1- Get the Performer.
2- Sell it.
3a- Use the $ to buy a second kettle in an interesting color, preferably a "looker" not a "cooker"
3b- Or get a 2nd cheap "cooker", if you can get a 26".
4- Get a nice piece of wood cut to fit inside your 2nd kettle & stain it to use as your prep surface or whatever.
5- Explain that the 2nd item is really a prep table that will double as a cooker when you could use a larger size or are doing something where you could run both of them.
More kettles means more places to set down hot items like chimneys, or food.
There's this common assumption that a kettle not immediately cooking food "isn't used."
If you had like a dozen or whatever, I could better understand where the missus is coming from. But two? TWO?