping a large amount of paint on the glass, and then using a big brush to spread it around. I probably would have done multiple thinner coats, but this is his project, and the worst-case scenario is that we wind up having to clean or scrape all the paint off the glass and start over.

We looked at how the glass looked on the wall, paint side directly against the wall, and decided the general concept works. Then, my husband started in on the yellow background; we decided not to bother with the white highlights inside the Lion because the wall color is close enough to white, and the white paint tested out as milky rather than opaque.

We'd gotten two bottles of yellow paint, but my husband ran out before finishing the background. (That was Sunday.) The directions said it was possible to dilute the paint slightly with water, so he tried doing that. It didn't work well, so we made a mad dash to Syracuse and the nearest store that sells the paint we were using. (And we ran a bunch of other errands also, as long as we were down there.) With a fresh bottle of paint on hand, he finished up the painting and set the glass aside to dry overnight. I wasn't convinced it had dried long enough, especially since when it baked, the fumes it emitted were bad enough that we had to turn on the hood so we didn't gas ourselves out of the house.

The result: the black touched up nicely, but the new bottle of yellow turned out to be a slightly different color than the old two bottles of yellow. (My husband thinks he maybe didn't get it mixed completely.) In one place, the tape he'd used to mask off the edge of the glass also pulled up a good bit of paint. And worst of all, the entire area he'd tried using the diluted paint in bubbled horribly, all the way to the glass. This despite covering it over with more undiluted paint. So as a result of all these calamities, my husband got to spend some quality time with a razor blade and a vacuum cleaner, scraping off the bubbled and otherwise damaged paint. The glass is still reposing on top of our refrigerator, as it's been way too hot to even think of turning the oven on.

Speaking of turning the oven on: I've now cooked! More than once!

Last Thursday, we got back from the farmer's market with (among other things) a bunch of green beans and some local peaches, clingstone and with terrific flavor but still just slightly firm. I started by getting rice underway in the rice cooker: jasmine rice, about 1/3 of it brown jasmine. We still had a thawed pork tenderloin in the fridge that needed to be used, so I cut up the tenderloin and added a glug of soy sauce and a splash of sesame oil, and let that sit while I topped and tailed the beans. Once the beans were done, I started cooking. I stir-fried the pieces of meat in a big frying pan till they were done, took them out of the pan and tossed in a couple of whole unadulterated dried Tien Tsin chiles and a couple of smashed garlic cloves and the green beans, let them stir-fry till I saw some nice color, and then added a bit of water to the pan, brought it up to a boil, put a lid on, and let it simmer to finish cooking the beans through. When the beans were done, I uncovered the pan and boiled off the liquid, added the meat back, and heated everything through. We ate the beans-and-pork over the rice.

Friday was the day we smoked pig and birds. It rained all morning, so I made up a batch of galette dough, using the Fine Cooking recipe but subbing brown sugar for the white sugar because I liked the idea of the brown sugar flavor and I figured a little acid wouldn't hurt. The smoking took up all day (and you can read about it here). I made up a batch of =Mark's mustard sauce after I got the galette dough safely resting in the fridge. Once the sauce was done, I started working on the peaches. I sliced them off the pits, and combined them in a bowl with a bit of sugar, a pinch of salt, and the crumbs made by buzzing half a dozen gingersnaps in the mini-chopper. By then the dough was relatively chilled, so I started rolling it. It was warm enough that I had some problems with the dough, enough trouble that it stuck to waxed paper pretty badly. It went in and out of the fridge a lot, as I tried to get it rolled sufficiently. Eventually it was big and thin enough, and it went back into the fridge to rest before I tried to add the filling. Finally, after half an hour of chilling I pulled it out of the fridge, piled on the filling, folded the edges up around the fruit in pretty pleats, and then got the whole thing back in the fridge to wait for the oven to pre-heat.

Then I turned over the kitchen to my cousin and husband to finish dinner prep. While they cooked and made salad, the tart baked. It turned out well, and the gingersnaps were a nice easy way to add both flavor and thickening. The crust was flaky and tasty but tough. I think the recipe from the Fine Cooking link in my blog calls for too much water, and next time I'd definitely cut back. (For this batch, I actually did short the water a touch from what the recipe called for, because I knew the brown sugar contained more moisture than the white sugar in the original recipe. But the dough was still a sticky mess, not easy to handle at all.)

Saturday was beer day. While the guys made a batch of homebrew, I steamed the smoked pig to finish it off and made a batch of corn tortillas from the masa harina in the freezer. The griddle made that part easy.

Sunday after the Lion fiasco, I made dinner. I started with dessert (of course; as we all know, life is uncertain ) and rolled out the other half of the galette dough from the fridge. It behaved as badly as the first half. That recipe definitely needs to be tweaked, or dumped in favor of something else. I filled that galette with the last remaining peach and a mess of blueberries, added to a bit of sugar and a touch of flour. The unbaked tart sat in the fridge while I cooked the rest of dinner: one of Rick Bayless's recipes from his Mexican Everyday book. (The original was for salmon and spinach.) We'd gotten two nice big snapper filets while we were in Syracuse, as well as a bunch of chard. I started by cutting the chard into ribbons about half an inch wide, and washing them many times. Then they went into a pot with the water clinging to them, to wilt and soften. In the meantime, I smashed a couple of garlic cloves to remove the skins, and toasted them in a bit of oil in our big frying pan (not non-stick). The garlic went into the blender jar, along with a couple of roasted and skinned poblano peppers from our freezer (which I opened up and seeded and then cut into strips; much easier while they are still frozen), a bit of left over half-and-half and enough milk to get to a cup and a half, and a big spoonful of the masa harina that hadn't gotten back to the freezer yet. When the chard was tender, that also got added to the blender, and the whole mix got buzzed more or less smooth and poured back into the chard pot to be heated to a boil, so it thickened, and then simmered while I cooked the fish.

The fish just got pan-fried in the garlicked oil, a few minutes on each side. I totally wrecked it because it stuck to the pan. Oh well. We ate the fish and chard-creamy sauce with a baguette. My husband was surprised by the heat in the greens, because I hadn't mentioned where the chiles he'd brought up from the freezer for me had gone. It all went over well. For next time, I'd probably cut the fish into smaller pieces that are easier to handle. I'd probably also dust the fish with flour (or maybe masa, in this case) to give it a bit more of a crust and maybe help with the sticking issue. But it went over quite well.

I thought the chard in sauce would make an excellent beginning for a souffle or soup. My husband thought it would also be good added to the winter squash or sweet potato pudding, of sorts, which we found in a book of Creole and Cajun recipes and also contains spicy sausage separated eggs. But not this time of year. It might also work well over pasta, or possibly even in pasta. It's certainly something to keep in mind, at any rate.

And that was the last dinner any of us actually cooked. Since then it's been hot hot hot hot hot hot hot hot hot. Today is somewhat better, but it still feels humid. It's supposed to get warm again over the weekend, but next week is looking more promising.

Tonight we're planning to go to a band concert given by the community band of the town ten miles down the road, which is conducted by our neighbor. We still have some of last week's market goodies in the fridge, because it was too hot to do anything the last few days. I'm thinking of roasting and marinating the eggplants, and maybe also giving the baby bok choi a quick braise. In short, I'd like to turn them into salads that we can bring with us to the concert for a picnic. We also have two big bunches of basil that I've been keeping on the counter in a glass of water. Maybe I'll have to buzz that up into pesto and freeze...or turn into a pasta salad. Does pesto go with eggplant? I think it could!

We've started thinking about the munchies that we could serve when we hold the kitchen party. So far my husband wants to do the little Tostito scoop corn chips with mole. That will be either with some of my smoked pig, or possibly with just sliced turkey from the deli. I'm thinking maybe gougeres. Cookies or biscotti. We haven't set a date yet, but it won't happen before the Lion is on the wall so we have some time to think still.

Time for a swim. I'll post pictures of the backsplash once the caulk is in. We'll have to take the stuff off the counters to do that, so you'll be able to see the backsplash!

MelissaH

[Kouign Aman]

cookies with the egg whites left over from the ice cream, almond flour, cocoa, and sugar.

I think I need this recipe, please. I can only make so many plain meringues & pavlovas with the extra egg whites now that it is icecream season...

Happy to oblige.

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Thankyou!

editted to add-

aside from ease of creation, another bennie to painting the back of the glass is that now the Lion will withstand a nuclear force clean-up.

Edited August 3, 2006 by Kouign Aman (log)

[coquus]

We've started thinking about the munchies that we could serve when we hold the kitchen party. So far my husband wants to do the little Tostito scoop corn chips with mole. That will be either with some of my smoked pig, or possibly with just sliced turkey from the deli. I'm thinking maybe gougeres. Cookies or biscotti. We haven't set a date yet, but it won't happen before the Lion is on the wall so we have some time to think still.

MelissaH

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I still haven't had my party yet, I keep on doing new projects, we were supposed to have had it planned by now, it's been six months. I have alot on my plate right now however, if she wants to plan a party I'll cook, just leave me out of the planning phase.

I don't remember exactly what you were talking about, but I don't think pesto and eggplant go together by themselves, I think the eggplant would be overwhelmed and everything would taste of basil, but if you are using the eggplant primarily for texture, I would suggest some tomato slices or red peppers with the pesto, and/or something else with some kick, is cheese too ordinary?, plus bread or pasta.

[MelissaH]

We've in the past been known to hold a "welcome back" party for the department at the start of the school year. The graduate students and faculty and staff generally come to that one; I don't remember having undergrads at ours. However, last year one of the other faculty members hosted one so we didn't. (That person lives further from campus than we do, way out east of town on the lake. I couldn't make it last year, but I do know that September on the lake is much nicer than December on the lake here.)

If nothing else, our house has been appointed as the best place for the holiday party. We have enough indoor space to hold everyone, we have easy access to a campus parking lot, and we're a short walk from campus. The Chemistry Club does most of the work and provides most of the food, so we just provide a space to host everyone, a place to dispose of the used paper plates and plastic utensils, and occasionally a serving utensil if someone forgets to bring one to go with their dish-to-share. December would also give us enough time to make sure the last decorative details are finished, and would also avoid the sense of "Oh, they're throwing a kitchen party, I must bring a gift for them to use in the new kitchen."

I suspect we'll still want to have some kind of non-departmental gathering, though, because others have expressed an interest in seeing the place. We'll also definitely invite the person who helped design the kitchen, as well as the electrician.

MelissaH

[MelissaH]

Time for the three-month assessment.

Overall impression: we absolutely love the kitchen.

We've had four different cooking-related tasks happening at once, with no space conflicts.

The huge sink, in combination with the dishwasher, makes cleanup much easier than I expected. I'd go almost so far as to say I don't really mind doing dishes...almost.

Speaking of the dishwasher, it took us a little while to figure out the best way for us to fit our stuff into it. But it cleans the dishes well, and is so quiet that we can't hear it run from our bedroom.

An iPod in the kitchen is a very good addition. I like to make customized playlists as the occasion arises: all Mexican music for the Mexican dinner we did for my husband's research group; a playlist with everything potentially offensive edited out (such as the Avenue Q soundtrack and a couple of Uncle Bonsai and DaVinci's Notebook tracks revolving around body parts) for general occasions with guests; all the holidayish music in one place because we're on for the departmental party in December.

Removing the baseboard heater hasn't caused any trouble. The kitchen stays plenty warm, between the fridge, the range, the people, and the heaters in the rest of the house.

The butcher block countertop sections do what they're supposed to: give us a landing place for hot stuff from the range and a place to roll out various doughs. Wood's probably not as good as marble for the latter, but the price was right for us at this time. The butcher block is also great for making pasta: the extension gives me a place to clamp the machine, and the wood seems to be a reasonable place to hold the strips of dough I'm not currently rolling. Now, all I need is to figure out where I could put a drying rack, and what sort of drying rack will work best.

The Marmoleum floor's holding up quite nicely. Care is easy.

The dining room table that my parents didn't need and gave to us has been terrific. We know we could serve 12 at a sit-down dinner, although we've only done 11 so far. My mom claims that it's possible (but tight) to feed 14. I think I'll stop at 12, or we'd need to get more chairs.

Our new chairs from IKEA with the red coverings are holding up well, and comfy to sit on. The cats like them very much also, so we keep a lint brush handy. The red still looks really good to us.

We've figured out where we put everything, mostly. Every so often we lose something, or can't remember where we put it away. We've also swapped the contents of two drawers a couple of times, when it was clear that we'd chosen a less logical alternative. (When you continually look for napkins in the third drawer down even though you know darned well they're in the second drawer, you should probably just move them to the third drawer so they're there when you look.)

My husband hasn't complained about the stand mixer or the food processor being kept out, probably because they're tucked behind the fridge, out of sight from most of the kitchen.

I really love having everything I need for baking in one place. Not that baking was ever a chore for me, but now it's more fun than ever.

The range: best choice we could have made. I love the burner grates, although it's still a little tricky for me to remember sometimes that handles of pots can get very hot if they're over another burner. (Elbow-length leather welding gloves are a good thing to put in a drawer next to the range, for this and other reasons.) We get lots of heat from the cooktop when we want it, but it simmers beautifully. We're glad we sprang for 6 burners (despite the questions from various other family members about whether we really needed 36 inches, and couldn't we get along with a normal range) because more than once, we've had all six going. The last time that happened was the day the research group came over. Two burners were for the griddle, which I used to cook corn tortillas (from rehydrated masa) and then to cook pepper and onion strips. Three more burners were for three different moles. And the last was for the beans. (Good thing we had a rice cooker!)

The oven in the range is big enough to hold everything I've tried to put in it. The only thing I can't do is put a half-sheet pan in longways, and still close the door. But that's never been an issue, since with three racks and convection, I can bake three sheets of cookies (a whole batch of chocolate-chip cookie dough) at the same time! I have yet to find a glaring "hot spot" anywhere, and things are taking about as long as recipes say they will. It roasts chickens and other hunks of beast nicely as well. I like being able to fit potatoes on the rack next to the roaster. We haven't run a self-clean cycle yet, but probably will before the end of the year. Something that surprised me: for a big oven, it heats up pretty quickly.

All I can say about the hood is WOW! Turn it on full-blast, and you can cook just about anything on the rangetop and not get odors or smoke or chile fumes outside the kitchen.

It's really nice to have a drawer for the cat food. It's under the microwave, in a cabinet without a door. Originally we'd just put the cat food underneath, in the bottom of the cabinet. But we'd lucked out at IKEA in the as-is section and found a drawer for $5. We just had to buy a front for it, and now it's easy to get at everything. The front also gives just enough of an obstacle that neither cat has torn through the paper bag to get at the dry food.

We get more comments about the lighting in the kitchen than anything else: first, about the general amount of light and how it's in useful places, and second, about the UFOs over the sink. People love those!

We still have a couple of minor paint touchups to do. They'll be finished before the start of December, so everything's done in time for the holiday party.

As far as things we'd do differently: we've fixed one already, and will be able to fix the other at a later date. The one we've fixed comes under the category of "minor calamity" because it started when I discovered water on the floor of the baking area. We pulled off the toekicks to find that the water originated from the sink area, specifically from the joint between the garbage disposal and the trap. The reason for the water: the tail of the disposal pipe was short, and didn't extend into the trap by much. Either the disposal got bumped, or the trap got bumped, or the disposal shifted a touch over the course of normal operations, and the pipe slipped out, spilling water. Then, once the water got out to the toekick area, there's a plastic covering along the bottom raw edge of the toekick and that just sucked the water all the way along by capillary action. We got a coupler to permanently solve the problem of why the pipes opened up, left the toekicks off so things would air out and dry completely, and haven't gotten around to reinstalling them yet.

The thing we haven't fixed yet will get fixed when we redo the countertops with the "permanent" stone in several years. The problem: our wonderful huge oven has three racks. But some of what we cook in the oven is tall enough that one or more of the racks needs to come out of the oven. We're usually smart enough to figure out that we'll need to pull a rack out before we set it to preheat, at least. (If we don't, then we use the butcher block.) But the oven is big, so the racks are big. Our unfixed issue is that we hadn't anticipated needing a place to store oven racks other than inside the oven. For now, we just either leave them on the butcher block next to the range, or lean them against the dining room or living room wall (around the corner). Our proposed fix: when we replace the countertops, it will be easy to move a set of base cabinets down by 3 inches or so, to give a small gap between the range and the side of the cabinet. (We'll bring the countertop right up to the edge of the range again.) We'll be able to slide any unused oven racks into the gap for temporary storage. We could even line the floor and walls of the gap with sheet metal, in case we wanted to be able to store a hot oven rack there. We'll just lose a small amount of the overhang, but I'll still have plenty of space to clamp the pasta machine.

Would we do it again? In a heartbeat. We still haven't added up all the receipts yet, but we believe we're pretty close to our budget. Everyone who's seen the kitchen thinks it's very "us," but that's not why we did it, of course. We're happy with it, and in the end that's all that matters.

MelissaH

[andiesenji]

Melissa,

Have you considered getting one of the "roll-out" tray-drawers that actually set on the floor and fit into the space under the cabinet. My big oven has 5 racks and I got one of the roll-out things which fits under the oven stand itself, but I could fit one for a regular oven under any of my base cabinets.

Similar to this.

Edited October 27, 2006 by andiesenji (log)

[MelissaH]

We've thought of using a pull-out, but not for the oven rack. Our intent was to use one to house a stepstool, since we now have cabinets too tall for us to reach easily. We obviously don't store things we need every day up there, but it would be nice to have a stepstool stored out of the way but easily accessible.

The problem with using a pull-out for the oven is that the IKEA cabinets stand on legs, which then get hidden by a toekick board. The range is 36 inches wide, and the oven racks are about that wide as well. We don't have a gap between legs large enough to fit an oven rack, and the cabinets aren't deep enough for the rack to go in the long way.

I like your thought, though, Andie. Do you have a ready source for a pull-out drawer?

MelissaH

edited because I don't know my toekicks from my pullouts

Edited October 27, 2006 by MelissaH (log)