Old stove died, need advice.

 My old gas stove just died, and is beyond repair. I have had the stove
since the early sixties, has been repaired many times, the company is no
longer in business, so I must bite the bullet and get a new one.

I am 74 years old, love to cook and bake, but let's face it, I don't
have that much baking left in my life. I want a solid, dependable gas
stove, not fancy, don't need lots of bells and whistles. A friend bought
a very expensive stove last year and has had lots of problems with it.
In fact, the company replaced it after fighting the replacement forever.
I won't name the company, but I know that is not in my price range
anyway.

I will look at Consumers Reports but I cannot go entirely with their
recommendations. Sometimes they miss the mark--I'd much rather hear from
people who have stoves that they like and stoves that they hate, and
hope to make my decision on the strength of that.

Thank you.

  Do you have any used appliance stores in your neighborhood?
Sometimes these are great values.  Look for a store which
has been around awhile and has a reputable owner.  Some of
these stores also do repairs.

I understand your problems about all the bells and whistles.
Sometimes all those luxuries just complicate matters.


On Fri, 18 May 2007, Jack  Ricci wrote:

 
It might not be practical for you, but the Salvation Army often has
stoves.

 
I can't give you specific advice because I've always used an electric stove.
But the extremely cheap-quality, contractor model stove which was in the
house DH and I bought a few years ago made cooking a real problem. The oven
was especially difficult--most things I tried to bake came out burned around
the edges and undercooked in the middle.

My point: certainly do avoid those bells and whistles you don't want. But
since you love to use a stove, don't skimp too much of quality. Sadly, in
this day and age, getting decent quality might mean you also have to buy
some features you don't want or need.

 wrote:


I agree. It's just the way product marketing is handled in the USA.
They think you want CHEAP when you just want SIMPLE. As a result,
machines with fewer features are often also of poorer quality. They do
the same thing with small cars.

I bought a gas range last year, and I chose a Frigidaire. My kitchen
is mostly Whirlpool, but Whirlpool's offerings in gas ranges were
inferior to some of the Frigidaire units. My brand loyalty has been
weakened by so many companies getting their products produced by the
same original manufacturer.

My research began with Consumer Reports (very good information there),
but I did not go with their top choice. I had some specific desires
that I needed to meet. Still, beginning the search by reading the CR
article was definitely the way to go.

The only "fancy" feature that it has is a convection fan in the oven.
I don't use that feature, except with baked goods like bread and
cookies, which I rarely make, but it works very well. The other
features are considered standard in a modern natural gas range:
self-cleaning oven, electronic controls, timer, oven lights, sealed
burners, etc.

The price was good to me, but the concept of  'expensive' is different
from one person to another. You may want to consider that your range
will be used by your heirs, or the buyer of your house, if you sell
it. So, you may not want to buy too basic of a range.  I am very
pleased with the purchase and I continue to love cooking with gas,
instead of electricity.

Greg