Your comments are easing the pain of this long drawn out reno we've been living in. I started the demo in Jan and have been working every day, night and weekend as I've done all the work myself. I've already used up all my vacation time for the year. I can't comment to much on the "actual" cooking experience as DW is the only cook in our house, I just reap the benefits. This kitchen is for her for because she deserves it and has always wanted an AGA and a beautiful kitchen. Our first meal was pancakes of course! The kids love pancakes. quiltgirl Regarding our counters, we have about 36" to the right and about 60" to the left. There is a large island directly across from the AGA. The granite was templated a week ago and should be ready for install in a week or so.

(Ignore the following if you are planning an elegant, sophisticated Super Board party. If there is such a thing?) The cool thing about the traditional Superbowl party is, the food doesn't have to be fancy or nicely-plated or to be served at a specific time. It's a glorified tailgate party, for gosh sakes, and guests are sitting around a TV munching finger food. The pre-game and game go on for hours and hours of droning spiritless rattling death - can you tell I'm not a football fan - your job is simply to keep dishes coming. And to never run out of drinks. For that, buffalo wings are foolproof. As are pork ribs. For fish lovers, how about ceviche? Neither is at all picky about exact times or temps, and you can do a lot of the work ahead. Here's my tried-and-true recipes for these - Wings: buy a big pack or two of chicken wings from Costco (I usually make 40 or 50 wings). Score each wing a couple times, through the skin. Place in steamer (or colander), no more than three wings deep, place in pot w/ 2'' boiling water, and steam 20 min. Better to do this in batches than to try to steam a heaping mound of wings. Then, set the steamed wings aside. When you are 1/2 hour from wanting to serve some wings, lay wings on sheet pan, salt, and broil at high heat in oven for 20 min or until done and brown w/ crisp skin. That approximate time is in my gas oven on high broil and medium rack position. In the Aga oven, I dunno but, again, timing isn't critical, just keep an eye on it. Melt some butter and salt in large bowl. Toss wings, hot from oven, in the bowl to coat. Serve right away while the skin is still crisp. Short ribs: Buy a big pack or two of pork short ribs, ideal would be 2" long but the longer ones are okay. Cut into sections of two ribs. Marinate overnight in honey, soy sauce, brown sugar, salt, pepper, liquid smoke, finely chopped green onions, finely chopped ginger root - mix it to taste, you're going for a Korean BBQ flavour here. Make some extra marinade and set it aside. When you are 1/2 hour from wanting to serve some ribs, lay ribs on sheet pan, sprinkle lightly w/ sesame seeds (optional), and broil on for 20 min or until done, turning once. Baste with the reserved marinade every several minutes. Ceviche: Buy about four pounds of some fresh, firm, white fish. Also some small scallops and some shrimp or prawns, these can be frozen but must not be cooked. Cut into bite size pieces. Marinate, refrigerated and fully submerged, in fresh squeezed lime and lemon juice. Half and half is ideal but sometimes limes are expensive. Marinate at least five hours, up to overnight. Ladle into small bowls, serve buffet style with selection of garnishes to pick from - chopped garlic, capers, diced onion, chopped scallions or chives, lime wedges, chopped walnuts or almonds (toasted would be nice), coarse salt, black pepper, red pepper, hot sauce.

mulemom -- you can almost always convert from natural gas to propane very easily; it requires a standard converter that all plumbers/gas workers are familiar with. If the Godin is your dream, I'd make an appointment to go see it immediately and then you can tell if it's a scam. Bring a largish male friend for safety.

Fixed. The installer came back and it was just an adjustment of air flow that fixed the problem. Thank you to the installer, to Aga and to all of you!