Ranges, and especially wall ovens, nowadays with electronic controls typically have a cooling fan for the control panel that exhausts a larger immediate volume of heat into the room. In any case, all the heat generated inside the oven cavity during cooking must eventually dissipate into the room, short of having a closed-circuit outdoor exhaust integral to the appliance. Gas ovens need a bit more airflow through the appliance for O2 to burn the gas compared to electric ovens.

How perfect!! LOL, I'm with the others in imagining Moe being a littttle worried about that branding iron. I've always thought they were cool. The bbq set is really nice. I love how they now do the spatula with the nice cutting edges. Great idea. The tongs have nice grips on them too. I really like the skewers too. Ann, you like the stop towards the handle but I like how they twist at the other end to help things from sliding off in that direction. What timely thoughtful gifts. For sure ones you'll get tons of use from. Great choices Deanna!

Teresa, I bet you could use any meat other than lamb. Its the seasoning, and food processoring of the meat that makes it 'gyros'. I think I'll play with Nancy's cumin/marjoram and Shelley's lemon juice/parsely (curley?), omitting my dill and italian parsly. I'm looking for that flavor. Nancy, many of the recipes I read called for baking it in self draining loaf pans. I seem to have developed an aversion to most baked meats, preferring my grill (admittedly gas). I'm also trying to avoid heating up my kitchen/house. Mimsic, I consider Shwarma a cousin to gyros. Same vertical spit, maybe different seasoning. Jimster's slide show is exactly how they do it in Israel, including the optional fries! First thing we got once we were off the plane and settled in Jerusalem was schwarma for the kids. DS #2 wants to go back just for that...um....sorry sweetie, I could buy lots of vertical roasters for one plane ticket.

Congrats on getting your city approvals!! One giant hurdle out of the way!! I was thinking the same thing about deleting the corner pantry and doing tall cabinetry pantry space along the range wall, then move the range to the bottom wall. Then maybe put a counter with base cabinets below and wall cabs above in between the pantry & refrigerator and place the microwave there. In your current layout, I think the prep sink needs to be larger (unless you have a potfiller over the range) to accomodate filling pots and draining pots. It's a Loooooong way from the range to the main sink. I personally wouldn't do a prep sink smaller than 21" interior space (23" including lip for mounting). I also think the island should be centered so that it is equidistant from the sink wall and from the refrigerator wall. 36" is not enough and 39" is pushing it IMO. Consider too that the countertop will extend into that space as well by at least another inch on each side. So your 36-39" aisle just became 34-37". Will your range have double ovens or a single oven. If it will have double, can you just use the second oven for the warming drawer? Set the thermostat to 200 degrees and you're good to go. The money you save on the warming drawer can be a considerable amount that you may find you could use elsewhere. Plus, it frees up the island space for more storage. Hope this helps!