Meet Berta (the Bertazzoni)

We were on the lookout for a 1950s O'Keefe and Merritt or Wedgewood range but decided that buying something modern would be the safer and ultimately more practical purchase.

Craigslist to the rescue again.

A nice couple wanted to get rid of their brand new gorgeous Italian professional-grade range--they bought a new townhome and wanted something different. I spent no time arguing that selling it for 60% of retail was totally crazy and instead just wrote the check.

We had the gas line extended and happily removed the crappy electric range we'd been cooking on for nearly a year. And then THIS arrived:

I'll put a better picture up when we aren't so busy cooking perfectly-cooked things. (Note the "Forearm Forklift" straps still on the floor. I have to say, these straps were INCREDIBLE. We lifted a 200lb range like it was nothing.)

But back to the Bertazzoni: this thing is an amazing machine!!

Now, to find a hood.... Sigh.

In the meantime:

I was unsure either was done because neither was brown enough, but both were cooked perfectly. I mean PERFECT.