name of GE Range that cooled?

[spookiness]

What was it called? I remember it a few years ago.

Could put in a chilled casserole, keep it cold, then set a time-on for bake.

No particular reason for asking- just something that popped in my head and I can't find the name of it.

 

[petek]

T'was the Whirpool Polara iirc

 

[DADoES]

 
The local Western Auto still has a new Polara range on display. Been there a while, obviously. Every time I see it, I think about buying it as a collectible ... but it's rather much expensive to do that. I assume it's for sale, unless the store is keeping it.

 

[petek]

I don't think they sold well seeing as they weren't on the market very long. A large app store in Calgary had one they couldn't sell as well, it eventually was moved to the back of the store then off into a corner near the mop and bucket. That was almost 4 years ago and it could still be sitting there. Silly concept, but all the more fun and unique.

 

[whirlcool]

I imagine if you used the wrong kind of cookware in that oven with the refrigerator in it, you'd come home to find a shattered dish with baked on casserole! Thermal Shock.

 

[panthera]

I regarded these

When I saw one at Sears back in the early part of this century as further proof that American manufacturers had totally gone off the deep end.

Just like the pregnant hippopotamuses which pickup trucks mutated into, or the HUMMER as a family car, these ranges were the last fevered excess of a totally obscene culture of: Because I can, I will.

I asked the salesman (back then, Sears actually still had salespeople who knew their wares, imagine that) how well it worked. He said, quite well - the heavily insulated self-cleaning oven coupled with the all metal construction meant that the system could cool fast and keep cool easily.

He also said it was the stupidest idea that he'd ever seen and not one single unit in their entire sales district had moved, nor did he expect that they would.

You can get the same effect by putting an oven-proof casserole in a larger, also oven proof casserole which has a centimeter of ice frozen in it. The ice will keep the food cool and the slight additional moisture during the first part of baking won't matter to most baked items.

 

[spookiness]

well i sorta thought it was a neat idea, but

way expensive and not worth the potential complications.

- I could occasionally use the extra space for fridge duty.
- and much like the effect with a crockpot, I like the idea of coming home to a hot casserole in the oven waiting for me.

 

[hunter]

yeah but...

...if it had taken off it would have FORCED world kitchens to bring pyroceram back sooner ;-)