The Monarch Smooth Top Stove is Home!!

[vintagekitchen]

After a well earned rest, I am ready to post some pics. The stove was sooooo dirty when I got it, as the previous owner was a friend of my grandparents who was a single man in his late 80's, with failing vision. Failing vision or not, he actually kept cooking right to the end, he had someone put little stick on plastic nubs on the oven temperature knob at the off, 250, and 350 markings, so he could feel the knob and know what temperature he had set the oven to. He passed away a few months ago, and when his heirs offered this stove for sale, I snatched it up.

So, without further ado, the "before pics"

[this post was last edited: 7/15/2012-02:49]

 

[vintagekitchen]

How could I not rescue this? Anyone wanna take a guess at which one was the previous owners favorite burner?

 

[vintagekitchen]

Ewww! Poor baby, we won't ever let this happen again...

 

[vintagekitchen]

Now, for some "after pics"..

The stove really wasnt that difficult to clean, except for the smooth top. The rest of the stove was covered with layers of baked on grease that acted as a sort of protective coating, leaving the finish underneath pristine when finally cleaned. But oh lord, that smoothtop with the burnt on stains..

 

[vintagekitchen]

The Smooth Top

I tried it all. First thing I tried was the smooth top stove cleaner. I think I heard the stains laughing at me. Next some soft scrub cleanser, now I know the stains are laughing. Desperate times calling for desperate measures, I pulled out the oven cleaner, and after draping a atowel over the knob area for protection, sprayed a good coat on and gave it a good soak.

The oven cleaner barely lightened the stains. Now I was getting mad. I laid a rag torn from an old t-shirt over each burner, and squirted each one down with a good dose of toilet bowl cleaner. (I was desperate, and it is made for cleaning porcelain and ceramic surfaces, so I figured what did I have to lose). After a 10 minute soak, the stains scrubbed right off! A trace remains, but its a trace I can live with for now.[this post was last edited: 7/15/2012-03:04]

 

[vintagekitchen]

As you can Probably tell, someone in times past had done some major scrubbing to the stove knobs, which removed about one third the markings on most of the knobs, and every last mark from the knob to set the oven from preheat to bake to broil. But if you tilted the knob just right, you could see a ghostly white trace of the origional marks, so I got out my trusty extra fine point permanent marker, and delicately traced over all the original markings.

It's not perfect, but it means I can tell what I am doing when I use the stove.

 

[vintagekitchen]

Why is it that every stove I buy has had one of the knobs replaced at some point? Don't suppose anyone has the correct knob kicking about do they?

 

[vintagekitchen]

With the hood up..

I wasnt sure at first why a smooth top stove would have a lift up top, but after a few moments realized, A-there is a fuse under there in the back corner for the convenience outlet, and B-it makes it so much easier if the burners ever need worked on.

 

[vintagekitchen]

One last pic, in all her glory..

All told, the stove works like a dream. The burners all work, the clock runs, the timed bake setting functions correctly, even the oven light and fluorescent backsplash light work. So far my only issues are that the timer is so quiet its almost silent when it goes off, and those traces of stains on the cook top, but I think I can keep getting them lighter as time goes on.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Good find & nice restoration job!

-- Dave

 

[goatfarmer]

Great stove, that looks like a Corning top.

 

[chuffle]

What a wonderful range!

Just love such finds, when one knows that there are good bones under the crud. My Tappan, bought for $50 a few years ago, was similar when it came to grease...and sure 'nuff, the porcelain finish, minus a few scratches, was pristine, having been protected by the crud. There's history in that stove, and if you are like me, you probably enjoyed the elbow grease involved in revealing the glory of such a fine piece.

As for the cook top - have you tried Corning Ware cleaner? I have had great success using it on my range, on vintage Descoware, Corning Visions...almost anything that has burnt on crud. Just thought I'd pass that on.

I hope you enjoy your new range - from what I can see, it looks spiffy in your kitchen.

Joe

 

[retro-man]

something you might try to remove the rest of the stains would be just plain baking soda. i have had great luck removing a lot of stuff from stoves and surfaces with this. dump some on the surface with a little water to make a paste and scrubb away with a rag. it is non abrasive but does the trick.
Jon

 

[norgeway]

Oh My !!!

One of my favorite brands!! I never knew Monarch made such a thing!!! Talk about RARE!!!! I LOVE it!

 

[frigilux]

Nice job on that vintage glass top! I can't imagine letting a range get that filthy.

 

[jamiel]

Interesting...that seems like a higher quality unit than the run of the "non-name-brand" stoves you see from the mid-70s. Lived for a quarter in a student house in the mid-80s with a smooth-top Kenmore stove which was a mess...did get the self-cleaning to work to clean that aspect of it....but you've probably done the best you can with the top. Interesting that the top tilts...clearly this was a retro-fit to Monarch's standard design. I think you're right with the fact that this was the Corning top...apparently ISTR that there were 2 manufacturers of the tops for these ranges---Corning, which made the honed/smooth surface, and someone else which made the more pebbly surface ones. Also the Corning top had the true thermostatic control. Consumers' Reports did a report on these in the 70s which I vaguely remember reading, essentially saying that unless you were going whole-hog on the Corning surface with the Corning Counter-Mates (flat ground) cookware you weren't going to be too happy. You really should keep an eye out for that cookware...I think it will really transform your satisfaction with it.

 

[philr]

Nice range! I was told some Monarch ranges looked quite similar to the Enterprise ranges in Canada but it's the first time I see a picture of one that looks very similar. I haven't found where I saved a picture of one with a smooth top. 

 

 

 

[vintagekitchen]

At last..

I spent the morning correcting the fact that the cabinets were set up for my 40 inch GE stove. Luckily, when I installed the countertops (salvaged from a house down the street that was being remodeled), I saved an extra peice, just in case I ever went to a standard 30 inch stove. So it was just a matter of inserting a wooden panel to fill the gap, and adding the additional piece of countertop.

As a bonus, the extra countertop gave just enough room to bring the blender out of the cabinets, and add it to the line of countertop dwellers, lol.

I beleive this really is the Corning top, it appears identical to all the photos I could find of the Frigidaire Corning top ranges I could find, and feels exactly like Corningware, totally different from a modern "glass top" range.

I find the performance very good. Heats faster and hotter than the old GE, and I like the fact that it retains heat. My mother had a stove with the solid cast iron burners when I was a teenager, and one of my first homes after I moved out of my parents house was an old farmhouse with a wood cookstove, so I am well versed in making the most of retained heat. I simply switch off the burners during the last bit of cooking, and let the food finish cooking on the retained heat of the burners.

 

[appnut]

Kevin, yoiu've done ana amazing job on everything, right down to the cabinets and countertop. I'm impressed.