Original range in Harvest Gold
Yep, that's the original range, drop-in style, or so we thought. But more on that later. If you look closely at the picture you'll notice that the knobs for the burners on top are missing - the former owner's way of letting us know that the top burners don't work and don't even try it!
The oven on the other hand did work, so early in our residency I decided to cook a frozen pizza. I turned on the oven and about five minutes later thought, "I should look in the oven." And good thing I did. Inside the oven was a broiler pan topped with a large plastic cutting board that had just started to melt - good grief! On with the pot holders and onto the garage floor with my broiler pan/cutting board cake. We did get our pizza that night, but not without enduring the "love" from hubby Scott. Only microwaved food after that. Until...
Glorious new to us range!
Super-clean inside and out!
I found this gorgeous, practically never been used, circa early 1980s Whirlpool drop-in range on Craigslist in Vancouver and with a bit of help from the Scotts (hubby and son) we got it home and in the garage just a day or two before ice and snow storms brought Portland to its knees.
This past Sunday son-Scott made his way over to our house to install the range. We won't go into the whole trucks and snow thing, but after a single trip to Home Depot we were able to install the range - almost. When we removed the old range we realized it wasn't a drop-in at all, but rather a slide in disguised as a drop-in. This posed several issues, not the least of which was, umm, how do you support the range from the bottom? Hence the trip to Home Depot. And it turns out that, while I was able to find the user manual and installation instructions for the range, actual specs for 1980s era appliances are hard to come by. Which brings us to the second issue, the opening for the old range is bigger than the new range. For now the range is sitting in the opening and I found a company that specializes in custom trim kits for built-in appliances called Micro-trim. They are working on the design now.
Why choose a 1980s range instead of buying a brand spanking new one, you might ask. Well, the kitchen has a limited life span, probably two years before we reconfigure it (note, I didn't say remodel). The new layout will likely remove the peninsula where the range currently sits, so then it would be bye-bye new range and the ~$1500 or more it would cost. And besides, with the white refrigerator and dishwasher, the new range just looks like it belongs. And bottom line...it works!
New range in its new home
You might ask, what is Scott's (hubby's) favorite part of having a working range? The glorious meals that Beth will cook in her petticoats and pearls? The ability to cook Campbell's tomato soup whenever he wants? Actually, Scott's favorite part is...a place to hang the kitchen towels, seriously!
