Rob and Laura buy their dream gas oven:

[bajaespuma]

Gas vs. Electric

All true what has been said previously about the merits of electric wall ovens vs. gas. Best of both worlds scenario, however is to have one of each(which rarely, if ever, happened in our beloved vintage era for obvious reasons). Nowadays, with utility rates unstable, it's great to have the choice.

Gas ovens, while notoriously uneven for baking, say, a tray of chocolate chip cookies were superior for more mundane tasks such as roasting and broiling meats. One of the reasons I covet the early Calorics is that that was their forte. Not only did the TOL sport a meat thermometer but also an unsual in-oven rotisserie. Even in these convection days, the moist heat of a gas oven produces great roasts. But still, they're a bitch to install compared to any electric oven.

 

[toggleswitch]

The abilaty to vent this to the out-of-doors is great! I have enen seen today's Frigidaire/Electolux gas wall-ovens have this ability!

 

[jetcone]

Top Drawer Design

I love that "a darker side to PeeWee Herman's kitchen"!

But that oven is KEWL!
How do the Mennonites figure in to the design, I don't get the reference??

jet

 

[exploder3211]

Mennonites are in this area of Pensylvannia

 

[cehalstead]

UltraRay broiler

My "new" (1994)Caloric 30" gas stove has the above mentioned broiler. It's a great performer. The flame completely disappears as the element gets hot...red hot. I believe, but am not sure, that 94/95 was the last year for the Caloric name.

 

[toggleswitch]

I had a Caloric self- cleaner in 30" wide without electronic controls and open gas burners.

This thing has the quirk of self-cleaning by igniting the broiler burner (upper) first than switching over to the bake/roast (lower) burner.

I bought this stove first, in 1990 then my sister did, then my mother did. Anyhoo we all found the broiler to be too powerful and had to put the food to be broiled near the bottom of the oven cavity. This may have to do with boosted heat outputs to be able to reach higher self-cleaning temps.

Other than the design of the "shelf" where the surface buner knobs are (a/k/a the notorious grease shelf)it was a good stove, IMHO.

 

[roto204]

Consolidated under Amana

I found a NY Times article that said that Caloric was a Raytheon brand that was eventually eliminated after it was consolidated with Amana.

Bummer. Boy, did they have some industrial design back-when--this sort of style would do Apple proud!

 

[peteski50]

Caloric!

I will never forget the top and bottom range my mother had by caloric purchased in 1977 when they bought the house they live in now. Nothing but problems. A big disaster the bottom oven was always dying. She had the repair several times. They agreed to swap out the range. To make a long story short she swapped it 4 times. One was worse than the other. I liked the way it was designed. Looked beautiful but useless. Finally in 1981 after my parents had a suit pending with caloric they got most of their money back and bought a roper and has had that range since. Caloric used to be good before the more modern ranges came along in the 60's. I knew other people that had several problems with caloric ranges. One person I know had the top burner grates melt into the top of the range. It was a company that became a real disaster.
Peter

 

[scott55405]

Here is my current Caloric

which for a gas range I'm actually liking pretty well. The top is faster than other gas ranges I've used, and the oven is top notch at holding its temperature. I like it mainly because it has the fluorescent back light, rare or nonexistent today on just about any level of unit. I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing it was made after 1975, since it does not have a convenience outlet.

 

[peteski50]

Caloric!

Hi Scott,
That is a nice caloric is it a self cleaning oven?
Hope you are doing well.
Peter

 

[scott55405]

I'm doing great thanks, Peter, hope you are too! No self clean oven on this unit, but one nice thing is the whole oven floor comes completely out for cleaning. I don't get it too dirty because I always keep after it, but that was handy when I first moved in and was getting the range up to my standards (LOL)

 

[bajaespuma]

From a blue state to a red one

Jetcone and others,

According to one of my sources who was an appliance dealer here in Connecticut for about 50 years, most of the crew in Topton PA were Menonites(sp?)who prided themselves in the extraordinary craftsmanship that Caloric was known for. Then Raytheon bought the company in the late sixties, the bean-counters started demanding corners cut and the Menonites(being a culture of integrity and pride in work) balked. Raytheon responded by eliminating the Pennsylvania factory, moving the works down to South Carolina and turning Caloric into just another cheap gas stove in just a few years. Caloric died a slow death to bolster a stock portfolio.

God bless America, land of corporate greed, shortsidedness and fascism.

 

[veg-o-matic]

Don't want to tip my hand or anything....

But there's a "new" Caloric being readied for installation Chez Veg-O-Matique.

More updates as events warrant.

veg

 

[veg-o-matic]

Available in Philly...

Super chrome!

veg

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/hsh/335433838.html

 

[danemodsandy]

scott55405: Convenience Outlets Question

"I'm guessing it was made after 1975, since it does not have a convenience outlet."

Hi Scott:

Was there some sort of mandate about convenience outlets that year, or is this a feature quirk specific to Caloric ranges made after that time?

Sandy

 

[jamiel]

Consumer Product Safety Commission banned convenience outlets from stoves around that time in the US. Issues with cords contacting hot surfaces, I believe.

 

[danemodsandy]

jamiel:

Thanks! Looks like the nanny state started earlier than I remembered (I mean, you COULD just be responsible for your own foolishness, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO). In the late '70s, I had a wonderful 40" Westinghouse range with an automatic oven and a timed convenience outlet. Years before digital-timer drip coffeemakers were available, I had coffee waiting for me when I awoke each morning, courtesy of a GE percolator plugged into the convenience outlet. I hope to return to that sort of combination soon, this time with a Farberware electric perc. I'll now be certain to look for a pre-1975 range.

 

[jamiel]

Or...just import a range from Canada. If you walk through the stores in Canada, they've got outlets galore...The one-and-only (I assume) stove factory in Canada makes a very attractive stove with a high backsplash and stacked controls...you can see it in many brands, but it is one that doesn't seem to make it across the river here.

 

[paulg]

Rob and Laura / Caloric comments

I am shocked that y'all inadvertently answered the question as to what built-in oven Rob and Laura had. Now I can stop playing my Dick Van Dyke DVDs and doing "step step step step step step step" through scenes to see the brand.
On a side note, my parents bought a CALORIC built-in oven during the 1980s and it was a disaster. Even when new, if you placed anything on the racks, all the racks would collapse into the bottom of the oven when it got hot. After six tries (yes SIX) to fix it, the CALORIC "expert" came out and tried to stretch the racks by stepping into them with his feet in the middle of the kitchen floor and pulling on them. HERCULES? (Didn't work). After insisting to CALORIC (Raytheon) that it was a safety problem they agreed to replace it - which they did - and the new one was OK. However I later learned that they later issued a service bulletin offering slightly wider racks in case yours just decide to drop to the bottom when hot. Again - such a shame. Great quality to start - but not at the end. Shame.

 

[ironrite]

In the very early days of Food Network, around 1994 they would run old cooking shows. I don't recall the name of the show, it was in B/W, older woman going on about the marvels of the Caloric gas stove and oven. It appeared to be made in the mid-late 1960s and may have been some sort of locally produced cooking show.

In 1994 I bought a Caloric gas range. At the time it was that or the Amana. The differences between the two were, the Caloric had darker grates on it and no light in the backsplash. It did have that infraray broiler that worked very well. But it did take some getting used to. You moved the pan up or down in the oven to control the coverage of rays. For a full pan, say six hamburgers, you used the lowest position. For just a couple of burger, the highest.

In 1996 when I bought my last house in Phoenix, the gas Caloric was the stove offered and it too was a great stove.