We bought a house with a 4 year old 36 inch Bertazzoni stove in it. I am so frustrated. I have not bought bread in the past 3 years, baking my own bread in my trusted 23 years old Miele oven in the old house, which never caused me a headache. I bake a lot. 32 walnut and poppy seed rolls for Christmas on top of 17 different types of Christmas cookies. I tried to bake a few things in my "new" oven. Everything burned from the bottom. Today I baked my sourdough bread in a Dutch oven and I placed 2 wetted parchment papers on the bottom trying to solve the problem. Plus, I placed 6 ice cubes inside. Still - that horrible oven burned the bottom of my tested a zillion times sourdough bread. I am not happy.

From the article " The term conjures up visions of professionals using acres of counter space and island stoves to perfect their braising and baking - like Julia Child's kitchen memorialized in the Smithsonian." Hellloooooo??? Has this reporter SEEN Julia's kitchen. If I recall correctly as it's been a couple of years since I saw it, she had TWO, that's right - TWO!! small counters and a table in the middle. Heck, I've seen ISLANDS bigger than her kitchen. I love to cook and my kitchen was designed to have everything accessible within 5 small steps. The working floor space is a measly 8 square feet with the counters on the perimeter but it's a gorgeous, functional kitchen and it works. When I learned to cook it was in a kitchen filled with 16 other people and all the space we each had was a 2x3' cart with storage underneath. I cook or rather bake, because I have a passion for it. And what keeps me going, are the compliments. And they don't come from my family so I don't cook/bake for them. They just take it for granted. I think TV and Food Networks sensationalize the life of top Chefs. Out in the real world, it's nothing like that.

I bought some garlic from WGG last year, they have very reasonable prices and good quality. I have been waiting impatiently for a few months to see when they will start taking orders for this year! dcarch: I would suggest using an Asiatic variety such as Korean Mountain or Asian Tempest for making black garlic. The Asiatic varieties are generally short storing which is probably why the black garlic curing/aging process was invented in the first place. A Turban variety might make a good substitute if you can't find any Asiatics.

I don't know that I have much to add relative to the appliance forum, except to say that everything driving my interest in Bluestar had to do with cooking, and the way I cook, rather than any grand design plan (we don't have one and our kitchen, while pleasant looking and very functional, is nobody's idea of awesome, beautiful design). I like the more powerful burners both for fast searing and for, e.g., bringing a pot of pasta back to a rolling boil quickly, so that you are not poaching the life out of it. It's also very nice for wok cooking -- not my specialty, but something we really like here and there. The medium burners are versatile and the simmer burner rounds things out nicely. The large (gas) oven seems to be very stable once it's properly pre-heated; and the broiler is great, although not all that large. We had looked at the 30" before settling on the 36" model. Of the smaller ranges, it offered very nice spacing of the burners, which might be a plus for this range (and an issue with some alternatives) if you often work with 2 or 3 large pans at a time. Very good heavy continuous grates, which are nice for moving things around while you work. This is, of course, a large up-charge relative to many perfectly good ranges. For myself that was acceptable because (a) the range really mattered to me, (b) the cost, while substantial, was not great relative to many other things that might be done for a kitchen or home, and (c) the cost was manageable . . . for us -- we all operate under different budget constraints.