The Italian in my kitchen

I have enough foodie connections to know that serious home cooks prefer gas to electric ranges. The really serious among them might even opt for gas cooktop and electric oven.

Real estate choices and utility company policies consigned me to cooking with electricity for much of the last sixteen years. No gas line hookup and no willingness on the part of the gas company to install a line (unless we replaced a perfectly good oil heat burner) were two compelling reasons to go electric. And as it turned out, my recently retired Dacor range was not all that bad. But dang if I didn’t want to make the next go-around gas.

Call it a payback for the truly patient, but a gas line was easier to arrange in 2007 than it was in 1991. What wasn’t so easy was finding a gas range that didn’t look clunky and overburdened with features I didn’t want. I wanted stainless steel, high-power burners, and a simple, clean look. And it had to fit in the standard 30 inch space that was available.

The day I took a walk down Wyoming Avenue in Kingston and spotted a Bertazzoni range in the showroom at Voitek Appliance, it was all over but for signing on the dotted line. (And yes, I did the due diligence and checked out reviews on the web (pretty much fantastico across the board) and knew what would be a fair price.)

A month into using the Berta, I don’t think I’m any more serious a cook than I ever was. I may, however, be a happier one.