Kitchen cooktop woes
Rivsung
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My husband and I bought a 2002 house with original appliances. The cooktop barely functions and I need to find a replacement. It's a JennAir down draft that is roughly 34x21". I haven't been able to find another cooktop that would fit the opening in the granite especially as a downdraft. We had someone out to give us a quote to install a normal exhaust but the way the 3story house is build there is no where to run the ductwork above the cooktop so I'm stuck with a downdraft. I've tried contacting various appliance stores, contractors, remodelers and even granite shops to try to find a solution and they say they don't do small projects or suggest that we replace counters, cabinets, remodel the kitchen or give some other expensive option. While I wouldn't mind some form of remodeling and it might be an option down the road, I need a functioning cooktop now. I'm out of ideas on what to do and would like some suggestions. The granite at the front and back of the cooktop appear the be glued in place and the back piece is broken so they probably wouldn't be hard to remove if needed.
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Followup on visit to Turbochef test kitchen... speedcook oven woe
Comments (5)The Speed Oven you will be looking at is about as big as a standard microwave inside. It is not really going to handle half-size (13X18) baking sheets, but it does fine with a standard rectangular cake pan. I hope you can find a dealer who will let you use the oven so that you can see how versatile it is. I got ours simply because we needed a microwave suitable for building into new cabinetry. Now I use it for just about everything that will fit. For instance, I had a dutch oven sitting in the fridge with some leftover homemade onion soup in it last night. So I ladled out a couple of bowls for supper, stuck them in the speed oven and microwaved them for two minutes. The soup came out steaming. I then took what I had left of a baguette and cut it into slices. These I arranged in the Miele and turned on the broiler. Two minutes later, I had toasted croutons for our soup. These I floated in the already heated bowls of soup. Next, I took some Gruyere, a sharp Gouda that we love called "Rembrandt," and Parmesan cheese and covered the surface of both bowls. Back into the broiler they went for 5 minutes. They came out brown and bubbling. The oven is just amazing. I would never want to go back to life without a speed oven now that I have one. It is like Tivo; once you get used to it, it drives you crazy being without it....See MoreMore Bluestar woes - help with gas cooktop.
Comments (5)1) There is no comparable gas cooktop on the market as of now. 2) Bluestar/Prizer-Painter does not make ignitors or spark modules. A few years ago they purchased a bad batch of spark modules and had many problems. Nothing recently. 3) The ignitors themselves are not protected and can be cracked with vigorous uncarefull cleaning of the cooktop but this is very rare. Ignitors are cheap and very easy to change. Last I saw they gave you two free ignitors with purchase of range,rangetop,or cooktop. 4) Bluestar has had issues in the past with customer service but I have not read about a significant issue in over a year. As a Capital Culinarian owner that can't be accused of being a Bluestar fanboi I would get the Bluestar cooktop if my plans called for a cooktop....See MoreRange Woes for a Non-cook
Comments (34)My 0.02 (worth what you pay for it :) ): Don't buy any built-in appliances. By that I mean anything that doesn't have dimensions standardized across the industry and needs to have cabinetry or countertop cut to fit it, like cooktops; some wall ovens are also like this. OTR microwaves are more expensive than countertop ones, and they require labor to install/uninstall, so if I were you I'd get a countertop one. We used to have our MW on the counter; after reno it's in an upper cabinet. It was more convenient on the counter. (It's better for us to have it where it is now, but there is no doubt it was easier to reach on the counter.) As for the convection/microwave combo: that is an optional convenience but definitely not required. I cook for a family of 4 every day, usually from scratch, have been cooking for a couple of decades, and have never had one of these. My mom is an excellent cook in her 70's and has never had one either. Would it be nice to have? Sure, and so would a lot of other things. But as a pp said, they do have a learning curve and cost more than a plain microwave, so buy one if you think it would be fun; but it's not a must-have. Re. countertop oven: my mom has one and finds it more convenient than her range oven sometimes, when she's just cooking for 2. But she also has a TINY kitchen and it takes up counter space that she really needs for other things (in fact she has moved it to her back porch). So in your case, if your kitchen will also be limited on surface area, it would probably be more sensible to get a normal 30-in range. If I were you I'd stick to the basics: 30-inch range with an inexpensive range hood (ours was from Lowe's, works fine), smallish upright fridge (the kind with the freezer on top and no ice dispenser in the door), countertop MW, either 18- or 24-inch DW depending on your space. Or no DW if you don't wash many dishes; it used to take me most of a week to fill mine when I was single, by which time -- yuck. Would be a good idea to have a 24-inch cabinet near the sink in that case, so it can be swapped out for a DW later on if needed. We've bought appliances at Sears in the past, no trouble for the most part (you probably realize that Kenmore appliances aren't actually made by Sears). And we have an Ikea kitchen and I love it. Good luck!...See MoreKitchen woes...
Comments (8)I think before advising i would like to see the kitchen space. My guess this is a load bearing wall so you will need to address that first. I would try just lowereng the raised bar to see if that makes a real difference in the openess or as mentioned just remove that section all together but either way you need to have a designer to make this happen without looking like a bad DIY job....See MoreRivsung
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