Dear Gardenwebbers, I haven't posted in a while but have been following every single word you have all typed-I've turning into a stove stalker ROFLOL! Of all the threads I've read over the past year regarding stoves, this is the only one whose posters have actually taken the time to break down the decision-making into the critical components. Not just reviews or opinion, but usage, wear, cost, BTUs, options,even the way the stove sticks out from the walls and integrates into the space. Well done!!You have no idea how helpful you've been! I still haven't made a decision, but I'm inching closer. Like a few of you, I took a step back and asked what I really needed/had to have. One of you rightly pointed out that deciding whether one is a stove top or oven cooker could help out. My ovens are super important to me, and have been the big sticking point in my choices (more on that in a minute) but I do most of my cooking on the stovetop.I REALLY want a coup de feu.If I pick the two burner one coup combination offered by Molteni or Gullo, I'll have to really up my cooking game and plan a bit more ahead (you have to allow the plaque to come to temperature to really use it effectively. So I was concerned I wouldn't have enough "regular" burners.But then, like you all advised, I took a step back and paid attention to what I was really doing "most" days-turns out I'm usually only turning on two burners anyway. When i move to more burners, that's when I could use a million more, so the coup definitely could work out then. I'm still kind of intimidated by it-the Molteni and the others I'm considering are very powerful, but I think that's just lack of self confidence. Burner strength/BTU's were very important to me as well. I currently have an old Wolf Gourmet line-they were better made than the current offering, heavier and more powerful.The max burner is 18K, but it loses power when the other ones are turned on, and then I can't get that nice carmelized sear on the food. I love the oven though. It's gas with a broiler and a (very noisy) convection fan, and sticky racks. Don't love the noise and the stick, but the size is pretty good, and it works well. All the units I'm considering are more powerful, but some more than others.Like everyone has noted, the ovens seem to be what pose the most dilemmas. I worry about cleanability. My current stove is a PITA to clean.The Rorgue has a neat water bath under the burners to rinse out spills-cool!It's also the least expensive of my three choices (So far. Am waiting on the cost of the UL listing fee, plus I have to add in taxes and VAT) but I can have every little gadget I had lusted for(of course, I'm now really rethinking everything). But it's the least pretty/french range looking of the batch. It does come in colors though. I'm nervous that if i select a range with two ovens that I won't be able to use them for what I occasionally need-larger sheets and pans, so I'm really leaning towards one gas oven in the range, and a Miele Masterchef 30" in the wall, which is 6" bigger than my current oven (I have a few pans that I really have to grease up the sides of the oven to squeeze in). I'm going to a Gaggenau cooking demo at Purcell-Murray this weekend and check out their ovens too. Anybody have some feedback on those? I'm also considering getting a smaller range and adding in two induction burners into the counter for quickie cooking for the kids (I have five). I could have had them built into a bespoke range, but the electric components have to be kept far away from a high heat source, which screwed up the size of the unit massively Our quotes from the contractors are coming-scary! I just wanted to thank everyone for all the input-every single comment has been so helpful. Oh, on a side note, there's a ROCKIN' Morice stove for sale that I found on the internet. It's not the right color for em (it's blue and silver) but maybe it would work out for you. It's got 3/4 burners (one is a single grate but with two burners under it-is that one or two?LOL) and a coup de feu. The oven is electric. I've (hopefully!) included the link. Parts are still available for the Morices. If it had been a different color, I would have jumped on it-great price. well, I'll be continuing to follow everybody's stove progress, and hope to have a stove too. Soon... Here is a link that might be useful: Sea Sales Morice cooker

Thanks. The Zojirushi seems to be the gold standard. Have perused several of your cookbook suggestions and will order at least one. I'll probably take a trip into Chinatown to hopefully be able to check out the difference between the 3- and 5.5-cup sizes as well as compare brands. Not knowing the minimum & maximum capacities of either size in terms of quarts of "total stuff" gives me no real basis of comparison regarding practicality. If none of the larger ones won't handle a single serving of oatmeal, and if the small size seems like too much money for too little functionality/flexibility, then I'll just give up and stick with the little instant packets :-( ... Or start making big batches on weekends on the stove (LeCreuset works dandy) to divvy up into individual servings that can be nuked during the week ... And keep my ancient slow cooker or replace it with an automatic model (quite a bit less money than a micom rice cooker). LeCreuset surely will do a decent job on brown rice too, which doesn't need to be ready first thing in the morning anyway. But the idea of a little rice cooker that does easy fresh oatmeal each morning AND some other valuable tricks sure does sound nice.

Two things, one, I want John to be my dad!! Two, I had a friend who's son got kicked out of his dorm for having a pocket knife. And he didn't even remember that he had it. That was Temple University. They had to kick him out because they had a zero tolerance policy. It was just for one semester. He had to move home and commute. Weird but true. That was about 8 years ago though. Totally cool that some dorms now have communal kitchens! I lived in one for a summer semester but it didn't have a cafeteria. I totally melted the carpet because I was carrying a pan back from the kitchen to my dorm to eat it and I set it down to open the door and didn't realize it was hot enough to melt the carpet! Nice brown circle burned into the carpet by my dorm door! I loved that arrangement back in the day, but yes, college cafeteria food had some a long, long way since then, some places around me are even doing the whole "local" produce thing with college gardens too. Lots of veggie options that I would have never dreamed of. I had to exist on broccoli cheese casserole back when I lived in the dorm. My dorm room cooking consisted of peanut butter and honey on saltines. But I went to the farm market and got fresh ground peanut butter and comb honey! Ramen in the hotpot and tea, what more could a college student ask for!

So, after using it for a few years, here is my take on the MC, keeping in mind, of course that YMMV. I want to start by saying that I just *had* to have the MC because I was sure I would get tons of use from it, especially because I have arthritis and I have had some close calls with moving heavy pots of boiling water. So, in that way, having the MC is very nice bc it does drain the boiling water and eliminates the need to move a heavy pot full of boiling water. The downsides, though, are that it does take some time to get the water to a boil ( I would say about 15 minutes or so) and then there is the clean up, which is kind of a pain. You have to wait for the unit to cool down enough to take it apart to clean it well; otherwise, it tends to get icky. Coincidentally, we seem to be eating less pasta these days *sigh* so when I do make pasta it is in smaller batches and I usually do it on my induction hob which boils water in under a minute. I do love my MC for keeping items warm and for steaming veggies. In those instances, clean up is super easy, it's just draining the water and then I leave the lid off all night to air dry. To speak to your oven choices, I really do love having my warming cupboard, I use the heck out of that thing! I almost think I would give up the MC before the warming cupboard, especially with an induction hob that boils water so quickly for pasta. So in the end, maybe the question is...how MUCH pasta do you prepare at one time? Is it smaller batches, for say a family of 4? Or is it regularly for 10-12? In which case the MC might be very useful for you. I hope this is helpful and not more confusing!