Your existing range can't be repaired? What's the brand/model? There are numerous online sources for appliance parts.

If I moved into your house after you had had a new oven delivered, and found it didn't fit because of the handle, I'd unscrew the handle of the new one and put the handle from the old one on the new one. If you must buy a new one, call each of the manufacturers and talk to them about unscrewing the handle. It won't hurt the oven. All oven doors can be taken off an oven. Unscrewing a few screws to get to the handle screws requires concentration so don't drink on the job. Take it apart and put it together.

Dadoes, it's a Jenn Air dual fuel downdraft. I won't even begin to tell you the repair history, but it involves A &E, and endless visits to assess problem, waits to order parts, backorders, broken appointments, replacement parts that stopped working within hours of the repairman's departure. A nightmare, so now we've turned off the oven/fan/controls and just use the burners. Someone else on here (Bibliomom) seems to have a similar story.

davidro1, thanks for your suggestion. I will call Jenn Air to see if the handle on a new J-A can be switched out for my old one.

As for drinking on the job, it's getting more tempting.

I'm also thinking of getting a vent installed, which would allow me to leave Jenn Air forever. However, that won't automatically solve the dishwasher problem as many ranges have fancy new "pro" handles that stick out too far. To really solve it I'm going to need to tear out and redo the peninsula, I fear.

Just called Jenn-Air and I can't switch out the handles -- others have tried it and Jenn Air says the holes don't line up.

So my latest idea is this: keep the range where it is, and use it as a cooktop (the fan is working again, though who knows for how long), and use oven for storage. For an oven we'll install something like an Advantium in the breakfast nook where we now have our large microwave. This should meet all of our (admittedly simple) cooking needs. Resale will be tough, since whoever buys the house in years to come would have to reconfigure the peninsula to get an operational oven, but for all I know they might not care, or given the age of the kitchen (1939), might want to do a complete teardown anyway.

How does this sound?

Mary- how old is your dishwasher? I know this isn't the cheapest solution but you could replace the dishwasher with 2 dishwasher drawers. When the drawer is open for loading dishes it doesn't take up as much floor space as dropping down the door on a traditional dishwasher. You'd have to check with the different brands to see how much clearance you need. And you wouldn't have to relocate the dishwasher.

That's clever. The bottom drawer definitely would work, but I'm afraid the top one would hit the oven handle. I'll call my appliance guy to see what he thinks his F&P drawers would do. Thanks!

Orrrr...since there are just two of you, how about an 18" dishwasher, on the side of the hole away from the range area? Then install ohhh maybe a bookshelf or interesting open storage in the gap?

You might want to run your problem by the kitchen forum...

A handle can be made. I'd buy a strip of stainless steel, and cut, bend, solder it into the shape I'd like. You can do this with wood also, either as a permanent handle or as a temporary one that acts then as a template for the stainless one.

"how about an 18" dishwasher"

that's what i was thinking...

I agree w/ David. Replace the range, making sure that the oven door will clear the dishwasher with enough room to permit a low profile handle. Then remove the handle, locate the screw holes, head to Home Depot and figure out how to make a handle. A piece of steel or aluminium in a "U" channel shape. Or a length of wood 1" x 1/2" with some nylon or metal spacers. You should be able to make something functional and nice looking.

Replace the handle with a homemade: very interesting! That would let me keep the full sized dishwasher and not need to put an oven elsewhere. Certainly the cheapest solution, and the least disruptive, though after what I've read on the internet about Jenn Air's newer ovens I sort of dread messing with them again.

Of the three available slide in gas or dual fuel ranges with downdrafts, the one whose working knobs I like best is the Jenn Air pro. (I tried using the Dacor and Jenn Air Euro knobs at the appliance store and didn't like the way either worked.)

I'm not good at DIY'g, nor is DH. Any idea who I might be able to find to do a job like this? and would it be possible on this range? (Current depth including handle is 28 3/16 and I need under 27 inches.)

Apologize for exposing you to the music on J-A's website.

Here is a link that might be useful: Jenn Air 30

most handymen would jump at the chance to design a handle and make it too.

Have someone disassemble the door to get the handle off, reassemble the door with no handle, put the door back on the oven, and go make a handle to match the one he just took off your oven. Then, he can come back later with a new handle and install it. He can leave the old handle with you; he doesn't need to take it away. Many would just need to see the old handle, on the range, and in its surroundings and not need to take it off. But since it's in the way, removing it first makes sense.

hth

You folks are great! I don't know a handyman right now (the guy who's helped me the most passed away last year) but will start asking around. Do you think it's easy enough so that I could go ahead and order the stove?

One more idea I've had is this: put 18" dishwashers on each side of the sink. Then the new Jenn Air could go in without a problem. I think there's room on the left -- since I'm thinking about it as an alternative to making the handle, would it be difficult to add the plumbing for a second dishwasher, if we ran them at different times?

Not as simple as changing the door handle, of course.

Just thought of something -- won't changing the handle void the warranty? (Unreasonable, to be sure, but Jenn Airs have enough problems that it's a risk I don't want to run.)

"WWYD if you were in this fix?"

I wouldn't lock myself into a range with a downdraft, that's for sure. And I wouldn't jury rig a handle either. I'd either reconfigure the peninsula so that I had the required clearances, or I'd save my money towards a complete kitchen redo. No point in throwing good money after bad, especially on a kitchen that would be a big drawback at resale time and I wouldn't be happy with in the mean time.

Live wire oak,

You make a good point. However, much as I love my home, it's located in a small not-very-sophisticated college town, and not in a high end suburb anyway. Most of the houses nearby are from the 30s and 40s and 50s, and nobody has much money to throw around. So . . . most folks are satisfied with less than they might be in other places, and I bet 75-90% of buyers wouldn't give a darn that the range is a downdraft. They'd want an oven, they'd want a full dishwasher, but downdrafts wouldn't matter.