Toggle, why do you suppose that combo of w/d? What a shame about that beautiful Caloric range in your sister's basement. Bajaespuma, I love those little center ports too!
Here is my current "Caloric." I'm guessing it was made between 1976 and the early 80s (it doesn't have a utility outlet but does have spark burners, and the half glass door was popular at that time). What impresses me is that all the sparkers work. My understanding is these can be troublesome. The porcelain inside the oven is an unusual and very pretty shade of blue, and you can remove the whole bottom out of the oven for cleaning! I had never seen that before. The oven is pretty much right on, and bakes beautifully. I don't get that excited over self cleaning ovens, but I'm so meticulous with keeping mine up that there'd rarely be a reason to use it.
I guess you could say in a way that I "restored" this range. It was left by the last tenant (horrible housekeepers) and when I got it, it had replacement knobs (every one was different!), both the surface and oven lights were burnt out, and the clock didn't work. You could say it was clean, but certainly not up to my standards. I cleaned it top to bottom, replaced the knobs and bulbs (oven knob is a universal one, I was told the original is NLA). When I had the panel apart and removed the clock knob for cleaning, I must have loosened some old grease or something, as the clock started running and now keeps perfect time.
Normally I feel about the same as Kelly re: gas cooking. I knew when I came to LA though that I'd probably have to deal with it, since electric ranges are so rare here for whatever reason. This range is good though and I actually really like it. My biggest complaint generally with gas it that it heats the room up so much more than electric, but what saves the day here is a window nearby and a good vent fan (not a range hood but an actual fan in the ceiling) that really moves the air and carries out most of the excess heat.
Toggle, I have to say I like the burner switches this way better than when they're on the front. I think they're easier to see. What I like about this one is the valve stems are recessed, so when you remove the knobs, it's a flat surface and easy to wipe clean.
