How mundane and pointless can you get? But I’ve just gotten out of bed, and I’m still groggy.
I clean the stove from time to time, cleaning spills immediately and doing a thorough cleaning periodically. Yesterday I decided to really clean it. Like, take the knobs off and stuff. The oven temperature control knob was not coming off as easily as the others, and I ended up breaking the post. I inserted a screw into it, and now have to adjust the temperature with a screwdriver.
The stove was in the house when I bought it nearly nine years ago. It was in the house when my friend bought it two years before that. With its flip clock, I’m guessing it’s about 30-35 years old. The clock doesn’t work. (Thus, neither does the timer.) There’s a switch on the top of the rear console, next to the oven light switch, whose function I don’t know. Whatever it did, it doesn’t do it anymore. The drip pans are rusted through, and it’s impossible to clean off decades of burnt-on grease. The most-used element (it’s a coil-top) is loose and sometimes needs to be jiggled to work. New drip pans I’ve found in hardware stores do not fit. I got one anyway, and cut an appropriate slot in it for the element and widened the hole where the element’s plug goes through. It works, but the element slides a little bit on the top of the range. The oven’s self-cleaning feature doesn’t work. Finally, the oven temperature bears little relation to the temperature indicated on the control knob. No wonder things took longer than expected to cook! And then I broke the control’s post.
I’ve been holding out to see if we get natural gas in this neighbourhood. Looks like it ain’t gonna happen. The SO says that as much as I like to cook, I need a new stove. So I called up Sears and they’re bringing one out and installing it Tuesday. It’s a stainless-steel model (or ‘stainless look’ – I didn’t look too closely) so it will match the new refrigerator. The only thing I don’t like about it is that the top is black and my friend made the kitchen a bit dark. It would be better with a silver top. We’re going to Sears today so I can pay for it, and then we’re going to Home Despot to look for a new hood. (The SO insists that if I have a new stove, I have to have a new, matching hood.)
Next thing you know I’ll be buying new counters and cabinets, a built-in dishwasher, and a new sink.
Heh. I bought my flat in 2007, changed the heater from gasoil to gas in 2008. Two years ago the yearly-checkup guy was an asshole who came in trying to scare me: he saw the old grill near the floor in the outside wall (not code for gas) and, apparently not having noticed the pipe that goes from the heater to outside claimed that was dangerous; then he said “if that pipe is shared with the neighbors you could kill your neighbors” (the pipe was re-used, it was already in place); then wanted me to drill a hole in said pipe so he could measure for CO (the installer didn’t set a testing valve), but refused to do it himself when I offered him the BnD… dude didn’t do a jump off my balcony because he had a handspan and 15kg on me, because internet access from jail is highly limited and because I don’t have a balcony.
Last year’s guy was a local. When he saw the previous guy’s notes he exclaimed “what the fuck, these houses were built with wood stoves! Of course the chimneys are individual ones!”
My dad’s parents did a lot of cooking – and heating – with wood stoves. They lived in the sticks, and used a generator for 110v and 12v batteries (charged by the genny) for lighting after the generator ran out of gas at night. A huge propane tank powered their gas stove and Servel (brand) gas refrigerators. Instead of a phone, they had a CB radio.
This house (1934, plus later additions) has baseboard heaters, but they’re disconnected. My friend had a propane-powered heater installed when he bought it. There was a wood stove in the fireplace, and I’ve had it replaced with a nicer (glass front), more efficient one (EPA-rated) with a fan. It helps keep the cost of heating down in Winter.
I would love, love, love to have piped-in gas and gas appliances, but although I live between two gas mains Cascade Gas will not pipe this neighbourhood – unless each subscriber pays thousands of dollars for installation.
So I’ll have to make do with an electric range. At least this Kenmore will work better than the old GE. And look nicer, too.
Our gas stove has not been used since at least Valentine’s Day. We had the head maintenance guy come by with a leak detector and, sure enough, there’s not only a leak in the stove but in the connecting line as well, so the connection was turned off. We’ve been making do with the microwave, a dual-burner hot plate, and a toaster oven until we can re-accumulate the cash for a replacement.
Criminy! Who knew range hoods were so expensive? :eek:
I got to Home Despot and looked at the range hoods. I didn’t see the ‘economy’ one. I did find the ‘standard’ model. For $160 in stainless steel. Yikes! The SO didn’t go with me, so I called her to ask if it’s OK. (She tends to find things more cheaply than I do.) She said it was. But, did they have a 36" hood? Yep, the ‘deluxe’ model comes in 36". $269 in stainless steel. I could get a black one $40 cheaper, but the top of the stove is black and the kitchen is dark enough already. So I got it. We don’t have a duct (yet), so I had to buy filters for the non-ducted option – which HD didn’t have. And I had to buy a power cord. Amazon.com time. I read the installation instructions when I got home and they said to use the screws in the ‘hardware packet’. Only there was no packet. The guy at HD found a packet and told me I could just use wood screws. I told him that if I’m paying $270 for a hood, I want all of the parts. It’s a 50-mile round trip to HD, so I’ll pick the screws up on the way home from Seattle today.
The remodel will have to wait. In a house this old, you often have ‘carnival floors’. There’s a soft spot between the kitchen and the front rooms, probably because of a persistent roof leak (which has since been fixed by having new valleys installed – my friend insisted the roof was fine, and the gutters just had to be scrupulously cleaned). The inspector, in 2003, didn’t have a problem with the floor, but it will need to be looked at. Only then can we rip out the vinyl and carpet and put down cement board and ceramic tiles. Cabinets also look expensive. That pantry I want runs near a kilobuck. I do have a guy that has worked on the place and does a good job. I’ve seen photos of his wood flooring and his cabinetry, and it looks outstanding. And he only charges $20/hour for himself and each person he brings with him (usually one or two) plus the actual cost of materials. I just hope his immigration proceedings work out for him. He’s a good guy.
The SO is thinking of taking off for a few days in October, I think. Maybe I’ll sneak in and tile the wall behind the range, and maybe build a spacer between the range and the refrigerator. I can worry about the major work when I have some money.
I’ve thought of the heat loss, since it does get pretty cold here in Winter. But I do a lot of cooking on cast iron, and it can get smokey. (We’ll see how the charcoal filters work.)
We have charcoal filters on our range hood/microwave combo and they work quite well. The only chore is making sure you swap them out regularly. BTW, you may want to look at the same idea if you can return the one you bought. It doesn’t take up a lot more space than a std range hood, it’s not a lot more expensive, and it frees up a significant amount of counter space. Something likethis…
I thought about an over-the-range microwave oven, but I’m still thinking about a ducted hood eventually. The other issue is that the SO might not like reaching up to use it. She’s not short, but I think she’d like to see the food. Also, the convection toaster oven sits atop of the microwave oven; so the counter space would still be used.
I do know that mine had the option to vent both ways. We bought a Kitchenaid and got it for less than $400 on sale. I see you point about about the reaching up, and I was worried about burns/scalds initially about reaching over the stove to get stuff out of the microwave, but that has been a non-issue. If she can reach the middle cupboards without an issue she probably wouldn’t have an issue with this. Just thought I’d bring it up as an alternative.
I do have a guy that has worked on the place and does a good job. I’ve seen photos of his wood flooring and his cabinetry, and it looks outstanding. And he only charges $20/hour for himself and each person he brings with him (usually one or two) plus the actual cost of materials. I just hope his immigration proceedings work out for him. He’s a good guy.