Thread: Kitchen Reno

Finally all done.
Work commenced July 3 so ~8 weeks all up
Finished1.JPG

Finished2.JPG

Finished3.JPG

worth the wait I'm guessing?

Originally Posted by BobL

Coffee machine is one of these
Victoria Arduino Eagle One Prima Coffee Machine

Make sure you are sitting down when you see the price.

why did I need to be sitting down ??
many years ago I realised that the cost of a decent coffee machine was of that magnitude.

For a long time I was limited to ONE coffee per day (I'm now allowed two), so even at AUD $5 per cup, I figure that buying that one coffee was a better option. (You get very picky where you go when you are only allowed one coffee per day.)

Besides, the beans used by profession baristas are gone through so quickly, that they never go stale -- unlike the ground beans I'd be forced to buy.

Originally Posted by ian

why did I need to be sitting down ??
many years ago I realised that the cost of a decent coffee machine was of that magnitude.

Not many people are as educated or informed as you are Ian

My previous machine (La Cimbali) cost about half the price of the E1 although that was 19 years ago and the price today of the La Cimbali is around 3/4 of the E1 so its not that big an upgrade in terms of price. But the price of a machine

For a long time I was limited to ONE coffee per day (I'm now allowed two), so even at AUD $5 per cup, I figure that buying that one coffee was a better option. (You get very picky where you go when you are only allowed one coffee per day.)

I typically have 4 or 5 a day. Not all of these are at home because I get invited out for coffee 2-3 times a week. I typically have family/friends over regularly so I end up making 3-4 coffees when they come over, and I thus go through about 1kg of coffee every two weeks. When Amanda was around she drank mainly decaf and our bean supplier was able to supply a real quality decaf. This would bring our coffee use up to ~3kg a month for 18 years = 684 kg then another 20 odd kg in the last 10 months brings it to over 700kg at ~$50/kg =
$5/day for 19 years is about the same - except I get 4-5+ coffees per day

Now I should add for most of that time I did not drink alcohol so it sort of compensates for it a bit

Besides, the beans used by profession baristas are gone through so quickly, that they never go stale -- unlike the ground beans I'd be forced to buy.

Grinding your own freshly (as in between 48 hours and a couple of weeks) roasted coffee is in many ways more important than the coffee machine as is the way the beans are ground, hence the need for a quality grinder. My current gender is a Mazzer Mini that is 19 years old and had the burrs replaced after about 500kgs of coffee so it is still in good shape. However to go all out "coffee nerd" and to match the E1 machine I have ordered an "Option-O Lagom" single dose grinder as these days I mainly make single coffees.

Originally Posted by auscab

Have you kept your CO2 bottle and soda stream Bob ?
I remember reading in a thread here somewhere how you installed a large bottle, outside possibly, and plumbed it to your soda stream . Not long after that we were given a soda stream and started going through the small bottles that came from the supermarket. I kept thinking of your larger bottle and ended up getting one . Before your mention of it I never knew people did that. hooked now. A 13.8 kg bottle should last 2 or 3 years maybe.

Yes I do, We use a 6kg cylinder ($52 exchange) as it fits under the kitchen floor, standing upright with room to spare getting it and the floor joists etc, The Soda Stream unit is in the middle of the window in the photo below. The cylinder is under the house and the 2m long connecting hose come up through the floor/cupboard and bench top.
When Amanda was around and not drinking alcohol either were only getting about 6 months out of a full cylinder - I'm sort of addicted to bubbly water and drink it most of the time in place of water especially when others are drinking alcohol. Still way cheaper than the soda stream cylinders.

Finished1.JPG

A thorough inspection revealed a couple of small gaps that needed to be filled and these were complete on Wednesday and this morning the final appliance, an Option-O Lagom P64 single dose coffee grinder arrived so I finally pronounce the kitchen finished.
This grinder is vert\y quiet and very easy to use.

Lagom.jpg

was it you or amanda that got convinced to buy the thermo mix?

Originally Posted by havabeer69

was it you or amanda that got convinced to buy the thermo mix?

Amanda bought her first Thermomix in the early 2000's and was an avid user.
We even used to take it along in the caravan!
One time I remember on the way down south we bought a heap of apricots for $2/kg and she spent days making jam in the caravan park with it.
I used it mainly to process dog food.

Just before she died in 2022 she upgraded to the latest model with internet connectivity and an LCD screen but she never really gt the chance to use it much as at that stage I doing most of teh cooking.
I still use it to process dog food but have also started using it to make meals for myself, including soups which it does really well.

Yeah, my wife had good intentions of using it lots. I think its main duties now are cooking rice and making pizza dough.

The new ones are meant to be able to sous vide a steak though