[jyl]

Ha, Larry, I think some cooks are confident, relaxed, unruffled, and have everything under control. They can do the whole "cook as showman" thing. Other cooks are hurried, sweaty, half-drunk, and scrambling to salvage dinner from the cloud of greasy smoke. They don't want to be on display. Guess which one I usually am.

Anyway, the old houses in my neighborhood usually don't have an "open plan" and would require extensive remodeling to have one. More extensive than I'm budgeting for.