Pièce de Résistance

There are a lot of things I'm really excited about in my house.  I love lots of stuff, for sure, and I've had the pleasure of being able to choose things for my house that I think are really cool, and I've enjoyed telling you about them.  I hope it doesn't diminish any of the other things to tell you this one might be the most exciting.

I ordered this beautiful thing in March.  They built it to order (in France!) and shipped it here on an actual boat in August.  They call this color Griotte, or "cherry."

Some folks dream of cherry red sports cars and wide open autobahns, and though I tell you I would not turn down one of those, I dream of cherry red stoves with an 18,000 BTU gas burner and electric and gas ovens.  I dream of rolling layers of pastry on my marble counters and baking up croissants (one day!) in this shiny beauty, of simmering caramels and gravies and roasting giant hunks of meat.

This is the centerpiece of my kitchen.  Every decision has centered around how it would work with this range, and now it's here.  This is my big "Voila!" and even though it will probably take me a while to build up my skills to drive this beautiful machine, the fact that it's here feels straight-up miraculous.  I'm off to lose sleep looking at these pictures.  Bonne Nuit!