I don’t have 8 years but I did about 5 during college and grad school before I diverted into my current career path, though tbf that was like over a decade and a half ago now (oof). And agreed, like I said it’s not that cast iron is useless. It has a role, it’s just that the role is greatly overemphasized by the cookware zealots.

Cost is pretty negligible - a lodge 12” skillet is $30, the first result for 10” steel pan on webstaurant is $21. Though there’s an aluminum 12” for $15 (yuck). Though again tbf at least where I worked the owners would def penny pinch over $9 haha

FWIW I would absolutely love a proper deep fryer in my house. I unironically looked into this once bc I regularly go to restaurant auctions to get gear super cheap (ask me about the deli slicer I got for $50. Having a deli slicer rules) and one had a super cheap single basket deep fryer. But it needed a dedicated 220 line and as I looked into it more it turns out I would potentially be violating all sorts of building codes and invalidating my homeowners insurance. At a minimum I would’ve had to disclose it to my homeowners at get a bunch of paperwork to get the policy changed, which likely would’ve required me to have a ton of work and documentation in terms of ventilation, fire suppression, possibly inspection from local fire authority, etc. not worth the hassle even for the insane fries.

I am not familiar with the muurikka. I am looking at the website now. It is intriguing. My outdoor setup at the moment is the wok burner and a small charcoal grill. I was considering getting really into pizza and depending on my approach this could be a good fit. My other idea was to build a small brick oven. I am historically not great at building things like that but I am also dumb