I'd love to hear your thoughts on the 4 oven electric AGA. I'm probably going to get the Legacy (due to budget), but would love to consider the more traditional AGA cooker.
Also, how about some pics of these intersting sounding kitchens?

Thanks,
Jenn

Yes please. Am interested in the Gaggenau steam oven, all the inductions cooktops and the Wolf 2 burner gas cooktop and the Wolf wok cooktop.

Thanks,
Bobbie

I will try and attach my photos to this response:
First to the main kitchen:
The Aga (4 oven claret red). How to explain this thing? This entity? First of all, I would not buy a Legacy if you like the AGA as it is not an Aga in the functional sense, but rather a gas stove that looks like an Aga. Where cost is an issue (when isn't it?) I would buy a 2 oven AGA. I was nervous about the committment of the AGA as I know no one who has one, but recently an English colleague of ours came to visit and his eyes lit up when he saw it, saying "I grew up with an AGA and it was the center of our house". My DH and I thought long and hard about which energy source to order. These things come from Enlgand on the slow boat and we didn't want to make a mistake. We live out on the country and so cannot have natural gas, but we could have had propane as we have a large buried tank on the property, and in theory they can be powered by wood or coal, but we came to feel that none of the above were very environmentally responsible choices. We live in the Pacific Northwest and elctricity is cheap and plentiful and does not come (largely) fromt he Middle east... so we went with an electric AGA. As you know they are ultra-insulated as they are always on...here in the PNW, during our usual mild, rainy and cool weather they are like a magnet of gentle heat and coziness...hard to beat. When we had a week of 90'ish weather, we turned it off (and immediately missed it!), when the weather cooled off again we turned it back on. It took about a day to heat up. We love the way it is a great toaster (one less small appliance to clutter the counter), we love the way it "irons" the tea cloths and the cloth napkins we use everyday (see picture of them stacked on the warming plate), they come out very much as if you had ironed them on a board. And, as I work every day and long hours, I love being able to put a coq au vin or a stew in the 250 degree oven all day and have it be done (and not the least bit dry) when I get home. The AGA is that thing of beauty that is a joy forever. So I'll stop now about the AGA and for the 2 or 3 of you out there who want to know more, just ask.
The subzero refrigerator and the undercounter freezer drawerrs in the picture are covered with a piece of masonite when we painted with chalkboard paint and use as menu planners and to-do lists....
Ths Scotsman icemaker is addictive, it makes gobs of clear, dense, perfect, tasteless ice, but it is LOUD. We knew this already, but installed it anyway.
The cabinets are IKEA with custom fir fronts (IKEA quit making the fronts I had chosen).
The sinks are silgranit (LOVE it) and the counters in the main kitchen are honed absolute black granite. I love this, but I also love patina and many people do not. In the pantry the counters are zinc with an integral sink, which is great, but you have to really be into patina to like this choice.
You can see the side-by side Wolf gas cooktop and induction cooktop. My DH insisted on the gas, which we never use---even though we have been dedicated gas appliance users and cooks for many years, because the induction is better in every way. It is much faster to heat up, it turns off (or down) instantly, it is so easy to clean and it is very safe. No fumes, no flames, no burns... It beats the AGA hands down for ease of use and speed of heat; it gets much hotter.
The gaggenau steam oven is like the induction cooktop: it is better than any oven incuding the AGA, in the same sense that contemporary cars are better than old ones (though perhaps not as beautiful or fun). I bake bread, especially inlcuding artisanal sourdough styles and it makes the crust very crusty (if you want it to). Any specific questions, just ask. I bought the floor model at half off. That is definitely the way to go.
NOw for the Chinese kitchen. This is not for everyone, obviously. I am a serious Chinese cook and we had orginally decided to have Robert YIck of San francisco build us a custom restaurant style multi-wok wok cooker (propane), which is what you will see in most Chinese restaurants...very very hot, which is needed for Chinese cooking. Then I read about induction wok cookers and decided to take a BIG chance. To back them up and to be able to use my traditional clay pots, we also installed Wolf's gas wok cooker. The induction wok cooker is better in every way: it is much hotter, the handles of the wok stay cool, there are no exhaust fumes (the huge exhaust fan was installed for the Robert Yick stove we had planned for), it is safer (most Chinese cooks have no hair on their arms!). If you are into "wok hay" you will know what I mean. IN the Chinese kitchen the free standing counter is IKEA. The stainless steel sink with rinse faucet is from a commercial kitchen supplier (and cheap). Then there is the last bit of craziness that serves both kitchens: the dishwasher. In the past I have been a fan of German dishwashers, but I read in a book of Chef's Kitchens several who mentioned that they had had a commerical DW installed and loved it. The whole cycle takes 3 MINUTES! Imagine that on Thanksgiving.... it uses much less ebergy, less water and less soap. It takes some getting used to, but we are very glad we did it.
So that's our crazy kitchen, let's see if I can attach photos.

OK. I cannot figure out how to post photos on this forum. There is no little camera icon that says you can directly upload them. Any advice?

PDXLights, here's a tip for posting photos to the kitchen forum:

1. Get a free photo sharing account at www.photobucket.com
2. Upload your photos to that account.
3. Choose the one(s) you want to share with us. Click on each photo and a menu will appear to the right of the selected photo.
4. Choose the menu slot that says "HTML Tag"(for websites and blogs). It will automatically highlight a string that begins with the letters "a href=http"
5. Copy and paste that highlighted string directly into message panel on the GW Kitchen forum where you are composing your message.
6. Preview your message and . . . presto! You will see that your photo(s) has been uploaded to GW! Repeat that process in order to share multiple photos.

And, by all means, please, please, please DO share photos of your kitchens with us! They both sound absolutely amazing! BTW, as someone who has just purchased a claret Aga 6-4 DF (still waiting for it to arrive in the states), I'm delighted to hear that you are happy with your electric Aga. Thanks for sharing!

Woops. I meant to say "Appliance Forum" :)!

PDXlights, what fabulous kitchens! I can't stop looking! Thanks for sharing.

PDXlights. WOW! What fun. I am intrigued by the large wooden (steamer? is it on an induction burner? What kind of vent a hood did you decide on? What kind of faucet is that with the large coiled spring arch? Also, what kind of faucet is the pot filler? Do you like them? I like your sinks. I also read about the commercial dishwashers. Glad you like them. I have a small space, have gotten the Gaggenau ovens-steam and regular, pricy but I think nice. Will probably get an induction unit. Want some sort of microwave for heating things-you may not have one but if you do,which one?
Thanks for sharing!

pdxlights,

Amazing kitchen.

I too have gs and electric in my kitchen (CookTek burner and a Bluestar range), I admire the bravery and budget to install two kitchens-I had no room for anything so extreme. I am jealous, as I love Chinese cuisine too.

I have to correct with one statement you made: As you know they (Aga ranges) are ultra-insulated as they are always on... Traditional Aga ranges are in fact poorly insulated-that's why they exude so much heat. They are made of cast iron, and because cast iron is a poor conductor it 'insulates' the range.

In addition, you are mistaken about the folllowing: none of the above were very environmentally responsible choices. We live in the Pacific Northwest and elctricity is cheap and plentiful and does not come (largely) from the Middle East

Nothing about a traditional Aga range is environmentally friendly. You range consumes 13 amps-continously. This is the amount of electricity consumed by 25 sixty Watt light bulbs, on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year-forever.

What I love about your kitchen is that you obviously USE it. It's not a trophy kitchen, and it's obviously built for function. It's very cool!

What an inspiration, your 'home' is really your kitchen. Thanks for sharing it with us. I'd like to see a few pictures of your work areas from across the room.

I will try and answer/address some of the above comments: the bamboo steamer in the Chinese kitchen is, indeed, sitting atop a large wok on top of the second Cooktek burner. I have a gas burner in the kitchen because my large traditional clay stock pots (used to make pork or chicken stock) will not cook over induction, and also for searing meat on a cast iron griddle (done in the Chinese kitchen because of the smoke). The exhaust hood in the Chinese kitchen bobbie46, was custom made by a local company with (I think) about 1600 CFM and a large surface area for catchment, made when we thought we would be using a Robert Yick commercial propane wok cooker. It is perhaps a bit unnecessarily large as the induction woks give off no combustion fumes. In the main kitchen we used a Ventahood, the least expensive that exhausts about 900 CFM. The sprayer was one I found on the sale table that is no longer made, the pot-fillers are inexpensive commercial ones. Fancy residential companies make all these things, but they are pricey. I went into the back remainders room for them at a local plumbing supply.

Cpovey, to respond to your AGA comments: I watched as the AGA was put together; it is not only insulated by the heavy cast iron itself, but a huge amount (came on its own pallet) of insulation is packed inside. Indeed, it does "leak heat", however in our house--as in England and Scandinavia-- we need the extra heat to keep our main room/kitchen warm enough in Spring, Winter and Fall. In the summer I turned it off for a little while (making it possible to really clean it)--but boy did the cooks miss it!

Cast iron is not an insulator in itself. It is a conductor, which is why a single flame (burner) will heat a cast iron stewpot evenly.

I had a restaurant for many years with a 4 hole Yick sink/wokstove. Since then, I've gotten used to teaching and catering with portable propane burners that are even hotter, about 100,000 btu. I do miss being able to wash/splash out my woks in place. The specs for your cooktek set up seem very low by comparison (31000 btu, 500 degrees max). I wonder if the induction heat makes up for this?

I'm not sure what makes up for it, but the induction wok is so hot that I rarely even cook at full power. In the beginning I tried using full power, but when I walked away from it for a second, despite no open flame, the oil ignited and burst into flames....hmmm. The rinse system on a Yick stove would be ideal, but with induction, incredibly, the handles of the wok do not get hot--they stay cold-- and so when I am done I lift it up and walk the three steps to the shallow stainless sink installed for this purpose (seen in the photo with DH standing next to it) and rinse it with the commercial rinser.

I, too, am majorly impressed at how you obviously have *working* kitchens as opposed to showplace kitchens. I'm drooling over that Chinese kitchen.

Thank you for posting this information as I have been looking at wok induction cooking. Are your CookTek the 3,500 watts model? They now have a 5,000 watts restaurant model... I came across the Jennair 3,700 watts (12,624.922 BTU) and was fearful that this would still not be hot enough but you are really pleased with 3,500 and obviously familiar with real Chinese cooking. Are you familiar with that https://www.jennair.com/cooktops-and-rangetops/electric-cooktops/custom-electric-cooktops/p.custom-15-induction-wok.jie4115gs.html unit? Do you have any other thoughts to share since you've been using this method for a long time? BTW, I'm also near Portland :) Thank you for any help anyone can offer on this subject.