Even though we are renting, the apartments come without any appliances. So when I visited in May right before Barry moved in I picked out our appliances so they could be delivered before we settled in the apartment as a couple. The kitchen is very odd shaped so I needed a stove that was 50x50 centimeters. I decided against gas because I would have to give up cabinet space for the tank, similar to what is attached to a gas grill in the states. So I picked out a small electric stove and went back to the states to prepare for the "big" move.
As Barry and I settled into the apartment in July I didn't do too much cooking as we awaited our air shipment with our pots, pans, and various kitchen gadgets. August arrived and I struggled with the stove top as I realized they weren't "really" electric burners. They are just "hot plates", slow to heat up, slower to cool off, and don't really have levels of heat just "hot" and "not as hot"! It took a good month but I am adjusting to them and remembering life is all about flexibility anyway! While I was adjusting to the stove top burners one day in August I decided to use the oven to bake something. It's a European appliance (along with the washer and dryer) so the controls are quite different to anything I had seen in the states. After perusing the manual for a good forty minutes I still hadn't figured out how to get the oven to bake! I had no problem figuring out how to broil, the elements on the top were easy to see. There are no elements on the bottom of the stove that were visual, and none of the controls made sense! I was stumped, changed dinner plans, and the next day headed to LuLu's. I spoke with the rep from Bompani (my brand stove) and through much broken English and much repetition I gathered I purchased a grill oven.
So I had to ask; "What's a grill oven?" Or maybe I should have asked; "Who buys a grill oven?" or how about "I can't believe I bought a grill oven!! And yes to confirm what you're thinking, my oven doesn't bake, it just grills or broils. So I can broil a cake or cookies, yum!
It does have one regular oven rack and the other is solid enamel, kind of like a broil pan. I set it up near the top and the rack real low and it's better. I did finally figure out, no help from the rep, that it has a non-grill setting that is kind of like a regular oven. I bought a oven thermometer so with the solid pan on top and monitoring the temperature I can bake a lot of things but probably never a cake! You just have to laugh!!!!
I'll spare you the story of figuring out how to use my washer and dryer! Thank the Lord they both work!
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