# No stove; menu help needed



## Janet H

A week or so ago my oven died and we've ordered a new range.  it won't be installed for another 10 days and in the meantime I need to prep meals .  I need ideas.  They don't need to be fancy but I've exhausted my short list already - any help?

Here's what I have to cook on:

Propane BBQ
Toaster oven (pretty small)
1 butane burner (caterers burner - very hot).
Crockpot
electric griddle
Waffle iron
Rice cooker


I have no oven, microwave or stove and frankly don't want a lot of leftovers.  There are two of us and I am a vegetarian.

So far we've had:
Flat bread pizza (BBQ)
Steak and packet cooked veggies (BBQ)
Breakfast (elec. griddle)
Burgers (BBQ) and tater tots (waffle iron)
Stirfry (butane burner) w/rice
Lots of cold food like sandwiches​

Any ideas?


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## Dawgluver

*No stove menu help needed*

How about: roasted vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, carrots in the TO; stir fry, grilled cheese on the griddle; bread, cakes, soup, spaghetti sauce, casseroles, lasagna in the CP; paninis on the waffle iron (I've seen a lot of neat stuff done on the waffle iron lately).

And I think ice cream makes a good meal, as well as cereal!


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## Aunt Bea

How about the old camping trick of foil pouch dinners.

You should be able to do them on the grill or in the toaster oven, no cleanup, no leftovers and customized for each of you.

The 9 Easiest Meals You'll Ever Make - Betty Crocker

30 Delicious Tin Foil Dinners | Six Sisters' Stuff

Foil-Pack Dinners By Kraft Foods - Cooking With Foil, Foil Recipes & Delicious Foil Dinner Ideas - Kraft Recipes

Also pancakes and french toast on the griddle, breakfast for dinner! 

Grilled cheese and Dawg's tomato soup.

Good luck!


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## Whiskadoodle

I say if you are going to camp out in your own kitchen, do it in style!

Make mushroom stroganoff.  DH can add grilled (leftover) steak slices.  Use the good china and candlelight.  And Yes to Ice cream.  

I think Leftovers are sometimes my best friend.  I also think sometimes I wouldn't know how to make dinner without them.   Next time you grill, make extra herbed up zucchini slices, sliced the long way.  Ditto some round onion slices.  Zip lock.   Make rice tomorrow ( I used a small box already cooked rice from the Chinese take out. )    Make Chipotle's Cilantro Lime rice, w/ the zukes cut cross- ways and diced onion.  Also kick it up so you can actually taste the cilantro/ lime flavor.  Or use parsley. If I did this again, I would add grilled carrots.   Add some grilled corn off the cob and black or pinto beans, and  more of a lime vinaigrette and it's a salad.  This, I agree makes a lot. It's funny.  I don't think we ever refer to Ice Cream as a leftover once the carton has been opened. 

Pineapple or other fried rice.   It's harder (for me) to do, but you can to some extent, control how many servings you make. 

I think Guacamole goes with just about anything.  Veggies or chips for dipping.  Makes a light lunch, appie or a side dish.


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## Cheryl J

Loaded up baked potatoes in the toaster oven, topped with broccoli and cheese or meatless chili, chopped onions and shredded cheese on top....frittata with leftover veggies in the TO.....split pea soup with carrots and onions in the slow cooker....burritos with refried beans, diced tomatoes, onions, cheese, and some leftover meat for DH's....

Other than what's already been mentioned, that's about all I can come up with right now. 

And I love Whisk's ideas about candlelight - don't forget the wine, and ice cream!


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## Kayelle

Oh boy, what a bunch of good ideas...I'm making notes for me!

Janet, do you have a grill basket? I adore mine for vinaigrette marinated grilled veggies, and a package of Lil Smokies in the mix makes a great meal. I see you cook meat for Hubby, and you can easily pick them out of your serving.


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## Whiskadoodle

I thought of another one, just right for this time of year.

Tomato tart or tomato quiche.  Depending on how small the toaster oven is, you can make individual ones using small pie pans/ a one quart casserole or 8 inch baking pan, not necessarily a full size pie pan.  The store has small disposable pie pans.  There should be tomato recipes floating around here some place.


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## Whiskadoodle

Kayelle said:


> ...vinaigrette marinated grilled veggies,


 
I accidentally discovered vinaigrette marinated veggise this summer.  Prev, I roasted veggies w/ just a little olive oil and a sprinkle herbs.  Adding some things like dijon, and garlic et al marinade gives a nicer flavor.  Balsamic vinegar is great.  or red wine vingear.  And believe it or not,  veggies do take on the flavors.


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## taxlady

When I was traveling and staying in hotels a lot, I brought a small electric skillet. I used it for boiling water, baking potatoes (cut in half, 'cause that skillet was small), frying meat, steaming vegis, baking cake, frying English muffins, and I'm sure there was other stuff. Oh yeah, grilled cheese sandwiches and breakfasts.


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## Kayelle

Whiskadoodle said:


> I accidentally discovered vinaigrette marinated veggise this summer.  Prev, I roasted veggies w/ just a little olive oil and a sprinkle herbs.  Adding some things like dijon, and garlic et al marinade gives a nicer flavor.  Balsamic vinegar is great.  or red wine vingear.  *And believe it or not,  veggies do take on the flavors.*



Yep, they really do Whiska! The vinaigrette really soaks into things like mushrooms and zucchini, two of my favorites for the grill basket, along with colored bell peppers. Here I grill all year and have never done them in the oven. I love the bit of char they get in the grill basket.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North

With the cooking/heat sources you describe, there are few things that you can not cook.  Think slow cooker stews, lasagna, pasta with sauce, roasts that you can first brown either on the grill, or in a pan over your catering burner, hot dogs and baked beans, grilled or steamed corn (do you have a microwave oven by any chance, works great for corn), mashed potatoes, fried potatoes, baked potatoes, potatoes Anna, Potatoes Au Gratin, Sweet potatoes with vanilla, sweet potatoes with pumpkin pie spices and butter, stir fries in you dutch oven, fried chicken, grilled or barbecue meats, spare ribs in the crock pot, etc.

The trick is to determine which heating appliance will cook what part of the meal.  Plan your meals to use multiple appliances for different pats.  Maybe cook the veggies in a pot with butter, while grilling some chicken, and use the toaster oven to make some garlic bread.  Use the slow cooker to make stew, and the toaster oven to make biscuits.  

To give you an idea of how wild cooking can get, way back in my boy scout days, out scoutmaster had us make bread dough, rolled into a snake, and wrapped around a stick.  We then baked the bread by holding the stick over our cooking fire until the bread was golden brown and cooked through.  It was like a serpentine bread stick.  I was so impressed with my scout master.  I never stopped liking the man, and have fond memories of his teachings, and his care for all of us.  He helped make the mundane parts of life an adventure.

Take this opportunity to do the same.  Have fun with it.

You can do this.  Just think of each appliance as a heat source, like you would the multiple burners and oven of a normal range.

Hope that helps.

Seeeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## Aunt Bea

How about couscous.

It is pretty simple to "cook" and at this time of year with all of the fresh vegetables it could work as a simple hot dish on day one and a salad on day two.


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## Janet H

Kayelle said:


> Oh boy, what a bunch of good ideas...I'm making notes for me!
> 
> Janet, do you have a grill basket? I adore mine for vinaigrette marinated grilled veggies, and a package of Lil Smokies in the mix makes a great meal. I see you cook meat for Hubby, and you can easily pick them out of your serving.



I agree - loads of good ideas here - keep them coming!  I think my biggest hurdle is the_ idea_ part of meal planning. Shifting my perspective away from a range is the trick and I'm having some trouble.

Recently I picked up a grill basket at a tag sale and so this is on tonights menu...  State fair style sausage (meat for him/fake for me) sandwiches with grilled onions and peppers.  

The flat bottom and small holes make it pretty easy to sear up veggies on the bbq. Love this little thing.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHGSmDUocxk


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## Kayelle

You're going to *love* that grill basket Janet! Here's a picture of mine in action...


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## Cheryl J

That looks delicious, Kay.  I can't believe I still haven't gotten a grill basket!  I saw them in Home Depot the other day and almost picked one up, then I got distracted and forgot.    Usually I slice big veggies like zucchini and bells in half so they won't fall through the grill, or skewer them.  Asparagus just goes on the grill crossways. But it would be nice to have a grill basket and just do them all at once.  It's now on my list!


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## GotGarlic

When we renovated our kitchen several years ago, I was determined to master the grill  You can grill practically everything - veggies, fruits, meats and meat substitutes. If you have cast iron pans, you can use them on the grill grates for sautéing. 

You can boil potatoes for potato salad on the burner you have and finish them in the grill basket: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/...-grilled-potatoes-with-fine-herbs-recipe.html

You can also make this recipe I made last night, substituting non-meat sausages for you: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/...-with-beer-mustard-and-sauerkraut-recipe.html. Use this idea to make a Mexican or Italian version. 

Does your grill have a side burner? If so, you can boil or sauté on that while grilling. 

Hope this helps.


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## Janet H

Last nights sausage sandwiches were pretty good but cooking on the grill was interrupted when the propane tank dried up. I finished them on the butane burner and gassed up the tank today.  Sigh..


Tonight's meal is currently slated to be grilled garden veggies (eggplant, tomatoes, onion, zucchini and a rutabaga) over angel hair pasta.  I'm going to try making some blue cheese and walnut stuffed mushrooms to go with. I think I can do this on the grill... I hope.


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## GotGarlic

Bummer about the tank. We try to keep a spare one on hand, but it doesn't always work out. 

Depending on the size of the mushrooms, you might be able to skewer them. Or make a little dish with aluminum foil to put them on. 

I have a set of little skewers like this for onions. Skewering large slices horizontally prevents them from falling apart as they cook and soften:


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## CWS4322

I posted a recipe for vegetarian okonimiyaki under Ethnic foods that you can do on an electric Griddle. If it has too many ingredients, just leave some out but keep the cabbage. 
I  often make a rice - lentil blend in the rice cooker. I make a meal salad out of the leftovers by adding chickpeas or another legume, a green left veg, carrots, cubes,  tomatoes, apples and whatever else is on hand. I dress it with balsamic vinegar, s&p. You can toss in hb eggs. What about rice wraps?


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## Janet H

Last night we had breakfast on the griddle - hash browns, eggs and some seared pears.

The stuffed mushrooms the night before went pretty well.  I had to drop them in foil part way through cooking as they were too hot on the bottom but in the end it worked out.

Not sure yet about tonight menu - maybe rubens and a salad?


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## GotGarlic

Janet H said:


> Last night we had breakfast on the griddle - hash browns, eggs and some seared pears.
> 
> The stuffed mushrooms the night before went pretty well.  I had to drop them in foil part way through cooking as they were too hot on the bottom but in the end it worked out.



Does your grill have a rack where you can put things that cook faster several inches above the grate? That can help with things like mushrooms. You can also turn off one side of the grill and cook (or warm up) with indirect heat instead of having food over direct flame.


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## Janet H

GotGarlic said:


> Does your grill have a rack where you can put things that cook faster several inches above the grate? That can help with things like mushrooms. You can also turn off one side of the grill and cook (or warm up) with indirect heat instead of having food over direct flame.



Yes - it has a top rack but by the time I found the mushrooms were too hot on the bottom - they were REALLY too hot.  They went into foil on the top rack


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## GotGarlic

Glad you found them before it was too late!


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## Steve Kroll

Dead ovens must be going around. Ours died yesterday afternoon while I was canning. It's only 10 years old, so I'm a little perturbed about that.

Today I have a board meeting with our wine club and was asked to bring a dessert. I suppose I could have bought something at the store, but had already bought all the ingredients for a coconut cheesecake that I've been experimenting with for the last week.

So I improvised.

I baked the cheesecake in my Weber gas grill using indirect heat. Guess what? It came out looking fantastic and, unlike my oven attempts, didn't crack at all.


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## Kayelle

Darn Steve! You're really brave! I'm impressed by anyone who bakes...but this takes the cake.


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## taxlady

Steve, I'm impressed. I'm also pleased to learn that it's doable.


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## Cheryl J

Beautiful cheesecake, Steve.  And what a creative and successful last minute fix with no oven!


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## Chief Longwind Of The North

Steve Kroll said:


> Dead ovens must be going around. Ours died yesterday afternoon while I was canning. It's only 10 years old, so I'm a little perturbed about that.
> 
> Today I have a board meeting with our wine club and was asked to bring a dessert. I suppose I could have bought something at the store, but had already bought all the ingredients for a coconut cheesecake that I've been experimenting with for the last week.
> 
> So I improvised.
> 
> I baked the cheesecake in my Weber gas grill using indirect heat. Guess what? It came out looking fantastic and, unlike my oven attempts, didn't crack at all.


You're a good man, Steve Kroll, a good man.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## cinisajoy

Janet H said:


> A week or so ago my oven died and we've ordered a new range.  it won't be installed for another 10 days and in the meantime I need to prep meals .  I need ideas.  They don't need to be fancy but I've exhausted my short list already - any help?
> 
> Here's what I have to cook on:
> 
> Propane BBQ
> Toaster oven (pretty small)
> 1 butane burner (caterers burner - very hot).
> Crockpot
> electric griddle
> Waffle iron
> Rice cooker
> 
> 
> I have no oven, microwave or stove and frankly don't want a lot of leftovers.  There are two of us and I am a vegetarian.
> 
> So far we've had:
> Flat bread pizza (BBQ)
> Steak and packet cooked veggies (BBQ)
> Breakfast (elec. griddle)
> Burgers (BBQ) and tater tots (waffle iron)
> Stirfry (butane burner) w/rice
> Lots of cold food like sandwiches​
> 
> Any ideas?


Ok you can use the toaster oven as a regular oven, just smaller pans.
The crockpot can be used as a pan.  Just remember at 3 to 4 hour cooking times.
Your griddle can be your skillet.
Your rice cooker can steam just about anything.

Hope this helps.


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## Janet H

Thanks for the assist 


Tonights discovery: Tater tots are AWESOME cooked on the BBQ in a grill basket. Never-ever again will I put these in the oven. 

Last night: Lamb chops, Basmati Rice, chutney and green beans (again in the grill basket)


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## Kayelle

Janet H said:


> Thanks for the assist
> 
> 
> Tonights discovery: Tater tots are AWESOME cooked on the BBQ in a grill basket. Never-ever again will I put these in the oven.
> 
> Last night: Lamb chops, Basmati Rice, chutney and green beans (again in the grill basket)



Great tip Janet.....the SousChef loves tater tots, and I never thought to put them in my grill basket!

When do you get your new stove?


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## Janet H

Kayelle said:


> Great tip Janet.....the SousChef loves tater tots, and I never thought to put them in my grill basket!
> 
> When do you get your new stove?




It's scheduled for delivery this Saturday and (fingers crossed) and hopefully will be up and running in time for supper.  I'm running low on ideas for meals and cooler weather has arrived - it's time to BAKE!

There have been some up sides to not having a stove.  

I've made friends with my gas grill.  In the past I've mostly seared meat on it - the hotter the better, but now I've learned how to accurately control temperature.  Overall meals have gotten simpler with fewer sides (by necessity) and maybe that's a good thing as well.

Tonight's menu is looking like french toast (griddle) with some seared sliced pears and caramelized bananas and linquisa (grill).


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## GotGarlic

That's great! I love feeling comfortable with the grill. When I was a teenager, my mom told me to light the grill once, but not how. I didn't lift the lid and ended up singeing my eyebrows and bangs  I didn't do it again for decades  Then, as I said, when we renovated our kitchen, I made a determined effort to conquer it. Now I grill all kinds of things 

But I'm ready to bake and braise, too. I'm making pork & tomatillo soup and corn bread tonight


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## Janet H

Kayelle said:


> Great tip Janet.....the SousChef loves tater tots, and I never thought to put them in my grill basket!





I highly recommend giving this a try if you like tater tots.  here's what I did:

Preheat grill to 450. Open frozen tater tots and cram as many as possible on grill basket.  I used a weber grill basket like this but I think that almost anything would work including a disposable pie tin.



Put the loaded basket in the grill and close the lid.  Cook them for about 20 minutes. No turning needed.  EASY

Five minutes before they were done I added the accompanying burgers to the grill as well as some pineapple spears. Once it was all cooked, I pulled off the tots and burgers and set them aside and toasted split buns for a few seconds.  Dinner is ready, pass the ketchup


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## Janet H

The stove is finally installed and tonight I'm going to try it out! It took most of the weekend to get the range hood installed (venting had to be installed and holes cut in the cabinet, ceiling and roof).  The tile work on the back splash had to be patched as well to tile up into the space just under the range hood - I'm wiped!

So now all that's left is to cook! So many choices.. What should I start with?


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## Kayelle

That's one beautiful stove Janet!!  Tell us more about it and why it was your choice please.

I'd think that you've missed having the oven most, so maybe you should bake a cake to celebrate.


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## taxlady

Love the grill basket. All the ones I have seen in stores had holes big enough for kernels of corn to fall through.


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## Janet H

Kayelle said:


> That's one beautiful stove Janet!!  Tell us more about it and why it was your choice please.
> 
> I'd think that you've missed having the oven most, so maybe you should bake a cake to celebrate.



It's a Thermadore and uses propane.  The burners are 15K BTU and 2 of them have a super low simmer setting.  The oven is aslo propane and convects.  it's simple - no fancy timers or digital pads and will run in a power outage.

There is some back story here... A few years ago we redid the kitchen and put in a jennaire downdraft slide in electric range - it was lovely and we bought it new at a salvage sale (store going out of business).  W egot a great deal. Somewhere here at DC there is a thread about the kitchen remodel with dragged on endlessly.  

In the past few years since the remodel we've had to replace the the digital controller for that jennaire 3 times - each time at a 400.00 cost. Turns out there is a design flaw and the control board cooks each time you clean the oven.  When the board dies you cannot use any part of the stove or oven - it's all touch pad controlled.   Recently that board fired again and we were faced with the same repair for a range that I had to baby.  The glass top is too delicate (also been replaced once when I dropped a pie tin on it and it cracked).


The kitchen is part of a larger great room and that space has a wood burning fireplace that we rarely use because the wood smoke hangs in the neighborhood and more heat goes up the chimney than the fire produces.  For years we've talked about putting a propane insert in the fireplace (no natural gas in the area) and so when the stove died we decided to move ahead with the fireplace redo and also get a gas burning stove at the same time.

All that was left was to raid the piggy bank and choose the range.  There are lots of choices.  After the jennaire nightmare I was determined to avoid any range with a digital control board and get one that would work in a power outage.  That left only a few choices and all expensive. 

After reading the reviews and looking at a few models, we discounted wolf and viking.  That left a PCS range and this one to choose between, both about the same cost.  The PCS had 5 burners including a 25K btu wok burner which was very appealing but a buddy of mine who is an appliance repair person suggested that the Thermadore might be more reliable.  On the day I was going to purchase the thermadore folks rolled out a special that included a free dishwasher and so that was the clincher.  My dish washer works but it's 14 years old so that seemed fortuitous.

The Jennaire we took out was a downdraft and there was a microwave above so we need to add a range hood and all the ducting to go with and the wall where the microwave used to be had to be tiled.  Fortunately I saved the left overs from the remodel.

here's a pic of the old range...



We had the fire place professionally installed and they also did the needed propane plumbing to the range but we installed the range hood and the range.  Turns out it's quite heavy and was a big job.


The cake is a good idea - I need to make friends with the oven.  It has these cool roll-out racks that will be nice for heavy things like turkeys. I have missed baking.

Today I have to decide what to cook and also need to decide what knobs to use on the range - it came with a second set of knobs and they are blue.  Maybe we need a poll?


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## Janet H

taxlady said:


> Love the grill basket. All the ones I have seen in stores had holes big enough for kernels of corn to fall through.



Weber makes these in two sizes and I have used the heck out if it. BTW that pic is snagged off an ad somewhere - mine is not nearly that shiny


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## cinisajoy

Love your stove.   Make that love your kitchen.
Now as to the knobs.   I like the ones on the stove now.
As to what to make.    Steaks grilled on the center burner.   Homemade bread and a cake in the oven.   Various side dishes on 3 burners and heat up a kettle of water on the 4th back burner for tea.


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## Janet H

cinisajoy said:


> Love your stove.   Make that love your kitchen.
> Now as to the knobs.   I like the ones on the stove now.



my problem is that I like both colors - maybe we need a poll?


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## Janet H

Janet H said:


> my problem is that I like both colors - maybe we need a poll?





Poll Here: http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f26/vote-what-color-knobs-93956.html


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## Cooking Goddess

Wonderful looking range, Janet. Wishing you many years of yummy cooking with that beauty!

BTW, I also love your kitchen. It looks so professional I would feel out of place in it even though I consider myself a pretty darned good home chef.


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## Janet H

Cooking Goddess said:


> BTW, I also love your kitchen. It looks so professional I would feel out of place in it even though I consider myself a pretty darned good home chef.



The kitchen was a long time coming. A few years ago we gutted it, raised the dropped ceiling, peeled off the pink flowered wall paper and shifted things around a bit.  It took us several months of DIY in the evenings to get it done.  The old kitchen was original to the house (mid 70's) and mostly broken.  The built in oven was dead, the cook top had one working burner and the the counters were an unspeakable brown color that we often referred to as baby-bio brown.  We cut corners in many places to keep costs down (including the range we put in) but got the best cabinets we could find, rewired and put in LED lighting.  Cheaping out on the range came back to haunt me...

I dug out some pics of the old kitchen - notice the awesome poofy curtains, pink flowered paper and ye olde dark oak cabinet (with every drawer broken)

Nice huh?


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## Cooking Goddess

Janet H said:


> ...I dug out some pics of the old kitchen - notice the awesome poofy curtains, pink flowered paper and ye olde dark oak cabinet (with every drawer broken)
> 
> Nice huh?


Wow. That is SO "vintage" you have no fear of it ever coming back into style! Now I really like your new version.


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## taxlady

Janet, sadly, your old kitchen would be a huge improvement over my cheaply built, badly designed 70s kitchen.


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