It would be fair to say that coming to a decision about the oven and cooktop has been difficult. Here are some of the different decisions we have come to:
- replace the old electric range with one of those new ones with a sealed top
- hey let's get one of them new-fangled induction cooktops! but no one makes an induction range, so maybe we could do a cooktop set into the counters and a wall oven in the cabinet
- E really prefers cooking with gas, but my house has no gas line. let's find out about getting gas to the house
- PSE says there's already a line, so we'd just have to hook it up! let's get a range with a gas cooktop!
- the range only fits in the corner, and gas cooktops require some clearance on all sides. let's get a gas cooktop and wall oven, and move the cooktop to the other wall
- moving the ventilation ducting over there would be a pain, what about putting an induction cooktop in the original location
- or hey, screw it let's just get an electric goddam range and saving like 2000 goddam dollars
- how about changing to a wider base cabinet and putting a 30" gas cooktop in it, with enough clearance, and a wall oven below, losing some workspace but what the hey

The big lingering question with that last idea was whether the cooktop and oven would really fit in the same cabinet. You can get the installation measurements for the various pieces online, but I was skeptical it would really work. So on Saturday, we all went to the appliance store and looked at a lot of stuff and measured everything and found a cooktop/oven combo we think will work. The oven is a bit smaller than some we looked at, but it's a nice Dacor convection oven. The cooktop is a Jenn-air that's very simple and attractive. Plus we got a ventilation hood. It cost a fair amount of money (but all along I've been saying: if we're going to really splurge on one thing, it should be the stuff we actually cook with) and a lot of time hanging out there measuring stuff (though we did score cookies from the Dacor rep who was demonstrating the ovens with baked goods). And you won't believe how hard it was getting that damn oven up my stairs; it's large and heavy and has no good handholds.

Anyway, Nick and I also managed to get some stuff done in the actual kitchen, primarily the crown molding above the cabinets, which looks pretty good. We realized halfway through putting them up that we could have done our design much more simply and better, but oh well. It's up and it looks nice.