Strange for sure!. LL must have long arms or was a cheapskate about installing the proper electric connections where they actually should have been. Everyone here loves induction, so if you rent, let us know how you like the cooktop (even with the wonky location.)

that’s if i can get around this stove. Pun intended. So is this an electric stove top/ not an induction right

Is that cooktop really over the DW?

Water + electric don't usually mix well...

If it were me, it would be a deal-breaker. I can't imagine trying to cook on that thing!

Is there a rangehood above it?

Thanks for your response! Yes there is

It really depends on what you personally consider to be a “deal breaker.” So no one can really advise you on this. Also, you are the one who knows the pluses versus the minuses of this particular house option; we don’t. Maybe the fact that the landlord did this is a red flag - maybe it isn’t.

If I really wanted to live there, I might consider just bringing in a supplementary portable cooktop.

https://www.thebest.io/category/best-portable-cooktops?origin=google&google_params[matchtype]=b&google_params[network]=g&google_params[device]=m&google_params[creative]=540980580444&google_params[keyword]=%2Bportable%20%2Bcooktops&google_params[adposition]=&google_params[adgroupid]=123397619725&google_params[campaignid]=13974762180&bs=&google_params[feeditemid]=&google_params[targetid]=kwd-309081143719&google_params[loc_interest_ms]=&google_params[loc_physical_ms]=9067609&google_params[devicemodel]=&google_params[target]=&dest=0amp;sys_id=0%7C936&gclid=CjwKCAjwloCSBhAeEiwA3hVo_eHOvHxLudqJoXV_cj_HnZGikDTQSqpxuDyA8fYkuMuSrzKlJwbzYhoC_vUQAvD_BwE

Also, keep in mind that the placement might not be as awkward as you think. You could express your concerns to the landlord, make an appointment to go to the house, bring a couple of pots, and see how it would actually feel to work within that space.

First, that looks ridiculous. He may be a cheap, odd duck, i dont think I would rent from him based solely on his decision making. Second, if this cooktop isnt induction, its a burn risk having to lean over the heat emanating from an electric cooktop. Induction doesnt have heat coming off from the top like electric does. If the placement of this cooktop is the result of this guy looking for the cheap way out (whats another explanation?) what else did he do on the cheap? Keep looking.

Unbelievable! Why spend the money on solid surface countertop then do this? It would be a deal breaker for me and embarrassing when people saw it. I cook a lot and can’t imagine reaching over. It’s an accident waiting to happen.

@MDLN true true. not sure the 3rd counts though because I may have to throw my spoon the other side.

The landlord must have been on certain substances.

Does it have three burners on the top, or four. If it's three it may not be all that awkward in actual use. But over the DW is awkward.

However cooktop over DW has been done before, designed for older kitchens when most did not have DW and people wanted one. Versions still available in Europe. This American one also has a pull out range hood on top.

Maybe that was a second hand counter and he built around it. do you have a broader picture of the kitchen,?

It might be a deal breaker if you were buying the house and did not plan on renovating the kitchen. For a rental that will be for a limited time, in a good location and checked all the other wants, it would probably not be a deal breaker.

In most markets rentals seem to be hard to find ... I wouldn't wait too long to make a decision or someone else might snap it up first!

@M Riz

Here is the rest of the kitchen. I truthfully just wanted to know if there was a reason for the placement other than the fan. It’s not really like I can access the burner from the other side either.

You should come out and just ask him the question (why there?) lol… then report back!

It looks like a cute clean kitchen other than that.

If the house is good in every other way, there is no way in heck I'd walk away from a rental just solely due to this. It otherwise looks clean and well-maintained, and that alone is a huge bonus.

I suppose my background is showing though. My rental days were many years ago, and I lived in some pretty icky places. Rentals near me right now are very hard to come by too, so again, I can't imagine passing up an otherwise good house due to this. I agree it's weird and obviously not ideal, but I've lived with way worse than an awkward cooktop.

Only you can really answer this question. If you pass on this, what other options do you have...? Are there other, better, places available?

I'm questioning his/her decision-making skills. If he made this kind of decision in other places that you may not SEE, how responsive would he be to a problem if one resulted? I just couldn't trust him/her.

Depends on how desperate you are I suppose.

Nope - that would be a deal breaker for me. I don't buy a house with the requirements that I renovate. YMMV.

It makes a little more sense in the general view but I would have dropped the seating and pushed that run of counter over the 12" or more.

He put it over the empty, undercounter (corner) space to the right of the dishwasher, he partially overlapped the dishwasher with the cooktop thereby increasing the remaining countertop space, and it allowed him to put full-height, unobstructed base cabinets everywhere else.

I'd be concerned that the renovation was done without city inspection if there were no permits. You may be able to check online or in person at city hall to see if permits were pulled for the remodel. The main concern is that if he got away with doing this, he likely cut corners on other safety issues.

Best guess I have is that the original kitchen had the same layout but unvented cooktop in the peninsula. And rather than patch the floor and do the correct layout opted for this to add a hood. Again best guess and no I would not want to operate at that cooktop.

Looking at the full kitchen picture my guess is that they did not want to spend the money on installing an island hood with a tall custom extension with a sloped top. Looks like they went the easy way of putting the hood on the wall and vented it out the back of the hood. The rest of the kitchen looks like it was well done. If you are renting and not buying the house and it fits most of your needs this would not be a deal breaker for me. Where is the oven located??

I don't think there would be anything in any code about how a cooktop needs to be oriented to the entire front edge of the counter in most locations. It appears to be vented to the exterior with proper clearance from the wall behind. Instead of two back burners, you have three. Almost nobody makes a linear, all front burner cooktop anymore and that would probably be the safest since you aren't reaching over any burners at all.

TV - they aren't BUYING it, they are possibly renting it.

Were they buying it, I'd likely agree with you. However, as a rental - its current state wouldn't even slow me down from signing, if everything else about the house were good.

Where are the touch controls located? If they are on the right side then they would be hard to reach if you have pots on the cooktop, making the setup even more awkward.

I wouldn't' BUY it unless I planned to fix it. But as a rental??? I could easily let it go. It does look ridiculous in an otherwise nice looking kitchen. I'm guessing a DIY gone wrong or just super cheap/lazy in not wanting to move things around to accommodate proper placement.

"TV - they aren't BUYING it, they are possibly renting it."

Sorry, you're right -- once I saw the photo, the other details left my mind, LOL.

Hmm. Well that is weird, but the kitchen overall at least looks nice. I could live with it in a rental.

TV, I totally hear you. :) It does look ridiculous.

I think back to what some of the places I rented looked like, and this is the Taj Mahal compared to them. Given the state of the rental market (again, at least around me), it appears clean AND newer/well-maintained - so assuming I didn't see a massive bug infestation and it was located in a decent area, I'd have already signed the lease. However I'm not sure where the OP is located, so perhaps their rental market isn't as out of control as mine. My feed on Nextdoor is filled with people literally begging for any rental leads.

@User, we were renting while building and I got calls from several people asking me what the landlord was going to do after we moved out. These were other people in my neighborhood that needed a place to rent while building or doing a major remodel. Unfortunately for them, he was moving in as soon as we moved out in Jan.

That is absolutely insane. If you rent this place make sure you keep an aloe plant on the counter for everytime you burn yourself reaching across this terribly placed stove.

That said, the place looks gorgeous. I have rented far, far worse. Could you get a countertop burner and place it to the left of the stove so you have another burner that you can easily reach?

On far side, I'd boil pasta, and no-stir foods. I hope you're right handed... hm.. or does it matter. Good 'luck' anyway!

How could you look down into a pot or skillet to see how the food is doing? It just looks so awkward. I think I'd learn to hate it and stop cooking anything on stovetop. I guess cooking could mostly be done in the oven, instapot, microwave, air fryer, toaster oven, etc.

Natasha, make your peace with this cooktop. Maybe you can live with it if other features make it worth the inconvenience.

What is the brand of cooktop? Similar say there must be 5” clearance from the bottom of the unit to anything flammable. Dishwasher insulation is flammable yes?

This could definitely indicate that there are lots of other shortcuts you can’t see… that could potentially endanger you lives…

The hood's in the logical spot on the outside wall. The peninsula needs to be eliminated or moved to the right by 15 inches. Better task lighting is necessary.

They had to have the hood between the windows, and so they put the cooktop there. Then they made no accomodation for that when designing the peninsula. It could well be that this landlord never cooks, so he didn't see the issue. Or he's a really bad designer (or the victim of one). Would probably skip this one unless I'd looked at 100 others with no luck...

It's possible the peninsula is an "add on". Maybe it was originally a straight run. Then, the owner decided s/he needed a peninsula with seating to appeal to more renters. Rather than do it right, the owner jammed in a peninsula "around" the cooktop.

It would still be a deal-breaker for me b/c I would want to cook -- just b/c I was renting it wouldn't mean I didn't cook! When I rented in my single days, I cooked quite a bit (it was much cheaper than going out to eat!) I guess I was lucky, I've never had a "yucky" apartment, it's always been fairly decent. Maybe not much counter space overall, but it was always workable, if not particularly "pleasant" to cook.

Plot Twist:

we took it. it is a wonky home so I foresee a few annoyances in terms of functionality down the line but overall the pros outweighed the cons.

thanks to everyone who weighed in. It validated that I am not crazy for thinking this was weird.

wish me luck!!!