jmcquown wrote:

>> Ask your future MIL which will be best for her and her refrigerator.
>>
>
> Good advice. Sometimes the MIL doesn't want someone taking over her
> kitchen (be it the fridge, oven, stovetop). The best (and most polite)
> thing would be to call and ask her what she would prefer.

I can tell you that we plan a dinner big enough that we would want/need
someone to bring something, the stove top is going to be in use. I would
not want anyone to bring anything that needed to go on the stove or into
the oven. However, there is an exception. We have had my brother, his
wife and her parents for Christmas dinner the past two years and SiL's
mother brought a Christmas pudding that needed to be steamed, and sauce
that needed to be heated up. Since that is a Christmas necessity, it was
welcomed.