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Farm Kitchen:  Question about vintage stoves  |
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Amie C.
True Blue Farmgirl
2099 Posts
Finger Lakes Region
NY
2099 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 04 2010 : 05:50:17 AM
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Hi, ladies. A friend sent me listing recently for a listing on craigslist. It's a White Star gas burning stove from perhaps the 1940s. I sent off an email, just casually, and didn't think of it again. Well, the guy called me up last night and really wants to get rid of the stove quickly. He's sold the house and is moving out of state. I could get it for $150. He says everything works, but he's only used the stove once and that was several years ago.
I'm really torn on this. Some of my friends have recently bought vintage kitchen stoves and gone straight to using them with no problems. But I don't know what to watch out for. My husband is making gloomy prognostications about blowing up the house. And I'm not sure I want to rearrange our whole kitchen (we would have to install it in a different spot from our current stove, so no more kitchen table unless we put in new cupboards). Plus I've always been a bit scared of lighting pilot lights in an oven (my parents had one of those).
Does anyone do all your cooking on a vintage stove? Are they just as good as modern stoves? Better? Would you make the switch? |
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gramadinah
True Blue Farmgirl
3557 Posts
Diana
Orofino
ID
USA
3557 Posts |
Posted - Mar 04 2010 : 07:30:44 AM
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A loaf of bread does not know if it is a vintage oven or a state of the art Wolff. I would say if you are already not comfortable with the whole gas thing don't go there.
Diana
Farmgirl Sister #273 |
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prairie_princess
True Blue Farmgirl
613 Posts
Elizabeth
Carpenter
WY
USA
613 Posts |
Posted - Mar 04 2010 : 2:31:04 PM
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we bought our vintage stove from 1950 on my birthday last year and i'm in love! i would consider vintage stoves to work much better than new ones. my parents always found vintage stoves and raved about them, so when our new stove started having issues (simply would not keep the correct temperature, so everything was taking a LONG time to get done, including bread) we opted for vintage. mine only has a pilot for the stove top and i light the oven every time i use it. but it's really no hassle when you get used to it. i wouldn't worry about blowing anything up... it's just like lighting the stove top if you've ever had to light it. that's why we wanted a vintage, too... so if the power went out, we could still cook.
problem i see with your situation is the storage issue and if you don't know much about vintage stoves. i'm lucky DH has a mechanical mind and can figure this stuff out. because they do take a bit more priming and tinkering than new ones. but if you have a good resource you trust if you have questions, i would consider it worth it to invest. plus, i think $150 would be a good price if the stove is in good working order. we paid $500 for ours and that was down from $750. and i would figure a stove from the 40's would be worth more than that if it was harder to find.
i know it's a spur of the moment thing and it's unfortunate this guy has put this pressure on you to buy because he's moving... if you really wanted it, could you store it in a shed or somewhere safe until you could take the time to figure out how to arrange your kitchen? will this stove fit where your old stove is; will you have to rearrange the whole kitchen? DH had built our cupboards around our old stove, so when we went looking for the vintage, it HAD to be that same size... and turned out that size was VERY rare. but i think it was fate that brought us our current stove... it was the ONLY one of that size our of hundreds of vintage stoves! anyway, if you don't feel comfortable with the situation, i wouldn't buy it. and maybe when you are ready you can start looking again... go with your heart!
but i will fully endorse vintage stoves! they are fabulous for cooking accurately!
"Only two things that money can't buy, that's true love and homegrown tomatoes."
- Guy Clark
"The man who has planted a garden feels he has done something for the good of the world."
- Charles Dudley Warner |
Edited by - prairie_princess on Mar 04 2010 2:32:00 PM |
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KD Earthwork
True Blue Farmgirl
210 Posts
Katie
Gualala
Calif.
USA
210 Posts |
Posted - Mar 04 2010 : 10:25:42 PM
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I love vintage stoves I have a 1920's wedgewood w/ a wood burner on the side. you don't want one that you have to light the oven.They should have a regulator(?) that keeps the pilot lit.The ones that you have to light can be dangerous. The other problem I've lived with is the temperature regulator needs to be replaced and the oven gets really hot but it's hard to keep it the temp you want.You could take an oven thermometer and check that try to see if it will stay at 350.The rest of the stove is usually user friendly.
You know kitchen cupboards can be moved around to fit the stove if you really love it.
Katie |
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Amie C.
True Blue Farmgirl
2099 Posts
Finger Lakes Region
NY
2099 Posts |
Posted - Mar 05 2010 : 06:47:57 AM
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Thanks for the advice. I don't really feel ready to take this on right now, so I probably will not do it. I'm dreading calling the guy back and saying no (isn't that silly?)
I looked at a lot of websites yesterday, and it seems that there are all kinds of places on the west coast that will rebuild a vintage stove and install safety features. But I don't have a resource here locally. I'd better line that up before I go responding to any more ads. My friends just bought their stove from a used appliance store, installed it, and no fuss. But I definitely do NOT have a charmed life...if anyone would start a house fire with a bad stove, it would be me.
As for the kitchen layout: no, the stove would not fit in the place where the current stove is. We could put it against the wall where our table currently is, but a new gas line would have to be plumbed. And other things in the kitchen would have to be ripped out in order to maintain the traffic flow. So this would be kicking off a huge remodeling project, not just replacing the stove. If I wasn't losing my job next month, that might be a welcome impetus, but no thanks! Not right now! |
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Farm Kitchen: Question about vintage stoves |
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Question about vintage stoves
