Wow! The TurboChef sounds great. Can't wait to see your photos. I don't think I can justify another budget buster but I enjoy living vicariously.

All mentioned already but here's mine: Julie and Julia - the Julia bits not the Julie bits - when Julia first arrives in France and is served Trout a la Meuniere and has an epiphany - starting her life-long love affair with French food and cooking. Eat, Drink, Man, Woman Tampopo Chocolat - "It's not my favorite." "It's not my favorite." "It's not my favorite." Finally - "THIS is my favorite." The top two without a doubt for me: Big Night - I can't tell you how much I love Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub. Love, love, love them both. And number one ---- Babette's Feast - a movie that explains without words how food and sensuality are intertwined and the marriage between them is a human necessity. How Babette brought joy to the utterly sense-starved, ascetic townsfolk and their bitter, frigid and abstinent lives, lifting them at least for one evening to a truer meaning of life than they had ever let themselves experience. That Babette gave up everything to "feed" them in this manner, to share her gifts, to thank them, to deliver a dream... still an astonishing film.

An easy way to sharpen knives is a Chefs Choice electric sharpening machine. Cooks Illustrated rated this device well. I was given one, tried it out and was impressed. I did give it away, but only because the particular model I got sharpens to a 20-25 degree angle and I prefer 15 degrees. So I gave it to my friend (she of the Lot of Living Kitchen) who has 40+ knives, all dull (but no longer). I think they cost $150+ but am not sure. Basically they have three rotating abrasive wheels, from coarse to fine, and you draw the knife through slots that position the blade at a fixed angle relative to the wheels. Whetstones cost maybe $50+ for a minimal set of oilstones, but do take some learning and time. It is kind of fun, and is the ''best'' way - removes the least metal and you can control the angle, toothiness, etc. I know quite a few here on KF use stones. There are various other sharpening gadgets. I can't really say which are good. Some of the V-rod systems are probably meant for shorter knives. Or you can have a service sharpen your knives. I don't know the cost. Seems like a reasonable route if they do a good job and don't take off too much metal. I would not have any old service sharpen a really good knife (like, >$300?) or an Asian type edge (more acute angle, single-bevel, etc).

Hello, About 5 years ago, during a major Kitchen reno, I talked my wife into letting me install the residential TurboChef for our oven. It was a Co owned floor demo, that we bought. Needless to say, I have caught all manners of grief for all of the issues. The oven had about 6 service calls in the first few months, and then they replaced it. Then we have had several more calls on the "new" one, (later found it was a refurbished unit), and both upper & lower ovens have had boards, all of the fan motors have been replaced, and so on. The display for the lower oven hasn't worked, and the control knob for the upper has been very erratic (computer glitchy). But now- the microwave function has quite gain, and now that the extended warranty is out I'm scared to start spending money on it. Like others have found, there just aren't service techs with any experience on this. So- a long time ago when we were fixing Easter meal on the cooktop (because the oven was completely out), I looked and the 30" Wolf double ovens carried the same cabinet dimensions. So I've spent the last 2 days re-reading all of the threads I can find here, and I'm scared of the Wolf. So I've tried to see what other options are out there. Consumer Reports' top choice is a Samsung..:). Read about Bluestar, Bertazonni, Thermadoor, and so on. It looks like I'll have to give up the speedcook, but that may not be so bad, as frankly the TurboChefs built in recipes almost never worked anyway. I've used the top oven as a convection usually, as it pre-heated very quickly. Neither the wife and I are serious cooks, but do love to mess around in the kitchen. But it is more cooking, than baking. So please- share any advice on a very durable double oven that hopefully has at least one oven that can preheat quickly enough to not discourage use. The T/C is 30"W, 24"deep, and 50 7/8" tall. I'd really like to not have to cut up fairly new cabinets. Is the Wolf M really fixed? Is the new BlueStar all-electric working well? The Bertazzoni saves me 3K$. So any advice, etc greatly appreciated. Is there something else to look at?