dcarch, that's fantastic...but i'm such a 'permy' i suppose that i like being out in the weather... using wood for fuel. Smoking mozzarella on the 4th will be a challenge at 80 temp, but the ice block worked last summer. mustangs, got ya beat on the temp collection...just mowed on over, then another i stuck in the smoker with the plastic sleeve still on, lol. (i should just buy the whole display rack of the cheap ones) I probably could win the 'useless-junk-kitchen-crap' contest...i just spring cleaned out the kitchen drawers and filled a box to go downstairs with all the previous years boxes... I did toy and play with the rubber lid things recently in a cooks supply...the texture is a bit creepy like my silpats and don't care for the microfiber cloths...DH wore one to work stuck on the inside back of his shirt...wiggled down to the, fortunately tucked-in, waistband like a muffin top. Find them inside folded sheets... Not many new purchases recently. Like that thermopop but i treated us to a thermopen for valentines day during their sale and bought red. It has a special spot and is not allowed outside for the grill unless with special care... So i would have to say my maple tree that nature took down over the winter... Many future cooking tools and fuel coming soon. This is just the top 1/3rd and is now safely on the ground-ish. The base 20 ft is still standing. Not at all sad as we have a large herd of them...would have cost a small fortune to have it pro cut so nature did the hard costly work. Designed a dining table a few years ago and now see it may be built finally.

I don't (and won't) bake except for the rare (extremely rare!) cake and I never make pasta, although I do know *how* to make pasta. I don't fiddle much with flour based cooking :-). Well, except for roux. It's hard to avoid roux in Louisiana! I cooked for 12 in my old *extremely well appointed* kitchen using just the 18" - yes 18" beside the stove for prep. And I had *miles* of other counters - including that coveted long run between the sink and stove. Didn't use it. I will admit that I hate cooking in my MIL's kitchen because although she has an island, it's a barrier and she has nothing stored in it that is remotely related to prep. But that's *another* issue, no? I cook well, and largely from scratch, but clearly I don't cook complex! As an aside, if it turns out that 72" is too long a jog between work zones, I'll probably bring in a long, narrow table which would take some pressure off the counters to either side of the chef's sink. Admittedly, my current 18" prep space is lacking, but that's because the crappy apartment's tiled countertop is broken up so I have an old (and slightly warped) IKEA cutting board over it. When I really get to chopping, the board moves in the opposite direction and walks all over and there's no way any food stuffs that touch that tile counter are going in my family's body, so prepping is possible, but not relaxing, there.

Tricia, I'm so sorry about the list that disappeared! I hate it when that happens! One of the things I love about Firefox is that those things are sometimes recoverable. (Either following the back arrow, or closing and reloading.) The MAGMA cookware is interesting. Same kind of thought as the Cristel that KitchenDetective mentioned. Seems to have good variety, too. So I've been trimming my list and I think I have it down all the way. I thought I'd share. No wok required, but it could hand half into the window, next to the dishwasher. :) It's still a really long list, but I think everything actually fits, and pretty easily. More so than the people! When four people sit down to dinner in my shipping container, the table and chairs are big enough for the people, but there's no real room to maneuver and everyone has to move if someone needs to get up. :) So, for cookware storage I have a set of 24" drawers, for the dishes I have a shelf, and between the studs storage for glasses and mugs. There's also a little storage above the fridge and oven, but I don't want to use it for cookware other than the 20" wood carving board. The "pantry" is three wire baskets in a moveable cart with drop leaves that tucks away between the side of the cooktop cabinet and the washer door. I kind of cheated and used my own 24" self imported induction cooktop. After reading Johnliu's list, I just couldn't deal with the single element Miele 15" or the other, wimpy dominoes. The paper towels would go in a basket in the cart, which pulls out and becomes an island with the drop leaves up. The foil, parchment and plastic bags can go in the between the studs storage, along with small bottles and jars, or in the cart drawer with the tea towels and pot holders. There's room for cleaning supplies, including: telescoping broom and mop compact mop bucket cleaning supply caddy with nesting bucket collapsible 13 gallon lidded trash can--a frame which holds the bag, then flattens to 2.6" Sponge holder suctions to sink side. Press-with-back-of-hand soap dispenser sits on counter. Clothes iron hides behind a sliding cover on the shelves folding Ironing board and Drying rack hang on bathroom door. Side of shelving case is reinforced and has hooks to hold the four chairs, when folded, 6" thick, total. Top drawer has a compact flatware organizer which can hold the four settings of seven pieces and five hostess pieces: tea spoons soup spoons salad forks dinner fork table knives appetizer spoons appetizer forks serving fork serving spoon slotted serving spoon sugar spoon butter knife Utensils: Infrared/themocouple thermometer Shun Classic Hollow-ground 8" chef's knife with edge guard Shun Classic honing steel (I decided the cook could take the knife out for proper sharpening rather than making room for a stone set) Normann Copenhagen nut cracker Rachael Ray peeler with attached vegetable brush Norpro stamped steel church key for...

You might mention the location in the column's title. Will you draw recipes from the whole state? Part of the state? Your county, or your city ? Knowing that, we could generate more ideas (though I do like some already suggested).