Ha! We would be empty nesters but...we have had a few extras in the way of nieces and nephews and friends living with us due to transitions in their lives and now my son is back to town from school and looking for a job. In July we had a full house between semi-permanent guests and short term guests. I also cook meals that go out to my dad and sometimes others. When I watch the grandkids, I try to have dinner when the parents return so they don't have to cook. All this means I am generally cooking for 10--rarely just 2. If it is just the two of us, sometimes we just eat out :-))(date night!). I do use my wall oven the most but I am so glad to have the range oven and there are times that I almost could use another oven, more for a different temperature than capacity. On the other hand, I cooked for all these years with a 30 inch oven. The key for me to look effortless is having things made ahead. We have had "flying plates" dinners for 35, that consist of multiple mini courses that come out one after the other. Everything is premade on half sheets and the ovens got a workout for that. It seems like the family gatherings just get bigger- weddings and babies. Our extended family can be 30-40 and we have several parties a year for 60 or so. I also have had many wedding and baby showers, milestone birthdays and funeral dinners that range from 35-70 people. We also had rehearsal dinners but semi catered them. We didn't go with a warming drawer because the ovens go low enough to function that way and sometimes I use the rangetop. We had large disposable catering trays of pasta for a family dinner a few months ago and they kept warm on the simmer burners without scorching. I think one of the benefits of the warming drawer is that it keeps the humidity in the food so with the steam oven, you might not need it. If you haven't had convection, I think you will love it but it isn't for everything. I look at it as a tool and only use it when it will be a benefit to what I am cooking. I am still learning about it. I think your modes on the steam oven are different than on the regular oven. There is a slow roast vs a roast and convection roast. I would read the use and care manuals on all the appliances to better understand how they work. I don't agree with all of Wolf's recommendations for convection baking though. Convection is not the optimum thing for cakes or anything that needs to rise at least in the first part of the cooking cycle.

Interrupting for the range trim, its gotta have something! Seriously - you need to choose one of them, island, normal or tall. You sound like you should get the island trim (1" tall). If you get the default (4-8" tall trim), it will cover over more of the backsplash than you'd like. For the hutch, remember that black is a pita for showing dust. I gotz the following stuff about the appliance garage - have you thought about how those doors will open? It looks like one will open towards you and without special hinges may actually block you from being able to get into it. It doesn't look like a good place for a mixer because it would need to be pulled out onto the little piece of counter towards one side of the sink - not a lotta room to sit other ingredients nearby. Remember to ask what the clearance height is for the appliance garage and know the height of your mixer. With framed cabinets and large mixers, it might not have enough height. When I used to own a kitchenaid mixer, I felt like I needed a certain amount of overage to be able to pick the darned thing up because it weighed so much. I don't know if I'd be comfortable using a toaster that close to a water source.

Thanks! I aesm not sure I would call them youthful.. but they are not as buttoned up as some of my other suit jackets. I think that can give them a little youthful spirit. Also, their styling is youthful-- and kind of ridiculous now that I know the fabric content. Daisy, I am sorry. My laptop (which was my backup after my primary failed) crapped out yesterday so I don't have access to any of my links or shopping carts (because my cookies are gone!). They were both from Nordstrom. The ivory one is plus size and seems to run pretty true to size. I am wearing mine a little big. One word of warning. I don't think either of these are GREAT for summer. They are both poly blends and the patterned jacket is rather thick (the ivory jacket is a great weight for summer but it's still a synthetic). I struggle with summer jackets. I like linen but linen jackets look terrible at the end of the day.. I have a silk tweed that works nicely but I haven't seen anything else in silk.

I don't have my own wedding crystal, though I have inherited some lovely stuff that was gifted to my grandmother for her first wedding. I keep a set of 4 on the shelf, and keep the odd couple extra boxed up in case I need a replacement. The set was originally bigger, but stuff gets broken sometimes. Champagne bowl, footed pilsner, and a couple wines in two sizes. Small water glasses and dessert plates too. And 5 cordial glasses that are very different with dark glass top and milk glass bottoms that I think were from great-gmas? wedding. I do sometimes use all these glasses. Two matching heavy crystal pitchers- one mom got for her wedding, the other she found at a resale. I never use those. What my love and I used for our wedding was part of a wedding gift from his folks. They are huge wine folks and host wine parties- they supplied a case each of a white and a red, a few bottles of bubbly, and the use of several racks of wine glasses for everyone to use. And the use of a big ole coffee maker.