cut & paste or bookmark! Keep this handy!

Edited to add, I have no experience with Kitchen Aid products specifically, and I'm not referring to KA products in particular with my information below. When I say "this is an intentional design feature" I am applying that statement to a wide number of manufacturers and not just Kitchen Aid. I found this discussion because I'm specifically looking for information about stove knobs that can be adjusted for tension, or are extremely easy to manipulate. While this discussion mostly complains about how easy these knobs are to turn on, and even criminally so, what I didn't see anyone mention is that this is an intentional design that is made that way to be in accordance with ADA regulations. Per those regulations: In the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, it states: 309.4 Operation. Operable parts shall be operable with one hand and shall not require tight grasping, pinching, or twisting of the wrist. The force required to activate operable parts shall be 5 pounds (22.2 N) maximum. They literally want the knobs to be so easy to manipulate (under 5lbs of force required) so that people with disabilities can use these stoves easily even if they might be missing their hands and only have nubs to grasp the control knob with. My advice to people in this thread, or future people that might find this thread when doing research looking for the right stove for themselves, is to check the specifications on the product webpage and see if it is labeled as "ADA compliant". If it is, and if it has knobs like this, then it's very likely that those knobs are going to be super easy to turn on and manipulate. If you don't want that feature, then you might opt for a non-ADA compliant stove that isn't designed the same. I might use some of the stoves that are mentioned in this thread as examples of stoves that may be suitable for our disabled clients! Thanks for the resources!

wekick - that's sounds terrible! What bad luck or maybe just goes to show how things are made and how (little) companies care anymore. I am going to look into disputing the charges, but I may be out of luck since we purchased them in April, but didn't move into the house until the very end of May. I had KA's service guy out today who said that in order for KA to classify it as a lemon it has to have the same problem 3 times in one year. Of course, they are not the same problem, although one may be. He also said that there was a "bulletin" out about one of the issues, meaning that KA was aware of the issue. He said they won't recall unmless it's a safety issue, so I guess they just wait for the oven to konk out then take their sweet time fixing it. He had to order the correct parts so oven will be out of service for over a week. I also went in person to the appliance store...they didnt seem to care much either, but at least had to look like they cared since I was sitting right in front of them. I was putting pressure on them to put pressure on their KA rep to do something, so they are sending out their service manager to take a look, and document. Then I think I'll just keep going in there since I'm local, and they hopefully can't ignore me forever! Ginny20, I am going to try complaining to the big wigs, it can't hurt! One last thing to add, after the ovens were serviced the 1st time, out of the box, having NEVER worked, KA had the NERVE to send me a form letter stating, "How thankful you must be..." that the ovens were under warranty and that I should take this opportunity to extend my warranty. Give me a break! I would be thankful if the hunk of junk worked like it's supposed to! I saved that letter and will probably send a copy of it with me letter to reference how terrible their customer "NON service" is.

Yes we all are different in our shapes, colors and opinions. Looking at all the replies. All your questions have been replied to. I would like an answer to my original question to you - do you own pets? What is driving this. We replied to each and every post by you. What more do you want?? I really don't care with people in other cultures think about what I personally do with my pets. The only other person who ever questioned my "over the top" treatment of my pets was a "born again" carpenter we hired to do some work on the house. I listed politely to his preaching day in and day out. He informed me that animals are not admitted to heaven, that they have no souls, etc. IMHO his diatribe was BS. Any event, is this a religious thing for you? Please answer one other direct question: Savanahrose, do you think our (posters on this thread) treatment of our animals is bizarre, or that we are eccentric (I have gleaned that you do not think we should be barred from our behavior). Since we were all kind enough to respond to your post, please answer my question directly without any red herrings like the underprivileged children in India or Irish Famine or quotes from Ghandi. While you may see our treatment of our pets as lets just say - not the way you would do it- we aren't illiterate. We read the papers, watch the news, have educations. In other words, stop acting like you are the only one who has studied history.