Crap. Range Busted.
 

Well, crap. The oven door of my range is locked into a self cleaning mode. The repairman says it will cost $400 to fix (sensor bad), plus $200 to fix the barely readable LCD display (circuit board), and the non working self igniters are NLA. This is a Frigidaire Gallery Professional, about 15 years old. So I have no oven, except for a toaster oven. And Thanksgiving is approaching.

I basically hate this range, and wasn't inclined to spend more than a couple hundred bucks to fix it. I'd told myself that there'd be no new range bought here until we remodeled the kitchen, a project that has never quite happened. So, what to do?

Perhaps I should buy a $100 (very) used range on Craigslist to tide us over until January. But that's $100 down the drain, and a(nother) crap range in my kitchen.

Perhaps I should simply buy the range that we'd want for the remodeled kitchen. But that would be a 36" or wider model, and the existing cabinet gap is for a 30" range.

Perhaps I should rip out the adjoining cabinets and put in that 36" range, since they were always going to go in a remodel - I want just a bare wall there, with pretty subway tiles and elegant shelves of course. But then I have to look at a $5K range surrounded by a half demolished kitchen during the holidays.

Perhaps I should just start the remodel now, plans and schedules and budget be damned. But then Ill have no kitchen for the holidays, and we have about 20 guests coming for thanksgiving as well as friends staying with us over Christmas and New Years.

Perhaps I should sleep on it, and wait to see what the Brain Trust comes up with overnight. Yes, that's it.

I will add my story. A story of gore.
I bought a dual oven gas range from Italy, from an internet store.

It was hip. It was hot. It was here.
It got delivered. It got installed. The perfect kitchen was near.

I pulled it out to check something, and it fell forwards and smashed into the floor.

That demolished the front glass door.

That all rhymed. There's nothing more.

got a bbq?

This is what we're taking about.

http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/y...psvpravwrb.jpg

The range sits in the short leg of a "L" of cabinets. In the remodel-that-never-gets-done I want to remove that short leg, just have a straight run of cabinets down the adjoining wall, and instead of the short leg, have a wall of floor to ceiling subway tiles, with a big 'effing hood that you stand underneath, and the flexibility to put any damn range I want, of any size, on that wall. I'll put little work tables on either side of the range, if there is room.

So seems I could rip out the base cabinet to the left of the range, reposition the upper cabinet higher, install the new 36" range, and live in my ghetto kitchen until after the holidays?

Yes, my BBQ is outside and it will be raining 24/7 from now until May.

For my next range, I want something with lots of big burners, all gas, and no electronics. No timer, no self clean, no nuthin'.

The choices look like
- One of the commercial-like residential ranges. American Range, Bluestar, etc. They cost $4-5K.
- A commercial range, like Garland, Wolf, etc. Not completely suitable for a house.
- A restored O'Keefe & Merrit, that matches the house (built 1911). Very spendy, I think.

My parents and aunt have Agas and swear by them.

I kid on the first post (although it was a true story).

Three (4) thoughts-
1. go for it
2. For the short term- what kind of cabinents are those- they look maple/pecan or something. If they are a mass produced home depot/lowes type thing- they will have a corresponding 36 inch overhead type door which you can go buy for next to nothing. Go buy it. That will get you through the holidays.
3. If you are converting to gas- (for the holidays)- you can get a propane tank for your gas grill and run it to your gas oven. I think they are both 4 psi or something- all you need is a gas line and pressure regulator (pm me if you need one)- I used for about a year before I tapped into my outdoor propane tank. You can hide the grill propane tank in a floor cabinent next to the oven.
4. In your long term plan for the kitchen- think of some real exhaust in your overall design- ditch the damn microwave and get real on a real exhaust vent. I went to some insane cfm vent directed oustide and it was the best decision EVER. When I am in the garage- I can smell what my wife is cooking in the house- and I come running.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1447383742.jpg

Pick up a cheap used range on CL that fits that width and use it until you re-model - then resell it on CL.

Or but a cheap new one and resell it later on when you remodel.

Good luck!

Good thing you even got a repairman.
Around here, we have to call 10 times over a week or two.
Maybe they pick up the phone to say they are booked through next July.
(plus another $100 for just showing up.)

It might be fixable.
Oven control board is $150-180. Clock is $110. Switches are about $30.
Frigidaire Range / Cooktop / Oven Parts - AppliancePartsPros.com

Kill the breaker. Pop the top off to get to the internals and lock mechanism. Look at the insulation and see if oven heat is leaking out and frying the electronics. Igniters may all be linked to a rusty ground and fixed with a little rough polish. My stove does that and gets finicky whenever inserts are dirty.

Buy one on Craigslist and resell when done with it. If it costs you $100 and you take a hit on it EOD it cost you $50 to not rush the remodel and keep a happy home for the Holiday season.

Consider yourself lucky, it could have decided to go into lock mode while the turkey was in there and you had a house full of hungry guests.

Timely post. I feel your pain... Our electric cook top died 2 weeks ago. Un-wired it so we could use the oven. Both hooked to same 60amp breaker.

Using a propane camp stove for now. LOL! (Yes we have a range hood and open kitchen window to avoid carbon monoxide DEATH)😄

Ordered a new gas cook top yesterday from Homedepot after wifey searched and we looked at some local showrooms.
Happily, gas is stubbed in from old cook top. Need to open up cut out from 18" top to 21". Tight fit but can make it happen.

Limited selection in White appliances... 1918 house with white kitchen and copper range hood.

Would love to redo it all, but house needs to be picked up and foundation leveled. Arrrgh!! Have to spend that $50-$80k first...

Hope your range/cabinet situation works out well!

Maybe check out youtube and repair it yourself, then you're only out the cost of the parts?

Buy a decent range on CL and be done with it. Can't be worse than before. People are remodeling like crazy these days and can't give away their old ranges. Many older ranges are high quality - you may even get an upgrade!

I definitely would not let this trigger a full kitchen remodel. You won't eat until next spring ...

G

I saw you were having 20 people over for Thanksgiving. Don't panic !! Order enough turkeys w/ dinner fixins from your local big box (or small box) store to feed them. You can make some kind of arrangements for the small add ons that go with it. That will give you some breathing room to figure your course of action. We gave up the hassle of cooking a huge amount of food for a group a long time ago. If it's just the two of us, we have fun making a small turkey dinner for just us, but ordering rhe turkey dinner(s) is a really easy & surprisingly tasty way to go.

They all have some type of electronics in them now. Residential Wolf has them too, thanks to lawyers. No offense to you John, but that's they way its headed. I put in a Thermador range in my parent's 15 years ago. The computer finally went about 5 years ago and the damn thing shut down for safety reasons according to the factory rep. Took it in the shorts and pay for the repair. 450 bucks later for a circuit board like thing. Now it just happened to the other side a couple of weeks ago. If you are going to put the 36" range in there, that microwave hood has to go. too much heat and that hood can't handle the heat. Keep that in the back burner when you plan your kitchen remod.

My suggestion is to avoide starting the remodel during this time of the year. Workmen get lazy, shipping from vendors slow up due to the holidays. Its not to your advantage to do this now. Start next year, you will be in a much better position. Keep your eye on price increase on appliances.

I really like Wolf, Thermador. Capital, Imperial and American Range are really good bang for the buck. Only thing you will notice between them are the fit and finish between Wolf, Thermador compared to the Capital and others mentioned.

Commercial range can't not be used in a home. They get too hot and have no insulation on the side. Wolf do make residential ranges but they are 2-3 k more then their commercial counterparts.

1918? Brick foundation?

I'd buy a good second hand range that fits into the space and if you remodel sell it on to someone else.

It's great to plan for the future but nothing is certain. You may never do that remodel.

I just looked on craigslist, and saw a very nice range in stainless for 350.00. It was almost new, clean, and ready to go.

I bought a very nice used range 10 years ago, and I am still using it, while I am ''getting ready to remodel''. Stuff happens.

Get a decent range, and move on. This isn't an agony issue, it's Thanksgiving. Get a move on, and spray soapy water on the connections if you hook it up yourself.

I have to go to work. I'm sure a range will fit in a Westy. How fortunate. ;)

+1 above. It is not the end of the world. Lots of good suggestions here. If your range lasted 15 years that is pretty good. The salesman who sold us two glass top electric Samsung ranges for our house and condo said they would last about 10 years due to the electronics. Our kitchen is no show piece - still got the original countertop from 1957!
Deal with it and move on....