Blimey. A crazy few weeks. We just got back from a great trip to Holland, to make sure my baby brother (younger by five minutes.. yes, I am a twin) did what he promised – that is to marry his girl. Needless to say it all went off without a hitch, and the bloke is now married. Quite what Marieke (his wife) see’s in him I don’t know! Just kidding.

 Anyhow, it was our first long flight with Drake (now 9months old). He did amazing I have to say. 10 hours on a plane is enough for anyone, and heck I think I was getting more touchy than he was. The trip in the end was fun. It was go go go for a week, as most weddings are. A lot of late nights, that quite honestly didn’t sit well with Drake, but he survived, as did we. He also learnt a new skill whilst we were away – waving. He first waved at the end of a family meal, as everyone was waving at him. Then, walking back to the hotel, a couple of drunk dutch birds called him cute, and he waved at them too. I think we might have a ladies man on our hands!

 We got back, to find the basement being ripped up by the foundation guys. They thankfully promise to put it all back, which is good because it is quite a mess right now. At least come the end of it we will know that our house is better off for it!

Once that is done we move on to something I have been dreaming about for a while. Renovating our kitchen. It is about bloody time to be honest. The worktops aren’t level. Nor is the stove. All fat/juices in pans end up in one corner. Everything is old and falling apart. Not for much longer. In five weeks, the work starts and we get a new kitchen. Yay!

Perhaps one of the most fun things to do for the renovation is the appliance shopping. Fun I guess if you love to cook, and want to find the best appliances out there for yourself. Personally I love the research, and checking out products. I used to work as a product designer, so this stuff fascinates me.

The research into what range to get has been quite intense. You can spend a lot of money on these things, so quite rightly I want to make sure I get something perfect for me (opps, I mean us..). I went through the obvious choices – Wolf, Viking etc. Both of those let me a little cold to be honest. Sure, there really isn’t much wrong with them, but the price tag is high for what you get. Both are also complicated cooking machines, run by electronics. If the circuit board goes wrong, no more cooking and thousands of dollars go down the drain. You also paying for their marketing machine, which in both respects is pretty extensive.

So, my quest led to me two manufacturers. Bluestar, and Fivestar. No, not because I want something with star in the name. Both of these companies impress me. They are about cooking, first and foremost. Neither have large advertising campaigns that you end up paying for in the sticker price. You aren’t paying for the designer name either. What you are paying for is a really decent cooking machine, that is no frills. Both are stripped down basic machines. No complicated electronics. 4 burners and an oven. Simple really.

In the end, we are going to go with the Bluestar. It has a higher BTU output, larger oven, infrared broiler and seems a lot more sturdy. What is more, it has better reviews, and a really good professional kitchen pedigree. The thing I absolutely love about the Bluestar is its simplicity. It is built for cooks. There is no “oven modes”. The oven is either on or off (at different temps of course). You can have convection. That is a switch. No electronic touch pads. No timers to go wrong. It also has automatic gas re-ignition if the flame goes out. Top stuff.

I should mention that I don’t get a cut for mentioning products or companies here. I just like to talk about decent stuff that I have come across, in case someone else is in the same situation as me.

So a few local companies stock Bluestar. For me, BASCO in Kent was the best appliance store I found, that stocked Bluestar. I spent a great couple of hours one Saturday talking to the manager there, and being shown around the showroom. They have some awesome stuff (not just Bluestar), and the guy was really knowledgable. One thing I liked was that because they stocked so many brands, he wasn’t pushing one brand at all. He was a decent bloke that was truly interested in finding what I wanted. Good prices too.

I took a few photos of the range. Yes, I am a kitchen appliance geek, I admit it. I really cannot wait for the work to start. It is going to be the first ever kitchen renovation we have been through. God knows what I am going to cook on for the 4 weeks that it is going to take. Hopefully the summer will continue and I can BBQ.