Kitchen bitchin'

The appliances were unpacked today, and A.J. celebrated by posing goofily with each big black box. I'll spare you the whole gallery, but here he is with the dishwasher, still encased in plastic wrap, Laura Palmer-style.

Originally, we weren't going to get new appliances. Several well-meaning friends and relatives urged us to, but in the beginning we were focused on keeping the price under a certain threshhold and figured there was still a lot of life left in our fairly new white appliances. It's absolutely true, though, that after a while another thousand bucks (or several thousand) stops feeling like a lot of money when you think about the grand scheme of things.

I gave our designer a list of our non-negotiables: a dishwasher with a rack in the door (which I had before and absolutely love), a Dutch-door-style bottom-freezer refrigerator (because I detest side-by-side refrigerators), and a gas range. As it turned out, we didn't have any choice in the dishwasher and refrigerator, as only Whirlpool makes the door-rack model, and only Maytag made Dutch-door, cabinet-depth fridges.

Ranges, on the other hand, were a free-for-all. The designer showed us a variety of models and prices, and although I was certain I'd economize on the range, I dutifully went to Sears to check them out in person.

But then I saw ... this.

I know it doesn't look like much all wrapped in Saran and taped up, but truly, it's breathtaking.

I have a friend who doesn't gush about anything, but when I showed her the computer printout of this range, she gasped and gushed and asked if the company would deliver one to her too at their cost. (They won't.)

No, it's not one of the zillion-dollar semi-professional ranges -- not even close. It's not even the highest-end range in the brand's line. But let's face it, you can't put a price on true love.