How I chose my range and oven, Ask Auntie, and links!
The last two weeks have been fraught with computer woes combined with blog tech woes, neither of which I'm good at resolving. I now have a new (to me) computer (thanks, Chief!) and blog tech help (thanks, Andy Malone!).
So here we go!
Hi Aunt Leila,
Do you have advice for getting a toddler to stop thumb sucking? My almost 3 year old sucks her thumb at night and when she's tired during the day. I've told her she needs to keep her hands pretty like a princess and not suck her thumb or bite her nails. If I catch her, I remind her but she'll mindlessly resume seconds later. The dentist said she needs to stop by 3 to avoid dental/orthodontics problems. Any advice?
Love,
Erin
I never had a thumb-sucker (just one for a little bit, but it didn't take). So when Erin wrote, I wasn't sure exactly what to say. Then, providentially, I was with Deirdre and she showed me the devices she is using with her inveterate thumb-sucker!
Those with this issue know that children will overcome the nasty-tasting paint, nagging, and whatever, to get to their thumb. And even if you can prevent it during the day, the issue is that at night they are unconsciously reaching for it and you aren't there to stop them.
But Deirdre reports that she's had great success with Nipit — they are braces that go on the elbows and the child simply can't get that thumb up into his mouth.
(I only receive a return on the affiliate link — a little cash when you buy using the link — and am not promoting this otherwise; this is Deirdre's actual unsponsored review.)
They come with a chart which her daughter loves putting the stars on. It really does motivate her and she's doing super well with it. She doesn't mind it at all. I think she's proud to be breaking this habit.
I would definitely remove the braces when the child is actively playing, as the product advises.
My preventive advice is to nurse the baby when you see him going for the thumb. Babies do have different ways of soothing themselves, but this particular way is so detrimental to their long-term well being, affecting their bite and speech.
Try nursing more frequently; hold a nicely textured cotton or wool blanket near his nose. Aim to transition him to soothing with the blanket by putting it near his face when you put him down to sleep. It's the combination of sucking and smelling something familiar, preferably your own scent that they find comforting. A nice stuffed animal works too, though a blanket has the advantage of being able to be cut into four or more pieces down the road (so you can have extras in case of loss or needing to be washed!).
It's much easier gradually to detach them from a blanket than from their thumb!
Kitchen Corner
Today we're going to talk about the range.
If you are new here, I aim to put all the things in the context of homemaking as a vocation. The stove is central to what homemakers do! It needs to work and not break down every few years!
Bonus points for prettiness…
This is why I am going into details about the kitchen. I'm hoping my experience helps you work with what you have and do a good job choosing something new if you need to.
Appliances today are mostly made to break down — grievous but true fact! You could spend a fortune on any of it and in two years be so frustrated and vexed.
Okay, with that in mind, let's go through my entire thought process.
I moved the stove to where the fridge had been. There is room for a 36″ range. Really, not quite enough room! But I was willing to squeeze it in there to have the stovetop with its six burners — the 30″ is workable for a large family, but honestly, I was hampered by not being able to put two large pots one behind the other or for that matter, to use big pots together at all.
I wanted to be able to use a griddle. One of my previous stoves, an electric range with a glass cooktop, had a nice feature where there was a bridge between the two left burners that heated up and I could put my cast iron griddle there and make a good number of pancakes.
I actually liked that range a lot.
And then one day it turned itself on and wouldn't turn off, getting hotter and hotter… the only way to stop it was to flip the circuit breaker!
No help from the company (Frigidaire — it was a Profile) or Consumer Safety. It happened twice and so, not wanting my house to burn down, I got rid of it.
Anyway, yes, with the numbers we sometimes have here, canning, and even normal cooking, I did want the 36″. Of course I thought of an AGA or some other vast number, but the truth is, 36″ is the widest that would fit here and still give me a spot on the left to put things down on the left and right (absolutely non-negotiable, I cannot fathom not having a place to put something down there) as well as not paralyzing that corner.
Even a 40″ range would not have left enough room on the left and would have made the corner inaccessible (it's tight as it is!).
No, I wasn't moving the doorway, as I love the sightline through the dining room and into the living room.
Originally I was absolutely committed to the idea of getting a vintage stove. If there had been one near me that fit my space, I would totally have gone for it! What's not to love? Proven longevity, simple operation, built for the ages — if you have one, if your neighbor is (inadvisedly) getting rid of his, if you find one at the thrift, this is the way to go!
So many wonderful, thought-out features, like that enamel top that folds up to be a backsplash and shelf, or folds down to cover the burners… built-in griddle, storage, crumb trays that pull out for easy cleaning… just love it all!
However, after looking for a long time, I realized they are just not that common here in New England. The ones for sale were pricey yet unproven. I would have gone for cheap and doubtful or pricey and refurbished, but the ones I saw were just expensive without any sort of guarantee.
I was so close to shipping one from New York; I was even closer to shipping one from California that was completely renovated.
But it turns out that Massachusetts is the one, unique state with a code that specifies which appliances you can install, and our gas hookup is new, so there would be a lot of scrutiny. I just wasn't willing to commit to spending that much and then finding out it wouldn't be covered by insurance.
I had long before ruled out all stoves with any digital anything. There is one beautiful range going around on Instagram that is just so appealing, but the few reviews there are mention such deal breakers as the connectivity with one's phone going awry to the point of one being locked out of one's oven!! ABSOLUTELY NOT.
It has the further deal breaker of venting to the front; yes, venting into your body as you stand there stirring your sauce on the stovetop. No thanks — it's undeniably just gorgeous, but I just can't with that sort of thing; I'm standing there a lot!
Then my friend Shyla told me about the Kucht. (This is not an ad — both she and I have paid for ours in full and get nothing for telling you about it.)
Here are the factors that sold me on this gas range:
It's very reasonably priced; compared to a GE Café or Kitchenaid that will break after a few years, I'm satisfied with what I paid as being competitive and I know it will last longer than those, because —
It has zero digital anything — no computers, no motherboard. Can we rant a bit about how ovens are made to vent directly into their motherboards? My engineer father is spinning in his grave!
It has three lights: one for the convection fan, one for the oven light, and one that goes off when the oven reaches temperature. And that is all, besides the electronic ignition standard for safety reasons, as far as anything electrical on it.
It has a four-year warranty. This is telling. Every other range out there is warranted for one year only. The Kucht has gas innards and that is all that can really go wrong, and if it does, we'll know in the first four years or it will be easy to fix thereafter; my plumber agreed that he could do any repair, easily. In that it resembles the vintage stoves. Try getting a repairman for some of the fancy brands out there — from what I can see, it's nigh impossible.
It's pretty! The 36″ comes in this style; the 30″ comes in different colors. I probably would not have gone for the gold knobs etc.
But I love the dark stainless so much. I really didn't want a lot of bright stainless going on in my kitchen, since I was going for the more old-fashioned look.
The pros:
It works great. It came with the griddle (well, it actually didn't come but they sent it immediately when I called them to let them know it was missing; their customer service is direct and prompt; while I was still shopping I spoke to a tech guy directly and immediately). I have another griddle as well, so I could make a slew of pancakes and a pan of sausages, and a pan of eggs, all at once!
The oven is exactly calibrated (there is no readout of temperature; the dial has temp markings and they are correct, by my oven thermometer). It works beautifully.
It has all the “professional” features that make it heavy-duty, e.g. the racks slide easily and are very sturdy, the burner grates are excellently designed and will hold the smallest diameter pot as well as the largest; the enameled surface is easy to clean.
The cons:
I don't know how good the broiler is; so far not that great but maybe I don't get it.
The racks aren't easy to move (due to the easiness of them sliding out — it's a mechanism that works great until you want to move the whole shebang to another level).
I had to buy a simmer plate; even the lowest simmer burner is too high, but this seems to be a universal complaint about gas stoves.
It takes a while to preheat — ditto for this sort of range; they all seem to be this way. It's been so long (24+ years!) since I had a gas oven! And I'm getting used to these things all over again.
Truly, I love it. It's great! I'm so grateful to have a sturdy, practical, pretty range that didn't break the bank! And there's no doubt that when you see it as you walk in, it makes a statement!
I have a second oven built in on the other side of the kitchen, and it's electric. I can broil just fine in that one and it's handy to have an extra oven for when you have things that need vastly different temperatures and/or lots of things to bake, like on Thanksgiving.
That oven is a Kitchenaid. Built-in ovens are super pricey, as I found out to my chagrin, after I made the plan to have one. If I could have fit a 40″ range in the main work area, there would have been two ovens right there in it, but as I say, there simply is not room.
I really find I need two ovens on a regular basis — as you will too if you have a big family!
But I found this one on Facebook Marketplace for $150 (vs. $2-2.5K new). It broils very well and is otherwise great.
So that's the oven saga! Happy to answer any questions about the whole issue!
bits & piecesPhil and I will be in St. Louis March 9th! We hope we can see you! The event is a talk from each of us, followed by a luncheon (and that is what the charge is for!). There will be the opportunity to ask questions, visit with us, and purchase signed books! Do sign up!
I have posted about the Riverside Club for Boys years ago when it was starting. I encourage you to read this article: Adventure, Imagination and Education Are Thriving at the Riverside Club for Boys. Many good thoughts about what boys need to thrive!
If you happen to need ecclesiastical sculpture, well, here you go. Beautiful work by a living artist! That's what we like to see!
I highly encourage you to listen to this lecture by Peter Kwasniewski on why it's better not to demand to understand everything immediately — or that others understand immediately. He's talking mainly about liturgy, but has important insights in other areas as well. When we think about educating our children, we simply must grasp this fact about human nature: we will not learn everything at once, and most things require a lot of pondering before they are assimilated.
Good thoughts, deep ones, about The Lord of Substance, by Michael Pakaluk
Beowulf and the thumos of Catholic manhood. This is a subject dear to my heart. Men need to recover their manliness, and it's not about wearing tweed jackets or bossing their wives around. What does it mean to be a man?
from the archivesMy thoughts on C. S. Lewis' Men without Chests. Important when we are considering what our children need in the way of moral education.
Don't think so much about entertaining your children as about helping them see that the household is a project for everyone: What can children do?
Nursing the baby is so important… I will tell you all I know!
liturgical living
It is Ember Saturday of Lent or Spring Embertide
follow us everywhere! share us with your friends!Here is my affiliate link to my Amazon page — the only affiliate thing that goes on here on LMLD, which is why the page loads quickly and you don’t have to keep closing pop-ups etc! Thank you for opening it and shopping if you are so minded. If not, don’t worry one bit!
My book, The Summa Domestica: Order and Wonder in Family Life is available from Sophia Press! Also in paperback now! All the thoughts from this blog collected into three volumes, beautifully presented with illustrations from Deirdre, an index in each volume, and ribbons!
My “random thoughts no pictures” blog, Happy Despite Them has moved over to Substack! — receive it by email if you like, or bookmark, so you don’t miss a thing! The old one is still up if you want to look at the comments on past posts. It will take me a while to get things organized, but you'll be patient, I know!
My podcast, The Home Truths Society, can be found on the Restoration of Christian Culture website (and you can find it where you listen to such things) — be sure to check out the other offerings there!
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We share pretty pictures: Auntie Leila’s Instagram, Rosie’s Instagram, Deirdre’s Instagram. Bridget’s Instagram.
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