A whole bunch has happened since I took an unexpected blogging hiatus.
- Ben applied urethane to the floor in the Den, fixing some mottled staining and making us both feel like home-renovation champions. That floor is so beautiful, it brings a tear to my eye!
- Ben re-plumbed the hot-cold water supply to the bathroom, thus ending the reign of the Hot-Flushing Toilet.
- Ben re-re-plumbed the hot-cold water supply 3 or 4 times after each of us discovered a waterfall in the basement. He has promised to document the changes he made.
- I cleaned up the front yard, raked leaves, razed the dead stuff, and ripped out about 3 square acres of lamb's ear from the front yard. I also planted cute daisies, mums, and some other green stuff.
- Most of this was in preparation for Ben's mom, Tina, and her partner, Lori, to come visit, which was just wonderful and lots of fun. I've got some neat-o photos from our trip to see the Chihuly exhibit at the Phipps Conservatory which was just awesome. There was a lot of driving around in the air-conditioned car since the weather was so uncooperatively warm and some really wonderful meals and conversations and just general hanging around. Really great stuff. T.Lo, we miss you guys already!
- We picked a stove! And, not surprisingly, it's way way WAY more expensive than our initial estimates. It's got 5 burners with one of those griddle inserts in the middle, a convection oven, a second tiny oven where the broiler drawer is, it's all stainless, AND it has this neat meat probe inside where you can set the oven to cook it to a set internal temperature. How awesome is that? So no wonder it's $1800. Ouch. Is that ridiculous? That's ridiculous right? I dunno.
Part of our thinking is that we're saving a ton of money by going with an Ikea kitchen that we'll install ourselves. The flip side is that since we're DIY'ing so much, we don't want the overall look to be cheap. Plus we do cook a
lot. So we'll actually use and appreciate the extra bells and whistles. But still, $1800 is so much money. SO MUCH. So what do you guys think? Should we go for it?
Part of our thinking is that we're saving a ton of money by going with an Ikea kitchen that we'll install ourselves. The flip side is that since we're DIY'ing so much, we don't want the overall look to be cheap. Plus we do cook a lot. So we'll actually use and appreciate the extra bells and whistles. But still, $1800 is so much money. SO MUCH. So what do you guys think? Should we go for it?
8 comments:
Ours has all of that except for the meat thermometer and the second oven (ours is a warming drawer, which is also useful) and it was about $1200. I heart it. We are planning on getting a wall-mounted oven eventually for our second-oven needs, as we cook lots too (or at least we do when there is food in the house to be cooked).
Sounds totally cool! As long as you can afford it, go ahead and buy it. I felt like we spent a lot on our fridge, but it was worth it to get exactly what we want. So if this stove is what you want, whip out that credit card!
Andrea
Ooh, jamalia, that's one we hadn't seen. It's definitely in the category we're looking at.
But, in the end, we're going to go whole-hog on this one. Seriously, we're such cheapasses in every other aspect of our lives (my god, you should see what I'm wearing today...); I think an awesome stove is a just reward for so many pinched pennies. Thanks for the go ahead, Andrea!!
Yeah, it is expensive. But! If you can afford it (i.e., it doesn't put you up to your ears in debt) and you loooooove it, then go for it! You'll appreciate it EVERYday.
I'm cheap too, but I've learned long ago not to hedge on things I really want. I say go for it. If you don't, you'll still be wanting it 5 years from now and regretting that you didn't get the *perfect* stove when you had the chance.
DO IT! We went a little crazy with the appliances. And even though they are still sitting in boxes waiting for the kitchen to be refinished, I'm glad we got them. As long as you guys actually cook, then it's pretty easy to justify.
And wow on all the progress, that's great! I too was on a little blogging break since I was sick, but hopefully we be able to check in on a regular basis now.
sandy
I am drooling! An oven is the one kitchen appliance that can make or break a kitchen. It is the one that always has me swearing and kicking, too! I say spare no expense to get a nice one!
Heck yeah, you should go for it. Have you been to the magical scratch & dent place in Lawrenceville yet? Definitely look there first before you buy. It's HUGE, and the selection rawks (TVs, refrigerators, ranges, washer/dryers, freezers, dishwashers, treadmills, you name it).
Sears Appliance Outlet
27 51st St
Pittsburgh, PA 15201
(412) 622-1800
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