RARE!!! Frigidaire Fold Back Surface Units!!

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support :

Those are the first of that design, a real score. I have the French door wall oven as pictured and a stainless steel cooktop of the mid 50s with speed heat and heat minder units at the front and two 5 heat units at the back, both of the finest junque shop provenance. I used them to prepare a Thanksgiving banquet in the early 80s. Years ago John found the single, 4 unit version with two fold down sections with two controls at either end in an inner city DC thrift store. He carried it out on his shoulder and some young dude remarked that it must be one hell of a boom box. One pair of units had the regular infinite control. The other pair consisted of a Speed heat and a Heat Minder unit.

Not that you are lacking for cooking facilities, but one of these with a dryer cord attached makes an excellent portable 220 volt cooktop, ready to plug into a dryer outlet. That 8" element would hold a 16 qt pressure canner easily and would have the power to get up a head of steam pronto.

I'm so happy for you.
 
Properly venting a pair of these requires either a pair of 30" hoods or a custom system which might not be in their favor. On the plus side, since the surface units would not extend as far to the front as they do in a traditional 4 unit cooktop, the performance of the ventilation system might be better, but you would be using twice the exhaust capacity if you were venting both pairs. That could pull a good deal of heated or cooled air outside.
 
Something else came to mind (it takes a while). While Frigidaire's literature does not give the height above the counter for the surface units in cooking position, they are, of necessity, higher than the countertop. While that is not something that most men would find objectionable, it is a consideration for shorter women who might find that the extra height under a pan would make constant stirring more tiring and looking inside an 8 quart or larger utensil difficult to do. I guess this would be another example of Frigidaire's more male-influenced design.
 
If doing a dream kitchen with these, I'd consider wall-mounting them so that when they were open, the burners would be at counter-height. Then I'd want granite counters on either side, so you have a place to set hot pots and pans. (Otherwise, with laminate counters you'd need trivets handy.)

It looks like there is a row of ventilation holes along the top back edge, visible when the burners are folded down. If you had an exhaust fan mounted somewhere nearby, like maybe in the basement, you could duct it to these units to exhaust cooking fumes, sort of a similar concept to JennAir cooktops that have a pop-up exhaust duct.

retropia++11-12-2010-11-59-27.jpg
 
They!

Are not made so you can wall mount them, they have to have a flat surface to rest on when they are opened, the higher than usual cooking platform wouldnt bother me, but you could use a lower counter for someone who was shorter.
 
Help please

I have 2 of these units as well and am having a hard time finding out where to sell them. If anyone has any ideas of a good way to go about that please let me know!
 
Wow... and I thought I'd seen everything in 1950s-60s appliances. Until I saw this thread, I had no idea that any such a thing ever existed.

Seems odd that the "High" position is out of sequence with the others, in terms of ordering by heat. I suppose that had something to do with the switches that were used, but I can't imagine what.

As I make it, you'd need a 20A circuit for one of these. If you had both burners on high, it'd be right on the edge for a 15A circuit at 230V, but back then a lot of utilities supplied houses at closer to 220. If you had two of these plus the oven, then you're talking about some fancy wiring by the standards of that day. Of course, back then, a lot of electricians would just pull one 50A circuit and attach everything to that.
 
To answer why "High" was out of sequence is in almost every Frigidaire instruction manual is the saying that you start on "High" and finish on "Simmer"
To quote: "Because most surface cooking is started on "HIGH" and finished on "SIMMER", these two heats have been placed next to each other for greater convenience." From a 1956 manual. Greg
 
Unit For Sale

We have a mint condition of this exact unit. Can someone help me to find a buyer? We are in Northern CA. How much should we charge?

Thanks for your help!
 
I remember these!

My grandparents had a lake cottage (actually, pretty nice for a 'cottage', but def only designed for a summer vacation home) in NW Indiana. The kitchen was basically a 1-sided galley. The stove was a single unit (2 burners) of these. I think they may have been from the early-to-mid 60s. *IF* my memory serves (a bit doubtful) the cabinet may have been a combination of stainless and brown-painted, or stainless and woodgrain. I also think the indicator dial was a little different--more radio-tuning dial in appearance, with the "window" in the middle rather than the sides. Again...memory is tricky after so many years (They sold the cottage in the early 80s.) The oven was definitely newer than the French Door model. It was a brown wall oven that was built into the opposite wall, in a space tucked under the staircase that was on the other side of the wall. The fridge was white and small and squared. and the freezer was not a separate door. I don't remember the brand, I just remember the treat of having a variety of flavors of Shasta cans to choose from--not like boring ol' home! The other appliances were an enormous International Harvester deep freeze (which fascinated me because my Dad had an IH Scout), and an ancient, battleship gray GE revolving-top vacuum.
 
Frigidaire RBW-84 Fold Back Surface Unit Cooktop

I have this and use it on a daily basis. I believe it was installed in 1957. (We are the second owner of the house.) It still works very well, but the drip pans and trim rings are showing their age. I have replaced two of the drip pans and trim rings twice, but I need replacements again. I also have the wall oven pictured and use it frequently, also. The temperature control is not real accurate so I use an in-oven thermometer which helps immensely. Does anyone know where I can get replacement drip pans and trim rings. The ones I am using were purchased locally many years ago and are not exactly the right fit. Also does anyone "rebuild or refurbish" these appliances. They are of a built in nature and finding replacements that fit in the same spot is about impossible for my custom built kitchen. Thanks for any help you can give.
 
I'd Be Interested....

....To hear from owners of these units regarding their cleanability. Every time I see these things, I have a vision of fried chicken or bacon spatters covering every exposed atom of their surface, with lots of time, lots of Job-like patience and a powerful degreaser needed to get all their little nooks and crannies back up to snuff.

Anyone have any war stories - uh, owner's lore?
 
I think of this too...

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">...every time I see a pristine Flair range with the shiny clean interior.  All I think to my self is one roast or pan of chicken would cause a terrible mess to clean up.  How did people clean these?  I hadn't thought about it for these fold down burners but you're right.  Wouldn't they be a pain to keep clean?</span>
 

Similar threads

K
-WANT TO BUY- Frigidaire fold-back range unit (stove top)
2
Replies
25
Views
687
ktrainhurricane
K
combo52
1973 Poppy Frigidaire trash compactor
Replies
12
Views
217
combo52
combo52
F
*FREE Two Parts Units 50s-60s? GE Mobile Maid Portable Dishwashers
Replies
3
Views
115
fridgenut
F
A
Found this back in December 2024 in Roscoe NY
Replies
7
Views
42
agiflow
A
ea56
1962 Jaguar XKE
Replies
16
Views
76
dermacie
dermacie

Latest posts

Back
Top