While I love our Ariston gas cooktop beyond measure (infinitely superior to the kleenmaid in our olde haus1), it is a smidge inconvenient for weekendly cooking.
The cooktop is on the smallish side and has the two larger burners side-by-side which makes simmering in a large pot nigh on impossible, mostly because the pot can’t fit on the smaller burners without either banging against the back wall or hanging precariously over the bench (A Danger! to kitty). Also difficult is cooking more than one thing at once, because multiple pots / pans have difficulty squeezing in.
And while some day we hope to remodel the kitchen and get ourselves a Giant Stove (something along the lines of this would be peachy), such a large and expensive project will remain on the back-burner (you see what I did there) for a good while.
Last weekend I’d planned to stock the freezer with loads of meals (is so nice to come home after a hard day at SaltMinesLimited to a freezer well-stocked with tasty dinners – the long-time longing for a freezer was totally warranted) and we’d exhausted our supply of chicken stock, so Don was compelled to make another batch. But there was not enough room for the necessary equipment to cook everything.
So I engaged my not-inconsiderable brain and decided we should acquire a portable hot plate.
Don was not entirely on board with this excellent plan (where are we going to keep it?), but I was convinced that it would go some way to resolving our not-enough-burners dilemma without spending huge amounts.
And only $60 later:
After starting the stock on a larger burner and bringing it to an almost boil, we transferred to the hotplate and were able to keep it to a perfect simmer for several hours – the result was a clarity of stock that we’d never before achieved!
Don, of course, had the good grace to admit I was right (as I almost always am).
1I am not at all surprised the company went into liquidation.