Does anybody cook on a 1920s or 1930s gas range?

[athanasius80]

Just wondering, how does one manage on those gas ranges from the 1920s and 1930s? They strike me as cramped to cook on, and I'm curious how generations of cooks managed. I snagged a pic of the sort of stove I'm referencing.

Any feedback? Thanks!

 

[gyrafoam]

Mine was a Magic Chef. Great to cook on and I never had a problem. Hung an oven thermometer from the rack in the oven, however you will get used to the "feel" of the heat to know when it's right. Made great cake layers, biscuits and cornbread.

 

[bobbyderegis]

We have a Roper from 1947. It is an apartment model, only 24 inches wide. The top is obviously cramped, but the oven has the most perfectly even heat you can imagine. My grandmother (a fantastic baker) only used the old Roper to cook her pies and such. It has a neat "scientific" cooking chart in bright yellow inside the oven door. She had two of them, side by side, so she could have two ovens and eight burners without using more space than a conventional stove.
Bobby in Boston

 

[rp2813]

I've had two of the larger versions of the Wedgewood pictured and loved them both. Smooth surfaces to slide things around on, the Harper "Speed and Simmer" burners, and the trash burner on the side. Mine both had a larger cooking surface but I could manage fine on the stove above. Gas is gas. And these older Wedgewoods are far more versatile than a later stove with grates over the burners that essentially rob one of extra surface area for multiple pots and pans.

That's a beautiful stove and a nice size. If it's up for grabs and you want to get it, do it!

 

[athanasius80]

Is it acceptable to put large frying pans across two burners? I guess I'm just used to modern gas cooktops where you can have the pasta pot on the back, the sauce right in front of it, and sausages on the third burner with room to spare.

 

[danemodsandy]

Mi Dos Centavos....

....My great-grandmother had an ancient jade green Oriole stove that she swore by. It had the same kind of plates the stove in your photo has. She just juggled things around when she needed to. When she was doing several things at once, the whole top heated and so you didn't have to stick strictly to the "eyes", as she called them. It worked just fine.

 

[rp2813]

You can make use of the entire cooktop and either have pots and pans centered over the various burners or slide them around to warmer or cooler spots. The stove should have a tool to remove the round plates to expose the burners for individual and separate use like a more modern stove if you want to.

That stove is a very nice size. Most newer kitchens won't accomodate the larger more common Wedgewoods of that same vintage. These stoves are very heavy. This smaller one would be easier to move. In younger days I moved one of the larger "trash & gas" models that was out on the curb. Just me and a friend got it onto a truck after taking every possible removable piece of iron off of it, and it still weighed a ton. Or it seemed like it.

 

[danemodsandy]

Ralph's Right....

....There was a cast-iron handle with one end that fitted into the slots of the lids on the burners; you stuck that end into the lid slot, then lifted the lid off the burner. It was called a "lid lifter", if I recall correctly. You see them on eBay fairly often. I don't know whether they were make or model specific or universal in application; maybe someone else here does. I do remember that when my great-grandmother wanted really fierce heat, she used the lid lifter to expose the burner underneath the eye.

 

[rp2813]

I sort of recall seeing the lid lifters out there. I don't think it would be much trouble to locate one if the stove doesn't already have one. The ones I remember from the Wedgewoods had holes all along the handle so the lifter wouldn't heat up to an untouchable level after being in contact with the hot lid.

 

[maytagbear]

Lid lifters

are available at Lehman's. Look under "hearth accessories."

Link is to the site.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

Lehman's - Products For Simple Living

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