I hope you like your French Door fridge and new stove! ENJOY!

It's always nice to get new anythings. I'm with you, I prefer to replace items before problems appear.

Enjoy your new kitchen toys.

Nicely done! well thought out. I hope you have many years of delight

What do others do when they replace before problems appear? I am getting my house ready to sell (no set time, just "ready"), and I want to get new appliances that I also get to enjoy. My appliances are ok, just not as new as I want for resale. Did you donate them someplace? Sell them? Make planters out of them (probably not, just injecting humor).

We are debating what to do about our refrigerator. It is at least 25 years old, I think closer to 30, and it works fine. The only problem is the plastic bits that break off, so the crisper bin and ice bin fit wonkily, the door handle is has cracks and chips and is coming loose.

Alisande, I like your idea to not hook up the icemaker, that certainly gives more room. I can use an ice tray or two to make ice and take up minimal, moveable, space.

I have installers of large items haul away the old ones. If you want to donate large items, be sure in advance that the intended recipient has the ability to pick it up.

I was thinking of asking the local dude who repairs appliances... to see if there was a family in need within our neighborhood. I would make sure all was spic and span, and up to speed. I would want someone who is looking for nice, but not expecting anything.

I may get a lot of flack for this idea, but when I get a to bright light on something like a stove or micerwave I place a bit of tape that is not clear. It dulls the shine just a bit. I also have an Icemaker not hooked up.

Glad you’re overall happy. As for the simmer, it’s worth seeing if it csn be adjusted but I wouldn't get my hopes up too much. Some, many, just don't simmer well. Fortunately there are easy workarounds, like simmer plates / flame tamers. I just stack my grates bur thst's not practical if yours aren't individual.

Congratulations! May they contribute to many wonderful meals!

Your "smaller" refrigerator sounds huge to me. We have a Bosch 800 countertop depth that has just 7.5 Cu Ft in the fridge and 2.5 in the freezer. I always say it's like a magic space because somehow everything fits.

I'm curious to know if yours has that door seal energy saver. I was told that it's become a common feature. When we first got our fridge, I noticed that if I tried to open and close the door multiple times too close together, it became hard to force it open unless I waited a minute or so. I actually had a repair person come and they told me that this was not a bug, but a feature. I don't really see how it saves energy, because it forces me to just keep the door open when, for instance, I just want to take out a pitcher, pour juice and replace it. But I've gotten used to it.

Glad you're happy. Enjoy your new toys!

Hope you can enjoy them for many years! I was stymied at first with the unavailability of refrigerators without an ice maker and water dispenser. Like you, I gave up on that. Mine are internal and I use the water dispenser all the time for its filtering property, even though the dispenser is truly awkward. I keep the ice maker turned off. I also had an external water valve installed in an adjacent cabinet so I can turn off the water to the appliance if I ever have a problem there.

I hope you really enjoy both! I have the same issue cooking at my sisters - her gas range seems to cook hot. Family gravy and sauce maker here, I have to watch my pans very carefully on her stove. This house has gas heat and a gas fireplace an no one has ever run a gas line to the kitchen. My stove is electric when I'd love gas.

I have a french door refrigerator and if being completely honest I'd have to say loading one after a Costco day is really much easier with a right swing opening door. Otherwise i like it and like the looks.

I did not want ice and water through the door and ended up with those features inside out of sight when I was not that interested in the ice. A BIL complained frequently enough I didn't keep enough ice I did have a line run to the refrigerator after about a year. It was quite the awkward job for my plumber - a big broad shouldered german who I love and appreciate - he was down half buried in a blind corner cabinet trying to get a line behind the dishwasher, around the blind corner and behind two stacks of lower drawers. Certainly earned his pay that day!

The ice maker does take up a little room in the freezer but I have a separate upright freezer and a spare refrigerator in the garage so I really don't run that short on freezer space. Not all of it is quickly convenient freezer space 😊

Doesn't that make just about all new appliances for you in just the last couple of years? You're having a dinner party for all of us, right?

Enjoy! We had a new Frigidaire Gallery fridge that came with our house. We replaced it a couple years ago only because I wanted a counter depth fridge. It served us well for 11 years.

"Jupidupi: I'm curious to know if yours has that door seal energy saver. I was told that it's become a common feature. When we first got our fridge, I noticed that if I tried to open and close the door multiple times too close together, it became hard to force it open unless I waited a minute or so."

That behavior isn't related directly to the door gasket. Room air, which is considerably warmer than the 34°F to 38°F fresh food section or 0°F freezer section, gets into the refrigerator when the door is opened, and contracts when it mixes with the cooler air, causing a vacuum effect. The "energy saver" of reference probably is a rubber valve or "duckbill" which is fitted onto the defrost drain port and allows defrost condensate to drain but helps block air from getting pulled in through the drain ... which would counter the vacuum but further increase energy usage due to also having to be cooled down.

I haven't adjusted the burners on my Dacor cooktop, but they will simmer just fine, and one burner in the back is especially small. However, I did adjust the burners on my Bertazzoni range, and it was easy to do. It did not have a center burner, but one of the front burners had two burners with two separate controls, which I very much liked. I have a Samsung range at the Salem house that has the oval center burner, and I love that for making pancakes and okonomiyaki. The Dacor cooktop has its largest burner in the center, which consists of two burners, and it is great for use with my wok, and the cooktop came with a nice wok ring.

We use a lot of ice, and so we always opt for in the door ice dispensers. The new fridge we got for our Salem house has a very prolific ice maker (It is a Frigidaire, I think), but we will be selling that house in 2026. We kept the fridge that came with the new house, and it works fine for now, but I do not know how old it is - it is certainly much newer than the one that came with the Salem house, which served us well for five years, even though it seemed old when we got it.

I have found that Frigidaire refrigerators have the best ice makers, and so it is too bad that you do not want or need that. For the refrigerator that we have now, we have to use ice trays in addition to the ice maker, but we are in a very hot climate.

food, clever approach. Those grates look like the one on our range. Viking?

We didn't want an ice maker/water in our new fridge but ended up getting it because the store would hook up new water lines for us. I had no idea it was so simple to tap into a water pipe that's in the basement! Anyway, it is now my favorite feature of the refrigerator! It is a Frigidaire Gallery side by side. It is less than 2 years old.

PS: I sure hope something can be done about the high flames. I tried cooking pork chops and steaming carrots yesterday, and made French toast today. It was no fun trying to keep the first two under control, and one side of the French toast was incinerated at the lowest setting. Seriously inedible.

Maybe your pressure is too high? This can normally be adjusted.

Is this piped in natural gas or propane? Call the supplier to get a service person to check it.

Alisande - is your new range propane? When we installed our new range in upstate PA 2 years ago DH had to adjust the simmer burner. There was a real learning curve. Even though our previous GE cooktop was propane the new one was more powerful..

Enjoy your new appliances!

“high flames”

Alisande - On the January thread you didn’t mention your fuel but you did mention having ”acreage” which leads me to wonder if you’ve got a range set up for NG, hooked up to propane, as above posters suggested. This could lead to high flames as propane needs smaller orefice to offset higher pressure. This could all be dangerous.

CR rated the range ”good” for low heat cooking which isn’t awesome but should be a lot more passable than what you describe. You need answers.

part GRLP5 is the conversion kit, $39

Elmer - just saw your question, yes, viking.

Foodonaastump's comment reminded me. When we ordered our BlueStar range we had to specify whether it was NG or propane.

Yeah some appliances come from the factory fuel-specific, and others get converted in the field.

The store said the range was converted to LP (and thre was a $100 charge for it on my bill), but it may need to be adjusted. They will get back to me about sending someone out, so I hope that will take care of it. I'll report back. Food, I'm curious about what else CR said about the range, but I'm not sure I want to know. 😊

Good thing I like the new fridge!

Awesome! See you on WFD I hope!

Still trying to figure out what WFD means. 😂

World Federation of the Deaf.

As expounded recently in a different thread, I find the use of abbreviations or acronyms not previously explained an annoying habit some people have.

Assume nothing, communicate clearly.

World Federation of the Deaf was the only thing I found when I looked it up. I often tell myself to be wary of assumptions, but I felt pretty certain this was not the intended definition.

I'm not annoyed, however.

The thing is, the communication didn't communicate.

Sorry Alisande, so much gets cross-posted with Cooking that I forget some people themselves don’t cross. What’s for Dinner, or WFD, is a series of threads that’s been going on for decades over there, with tens of thousands of posts.

HTH, LOL!

I will gladly join NAAAO, the National Association Against Acronym Overuse.

Ha! When I was cooking for five, 3x a day, I could have told you a week in advance what was for dinner (one of the very few ways I've been organized in my lifetime). But these days it's a little looser.

Another sign of the changing times: Re HTH, there was a time when we had an in-ground pool . . . 😊

Yes, it helped--thanks!