Garlic clove. Photo: Muffet, Flickr

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• Gripes about sharing kitchens with friends, from terrible salad dressings to cleaning up other people's messes.
• Beaujolais might not have the most haute reputation, but some winemakers are producing high-quality versions of the vino.
• Iraq's masquf -- a technique that cooks gutted fish in a roaring fire -- is re-gaining popularity.
• Over-harvesting couldn't keep the oysters out of the Chesapeake: Scientists have "re-established a significant population."

I have a love/hate relationship with my kitchen, my stove in particular. My apartment used to belong to my grandparents and so just about everything in the kitchen has been there since 1966 when they moved in. They never cooked much to begin with and in the last ten years of their lives, they ate out exclusively.

I put the counter top you see to the right in last summer, when the old one started to crumble into pieces and the building replaced the dishwasher last fall when the old one lost the ability to clean anything. However, the stove is untouched and it makes my cooking life frustrating on a regular basis. I have five burner settings, which makes any nuance in heat difficult. And do you see the way the oven overhangs the stove? Well, that makes those two rear burners nearly impossible to use when there's stuff on the front, because it's hard to reach without burning yourself. And the underside of the oven is always dirty because it on the front line, catching all the bubbles and splatters from the stove top.

On the plus side, my oven bakes perfectly, heating evenly and always exactly on temperature (not bad for four+ decades) and I never worry about messy projects, because my kitchen is very far from pristine.

Now Slashfoodies, it's your turn. Tell me what you love and what you hate about your kitchen. Take pictures and upload them to our Slashfood Flickr group, so we can all get a peek into the most used room in your house.

Here at Slashfood we occasionally provide you with "green" information, whether that's an alarming statistic about how much energy it requires to get your food to your table or a new eco-friendly food or kitchen product. If, however, you are interested in going all out and want all the information in one place, kitchen appliance manufacturer Sub-Zero (and Wolf) have launched a website for just that.

Granted, GrowAGreenKitchen.com is a microsite on their own manufacturer's site, so it can be construed as marketing, but still, the information is there. The site is divided into three main sections: energy, construction, and everyday tips, all intended for consumers, builders and kitchen enthusiasts alike. Likely, you aren't going to tear out your old kitchen right now just to build a brand new one, but the every day tips could help you help the environment.

It never fails.

You create a stunning tablescape a la Sandra Lee in the dining room. You set out a well-stocked bar in the hallway between the dining room and the living room. You even put plates of delicious snacks on the coffee table in the living room. Your dinner party is out there, and yet...

Every one of your guests ends up standing around the kitchen while you are still waiting for the last course to come out of the oven, holding their plates, clutching their cocktails, having the time of their lives. In the kitchen.

Why? Why, unappreciative-of-all-your-entertaining-efforts guests, why?!?!

A book entitled The Warmest Room in the House might have the answer. It studies the evolution of the kitchen over decades through to the 20th century. The book is available from Amazon for $16.47.

Goblins and ghouls have barely hit the shelves, and we haven't even started thinking about Thanksgiving, but if you want to give some good Holiday gifts at the end of the year, you'll have to start saving now. Actually, you might have to have started saving last Spring because these kitchen appliances could empty your checking account.

KWC Waterstation - For $12,000, this "rotating food preparation unit allows several cooks to wash and drain ingredients, then slice, dice and chop them, all using the same central water source." www.kwcamerica.com

TurboChef Speedcook Oven - Move over Rachael Ray, the TurboChef Speedcook Oven prepares meals 15 times faster than with conventional appliances. For $7,500. www.turbochef.com

Talk about luxurious and slightly...unnecessary?

Personally, I find that a television set should not be anywhere NEAR the kitchen, at least within view of the dining area. It completely takes away from the experience of sharing a meal with other people (unless of course, you live alone and eat by yourself most of the time). I am also not sure why you would need a television set in the kitchen in your range hood to watch while you're cooking. When I cook, I like to have music in the background, but I usually don't like the distraction of television.

Nonetheless, if you feel the need to drop $2,500 on the Siemens LC8M950 range hood model with the built-in 17" screen tv, well, I'm sure it would be nice to watch FoodNetwork while you're cooking.

...take a look at this tiny, uber-compact kitchen, built as a cylinder. The Circular CleverKitchen from CC Concepts in New Zealand is built entirely as one freestanding unit that can be placed in any corner, against a wall, or just right out in the open. It takes up a fewer than 1.8 square meter footprint, but offers 360 degree access to storage of 12 cupboards, a refrigerator, sink, other kitchen appliances you'd find in any kitchen, electrical and water, and counter tops to work on.

The best part is that once you're done working in the kitchen, you can just slide the doors shut.

Okay, actually, the best part is that it comes in multiple colors.

When I visited Michelle's kitchen for my Real Kitchens series, there was a lot she didn't really love about her gorgeous-in-the-sunlight space. But one thing wowed me (and I'm planning on copying it shamelessly, if you must know): her spice racks.

I have two small spice racks that hold my most-used spices, but the rest are shoved into a shelf in my 1912 home's small "pantry." Every time I need asafoetida, or ground ginger, or tarragon, I have to dig. It's highly inefficient.

Michelle's insight: she bought a bunch of spice racks after a spendy trip to Penzey's, and put them all up on the back of the door leading to her basement (me thinking: hey! I have a basement door in my kitchen, too!). She has a whopping six spice racks, full of all kinds of good things. They're neatly organized, and accessible, yet they aren't taking up precious drawer or shelf space. They even look pretty cool despite the basic, inexpensive nature of the wire racks. Most importantly, it works. And that's the best thing you can say about any kitchen feature.

I have a love/hate relationship with the depiction of Other People's Kitchens in the mainstream food media. On one hand, it's a special kind of porn for the cooking-obsessed. I drool over bookshelves that hold hundreds of cookbooks; long windows over the sink that seem to always look out on a verdant garden or stunning water view; drawers to hold everything, from spices to an Alton Brown-worthy collection of knives to small appliances to wine; antique finds, food art from "friends," appliances that each cost more than my mortgage. And always, always the hood, the pot rack, the artfully-selected counter stools.

I think I am not alone among food bloggers. I do not yet have my showplace kitchen. When I was house-shopping four years ago, I looked first at the kitchen space and imagined such great things. My husband and I (then newly engaged and, just for kicks, expecting a baby) got in our first huge fight when I fell in love with a farmhouse - with a huge, high-ceilinged farmhouse kitchen - that was impractical in every other way. In the house that we eventually chose, the kitchen worked when we moved in. We painted the cupboards and cleaned the floor, deciding that our very slow remodeling would end in this most important room.