We moved into our present house spring of 1988. This same cook top has been in the kitchen since then. It has had every one of the burners replaced at least once but lately its failure mode had become intermittent and diagnostics for repair finicky. I would set a pot or pan to cook only to come back later and find the burner was not putting out any heat and it was unknown as to how long. I would start something on high and when I turned it to low the burner would quit. I've been beating coiled elements into submission by pounding on them with my wooden spatula. They would obey, but not for long. This was extremely frustrating. When I screamed through gritted teeth and flung my spatula across the length of the kitchen, Frank agreed he would stop trying to repair this one any more and we could buy a new one - even though this one was still shy of turning 30 years.
This ancient stovetop with a centered downdraft option was a GE. Frank made noises about changing brands because this one had broken (yeah, after nearly 30 years). We kept with the GE brand in hopes that the countertop opening would be the same size and we were in luck that it was. A bit of that central vertical divider board needed to be sawed down to accommodate the new model.
We opted to go without a downdraft option. Our old one had never drawn well and was so noisy I had rarely, if ever, used it while cooking. With two windows nearby, there was quite adequate "side draft" whenever something on the stovetop went thermally awry, requiring ventilation. Besides, there is no code that one has to have a downdraft. As a bonus, that big duct inconveniently placed diagonally within the height of the base cabinet would go away, and there would be more usable cabinet space.
The absent downdraft duct would leave a gaping hole in the floor of the base cabinet that would allow items a pathway to fall "down the rabbit hole" into the vast wastelands beneath the kitchen floor.
The hole can be easily plugged or blocked but Frank is still not quite healed enough. He needs to regain enough range of motion in the hip joint to allow him to get down on the floor and do repairs. Currently he still needs his tool to get his right sock onto his toes and over his heel but once he gets that far, he can now reach down and pull it up. Frank continues to make progress healing, but I will need to be a bit creative in finding a solution for dealing with this hole right now.
I temporarily put a tray over that egress to below and reloaded the cabinet. Who's to know - except that I just told you.
Voila! The installation of the new cooktop happened this morning. Here is the new GE cooktop with touch controls and a sleek ceramic surface that will be easy to clean. Instead of grime-attracting knobs, it has analog touch controls. A swipe of my finger along an arc controls the heat setting.
I have five burners instead of four. Two of them can be synchronized and bridged to act as a griddle heating source, one has a three rings option, one has a two ring option, and one can be temperature limited to act as a warming burner.
So far I have boiled water on each of the burners to verify that they work. After all isn't that the first thing a new bride learns to cook?
Eee-gads. Here I am blogging after 5:30 pm. You don't think Frank is going to come asking me "what's for dinner", do you?
Now - a cooktop this simple should have lasted 300 years! A rheostat, a heating element, and two intervening slip joints, one for the individual coil unit and one for each of the two side removable dual burner panels. The slip joints are the first suspect, cleaned and replaced. The rheostat was the next suspect - again replaced. Still the intermittent problem remained! This unit, like our other GE products (refrigerator, double oven, microwave), has failed long before it should (dishwashers which have all that water and garbage disposals which Alex puts nails down get a pass)! If it were up to me I would never buy GE - but obviously it is not.
ReplyDeleteWhen we moved into our S Street house in about 1960 there was a working turquoise refrigerator we moved to the basement. As far as I know when the house was sold in 2003 it was still working - presumably it still is (I think it stayed) - this is how appliances should perform.
Then again, on the subject of repairs, while I was in OKC last November our doorbell failed by sticking in the on position. Trivial fix - the button must be stuck! First thing I checked and it was OK - must be a short. Then I broke my hip, Diane put up a sign, "Doorbell Broken - Please Knock". After almost three months convalescence I again tried a repair. First to verify the button was okay - but no it would jam and had to be replaced - then everything worked. Must be made by GE!
I give you major kudos for suffering through using your old broken cooktop for so long! I laughed, though, at the image of you throwing the spatula across the kitchen - ha! That's awesome, too, that you could get a new cooktop without having to redo the counters and cabinets at the same time (I remember that being a concern of yours). Next up...new ovens?!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new cooktop! It looks like a huge improvement (way easier to clean!) and if it hold you off wanting a whole-kitchen re-do for longer, Dad should thank his lucky stars. I too am impressed that you could get one of the same dimensions.
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