Pages

Thursday, April 3, 2008

My husband motioned for me to follow him into the kitchen this morning. Hmmm. Perhaps a nice cup of tea? A home-cooked breakfast to tempt the palate and make up for our dinner prep disagreement? Oh, how I wish.

"Um, did you hear the boom from the stove?" he asked. He stood a few feet away from the stove.

"What do you mean, a boom?" I moved closer in, and he waved for me to stop.

"No! Don't go any closer! There was a boom from the back burner," he said. "I put on the stove and there was this loud noise. If you don't believe me, then I'll turn the stove back on, and you can hear it." He stopped a foot away from the electric range and turned a knob quick, before scooting back a few feet.

Now clearly, after thinking about this, it may not have been the wisest thing to do, what with kids peering in, to find out what all the excitement was about. But we were groggy eyed and in need for a nice hot cup of tea.

But. Nothing happened. There was nary a sound from the old stove and husband looked disappointed but relieved he'd get his tea after all. The girls left and started getting ready for school. I got all the lunches packed and gathered up all the homework folders

Then. BOOM!

I ran into the kitchen and expected some sort of fire or pieces ripped out of the stove or something, with the loud noise. But, there was nothing. I turned off the stove real quick and was thankful we emerged unscathed.

Husband looked at me and smirked, "See! Now did you hear that?" Of course, I pointed out I wouldn't be able to cook until we bought a new stove.

"What are we going to eat?" he said. This is going to be so fun, milking the no cooking thing. Though secretly, I have to admit, I'd rather be cooking than looking for a new stove. Ugh.

Now, this stove is over 20 years old. When my husband and I bought this house a couple years ago, we went from a tiny updated house with new gas appliances to a fixer-upper, last updated in the early 1980's, with mustard yellow electric appliances and formica countertops/backsplash. I hoped to avoid buying new kitchen appliances until we were ready to fix up the kitchen, because I was holding out for something cool to reflect my modern sensibilities.

Who am I kidding. I hate shopping for appliances, actually, shopping for anything home related, and avoid it like the plague. There are too many choices and if something is well made, it usually costs a fortune.

Please help me! Does anyone have any good recommendations for electric ranges?

Updated to Add: The picture to the side gives you a cool picture of what my range looks like. The double oven on top and the range are all one piece. Isn't it pretty?

Now modernize the range by ten to twenty years and cover it all in dijon mustard, and you've got an idea of what my range looks like.

My husband gave me some news this afternoon. Because our range has a hood built into it, we'll need a new hood in addition to the range. Then, he wondered what the wall behind this range looks like. Would it still be the formica backsplash or would it be a big hole for the venting system? We're both too afraid to pull this monstrosity out to see.

22 comments:

We have a GE Spectra - like the one I found this link for http://products.geappliances.com/ApplProducts/Dispatcher?CHANNEL=CH0004&REQUEST=SPECPAGE&SITEID=DER&SKU=JBP78CBCCwe got it a few years ago - I've been very happy with it.I like the flat top cooking surface.

I totally get the "we want to wait until we update the whole kitchen" thing. We broke down and bought a new (cheap) dishwasher a few years ago when it broke.My new dryer was GE :)So recommendations on stoves though.Maybe the dying appliance thing is spreading through our critique group? Who will be next?

Sorry to hear this, but glad no one got hurt. If you're just looking to replace, GE will be dependable. If you start looking at upscale, like Viking, etc., things could get dangerous and pricey. Good luck!

Once, we had a cooktop with a defective heating element. The thing erupted and blew a whole in a heavy pot that was filled with boiling water. It was a good thing my husband had stepped away from the cooktop because tiny bits of hot metal (or whatever) went flying and even burned some holes in our kitchen linoleum.

Tricia - I hope the breaking appliances isn't spreading through our critique group - I don't think we have any left to break down! - oh, maybe I started it with both broken washer and dryer in the past few months - sorry. :)

glad everyone is okay! our stove is a basic ge and gets the job done just fine, no frills but i'm not sure what stove frills are necessary anyway. i need to appease the appliance gods because i fear for the life of our dishwasher which has been making ominous grinding sounds of late...

We've always had luck with Sears brands and some are Energy Star rated, although we have a gas stove. Just look at the bright side, you'll save on utilities having a new stove, right?Good luck in your search...

We just bought a dishwasher, and I found the Sears site the most helpful. They have reviews right on the site, and then when you find one you like, you can actually FIND the machine at Sears. Not like some of the review sites that leave you trying to track down the machine you read about. We bought our last dishwasher at Sears, too, and have had no problem. Plus, they'll probably take your hazard, I mean old stove, away for you!

My mom got this enormous double oven, so during holidays she can cook the turkey in one and keep everything else warm in the bottom. It is amazing because on some meats, you just put in the probe, click the button, and it cooks automatically.

Subscribe To

About Me

Consider yourself warned: I write books about rebels. I'm also a postergirlz for readergirlz, a literary advisory group for teens. Who knew going back to the teenage years would be so rewarding?
You can also find me at www.vivianleemahoney.com