What is your oldest household appliance?

[davester]

N-OS X-tasy! wrote:
[quote=davester]
We have one of these in our kitchen:


I bought it for next to nothing on craigslist and restored it about five years ago. 1950s technology! It's much nicer to cook on than the awful 1980s electric stove that was in there before.

If that's what I think it is, it's worth a fair amount of money.
It's an O'Keefe and Merritt. They're worth a lot ($5,000 plus) restored, but not a whole lot in unrestored condition. It actually costs a fair amount of money and labor to restore one. You need to do rechroming, reporcelaining, rebuilding/replacing thermostats and valves, rewiring, insulation replacement (blech...you wouldn't believe how grease-soaked that stuff was), etc. The problem is that the craigslist people see a $5,000 restored stove on the internet and then think that their clapped out inoperable POS is worth more than $100.

[BernDog]

davester wrote:
[quote=BernDog]
Our cupboards are installed right above the burners, so there's just enough room to sneak a pot onto the burner, but not enough to stir or serve from. Also, no range hood. Just some stainless with a lip that comes out.

That sounds illegal and dangerous. I'm pretty sure you're required to have something like a 30" clearance between the cooktop and flammable materials.
Maybe not up to code, but I'm not losing any sleep over it. The metal "hood"/shield is enough to keep any flame from directly coming into contact with the wood.

And, maybe I overspoke a little as far as how low the cabinets are. I can put a dutch oven-sized vessel on there and have enough room to stir and serve from if I wanted to. It's just usually easier to move it off a burner onto a potholder to serve than to try to work a ladle in.

[Bill in NC]

In grandmother's house the cabinets were at least 3' above the counter-top.

Ideally her setup would have had more space to the side of the flip-down burners (for food prep) - two burners would have been enough for me.

I really dug the dual french-door ovens - and everything stainless as well.

Reminded me a little of the house where I grew up - stainless steel counters & back-splash - continuous formed, no seam, everything angled to the commercial sink as well (easy to clean).

BernDog wrote:
[quote=Bill in NC]
Grandmother had two of those wall ovens, stainless with French doors.

The counter that ran between them held the flip down burners.

Wish I'd had that setup.

[quote=BernDog]
General Motors wall oven and flip down electric stovetop/burners. Built into the kitchen in the 60s. Very futuristic :quotes:. Replacement will require entire kitchen remodel.

No, you don't. Really. You don't.

Our cupboards are installed right above the burners, so there's just enough room to sneak a pot onto the burner, but not enough to stir or serve from. Also, no range hood. Just some stainless with a lip that comes out. Powered vent is above the cupboards in the soffit. It also means that you can't use the counter in front of the burners for much of anything.

We thought the stuff was pretty cool when we moved in. I still think it's cool, except when it comes to using it. Now we hate it. Someday, if I ever rip it out, I'll post it on a free Monday and you can have it.