Yes, I have been referred to at times as a ‘techno nerd’ because I love cool gadgets. Mia Culpa…
Nothing is immune from technical improvement, not even a stove top. (LINK)
When I was a kid, my grandparents had a coal stove at home. That’s right, you had to put newspaper, then kindling, then small pieces of coal to get it hot enough to burn larger pieces of coal. So breakfast was an hour from when you started heating the stove. And once hot, the stove was hot for the day, making the warmer days…memorable. That explains why antebellum homes had the kitchen in a separate building. To take a bath, you put pans of water on the stove and then moved them to the tub. Not exactly space age technology.
With a coal stove, you control the heat by moving the pan around. It’s a long way from “The William”.
Are those your swanky digs in the top photo?
I've been wanting to upgrade to a gas stove for some time now. Having second thoughts after seeing this.
As you know, living in SoCal, we can barbeque outdoors all year 'round. I often cook things outdoors to avoid heating up the house.
living in SoCal, we can barbeque outdoors all year 'round.
That seems to me to be one of the very few remaining good reasons to keep California residency. God knows it can't be the financial condition of the state, then again, I live in Connecticut so who the hell am I to comment.
LA – California still has its charms, even though it is clearly a socialist cesspool.
Chickenlittle – I BBQ outdoors too. But this cooktop would change my cooking habits simply because it's too cool for school.
LL: Yes, I've admired the lovely ladies in shortX3 shorts rollerblading along the Venice Beach Esplanade
LA – It's a lifestyle. (viva lifestyle)
Very interesting… and probably VERY expensive too! I still prefer cooking with gas, at least I can control that!
That seems to me to be one of the very few remaining good reasons to keep California residency.
Another cool feature of Oceanside is that there are no laws prohibiting outdoor firepits and the like, unlike up in the Bay Area. I don't know what the laws are in LA.
What happens when the William breaks down – who can fix it? I like the stuff, people should invent it, people should buy it, I'll visit the people…but I'll take the coal (or wood burning) stove.
Chickenlittle- I have a fire pit in my backyard. However because of the "Californication" of the place, it burns natural gas in synthetic cinders.
Race – I cook with gas at the moment, but the gadget just seemed to be appealing. I have no idea who would fix it. I'm sure that they offer some sort of guarantee that will last as long as the WILLIAM Company is in business…
NFO – I cook with natural gas now. So I'm with you on that. however, there is something appealing about space age stuff that I can't resist.
I had a great fire pit at my last station, the little ones dug it for Father's Fay. Nothing like getting a hole in the ground as a gift! The forest was always trying to take over the yard, so we did a LOT of burning/cooking, it was great…
We had a wood burning stove up in the high country in AZ, it wasn't 'zactly the William, but you could burn anything in it (and we did).
My wife would kill for that kitchen! However, she'd still want her convection oven.She also uses gas. Here in Vegas, I have a nice smoker out back that's usable year round.
The longer I live the more I appreciate the simple things – things that don't cost a fortune to fix (our last station had a stove that wasn't exactly high tech, but one part cost over 500$ to replace). I also have to say that learning to wait is a lost skill – delayed gratification isn't taught anymore and immediate gratification is part of what is ruining America. Give me the wood/coal burning stove and I will use the time it takes to heat up to teach my kids to wait ;).
If we're talking 'zombie wars' or something like that, the old coal stove (stronger than a wood stove to handle the hotter temps with coal) is tough to beat. However on a daily basis with life on an even keel, there is something convenient about turning the knob and having the electronic igniter flash up the gas…
Food cooked on a coal stove and an iron skillet (or a cast iron dutch oven) clearly has some flavor advantages simply because of the nature of the mechanics. But it's easy to burn the food and keeping an oven temp constant is nearly impossible.
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