I love macarons but I've only made them a few times. The only reason I tried was because of the lovely and talented Helen of Tartelette. She answered my inane questions about powdered food coloring and the proper number of folds to get the egg yolks to "magma" consistency. Plus, she's got a whole site full of fantastic ideas for macaron flavor combinations (and a whole host of other diet-busting desserts. Dang French pastry chefs!). Dang it, now my dh saw this post and wants macarons. Guess I should get the egg whites out now for this weekend... Here is a link that might be useful: Tartelette

One question is what's going to be the lead actor, so to speak, in your kitchen's appearance and what are the supporting actors. Cherry (or that great knotty alder just above) wants to take the lead. The color and grain variation within the wood, the changes over time ... lots of drama. I've just built a kitchen with a lot of cherry, and that means the other elements are fairly muted. The excellent alder cabinets a little farther above are a bit more like supporting actors. If something else in the kitchen, like the countertop material, or those amazing handles, is doing the aesthetic heavy lifting, then alder works very well in a background role. If you go with cherry, you might ask if you can help pick out wood, especially for inset panels. With a little looking you can find nice figures -- a few examples here: http://www.woodenconcepts.net/Recessed_Panel_Cope_and_Stick_Doors.html

Thanks amck! It was my first try, but technically three batches. My first batch was nutella, then the buttercream, then the chocolate truffle, over the course of a couple weekends. I think I had beginner's luck, as I made only very slight adjustments to the thickness of the batter to each batch, but they all came out looking like the photos. Terri, French macarons (pronounced "macaroon") are actually completely different beasts from coconut macaroons. Macarons are made with meringue and almond flour, and have a reputation for being finicky/tricky, like souffles. Done right, they have a thin crisp but fragile outer shell, and the inner part manages to be both light and chewy, with a slight nutty flavor from the almond flour. Then throw in whatever filling you choose, and the result is a very grown up cookie indeed, as you'd expect from the French :-) Bakeries sell them for around $1.50 - $3 each, although the most expensive I've seen were at Jean Phillipe in Las Vegas for $5 each. I've dubbed my truffle-filled macarons, "chocarons". They're like a chocolate truffle wrapped in a chewy macaron. Love at first bite :D

Hvtech42 There are times that you want to raise the temperature of the oven and it is not possible to rely on the heat stored in the oven walls. - delay start- you are starting the oven with the walls at 72F and it takes 30-50 minutes to get to temp. -The temperature of the oven has been set at 300F for an hour. You decide you need to speed it up so increase the temp to 400F. The walls of the oven are 300F or so so cannot contribute to heating. You can figure out how long this will take to get there. Again this may not matter for some but I think it would for others. You just can't be all things to all people. And yes there are situations where I would be opening my oven frequently or cooking with it propped open a little and would exhaust the heat even in the walls. ________ plllog, the 20-40 minutes is in addition to the normal preheat so the preheat using those numbers is at least 30-50 minutes. ________ "Have you had any experience actually using a Capital oven or are you just basing your comments on your interpretation of the disclosures in the manual? I completely understand your concerns but am trying to understand whether they come from actual experience or just based on an interpretation that is then being related to prior experience/performance of an oven produced by a completely different manufacturer (Dacor)?" One does not have to cook with it to understand how it works when it is laid out as well as this. I can read what they write. They are smart to do this. Who wants to have unhappy customers. A physician does not have to take medicine to see how it works and this would not even be the best way to find out about the way it works. They read the "users guide" which is all the prescribing information so they can decide what would best suit the patient. They can narrow down the list of possible medications and then the patient can try one and see how it works for them. I am not even recommending that you buy or don't buy a particular range--just read the manual. Real user reviews are very helpful but they are an entirely different type of information. Example. -USE and CARE GUIDE ( there is a reason it is called this) and other information directly from the manufacturer ---all kinds of facts-range of temperatures, info on cycles, what buttons to push, etc. This a direct quote that was written by capital. " SETTING: No quick recovery. Oven will cycle normally despite large temperature drops due to the door being left open, or the oven set temperature being reset to a much higher temperature. The recovery time can be very long for large differentials between oven temp and set temp." It does not require some mystical interpretation or use of the oven to understand it. It merely requires considering how you will use your oven and how that statement would relate. One person might say, this won't be an issue for me. I'll keep the door closed as recommended and no problem for me. Another person would take that same information and think, I do cookie marathons and have to open the door all the time and with a 25-50 degree drop each time I need very quick recovery, so it won't work for me. The more complex the oven, the more important this type of information is. --USER REVIEW--I made a cake, pizza etc and they came out pretty good. I recommend this oven. --EXPERT USER REVIEW--for a pie might include the recipe used, butter vs shortening vs lard crust , type of apples, type of bakeware and how they utilized any specific baking modes, position in the oven, whether they needed to move the pie at all. What temperature they used and if convection was used. How the apples cooked, how the bottom of the pie cooked, and whether the crust cooked evenly. They might mention any issues they had. They might do this for several things. The best of course would be if you can use the oven yourself. Then you might add in what the sales person has to say which is another type of information. _______ "Trevor Lawson The results are noted below in picture form, I can produce a manual for those who prefer words rather than results." I'm sure you can cook all these things. As I said above, this is not the issue at all. Even with the problems I had with my ovens, I could cook all kinds of things too. Can you bake macarons with the door propped open. Can you crank it to 450F and pop trays of appettizers in and out every 4-5 minutes for an hour or two? These would be my questions. Are you saying the manual and words are irrelevant or in some way not true? It hate to hear that you would discount the information in the manual. I think it is essential in learning about how the oven works. I know there are people who only go by what the sales person says but I like to read as much as I can and try to find info from unbiased sources as well. I think the engineer has been honest in saying that there are some for whom this will not work and I appreciate his honesty.