I have an Apple TV box somewhere. Might get a Roku. My TV is deliberately dumb. And old. Very old. I do ost watching on my tablet, but I will check this out. Thank you!
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I don’t have room for my beloved Monarch woodstove now, either. Free to a deserving home!
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I definitely like the granite for being able to put anything, no matter how hot, on it without worry. I considered soapstone briefly when we remodeled but frankly let myself get into a time crunch and didn’t do enough R&D, so went with granite as a default or something that I felt I knew “well enough” (prior to that we had the white plastic shrink wrap counters which I really despised).
But I’m interested in the comment about “oiled and not oiled” re soapstone. Are these surfacing techniques for soapstone countertops? At the time we were doing our kitchen, the granite could be highly polished (what we did) or more matte, but they also had a surfacing technique called “leathered” which I really loved but was too tight-fisted to pay for (which actually felt to the hand kind of like a leathered surface, very nice). Are the different types of soap stone surfaces anything like that?
We have soapstone and love it. Occasionally it gets a coat of mineral oil. In addition to a very faint shine, it makes it darken and really heightens the contrasts within the stone. Some people oil theirs pretty regularly, and by doing this they will darken the stone over time. We leave ours not oiled most of the time. It does not flinch with hot things, and is a terrific working surface for things like baking. Some people choose it to get a close to pure black, the soapstone you probably had in chemistry labs in school days. Others like the colors and patterns. We are in the second camp, but a friend who got soapstone is in the latter and keeps them oiled. The colors are much more than black, grey, and white. Sometimes their is a patch of turquoise, yellow, or orange, but they are few and subtle, just enough to provide interest.
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The stove will be the easy part, when you get the space. Making the wood is the trick. It’s a labor of love for me, but not everyone enjoys cutting, splitting, etc.
Monarch just made the best stoves, beyond just woodstoves. I feel for ya, bud.
I just pray I run into some original Corningware. Love that stuff.
My grandmother started married life with a Home Comfort wood stove with attached water tank. Somewhere I actually have the manual for it, which she gave to me. Hope one day I’ll come across it …
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The Falk Black Friday sale appears to have started (USA):
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Hi @ Desert-Dan, Happens I took just the road you are looking at. I had only cooked on gas cooktops/ranges before, so this was a big decision for me. I bought a single burner induction hot plate and used it for a few years before I had the chance to redo my kitchen and pick a new stove/cooktop. I bought the DuxTop 8100 (probably a newer model available). I used it mainly for boiling eggs, pasta water, that kind of thing. I liked it well enough.
When one of the little magnets that kept my cupboard doors shut fell out, I kept it, and used it to test all of my pots. (The pots have to be able to hold the magnet to use the stove.) Turned out all of my pots could work except for my first set of Farberware pots that I was definitely ready to get rid of.
I couldn’t quite do away with gas, so I got a four-burner induction stove and a two burner gas stove (thinking about what I do if the electricity goes out, for example, or if I want to peel a pepper). I don’t think there was much of a learning curve…you figure out pretty quickly what is happening in the pot at what temperature; that’s part of the draw. And if the temp. is too high, and you turn it down a notch, the change happens immediately in the pan. For example, the big pot of boiling over spaghetti water stops instantaneously. Truly amazing.
So, at the high end of the power range, it boils water really quickly. But at the low end, you can do things like melt chocolate without a double-boiler (I don’t know if all models have this feature, but they will all do something close), or hold a low simmer at an exact temperature.
And I am a pretty messy chef, so the clean-up is also fantastic. I hardly ever use my gas burners. I am happy I have them, but I really am delighted with my induction cook top.
Hope this helps!
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My Macap M2M coffee grinder is giving me some problems… Can’t use it, need to send for repair. It’s 10 years old and has performed great overall. Maybe it’s time to upgrade? I see a lot of black friday deals, 15% off… Considering a Ceado e37j or Eureka Atom 75. Don’t know how long I can stand using pre-ground Illy coffee, it’s not that good… 
One of these days I will treat myself to a Vitamix.
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Yes, I purchased a single Duxtop induction burner/hob. I am slowly learning what temperature to set it, when to use temperature over cooking levels, etc. I picked up two cheap skillets at Goodwill to learn on, before I put my good cast iron skillets on the burner. So far… so good.
Like you, it will be a couple of years before I can afford to change out my current stove/oven
If the power goes out (like it did last month), I have a butane camp stove. Last time the power went off, I was able to boil some water and make pasta, then dumped a jar of Ragu over it and that was dinner. Not great… but it was a hot meal served by battery operated lantern, while listening to an oldies station on the radio.
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I’m a big fan of the Solis Maestro. I’ve had mine for over 15 years, and it still grinds like a champ. A couple parts wore out, and they sent me replacements for free. Super refreshing given the terrible customer service most places have these days.
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That[s what I have. I’ve had mine for about as long as you’ve had yours. Nothing’s worn out yet! (Except me 
)
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20% off regular priced items, 10% off sets.
If you were to buy one item, which would you choose?
Or would you pass and keep cruising eBay, Etsy, etc.?
It’s too bad you cannot home test grinders. It is less expensive than a Macap, but I really like the Sette 270.
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Oh, I’m inclined to stick with what I know.
I’m so far down the copper rabbit hole that my single choice is probably skewed. If I didn’t already have a large-ish rectangular roaster, I’d buy that (If Falk offered a smaller rectangle, I’d definitely buy). And if I hadn’t FINALLY found a 3mm oval fish pan, I’d get that next. And a 24cm saute, except that I have a Gaillard in that size.
The oval oven and a mousseline are tempting…
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Well, I purchased the 20 cm gratin (classic) I’d been wanting. 
Yay, me!
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