The "New" 49 Westinghouse Range

[oldhouseman]

Well, it finally got into place this past Saturday. Many THANKS to Ralph! The '49 Westinghouse Range arrived last week. I didn't get a chance to paint before it arrived but I'm glad it's here. I can't believe what great shape and condition it's in. Ralph's Mom really took great care of this gem. It's certainly a very welcome addition to the house and sets the tone for what direction I will go with the kitchen. A few more shots to follow.

 

[oldhouseman]

another

shot

 

[oldhouseman]

And a

Pyrex handel. I had the dish but no handel for it. Ralph found one in the stove when he was getting things ready to ship! I thought I would never find the handel and then it arrives with the stove.

 

[danemodsandy]

Greg and Ralph:

I'm so happy this turned out! The range was too rare a survival to be allowed to go to the crusher or into the hands of an unappreciative person. It's also a very good "look" for Greg's house - the simplicity and austerity of its styling goes well with Federalist surroundings.

Ralph - you're really great to have extended the patience that it took to find the right owner for the range - many people would have given up and sent Big Bertha to the curb. Because of your attitude, Greg's house benefits, and your mom's efforts at taking care of the range live on.

 

[rp2813]

Sandy, this is the outcome I had insisted upon. I couldn't have asked for a better arrangement than having the stove end up in Greg's appreciative hands. It looks beautiful in there! I am elated!

 

[countryguy]

I have the same handle that you are using for Pyrex dishes but I've always known it to be used for Corning Ware casserole dishes.

Gary

 

[hydralique]

What a nice story!

I've been following this one for awhile, and it's good to see the photos of how it all worked out - a wonderful stove in a great kitchen. Plus, the stove is obviously valued greatly enough to warrant its own guard dog!

 

[danemodsandy]

Ralph:

"Sandy, this is the outcome I had insisted upon. I couldn't have asked for a better arrangement than having the stove end up in Greg's appreciative hands. It looks beautiful in there! I am elated!"

Baby, take a bow.

 

[danemodsandy]

Forgot the Pic!

.

 

[rp2813]

Greg needs to take a bow right along with me! If he hadn't expressed interest, finding the stove a new home would have been much more time consuming. It's great to know this stove will enjoy many (I hope) more years of loving care and in return (I hope again) provide the reliable performance it has been known to for nearly 60 years.

OK Greg, now you need to advise on how you think it performs compared to the stove you had in there before! With older electric elements patience can indeed be a virtue but the 8" burner will keep a large pot of pasta boiling without any trouble once it gets up to speed.

So what did you have simmering in the deep well when the pictures were shot?

 

[classiccaprice]

Beautiful Greg! It looks great in your kitchen! Congratulations!

Now we just need to find you a vintage frost free refrigerator...

P.S. Feel better soon!

 

[oldhouseman]

Thanks guys

Ralph, I had collard greens from my garden cooking when that picture was taken. I made cornbread for dressing and then baked the dressing with pork chops. The first meal cooked on the range. And of course the first item I made was iced tea to toast the introduction of the range to a new southern home. Ralph very kindly included a picture of his mom (circa 1950)with the package that will certainly be displayed with the other important photo's and paintings in the house.

 

[58limited]

Very nice. And I agree with Sandy: The simple styling goes well with and compliments the house.

 

[oldhouseman]

oh I forgot

the warming time for the deep well and burners work out well. The modern range heated up so fast it was hard to keep up with some items cooking. True the heat up time is a bit slower than the modern range I took out but it gives me time to chop and grate fresh items to add to recipes. I had a lot of problems with the modern range and manufacturing defects. Lowes replaced the range but I still had problems with the burners. The oven never did work with the first unit. The burners would stop working on the second unit. I am glad to be rid of it. The '49 works out great!

 

[sudsmaster]

It looks great, and Ralph is a great guy for giving it to you.

I wonder though why you want to paint it. It looks fine the way it is, and I don't think any paint will equal the finish and durability of the original backed on glass enamel.

 

[polkanut]

This is a definite case of "less is more". It's perfect, considering the age of the house.

 

[mattl]

Did I miss part of the saga?

I've been following this story too, and the last I read the shipping costs were too high to make it work, so--- how did it get there?

A very nice looking stove, you can tell it was respected through out it's life. I'm sure Greg will care for it well it and it will get many more years of use.

I don't think today's appliances get or deserve the respect our mothers gave theirs, now everything is disposable. I know my mom loved her '59 Frigidaire CI range, and took great care of it. When we moved it was 6 years old and it would not fit into our new "larger" kitchen, so it was consigned to the basement where it sits today and get semi frequent use, especially the rotisserie in the winter.

 

[rp2813]

Painting

Rich, Greg was talking about painting the kitchen itself, not the stove, so not to worry!

Shipping wasn't anywhere near as expensive as Greg thought it would be, and I think the pictures demonstrate that it was well worth it. Greg, can you dig up a "before" shot with the previous stove for good measure?

Ralph

 

[tlee618]

Congratulations Greg, that is one beautiful stove. I bet that it really cooks well. Does the over have a calrod heating unit? Is it just me or is it unusual that the burners are on the right side of the stove. I don't believe I have ever seen that arrangement before.

 

[rp2813]

I hope Greg doesn't mind my answering your questions Terry, but I've been around this stove for the past 54 years. The oven element is Calrod. It's been replaced a couple of times, most recently about 2 years ago. The broiler element is still the original curly coiled element snaking through ceramic insulators. The cooktop burner elements are all the original Corox type.

I agree with you about the configuration of the cooktop. Most of the vintage stoves I've seen out there that have the burners all to one side have them on the left rather than the right, or there are two burners on each side and work space in the middle.

Ralph

 

[tlee618]

Thanks Ralph, I wonder if Westinghouse was the only one to use this arrangement?

 

[rp2813]

Hard to say Terry. IIRC, the neighbors down the street had what I presume was a more TOL Westy range of the same vintage, and that one had burners on the left. The similar vintage GE and Hotpoint range pix that have been posted here recently and in the past all seem to have burners on the left. It could be that Westinghouse was the only manufacturer that offered the burners-on-right configuration. I wonder what the logic was for other makers to only offer them on the left. I would think that different kitchen layouts would require burners on one side or the other, but maybe Westinghouse was ahead of the game on making either option available.

Greg has advised that the stove is working like a charm (I would expect nothing less from it) and I am really happy that he is pleased with it. It really does fit his kitchen scene well given its modern lines.

Ralph

 

[tlee618]

Ralph, I wonder too why there wasn't more of a choice as it would seem that in some kitchens it would really have been better if there was a choice. So maybe Westinghouse was ahead of its time.

 

[retro-man]

I wonder if the location of the oven had anything to do with it back then. I remember a 50's Frigidare range we had growing up. The burners were on the left, with a warming oven under and the regular oven/broiler was on the right. Are these posted pics the same? Oven on one side burners on the other?

 

[retro-man]

Sorry another thought. The idea of having the "deep well" in the back would reduce the oven space. So would be practical to put the oven on the opposite side maybe?

 

[mattl]

Well, my Frigidaire has a deep well cooker in the back, burners on the left, and what they did was make the left oven a little smaller. I see no reason design wise it couldn't have been flipped.

Perhaps the design was based on right handed people or on working from left to right. I'd love to know the answer...

 

[rp2813]

Greg's oven is on the left. The door on the right is really a drawer for warmer/storage/spill tray access. So the burner placement would dictate oven location and vice versa. It makes sense that there would be reversible configurations depending on a kitchen's layout. I mean, think about how many stamped-out mirror image kitchens already existed in the early 50's across the country.

Maybe more stove people can advise on configurations among the major brands from this era. This seems peculiar only to electrics, as most gas models had burners port & starboard with center griddle or workspace.

 

[oldhouseman]

Sorry for the delay

Ralph in getting this picture.I've not been looged on much this past week. This is what the kitchen looked like when I bought the house a few years ago. The plywood cabinets we rotted and that metal base cabinet was rusted through with holes in the sink. The beadboard walls behind the drywall had rotted because of roof leaks. I had to gut the whole room. I found ghostlines of paint on the beadboard and used that to return the kitchen back to the 1910 configuration.

 

[oldhouseman]

I used an 1830's

eastern european pine wardrobe cabinet for pantry storage and to hide the microwave.

 

[oldhouseman]

Which also

made a great small appliance stoarge unit. I can plug in the item I need and use right in the cabinet.