I lucked out and got this stove, but I have questions

[katie]

Hey! Brand new member because I just bought a house with this stove. The house was built in 1949. For the last ten years, the house has been used as an office, but I'm going to make it my residence. This stove came with the house and I've been trying to find out more about it. A search engine kept bringing me to this site and wow, the knowledge on it is amazing! I've found the serial number and somewhere on this site reference to the GE website's page on dating an appliance, but I still am unsure. Here's the serial number: EN100489G, which means that the month is unknown, but the year is either 1956 or 1972. Just in case the model # helps, it's J 426007WH 11.

I'm redoing the kitchen cabinets and pulled up the vinyl and moved the oven to the opposite side for the time being, but I did plug it in about a week ago and all the eyes got hot and the oven did, too.

I spent some time last night searching this forum for info on these stoves, but I came away with more questions than answers and I'm hoping y'all can help me learn more about this beauty. Do you think it's from 1956 or 1972? I'm thinking '56, but wouldn't be surprised to be told I'm wrong. How do I know if it's a self-cleaning oven? What's the best way to shine up the outside? And one drawer has a lot of rust and discoloration when opened, so how do I go about repairing that?

Any insights or advice you have is greatly appreciated. I'm tickled pink at my new appliance.

 

[luxflairguy]

Stove is from 1972. And it's not a self-cleaning oven, sorry! Stove looks pretty clean, but you need help with getting the burners sitting level again. Hope this helps! Greg

 

[ea56]

Welcome Katie!

I’m pretty sure that this would be a ‘72 model based on the appearance of the knobs for the oven. Also, this doesn’t appear to be a self cleaning oven. Johnson’s Jubilee Cleaner/Polish would be a good product to clean and polish the outside of the stove. Look on either ebay or Amazon for this product. I’ve also used spray on auto detailer like Maguires or Turtle Wax to polish appliances and it works well too.

As far as the rust in the drawer you may never be able to get rid of all it. Try SOS or Brillo to remove as much as possible. Then maybe coat it with some Rustoleum paint to seal it and spruce it up.

Good luck, its a very nice electric stove.

Eddie

 

[katie]

Thanks for identifying the year for me, Greg. Much appreciated. Yeah, I took that one burner out and didn't put it back in fully. We're moving the stove around as we work on the flooring and the cabinets and trying not to damage it or us.

Bummed that it's not self cleaning. It's so super clean inside that I thought it might be, but c'est la vie. I'm still happy with this stove and not going to get a new one.

 

[pulltostart]

Welcome to AW!

Nice-looking stove there.  Even better that everything functions.  That rusty drawer won't be a problem - it's just a paint project.

 

I'm usually one of the first to point the the GE website to identify appliance years, but what I've seen is a lot of unreliable information related to 1960's appliances.  GE has had a great system for identifying their major appliances for a long time, but for some crazy reason they threw it all out the window during the 1960's.  They seemed to just pull letters out of the air, not from their own chart. 

 

I realize that the letter that you found says 1972 according to the chart, but I think that's wrong.  I think this range is more likely from 1966.  Can't offer any absolute proof, but the white glass and the lettering on the oven controls are very typical of that year.

 

lawrence

 

[katie]

Eddie, thanks for the warm welcome and suggestions on how to clean this stove and fix up the drawer. I'll dart over to amazon and get those products. I'm bummed it's not self cleaning, but I'm still very excited to have it because it's a really cool looking stove.

Lawrence, thanks for your insight into GE's odd and mystical way of identifying appliances. Everyone experimented in the 1960's, so why shouldn't they get weird with it too? I admit that I really prefer having a stove from the 60s rather than the 70s.

Katie

 

[katie]

I realize that I don't know what this stove is called. Is there a model number? It's missing the interior light bulb and I would like to get a replacement. Also, would a lower end stove only have one oven? It seems odd to have three drawers for pots and pans, but since there are no heating elements in the top, left compartment, I'm wondering if a lower end model would have had only one oven? I need to get a flashlight and look more closely at the inside of that compartment; maybe I can add the heating element? And is there any business that specializes in the parts I would need, or is my best bet eBay? Thanks again for answering my questions about this stove. I'm rather excited to have her.

Katie

 

[mattl]

Nice range.  Historically most ovens used the standard appliance bulb that has been around forever.  If the socket has standard threads any appliance bulb will work.

 

More recent models use various sorts of bulbs and are a bit more difficult to replace easily.

 

[rp2813]

Stoves with just one oven and a storage area instead of a second oven were very common, as they were more affordable than dual oven models. 

 

I would think that any standard type light bulb would work in your oven.  The only thing you might have to accommodate is its size, in case a smaller appliance or ceiling fan size bulb would be more appropriate. 

 

[katie]

To MattL and RP2813: thanks for the very good info about the light bulb and the other info about this stove. I'll see if Home Depot has appliance bulbs when I'm there for paint today.

Katie

 

[dermacie]

Amazon has Juiblee I just recently purchased two bottles. I love it.

 

[fan-of-fans]

Definitely newer than 1956 because of the grounded convenience outlet, in 56 that would've been two prong only.

 

[circlew]

That style cabinet was introduced for the '57 models, and used until sometime in the 80's. Control panels and trim were about the only things that varied over the years other than the introduction of the P*7 self clean oven in the 60's. I believe this one is later than '66 as it has the matching white panel below the storage drawers, instead of black. I think the change occurred around '70 or so.

The local GE dealer sold a ton of these over the years, and it was probably the biggest seller of all the variations of the GE 40" ranges at that store. The split cooktop was very popular with people who canned.

 

[katie]

Dermacie, fan-of-fans and CircleW, thank you for the additional comments with more info that will help me with this stove. I got an appliance lightbulb at Home Depot yesterday and installed it and my glee at having a working oven light cannot be understated. I'm going to wait until I finish redoing the kitchen before I start cleaning up the stove.

I really appreciate this website and all the information.

Katie