Saturday, February 11

Lacanche

Now that we own our own home we can take advantage of one of the lovely perks of my husbands occupation. He fixes high-end appliances for a living. So obviously I never have to worry about having my washing machine out of commission.

Last month my husband received a phone call from a new homeowner who bought a house with a Lacanche range in it. A Lacanche is a French range that has a limited distribution in the United States. After ten years in the business, my husband has seen one only once before. If you flip to the back of your Gourmet magazine, you’ll see it advertised as “a serious French range for serious chefs.” This is not the type of range that has mass appeal in Texas and being very Texan this gentleman and his wife wanted it out so they could put a nice Kitchenaide in.

The man was hoping to sell the Lacanche to my husband and have it completely out of his hair, but understandable the gentleman wanted more money than we would or could give him for it, since new it would cost about eight times anything I’ve ever cooked on before. My husband laughed and predicted he’d hear from him again in a couple weeks.

Surprise, surprise, last week my husband heard back from this gentleman and they agreed upon a price. After looking it over my husband has concluded that the reason why he has seen so few of them is that they must be the best-designed ranges he’s ever seen.

So we now have Lacanche’s smallest model, which they call the Cormatin. The model we have is about ten years old and shows no signs of any repair work and my husband predicts will work quite happily for another twenty years or more. It has a gas stovetop with 1 large burner, 2 regular sized burners, and 1 simmer burner. They allow a degree of temperature control that I’ve never before had a chance to enjoy. The newer models come with an ignition system, but ours needs to be lit by hand, which is no big deal to us. It’s extremely easy to use and extremely easy to clean, although it does take a little getting use to.

The oven is electric and a little smaller then what I was use to in my Whirlpool, but it is still more than adequate in size for my uses. I haven’t gotten a chance to try the oven out yet, but I’ll report back to you when I do.


The only complaint I could possible have about our Lacanche is that it looks so nice that it is completely out of place in our kitchen. Looking at our wood panel countertops and our worn out cabinets, obviously remodeling is on our list of things to do. However, with a baby on the way we don’t have this in the plans to do any time soon. So, I’m torn between showing off our shiny new range and hiding our mismatched kitchen, but I wouldn't trade my new range in for anything.

11 comments:

Bearette said...

i like gas stoves. i've never lit one by hand though. our stove has little dials.

Mike said...

My exgirlfriend's sister has one of the bigger ones. Amazing machines. Yours looks fine in your kitchen. To hell with remodeling. BTW, my fettucine was amazing. I'm very happy.

Sue said...

Oooh, lovely! Gas hob and electric oven is my ideal combination, I think, and it looks great. I hope you have many enjoyable years with the new acquisition :-)

Deb @ Sugarfused said...

Nice stove! No doubt the food you cook on it will even taste better ;~)

Anvilcloud said...

That's impressive looking. Don't worry about the kitchen. It's not veru important in the grand scheme of things.

Janet said...

Very nice looking stove! Is that botton drawer used for bread warming, or for storage?

Your remodel will happen sooner than you think, says your fortune cookie!

utenzi said...

I love gas stoves too--and this one looks like a real beauty, Lora. I've never seen one before that uses gas on the burners and electric in the oven though. The gas ones I've had in the past used gas inside also. Too bad I have an all-electric range now.

SK said...

It's beautiful! I love it the look of it... and who cares about the rest of your kitchen. It's like a masterpiece.. a work of art in your kitchen, if you will. and I love gas cooking.. so much better than electric. Too bad the oven's not gas too.

Hmph, I guess you'll just have to cook the austines dinner one night :) After the baby, of course. BTW, I went to visit a friend of mine this weekend who has a 1 1/2 month old.. I decided that maybe I do want one. Then again, I only fed her and burped her. There was no changing of the diapers and that may have influenced me too. :)

Princess Jami said...

What a lovely stove! If you ever move to another house, you'll have to take it with you! ;-) Hee-hee.

Megan Stuke said...

I'm so jealous. I'd love to have one. To give your kitchen a quick and cheap facelift, paint the cabinets. Makes a huge difference and has an updated look.
Have fun!

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