Today's Stove Rescue

[kevin313]

So someone at work tells me about a friend of theirs who needs to get rid of an old stove, and since I'm "out" at work about my vintage appliance interest, he asked if I would like to have it.

I need a stove like a whole in the head, but I'm a sucker for a displaced stove that could very well be facing the junk pile. So, I went to take a look.

When I arrived, there she was. Sitting under an old blanket in a cold garage, I could see the outline of a fine old stove. Big, a 40 inch hulk of gleaming white enamel and chrome, I was introduced to the 1954 Frigidaire Imperial 70 double-oven range.

I fall in love too easily...

 

[kevin313]

Another look at the Imperial 70

 

[appnut]

Kevin she's a beauty!!  Cookwell, double ovens, and all!!!  Gourmet meals forthcoming from that range!!!

 

[kevin313]

The double ovens.

It came with the original owner's manual and Frigidaire griddle that has a metal stud in the center and fits on top of the larger burner without sliding.

Interesting oven elements - they are tubular and placed on the sides of the oven, an covered with a triangular piece of metal.

 

[frontaloadotmy]

Very Nice

<span style="font-size: x-large;">Save!</span>

 

[kevin313]

Thanks, Bob - I look forward to cooking on this range in the near future - Polish food and lots of it! The deepwell will be perfect for cooking up a big batch of kapusta (sauerkraut);-)

 

[appnut]

Intersting about the oven elements.  Still had the original owners manual.  Obviously someone's pride & joy all their life of using it. 

 

I may have to invite myself for a weekend of cooking and over-indulging of food!!!

 

[tomturbomatic]

Hon, you are gonna love that 1954 range!

I've had that same stove except without the oven window since the early 80s. Those oven heaters were Frigidaire's first sealed rod bake elements. Mine had been used a lot and the heat radiating against the removable bottom trays really did a number on the porcelain so I covered them with foil to reflect the heat away from the dark porcelain. The Wilcolator oven thermostat for the large oven has an interesting automatic preheat feature. If you turn the thermostat all the way to BROIL and then back to the temperature you want, both the broiler and the bake elements come on to do a fast preheat then the broiler element cycles off and only the perimeter coil of the broil element cycles with the bake element to provide top heat during baking to assure perfect browning. You are probably gonna lose it when you turn on the full width fluorescent light and it reflects in that honeycomb mirror. The square trough in the aluminum light cover was meant to hold a square black salt and pepper shaker set.

That little metal circle with the lens in it above the deep well has two c-7 bulbs behind it. There is a thermostat in the liner of the deep well Thermizer unit that presses against the pan. You heat fat for deep frying on HIGH and both lights come on. When the fat has reached the proper frying temperature, one light goes out. That is the signal to switch the heat to MEDIUM HIGH. At that setting, the thermostat cycles the element to keep the fat at the proper temperature. The minute timer chimes when the time is up and the delightful chiming continues until you turn it off.

This is a wonderful range, heavily built like GM used to build cars. I replaced the two front units with 208 volt elements from an apartment range John hauled in. Now I have real power with close to 1600 watts in the 6 inch and around 2500 watts in the 8 inch. Mirro made a deep well pressure cooker for Frigidaire. I looked long and hard for one for my stove and found it. It's sort of a stupid idea if you think about it very long, but when pressure cooking was at its peak, three range manufacturers and three pressure cooker manufacturers got together to offer this feature for the deep well.

 

[kevin313]

Tom, thanks much for all the great info on this stove. I've been looking through the owner's manual, and I read about how the big oven will cycle the broiler and the bottom elements at the same time for quick heat up. Would you recommend that I put foil over the removable bottom pans?

Do you use the Thermizer much? I can wait to fry up some chicken croquettes in that baby!

Thanks again, Hon! I have some dear friends who live in Baltimore and I remember driving there for a visit for the first time and as I got into the city I stopped at a gas station to get a little snack. I experienced two things I've come to love about Maryland: The kid behind the counter said to me after I paid, "Thanks, Hon." And then I enjoyed my first taste of Utz Crab Chips!

 

[mattl]

Wow, nice save!  I never knew there was a pressure cooker insert for the deep well unit, I'd love to find one.  I guess they dropped the thermostat indicator on the later models, my '59 CI does not have that option.

 

Hey, Kevin, maybe you can deep fry some Pączki...

 

[andy]

Wow!

Nice looking old range! I am glad that it didn't make it to the junk pile. It's in too good of shape.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Matt, your 59, if it is an Imperial or Custom Imperial would have had the front 8 inch element with the Heat Minder thermostatic control unless it was replaced with a regular infinite switch at some time.

 

[polkanut]

Kevin,

I'll bet you almost had an "accident" when you saw this beauty!  Great score.

 

[westingman123]

OMG

That is beautiful. My chin is still dragging the floor. I think my Westy is jealous.

 

[circlew]

Kevin, that is very nice. Certainly looks to have been well cared for in its 56+ years.

I don't believe I've seen one of this style with an oven window before. Geneva - a lady I knew - had one nearly like this with plain doors. It was her most prized posession, and looked new when it was over 20 years old. One night there was a fire in her building; after she could get back in her apartment she spent the rest of the night thoroughly cleaning her Frigidaire range.

 

[112561]

It's Just Beautful!

If anybody gave me that range, I would never get over it. My sister had to get a stove once, and I don't think she did it on purpose, she ended up with a very early '50s Frigidaire, which went with her early '50s Frigidaire fridge. She paid  $5.00 for it.

 

[laundromat]

As beautiful and feature packed as this beautiful Frigidaire Range is, I have been spoiled after having the ceramic top ranges and will never go back to the coils.I would absolutely love having this one though.Long ago, I had a Compact 30 that I found at a dump and it had never been used. It still had the shipping bolts on it.I installed it and used it for about three years.It was brushed chrome.I would clean it up every now and again after the elements would get a bit narley and I used steel wool to brush off the residue and rust on the Radiantube units.

 

[austinado16]

That is fantastic. Cracks me up how many of these beautiful stoves you come across.

 

[autowasherfreak]

<span style="font-size: x-large;">NICE</span>! I love th<span style="font-size: 10.8333px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12.5px;">e double ovens.  I've only had electric stoves twice, but I could fall in love with that one! <span style="font-size: x-large;">

</span></span>

 

[norgeway]

Oven Elements!

Kevin...I have a set of these elements if you need them, they are hanging on a nail in my storage building!

 

[mattl]

Tom, yes the Heat Minder has been replaced.  it lasted maybe 3 years and my mother had it with it acting up and had the repairman replace it with a standard unit.  Now, the interesting thing.  I was renovating a house a couple of years ago and they had a Frigidaire CI cooktop in the family room with a charcoal grill next to it ( INDOORS!!).  I pulled the cooktop out and am temped to pull the heat minder unit out of it and see if I can retrofit it into the range.  this is a stainless steel cooktop with the remote mounted controls.   I might still have the original numbered indicator from the range in a junk can somewhere, I know it's be pretty hard to find that.

 

Also, do you have a model number for that Mirro pressure cooker?  I'd love to find one if it would fit in my range.

 

[wireman]

VERY cool find! Wish we could've found something that nice to replace our 1969 Frig. Custom Imperial 40" range in our kitchen. We STILL have the 1954 green Figidaire 30" that I assume was orig. to the house. When they remodeled the kitchen and finished the basement, they installed the 30" in the basement next to the dryer for entertaining and canning.

Before I moved in; Greg had remodeled the kitchen around the 1969 40" range. Unfortunately, the ovens stopped working; so I ended up using the 1954 30" in the basement, which works GREAT! I wasn't having much luck finding parts for the 1969 (wasn't aware of some the resources I now am!) So we replaced the '69 with a new 2007 40" Kenmore. Though it works OK, miss the thick coil burners (more even heat) and the flourescent tube to illuminate the cooktop. I swear it only weighs 1/2 of what the 1969 did. The drawer under the stove doesn't glide in and out smoothly like the one on 1969 did; we store a lot down there and the lighter metal wants to flex rather than glide!

SO, if you CAN find an older stove in good condition or that is repairable, DO it! I'd still love to find a 1950's turquiose pushbutton 40" GE like the one I first cooked and baked on...

Good Luck with that Frigiaire; they are built to LAST!

Duane

 

[eortmann]

I LOVE MY STOVE 1954 Frigidaire Imperiial Rt-70G

I was SO excited to see that you have the same stove that I do!! I search all the time for anything pertaining to this wonderful range, but rarely find anything or anyone who knows what I am talking about. We are in Oregon. I was lucky enough to find mine in great working condition and well taken care of. I was not able to get any accessories with it though - not even the deep-well insert I have been on a search for several months. If you ever run across any info or a source for accessories, please do let me know.
I found a fantastic brochure a while back on ebay, but was outbid at the last minute. I didn't think anyone else would have been so interested so I should have watched the auction closer. If you look on youtube there is an old 1950's tv commercial that is just a riot. It is not our exact model because the front knobs are a little different, but it is very close. I think it might be a 1952?
You are going to LOVE your stove too I am sure. Our ovens run a little hot so we just keep a thermometer in there that we can read for now. I plan to have an old stove guy I know out to take a look at some point, but we have been remodeling the kitchen around the stove for several months now so I have been waiting for the other work on the room to be done before he comes by.
Again, great to see you rescuing this beautiful and worthy piece of American craftsmanship!

 

[eortmann]

A question

PS - If anyone knows how to change the bulbs in the burner switches, please do let me know. I have tried and tried to figure out how to get to them. Two are burned out and don't light. I have taken the dials off from the front and done some cleaning and restoring of the lettering, but can not get underneath them from the front OR the back of the range....

 

[norgeway]

I CAN TELL!!!

That Kitchen is GEORGEOUS!! I believe yours is a 53 but not sure, I may have a manual but will have to hunt for it!

 

[kevin313]

Erin,

Thanks for sharing the photos of your BEAUTIFUL Imperial 70! I hope when I get mine installed it will bring me as much joy as yours has brought to you. I do have the owner's manual - I could scan it and send it to you if that would help.

Keep your eyes open for the deep well - I do see them come up on ebay from time to time. I am looking for the black plastic salt and pepper shakers that came with the stove (they sat on the ledge above the surface light).

Congrats on having such a wonderful centerpiece for your kitchen!

 

[mattl]

I've been looking for the pressure cooker insert for the deep well, now that I know it exists.  I was lucky enough to pick up a manual for the pressure cooker on ebay last week, but all I need is the unit itself.

 

While I was looking for the PC on ebay I came across several deep well pots.  There are a few listed now, they don't look like the one I have in my '59 but mine looks very modern like the rest of the stove.  Here's a link to one...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Hi-Speed-Thrift...894?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a0e224726

 

[eortmann]

Thanks!

You guys are just great! Glad you like the kitchen. It has been a loonng and difficult project, but we really do love it. I am hoping to get a blog dedicated to it once it is actually finished. Down to trim, paint, one light fixture and steam cleaning and returning the couch that we moved out a year ago when we started - then the room might truly be COMPLETE!!
I appreciate the comments and offer for the manual. Luckily, I did get the manual with the stove. I thought to ask the guy and he went and dug it up. I just wasn't as lucky on any other pieces.
I kind of went back and forth with the year between 52, 53 & 54 until I saw this ad that was supposed to be from 54. I have seen a lot of these that are super similar other than the front knobs have the little groupings of two and the light-up window. Those are the ones on the ad. I will see if I can attach it. Sadly, you can not read all of the lettering because this is a poor copy I grabbed after losing the auction. I need to track down the winner and see if they will sell me a proper scan
I have kept an eye on ebay for the deep-well pot, but never found one. Do any of you know if they are interchangeable or if I have to find one that is from the exact year and model we have?
THANK you again!

** I wasn't quite correct on my list of items still in progress for the kitchen. I also have been looking for a cool vintage stove hood or fan. Any ideas on something like that? I have not even found examples of one to look for...

 

[polkanut]

Erin,

Keep an eye out for a vintage NuTone range hood. Hans "Norgeway" has one I believe, and he loves his. I know there are several members here that have vintage range hoods and wouldn't trade them for anything!

P.S., Welcome to AW.org.

 

[kevin313]

Erin,

One thing to watch for when shopping for the deep well pot is the Imperial 70 has a black ring handle on the top. Sometimes you will see one with a white ring handle on top, while it is essentially the same pot, the white handle goes with the Imperial 45.

You own the top of the line Frigidaire range for that year ('53 or '54)!