Rob and Laura buy their dream gas oven:

[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.