Ok Guys...Opinions on ranges....

[norgeway]

Well, I changed out the foil in the bottom of the Norge ovens last week, and the problems they had have worsened, where the metal was formed in making the oven liners it was weakened, and I guess thru years of heating and cooling it cracked in several places, when I first got the old girl, I painted the spots with high heat enamel to prevent rusting, and covered the bottom of the ovens with foil...now they are rusting from the underside and the cracks are getting worse, I have decided to get another stove for a daily driver...I talked to John LeFever and Sandy about 60s-70s GEs, the reason I am thinking GE or Hotpoint is the availability of parts, I love a Frigidaire, and I have a great 30 inch one, but its avocado and that would not look good in my kitchen....to say nothing of the response it would get from Donald!! LOL, im wanting suggestions...now you all know im not going to get anything that doesent have a flourescent light and some chrome on it!!LOL..I really want a 40 inch, prefer 2 ovens, ive never had self cleaning so I may try it this time around....??? Thoughts!!??

 

[appnut]

Well Hans, I say go whole hog. A GE or Hotpoint 40" with P7 self-cleaning oven!!! The TOL should have the lit panel. There have probably been some in your area that you've missed because you weren't "in the market" for one.

 

[norgeway]

I also want!!

At least one appliance outlet...I think along with removing the flourescent light from a range..and taking the dimmer switch off of the floor board of a car...removing the appliance outlets was probably as close to an unforgiveable sin as has ever been committed!!LOL

 

[polkanut]

What Bob said x2.

A 40" GE with all of the features you've listed may be out there waiting for you.  It may take some time as Sandy can attest to but, it will happen if your willing and able to be patient.  Sandy's 30" GE has 2 outlets (one regular, one timed), full width fluorescent light, and has the P-7 self cleaning option as well.

 

[gansky1]

I'm so sorry to hear the Norge is degrading so quickly, hopefully one day you'll find a donor range to take parts from.  Changing an oven liner is a lot of work, but that pretty girl would be worth it!

 

Do you want two full-width ovens like a Frigidaire or a larger main oven and smaller width second oven?  The one thing about the GE vs. Frigidaire I miss are the two full-width ovens.  I quickly got used to the shorter/smaller oven in the Frigidaire.  Heated quickly and was great for lots of day-to-day baking.  The GE's smaller oven is useful but at only 10" interior usable width, it's flexibility is much more limited than the Frigidaire with 7-8" more width.  For a pan of brownies, smaller pie pans, loaf pans, etc. are no trouble but I have yet to find a narrow baking sheet or jelly roll pan to fit comfortably in it.  Too wide or too long and the heat from below is blocked and causes uneven results.  

 

I love everything about the GE otherwise, the Calrods are probably the best choice for speed and responsiveness of the vintage ranges.  I really don't mind cleaning the ovens manually.  Self cleaning is nice but, invariably, the door frame and edges have to be cleaned by hand anyway.

 

 

 

[jetcone]

Oo Oo Hans !

Tappan OO OO OO

 

 

[danemodsandy]

GE Ranges:

I have been through a lot of ranges in my time, both in houses and when I taught, and I always felt the GE's were the best all around. Some Frigidaires come very close, if they're in that time frame where Electriclean was available but WCI hadn't sunk its meathooks into the company yet.

The quality of GE's in the late '50s through the early '70s was just phenomenal. Heavy-gauge metal, thick porcelain coatings, die-cast knobs and knob skirts, Plastic parts, when they're used, are heavy and durable. Control panels on upper-series models are glass, the best choice for good looks that hold up to lots of cleaning over the years.

And there's P*7. Everyone else had jumped on the self-cleaning bandwagon by the late '60s, but GEs are the ones that get the job done, no hassles and no branding yourself on superheated oven doors. GE was first with oven door windows on self-cleaners, in '67.

Hans, you mention the desire for convenience outlets - GE had them all the way through the mid-'70s, when they were regulated out of existence. My 30-inch J 370 has two - one timed, one not timed. The timed one triggers my 12-cup Farberware percolator each morning.

Now, let's get real and discuss the drawbacks, because every brand has them. With vintage GEs, it's mostly minor parts hassles. Sensi-Temp sensors and responders can be a little tricky to find. And pushbutton controls can be, too, because there are a gazillion jillion variations and finding just the right one for your range can sometimes take a little time. But Calrod surface elements and oven elements and trim rings and burner bowls are not a problem.

There is advice here to check the contacts on plug-in burners. For the vintage you're looking for, this won't be a problem, because GE used wired-in burners at that time. Earlier years had regular wired-in burners, and starting in the '60s, GE invented Tilt-Lock, where you can tilt the burner up for cleaning and it stays in the raised position until you snap it back down into place.

Last, I'm going to tempt you with a shot of Dean's (robinsondm) gorgeous 1966 TOL 40-incher, Model J 486. Now that's a damn range!

 

[danemodsandy]

Sandy's Guide to Pretenders:

Hans:

At some point, GE outshopped its 40-inch ranges to WCI, with all the quality outcomes that brand name implies. Obviously, you don't want to think you're getting a GE and actually end up with a WCI-built piece of (expletive deleted). WCI built these ranges on a frame they'd inherited from Kelvinator, and in fact, they still use today on Frigidaire 40-inchers (today's Electrolux is basically WCI, renamed).

Here are two photos stitched together, one a WCI-built "GE" and the other a GE-built GE. The differences are pointed out, so that it's easy to tell one from the other. I should point out that GE did make some 40-inch ranges itself that had wide-set burners, but they were lower-end models, not TOL ranges. And they weren't self-cleaners.

The reason I'm doing this is because 40-inch ranges were still popular in smaller towns and in rural areas for much longer than they were in big cities. In your area, you're much likelier to run into one of these WCI horrors.

 

[moparguy]

Sandy, did GE ever put that high raised side lip on its top like the WCI-built ranges?

 

[danemodsandy]

Jeff:

No, GE did not do that during the "good years," but the lip they used was perfectly adequate.

It also ran all the way around both sides and the front. The WCI top offered great protection against spills down the sides, but very little against spills down the front. I grew up with a Frigidaire RK-70 range with no lip, and I well, well remember the staggering amount of work a boilover could cause if it went down the front of the range.

 

[firedome]

'60s-70s GE

is always a great choice, we've had several of that vintage. Also we really like our '77 40" Frigidaire (still GM built): the super high all glass easy-to-clean backsplash, full width light, outlets, the high chrome edged side lip, Electri-Clean works very well, it's a nice range all in all. No pic as its out of state but maybe Phil has one?

 

[NYCWriter]

Why would you not ...

… want your burners clustered onto one side? I imagine that nice big area off to one side -- with the appliance outlets -- provided a heat-protected space for a coffeemaker or toaster (or even electric griddle or waffle iron) without taking up valuable counter space.

 

[danemodsandy]

Matt:

Clustered burners offer the advantages you mention, but they can be a liability if one customarily uses large utensils, like large kettles for canning and preserving. For those users, the wide-set burner configuration works better; you have plenty of room for large utensils to hang over the edges of the burner.

GE was aware of this, and for many years, offered its BOL and some MOL ranges with wide-set burners; farm wives valued the burner configuration, but were not prone to splashing out on a TOL range. The TOL ranges got the more fashionable clustered burners, but they tended to be purchased more by suburbanites who wanted more bells and whistles and weren't averse to spending more money.

GE valued farm business for many years - for a long time, rural fuel choices were electric, wood or kerosene. Electric ranges were the farm wife's cooking appliance of choice during the midcentury years.

 

[polkanut]

Hans,

Did you check out this CL ad?

http://charlotte.craigslist.org/app/4332751899.html

 

[polkanut]

Or this one?

The $500 price tag is a bit steep on this one though.

http://asheville.craigslist.org/app/4355297502.html

 

[danemodsandy]

Tim:

That GE isn't self-cleaning, and we've almost got Hans worked around to the point of considering one, LOL! He'd really enjoy a good one, I think.

A word about Hotpoint: Hotpoint was once a very, very good, very luxurious brand. But as the years rolled on, GE made Hotpoint into its "bargain basement" brand, with cheaper trim and lots of "builder's specials." I can't say I'm a fan of what Hotpoint became. In the time frame we're talking about - later '60s and early-to-mid '70s - Hotpoint wasn't really what it had once been. I would also venture to say that cosmetic parts might be harder to find for a Hotpoint 40-incher; you don't see them very often, which suggests sluggish sales when new.

 

[polkanut]

 I just wanted to let him know that there are some 40" ranges in his general vicinity.  

 

[norgeway]

Re Hotpoints..

If I could find a Hotpoint like my Aunt Mabel had I would shout!! it was a double oven 1962 model, and the pushbuttons were big square things and they were grey instead of white, all the lettering was in cursive writing and it said Custom Crafted By Hotpoint...my Grandmother...her Mother..had a 63 very much the same except it was a single oven, clustered top and had infinite heat switches..that 66 GE pictured is just about what I had in mind!!

 

[philr]

... but maybe Phil has one?

Roger,

 

I do have one but it's out of focus!