[BakerAunt]

The unsealed burners would be a deal breaker for me. Sealed burners are one of the features I love about my Thermador. My husband and I also are not dishwasher people. We had the broken one in this house removed and replaced with a cabinet, and we will remove the nonworking one in Indiana and not replace it when we gut the kitchen.

We are planning to take the Amana refrigerator with us (bought in 2001) and put it in the apartment kitchen. (The previous owners of our house built an apartment over the garage, complete with kitchen. In addition to giving guests their own space, I plan to use it for some baking projects.) I will need to decide on a refrigerator for the new kitchen in the house. I want one with the freezer on bottom (like the Amana), and possibly with French doors. I do not want an automatic icemaker or a water and ice dispenser in the door (we have well water, and that brings up filter issues).

I've not even begun researching refrigerators yet. Sigh.

I'm happy with our Maytag washer, but just because a company makes a good washing machine does not mean it makes a good stove.

I will look at DCR, but so far the Frigidaire dual fuel is coming out ahead. (My husband says to get the range with which I will be happy--as long as the burners are gas, which we both prefer.) I also will look at separate gas cooktops and electric ovens.

When I bought the Thermador, I thought it would be my stove for life. It never occurred to me that after 10 years there would not be parts for it. Ten years seems to be the life of the electrical panel. I had it replaced a few years after I bought the range, when a lightening strike (not at my house) created a surge that fried the panel. That new one lasted exactly ten years--several years beyond when the company stopped manufacturing the panels for this range. CoreCentric in Illinois repaired the panel, or I would have been left with a stove top that worked and no oven.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Aaron mentioned Amana. I have an Amana refrigerator that I bought in 2001, and it has been great. I did have to have the thermostat replaced for the refrigerator a couple of years ago, but the repair cost was reasonable.

However, Amana was bought out a couple of years later by Maytag or Whirlpool (or was it both?). I'm not sure if the quality suffered or not.

[BakerAunt]

My largest pan is 18x12 (the one I use for making Chex Mix). There is not a lot of space around it, but for Chex Mix that is not a problem. It might be an issue if I were to try to bake a cake in it.

The electric oven in my Thermador has baked amazingly evenly, I have not found the need to rotate items during baking, so I'm spoiled in that regard. However, I will certainly do the toast test once I have a new oven. What did not impress me about the Kitchen Aid was the picture of the cookies, where it was very clear that the baking was quite uneven.

Thanks to all of you for giving me a lot to think about!

• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

With hazelnut meal and Valrhona Milk Chocolate that need to be used up, I finally made the KAF recipe (was in one of their catalogs) for which I had bought them: Malted Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Tart. The recipe specified toasted hazelnut flour. I used hazelnut meal instead, which might be why I needed an additional tablespoon of water in the crust. Although I have a 4 1/4x13 3/4 rectangular tart pan, there was about 1/4 cup too much filling, so I put it in a little dish and will feed it to my husband for dessert, since the tart has to sit at least four hours and thus will not be ready for tonight's dinner. I do not recall if I bought this tart pan from KAF. The one they advertised was made in France, and this one is a Fat Daddio's, but I have a faint recollection of being surprised about that when the package came, and the others I have, in different sizes, bear T.J. Maxx stickers. The filling tastes wonderful, but with high quality chocolate, heavy cream, butter, and malted milk, how could it not be? I actually have enough to make a second one, if we like it.

Addendum: The creamy texture of the tart is wonderfully complemented by the hazelnut crust. I will definitely make it again, and it is an easy recipe that only requires baking the crust.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/malted-milk-chocolate-hazelnut-tart-recipe

• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Hi, Cwcdesign. It's a good idea, but there is no Ikea anywhere near us in the lower panhandle of Texas, and unless there is one in South Bend, there is not a close one to us in Indiana.

My husband likes the idea of the design program. He probably thinks it will be cheaper than marriage counseling. 🙂

[BakerAunt]

Thanks for the detailed discussion of Blue Star, Aaron. I'd never heard of the company but will do some investigating and checking of reviews. My husband would really love it if I went with an all gas range, as he finds them more cost efficient.

I checked the Blue Star website, and their 36-inch RCS Series model is about the same price as the Frigidaire dual fuel I looked at yesterday. The 30-inch is about $600 less, but still appears to be five burners, which I think is a bit tight. It also was not clear to me that the burners were sealed (in case of those wonderful boil overs that happen from time to time).

From what you say, it sounds like it is well insulated.

I have baked with gas. In fact, I baked the various parts of our wedding cake in an old gas oven at the place we were renting--an oven that was even on the verge and ceased working properly about a day later. If the oven maintains a consistent temperature without hot spots, then gas would work. My Thermador electric oven has been wonderful in that regard.

There is a Blue Star dealership in South Bend, as well as a service place, so that is within half an hour of where we will be living.

My research yesterday led me to the same conclusion about Viking and Wolf in terms of dual fuel. Kitchen Aid was out of the running very quickly.

Did you also get your range hood from Blue Star?

Thanks for responding. You have given me a lot to consider.

[BakerAunt]

Mike, does this look somewhat like what you used?

http://www.broderbund.com/p-963-punch-interior-design-suite-v19.aspx

$39.99 might save a lot of frustration (and marital strain) down the road.

My husband and I are not that computer saavy, so how easy are these programs to use?

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Mike. Apparently Lowe's has this kind of computer program for designing kitchens that they use when helping people work out cabinets. We will start with the hand graphing and go from there, but I need to decide on appliances, as that affects the layout. We are working with a much smaller kitchen area than I would have liked, even with taking some space from a closet on the other side of the wall, but to get a house in the desired location, I had to accept that (kicking and screaming, I might add).

[BakerAunt]

On Wednesday, in need of baking therapy, and in a quest to use up some shredded coconut I baked Anzac Biscuits, using the recipe from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion (p. 83). I find these work better with quick rolled oats, and I use unsweetened shredded coconut. I use my 1 Tbs. scoop to drop them (Zeroll #40) and so get 24. d after looking at stoves online,

• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

My husband has been reminding me that we need to sit down with graph paper and figure out the new layout for the Indiana kitchen so that we can talk with the contractor when we are up, briefly, at the end of May. I have thus spent far too much time on the internet today trying to figure out dual-fuel ranges.

Question: I've always preferred a free-standing range to a slide-in, in part because I think that they are better insulated. Am I off base on this?

I've been looking at Frigidaire. The website shows only two dual-fuel ranges, one a 30-inch slide-in and the other a 40-inch free-standing range. The latter is pricy, but it would hold 3 cake layers....
However, the oven controls are on the back. The slide-in has the controls in front, but it has no backsplash.

I tried to locate reviews of other brands without much success. I did see that a dual-fuel Kitchen Aid was recommended by Consumer Reports, but I cannot figure out why, since the oven was only rated very good and another site also commented that it bakes unevenly. Perhaps they were so enthralled with the gas burners that they overlooked it?

I looked at Thermador, but they list 0 service people within 100 miles of where we would be living, which is odd because they have a number of retailers. Of course, even the lowest level dual-fuel Thermador is expensive these days.

I looked at one oven site and had to laugh--it was all about how the range looked in terms of the décor, and there was nothing about how it cooks and bakes.

I've also been looking at control locations and I prefer the controls in front.
I really would like a backsplash on the stove.

At this point, I shall go drown my sorrows by baking cookies.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks for a great article, Mike. Like you, I always have chicken/turkey stock in the freezer

Lately, I've been using regular ClearJel, rather than flour, to thicken my gravies. I also find that a flat whisk is most helpful.

[BakerAunt]

My PBS channel tends to show some material much later than in other markets, or maybe I just missed these the first time around. From what I can gather, I get to see one show on Jacques Pepin and one on Alice Waters on Friday.

[BakerAunt]

I have Orange Barley Pound Cake (recipe on this site) baking in the oven. I'm also about to start the KAF Ultra-Thin Pizza Crust, so that we can have pizza for dinner.

Note: On the pizza, as usual, I drizzled in the olive oil after the rest of the ingredients started mixing. However, for the first time I weighed the ingredients rather than measuring by volume. The dough was a bit stickier, but my husband said it was my best crust yet, and I agree.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I'm trying out a new recipe for Orange Cream Scones that I tore out of a Bon Appetit (August 2000), p. 104. (I'm trying to cut down on stuff before our move, and I have some nice organic oranges.) I'm making a half recipe, and I'm substituting in 1 cup of barley flour for one of the two cups of AP Flour. I'll cut the butter into the dry ingredients tonight, then refrigerate it overnight. Tomorrow, I'll add the egg and half and half, mix, shape, and bake for breakfast. I'll report back on the recipe by adding an addendum to this post.

Addendum: The scones are fabulous. I did add 1/4 tsp. of orange oil. I froze three of the six I baked. I kept two others out, and I will check to see if they hold up over a couple of days.

Second Note: The scones are very good the second day, but they are truly excellent when freshly baked and warm.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by BakerAunt. Reason: added material

[BakerAunt]

I've never cooked eggplant--and my husband says not to start!

Italian Cook--it's good to hear from you again. 🙂

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