Who knew deciding on a range was so tough? We agonized for months during a new build and finally found the BS. We had looked at all the regular ranges, plus Bertazonni (we thought it felt cheaply constructed) and something else I don't even remember. I drove quite a distance to see a BS in person and never looked back. Final decision came down to BS or American Range. We did NOT want electronics that would fritz out on us. Glad we went with our gut on that. We hope to never buy another stove. This thing is simple, straightforward, attractive and a dream to run. 12 months now into a 30" RCS. We were concerned about 15,000 btus, but it has never been an issue. Cooking is a pleasure. Total control. There were a few minor adjustments needed at the outset and a tech came far, far out of his way (we live in a rural area) to tweak it to perfection, and teach me the tweaks, too. It was set up for natural gas, but we run propane and since propane is heavier, it sinks before ignition and sparks need to aim down slightly. The tech/rep adjusted this with a needle-nose wrench and there hasn't been a single issue since. The local distributor said it was set up for propane. But... not. Miscommunication at that level, but otherwise complaint-free. One clicker got killed by a boil-over. BS sent a replacement and a spare overnight and it took about 3 minutes to install. I love the stove's simplicity. It is easy to clean. Good baking. Great stovetop. Drip tray is great. Very large oven for a 30" range. I love the darned thing! We are glad we did months of research because I had never heard of this make before. Never thought I'd be a big fan of a kitchen appliance. But go figure!

So sorry about your knee, Teresa. Mine are in a state of rebellion, too. Just sore from garden work, though. Hope yours gets all better soon. Had burgers on the grill w/ King Arthur home-made buns, stir-fried green beans and strawberry Jello w/ bananas on Sunday. Yesterday, marinated grilled chicken, chili bean salad, garlic smashed potatoes & Home-made dinner rolls. I tried a new marinade recipe (mustard & balsamic vinegar) that turned out really good & the rolls were made from a recipe I got here on the Cooking Forum. I think it is Lindac's recipe. Anyway, they were delicious. DSII ate one chicken leg and 4 dinner rolls plus more during the night...there's only one roll left this morning (plus a pan of eight that I put in the freezer.) And, yes, it was too darned hot to be baking bread but had to fire up the oven for the smashed potatoes and had some sweet potatoes that needed to be baked. Good luck with your surgery, Annie. Linkee to recipe for anyone interested. Here is a link that might be useful: Marinated Chicken recipe

Thanks for all the well-wishes. (I'm feeling much better today). Amazing what a good night's sleep will do for you - and a day out of work finally (ahem). Ohiomom, your statements were exactly what I was thinking when I started the thread. If I had to mill my own flour, etc, I never would have survived years ago. I'm way too selfish for something like that. I need my "me" time. The problem with the boxed stuff is there's so much junk in most of it. But it's what I grew up with and I know many, many families do today. Life goes by fast. But it is hard to find a happy medium between healthy and convenient. It's funny, several people listed it as convenient food, but I don't think of canned/boxed chicken broth as a convenience food. Of course it is. I use so much of it for so many different recipies, I can't make enough on my own to keep up. But I still do, at least once a week. Same thing with peanut butter...just makes sense to buy it. So I got up some energy this morning and drove to the store to buy everything for chicken soup. But I still bought a can of Progresso just in case. (never had it before, BTW, but a couple of people mentioned it, so I'll probably give it a shot)

This thread, which I didn't catch the first time around, made me think. In general, I cook to eat and feed my family. However, I do enjoy baking for special occasions. I think that if I didn't work outside the home I would cook more...and be more adventurous. But, I work and have a long commute so by the time I get home I have to make fast meals with little time for creativity or major prep work. So, we eat a lot of frozen veggies--as is out of the bag, pre-cooked meats warmed up, pasta, soup, occasionally waffles/pancakes/eggs, potatoes, etc. I.e., for the most part things that I can cook fast. One up side to this is that our meals haven't changed that much w/o a kitchen since we do have a MW, Toaster Oven, and hot plate to cook with! One very big downside to this, though, is that my children are not learning to cook like I did from my mom. Back on topic... After finding this site and reading about zones, I realized that one thing that I really wanted was a baking center. So when my kitchen was being designed I had it in the back of my head that whatever we ended up with had to have an area I could designate my "Baking Zone", preferably near the ovens--with room to roll out dough, spread out cookie sheets, and have cookie cutters spread out all at the same time! The other thing I got from this site was our window...having the window down to the counter (OK, not cooking-related, but a very important design element!) Our very first plan that our KD came up with had input from us...but a very naive/ignorant us! (Before GW...BGW!) Then....I found this site.....and the changes began. Actually, I posted that original plan and asked for help (and also asked my KD to start over w/no island) Many, many people here helped me come up with a plan over several weeks (months?). We finally came up with a plan that has changed little since then. Interestingly, when I took away the island "must have", my KD came up with a plan very similar to what we came up with here. The only 3 differences were (1) no mini peninsula, (2) a 36" pantry cabinet rather than a corner pantry, and (3) no separate Message Center cabinets. My KD wasn't completely happy w/our differences, but she, wisely I thought, told me to go home and mock up what I wanted to see how it would work (same advice I got here!) Well, the mock up was great! It proved that I did indeed want the mini peninsula (I liked it so much I left the mock up in place until demo and used it!) When I told her the results, she didn't argue, she accepted it telling me it's my kitchen, so ultimately it's up to me. So in the end, my design was/is based on what I wanted, not what the KD wanted. [If only someone else had measured my kitchen and she was given more authority, I think a lot of subsequent problems would have been avoided.] Our kitchen isn't done yet, but it's close...so I can't yet tell you how it is going to work for us...but we are so...