I’ve been doing almost exclusively all-grain brewing for a number of years now but recently life has been getting too hectic to find the time for a all-grin batch. Really having the urge to brew I brewed up an extract version of my Irish Red yesterday. Boy what a great brew session! Nice and relaxing! I was able to get it brewed up, into the fermenter, and yeast pitched in the couple of hours I had between work shifts! I might have to start doing sessions like this more often! :
Last summer, I brewed my first extract batch in maybe 9 years in order to come up with a recipe kit for NB. It took me 2 hours longer than AG!
Took that long for the LME to pour out this time of year!?
After I steeped the grains for 45 min., I then added hops for FWH and let those sit for another 20 min. or so. All that happened in the house. Then I moved everything out to the garage so I could do a full boil. If I was gonna start doing extract batches regularly, I’d come up with a better method!
Nothing wrong with RDWHAHB! I like making mead for much the same reason. 
Yeah I just steeped some grains as my water came up to temp. I specifically built the recipe so I could just use two 3 pound packages of DME for ease of use. Then I just sat back, watched the boil, and occasionally threw in some hops!
My method of extract brewing:
1) heat ~ 6.5 gal of water in the brew pot with steeping grains in a cheesecloth bag
2) over the course of 20-25 minutes, the water should be in the 130-150 range, turn the heat down
3) get my old, 3 gal brew pot and add about 1 qt of hot steeping liquor. Pour the LME into that to thin and dilute. Add some enough steeping liquor to the LME container to eventually clean it out.
3) - alternative if using DME, do the same thing, but add the DME to a big bowl and whisk to break up clumps
4) The kettle temp is probably around 160-170 by now, remove those grains and add the diluted extract to the brew kettle. Might have to rinse out the mixing bucket.
5) rinse the grains with some water and add that goodness to the kettle.
All the above should take less than an hour.
My record extract brew with that sort of process, including clean up is 2hrs 45 min
My record ag brew with batch sparging is about 4 hrs - not bad at all (thanks Denny!)
I refuse to see any stigma in Extract brewing. Makes some great beer. And, it can be a real time-saver and a break from mashing etc.
Got some for an emergency. :
Made an excellent Mild last year out of extract. Only took about an hour and a half from start to finish. I broke the rules and did a super concentrated boil. Upped the hops to compensate for the diminished utilization. Boiled 2 gallons water and 8# DME. Chilled it down and diluted to 10 gal @1.036 with store bought jugs.
Shocked it was a very good beer. I was sad to finish it.