GE - CL finds

[danemodsandy]

Be Still, My Heart!

That 40-inch GE keyboard range is incredible!

Overall, very nice condition, and having the meat probe present is a real plus. No mention of the griddle, but they're replaceable. Even the sensor for the Automatic Calrod is there.

Amazing what shows up, huh?

 

[ovrphil]

Truly ...

I'm still impressed that so much has not gone to the scrappers, yet(shhhh Phil!) . Yet, the washers and dryers of the same periods that are full of stoves and refrigerators, are tougher finds.

The above keyboard range - no glass on panel, is there?

 

[danemodsandy]

Phil:

The only glass on the panel of that range is on the faces of the clock and the electric meat thermometer dial, BUT....

Below the control panel's console, between the pedestals that support it, is what GE called a "backsplasher," a piece of ribbed, translucent glass. It allowed wall decor to show through, but kept grease and spatters from getting to it.

Rough handling of a keyboard range during a move can crack the backsplasher.

Here's a photo of a 1957 TOL Liberator, where you can clearly see the backsplasher and what it was meant to do. The photo is from the AW Archives, originally posted by Ben swestoyz:

 

[ovrphil]

Sandy - thanks, good to have that which I wasn't able to see, pointed out. And holycow, that's another great looking GE stove. When was design ever out of fashion? A: when the Welch's Bean Counterama came to town.

 

[danemodsandy]

Phil:

That's basically the same range you showed, just Turquoise instead of White. The color certainly amps up the glamour!

By the way, if anyone thinks today's appliances are expensive, take a look at the price some shopper noted on the above brochure photo - $539.95. That translates to $4408.00 in today's puny money.

Such was the cost of giving Americans secure manufacturing jobs.

 

[ovrphil]

Sandy - I missed the jog in the metal trim on the left side - thought the top of the one I posted was uninterrupted linear beauty. There's a "fin" on the left side. Thanks. Yeah, coming from the motor city, it allowed many of our neighbors to bring their dollars out for appliances at Sears, Highland Appliance("Fifty Watts of Power Baby Cakes" - sorry, couldn't resist quoting an old tv ad), Montgomery Wards, and many other retailers. Ah, the good old days. Ok, not too old, watch it, watch it!

 

[danemodsandy]

Phil:

The console on a keyboard range is insanely complicated, composed of stampings and castings, plus wiring and switches galore.

Costing one out would be the perfect murder of a bean-counter, because nowadays, those guys would take one look at the figures and have a brain hemorrhage.

 

[ovrphil]

Brain Hemorrhage

Maybe they can offer their heads to science - I'm sure they'd learn of a new strain of aberrant connectivity that should be avoided in the future(if we get that far).

Was this model offered in one width only?

 

[danemodsandy]

Phil:

Keyboard ranges were offered in both 40 and 30-inch widths.

The 30-incher (called the Spacemaker 30) had every feature of the 40-incher save two: It lacked a second 8-inch burner and the small second oven. Aside from those two things, you got everything the 40-incher boasted: Automatic Calrod (the predecessor of Sensi-Temp), automatic oven control and minute-minder, the electric meat thermometer, the griddle, the chrome inner panel for the oven door, the cooktop light, Tel-A-Cook lighted keyboard buttons (that lit in different colors for different heat settings), everything.

30-inch keyboard ranges are much harder to find than 40-inch ones; the 40-inch range was still the standard size in the late '50s. A Spacemaker 30 in Canary Yellow is below; this is also a photo Ben swestoyz posted to AW originally:

 

[ovrphil]

Sizes

The forty-inch has presence that the thirty-inch doesn't quite possess. Colors do a lot for this stove, it's weird how the white is so different looking…maybe the colors bring out the details, a little more. Thanks again for sharing what is common knowledge for many here.

 

[danemodsandy]

Phil:

Remember that the shots I posted are also professional product photography - styled, lit and retouched to bring out detail.

A Craigslist photo shot with someone's camera phone just can't do that.

BTW, do you love the way the oven's propped on the Spacemaker 30, with that rhinoceros-sized turkey shoved over into one corner and all those twice-baked potatoes around two sides of it, to make the oven look as large as possible?

The 40-incher is also fun - a steamship round and two big Pyrex casseroles in the main oven, plus an angel food cake in the small one. It wasn't subtle - Momma was getting some room to spread out!

 

[ovrphil]

That's not a turkey, it's a Dinosaur and dinosaur eggs, stuffed twice. Those ads are interesting after seeing the retina display sharpness in ads in magazines today. I like the softer look, and in fact, many of the other older ads, for their softness..and other things going on.

Yes, the photos suggest larger oven sizes in side, especially the smaller stove. It suggests a bigger oven.

I wonder…anyone have this stove as a daily driver?

 

[circlew]

I like that Canary Yellow range a lot, but the placement of it at the end of the cabinet run is not good. Someone would be likely to burn their arm. One of my aunts had hers located like this, and I always had to be careful when going around that corner.

I don't think I've ever seen a turkey that big before - I wonder how many pounds it is?

 

[danemodsandy]

Tom:

That bird looks to be upwards of 20 pounds.

So far as the placement of the range is concerned, it's all about product photography, not actual use. A photo of a range built into the middle of a run of cabinets diminishes the range's presence. Putting it at the end of a run gives the range more presence. Considering that these ranges were by-grannies expensive, it was probably considered to be of the utmost importance to make them look as impressive as possible.

That having been said, my own preference is to have a range at the end of a run. This is because ranges of a given nominal size (30 inches, 40 inches, whatever) will vary slightly in size between makes and models. If you build a range tightly into the middle of a run, it can be very inconvenient to find that its replacement is half an inch wider. If the range is at the end of the run, no harm done. I do not, however, have children to worry about, and I can see how that might make a difference.[this post was last edited: 12/30/2014-19:41]

 

[carolinacat]

Turquoise ge double oven near charlotte nc. Looks nice 275

http://charlotte.craigslist.org/app/4800441633.html

 

[carolinacat]

Coopertone ge fridge. Freezer on top. Im still learning but I think the year is off

http://fredericksburg.craigslist.org/app/4800697354.html

 

[danemodsandy]

Nick:

I gotta hand it to you on that oven - I have never seen that one before.

Looks like maybe 1965, TOL conventional-clean. Does anyone know for sure?

 

[moparguy]

Sandy, this one looks like an aqua twin to the yellow double ovens (and matching cooktop with controls including sensi-temp in the range hood) that just arrived from Salt Lake City, thanks to Alan... a beautiful set. In fact this set is tempting... so that I can rotate my kitchen between coppertone, yellow, and aqua!

 

[danemodsandy]

Jeff:

They're very similar, but the clock and meat thermometer dials are different (dark on the Yellow version, light on the Turquoise), and the inserts on the oven door handles are different, too - metal-look on the Yellow one, black pebble-texture on the Turquoise.

Still, I have not seen either version before.

 

[carolinacat]

Did ge have different trim levels?