Speaking of hidden bake units... COOLERATOR!

[oldskool]

Well Taken Care of....

...for it's years.  A beautiful stove that would likely last a long time. 

 

So the deep-well feature was interchangeable with a burner - or how did that work? 

 

@jamiel - I haven't heard the name Central Hardware in at least 35 years.  Brings back memories.  Wonder what happened to them?

 

[tomturbomatic]

John, many ranges, once they went to sealed rod elements for the deepwell cooker, had an element that would sit at the bottom of the well, but could also be raised up and locked in place to serve as a fourth surface unit.

Deep wells were originally put on ranges to make electric cooking more economical, especially for larger quantities of food that had to cook for a longer time since the well originally offered some insulation around the pan and some of the lids for the pans had insulation in them also. They began to look old fashioned (the style, not the drink) and were phased out. Frigidaire was probably the last manufacturer to offer them up to 1959 or 60. I guess when people had the opportunity to choose between a deep well and a 4th surface unit, they picked the 4th surface unit enough that the deep wells were no longer favored. I would imagine that for short women, it was maybe hard to see down inside of the pan in the back corner of the cooktop. With GE and Hotpoint ranges, the deep well unit was another 6 inch unit, but with Frigidiare and Westinghouse ranges the lift up deep well unit was another 8 inch unit. GE was one of the first brands to eliminate the deep well.

 

[westingman123]

drifting a bit to Central Hardware...

CH was a victim of the big box home centers. A shame, really, because they were sort of your local Ace hardware on steroids--everything from scoop to nuts was their jingle, if I recall correctly. Service was excellent.

Their big store on Page Boulevard is now a furniture store, I believe.

 

[jamiel]

Yeah, Central Hardware was the greatest. They closed down in roughly 1990 (although they did fend off Home Depot for a long time...believe that St. Louis and Indianapolis were some of HD's last cities to enter). They competed with HQ. They had a really interesting product mix including auto service/tires, major appliances and audio/video, lumber, lawn and garden, plumbing, housewares, bulk fasteners, etc. They were unionized (interestingly)... Lots of nice memories from them. Among other things...the "back door" in the Kirkwood/Big Bend store; the piles of the Post-Dispatch every Saturday afternoon; pushing all the buttons on the avocado appliances; climbing on the riding lawn mowers, the big manila "PLEASE PAY CASHIER" envelopes that they put keys which they cut into so you couldn't shoplift them.

PS...found the below. Interco was a local holding company that had multiple retail formats in the midwest

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ex-central-hardware-president-opens-sears-store/article_84ef0dac-9fcc-11e1-ab98-0019bb30f31a.html

 

[circlew]

That is a very nice range. I've seen ads for them in old magazines, but never knew anyone who had a Coolerator brand appliance. Were they sold nationwide?

 

[norgeway]

Lowes Hardware..

Sold them and Hotpoint in the 50s.

 

[oldskool]

Makes Sense....

Tom, thanks for the explanation regarding the deep well feature as I had not a clue.  The height challenge issue - then the 3 vs. 4 burners - all really makes sense - explains the transition away from the feature.  

Jamiel - thanks for the link re Central Hardware former President -  interesting.   Coolerator appliances being made by McGraw-Edison, (at that time) and sold at CH makes further sense now because I remember my dad purchasing our first AC unit which was a McGraw-Edison central air unit from Central Hardware.  I think McGraw Edison's window units were sold as Coolerator - but not completely sure.  I wonder how many other brands were made by McGraw Edison?  

Hope someone gets that Coolerator stove featured in this thread - they'll sure be getting a piece of American history when quality was part of the design goal.

John

 

 

[funktionalart]

Another Coolerator is available...A year later!

Apologies for the cross-post....this one just became available in San Diego today 11th July 2014. For the princely sum of $ 40 !!!

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/app/4563956752.html

http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/app/4563956752.html

 

[norgeway]

PRETTY!

If you want one, you better get it, because they are RARE!