What ranges your family have/had?

[fan-of-fans]

My parents first home they owned was a mobile home they'd bought new in the early 80s. It had a very BOL almond Magic Chef 30" gas. With no electric at all I don't think, not even an oven light and it had pilot lights.

Then they built a house in 1992, this came with a GE 30" electric with self cleaning oven, 3 dial timers and black glass door with no window.

My grandma on mom's side I believe had a Kenmore electric 30" in her first house they'd had built in the 1940s. Not sure but the Kenmore may have been 60s era.

Then in 1981 they built another house. This had an 80s Roper built Kenmore range with self clean oven and may have had a window. There was also a built in cabinet which had an Amana Radarange with Touchmatic controls, and a Farberware convection oven below it.

My grandma's last house when she downsized was built in 1978. She had another Farberware convection on the counter. The range that came with the house was a 1978 almond GE 30" with only one timer, continuous clean oven with window and woodgrain control panel. The range had issues with the indicator lights and I think something else so before she sold the house, she replaced it. She got a used Frigidaire bisque and black range with black glass door with window and I think this also had a continuous clean oven.

I remember my other grandma talking about their first home, a tiny place on a farm having a gas hot plate. The gas line went out to a propane tank. A cow was eating grass nearby one day, and bumped the line. This made the hotplate move and scared her half to death! Then they hade a GE range with a deep well cooker later on, I never saw it. Later they had a 1981 mobile which came with a basic Tappan 30" slide in in white. It had an oven window and just a dial timer. Then they built a new house in 1994 and this had a GE 30" self clean just like my parents'. But the oven went wonky while it was still under warranty, and my grandma had always wanted a smooth top. So she had them replace it with a Whirlpool 30" self clean smooth top about 1996-97. This range is still going well today.

My aunt's house had a 40" GE when I was really young. It had the small side oven, don't remember much else about it. Later this got replaced with a Whirlpool smooth top self clean around the mid 90s.

My other aunt and uncle I remember had a 60s ranch. There was a newer electric GE range and also a GE wall oven I'd guess from the 60s built into a brick wall. When they sold that house around 04 they moved into a new house with a GE smoothtop.

Yet another aunt's house had a Frigidaire smooth top from mid 70s with Tradewinds hood and Thermador double ovens vented outside. The kitchen was remodeled and I think the wall ovens were replace as well as the cooktop. The hood was kept but I don't know what the new appliances are. I think the cooktop is black with 5 burners. That's all I know since I haven't been to her house since then.

 

[xraytech]

In my parents old house mom had an early 80s 36” GE gas range in avocado
When new house was built in 1993 she chose a white and black 30” Frigidaire with steel burners, now she has a new 30” GE smoothtop in Slate

One grandma had a TOL 1965 GE 40” range in white, was replaced in 2007 with a horrid 40” Frigidaire

Other grandma had a 1970s 36” GE snoothtop cooktop and a TOL 1966 GE 24” wall oven in avocado
Was replaced in late 2000’s with a White GE cooktop and walloven

One aunt had a 30” Tappan continuous clean electric range

Another aunt had a mid 80s Jenn-Air slide in range

Another aunt had a 30” GE Americana in Coppertone in one house, then the next house had a 40” Hotpoint in harvest gold, it was replaced in early 2000s with a 30” stainless Frigidaire smoothtop

Great grandma had an early 80s 30” Tappan electric in Harvest Gold

A great aunt had a 30” GE Americana in avocado

I now own Grandmas house, I replaced the 40” Frigidaire with a 1959 GE Liberator in Canary yellow that I recently needed to replace with a late 70s 40” Hotpoint in white

 

[norgeway]

Well

Mother and Daddy bought a Thrifty 30 Frigidaire and matching refrigerator in 1950, Later , due to the illness and death of my Grandfather, They moved in with Grandmother, Since Grandmother had a 54 , 30 inch Hotpoint they sold the Frigidaire set, in 69 they bought a Kelvinator which was the WORST piece of garbage ever, that was replaced with one of the last real Frigidaires in 79.then I started dragging home stoves in the mid 80s and the rest was history,,lol

 

[wayupnorth]

Most of my family and neighbors had at least 40" gas ranges on one side and a kerosene heater on the other. Ours was a Kenmore, aunts next door was Hardwick, Grammy had a huge Kenmore dual fuel and a couple aunts had Florence gas with oven in the center and one had a Magee electric with kerosene. So glad kerosene heaters that stink so bad are gone but you still got heat and could cook on the top when there was no power.

 

[mattl]

Way back prior to my birth my folks had a '49-'50 gas range, had fold down covers over the burners, that is all I can remember of it.  The gas range was relegated to the basement and replaced with a TOL 40" Frigidaire Custom Imperial in '59.  Still have and use the stove occasionally, did a chicken on the rotisserie last week, it's now in the basement. We moved and had no room for a 40" range in the new kitchen, it was a builders special Hotpoint drop in range, POS.  Lasted 7-8 years, wiring burned out in various places.  Replaced that with Corning Range in '73.  That lasted until I remodelled the kitchen in '88, replaced it with a Kitchen-aid glass gas cooktop and a Jennair wall oven.  I replaced both of those about 9 years ago, with a Siemens’s gas cooktop and an Electrolux wall oven.

 

[turquoisedude]

From as far back I can remember, the family range was a 1957 Frigidaire 'Super'. This was retired in 1974, when my mother insisted on going Harvest Gold in the kitchen - we got a Baycrest (made by Westinghouse for The Bay department stores) with a continuous cleaning oven. The Frigidaire got stored in the garage, but not discarded.
In 1975, we bought an old farmhouse in the country to use as a weekend home - it came with a scary Westinghouse, a 1960 model I think. The surface units worked, but the oven sparked when we turned it on, so we didn't use it. In 1978, we bought a neighbouring house to use instead. This one had been renovated, but the owners took their fancy ass Jenn-Air built-in range and oven; we replaced them with a 1962 GE built-in oven and cooktop we found at a yard sale.
In 1980, that second house was robbed - I kid you not, they took the kitchen cabinets off the wall, including those GE built-ins! The old 57 Frigdaire was still in storage in the garage of the 'city house', so it got brought back into service. I did my first Radiantube repairs, much to my parent's delight. My mother died in 1987 and my father decided to rent out the house, as he didn't like being there alone and he had the city house anyway.
That second house burnt down in 1992, taking the Frigidaire with it...
All the while, the '74 Baycrest remained at my father's house in Pointe-Claire did fine. In 2003, he moved to Ontario and took the range with him, but did not use it since his new house came with a 1981 Kenmore range with a self-cleaning oven. Both were sold off in 2006 when my father sold that property to move to an apartment back in the Montreal suburbs.
I'll do a second part about the ranges I've been through... LOL

 

[jmm63]

Great thread

I'm pretty sure I had that same range in my first mobile home Cole. It was also an early 80's model. Pilot lights only, even for the oven, but Almond was just making an appearance in the 80's so I was surprised the stove was so cheap but in a popular color.

My family's house had a dual oven GE from the 60's when we bought it in 77. Mom got rid of it almost right away and got a TOL Kenmore ceramic top. It was pretty nice and even had a light on it. That got replaced sometime in the 90's with another ceramic top, not as nice, and then replaced a few years ago with another one that is just crap.

Of all the places I've lived, the nicest range was in a house rental in 2007. Fairly new GE profile with convection oven and even a surface light, which I had thought they stopped doing years ago. It had a very nice night light feature.

 

[jamiel]

Grew up with the 24 inch GE spacesaver from the mid 50s which my parents bought used...it allowed a slightly wider pass through to the back door. It was always a mystery because the oven control had "timed bake" but there wasn't a timer (the backsplash addition with clock/light had been removed). Moved into a house with Youngstown/Tappan cooktop (7 heat switches) from when the house was built in 1960 and a replacement Hotpoint self-cleaning 24" oven. Maternal grandmother had a mid-60s Hotpoint Quick-Clean 30" which was rattly and noisy (with the Teflon panels and the wire shelf supports) and my dad's mother had a 1936 Chambers!

 

[DADoES]

 
Rental house into which I was born, I don't know other than it was a gas range.

Second house, parents built in '64 had a turquoise electric Martha Washington wall oven and cooktop.  They were not changed for the duration we lived there.

Third house to which we moved in 1980 originally had an avocado Roper electric double wall oven (standard clean) and cooktop.  Changed to a white Whirlpool double wall oven (self-clean upper, standard clean lower) and chrome (or stainless?) cooktop circa 2005.

First apartment I rented had a brown (not coppertone) electric GE pushbutton range, probably late 1950s or early 1960s.

First house I bought had an early 1980s almond electric WCI/Frigidaire drop-in range (standard clean).

Second house I bought has a 2004 stainless electric GE Profile range (convection, self-clean).

 

[turquoisedude]

Chapter 2 - ranges I've owned

Or been through, depending on your point of view... LOL
I'll go chronogically:
1986 - Moved into my first 'on my own' apartment; had a really, really, really crappy 1970-something Roy range (possibly made by Gibson). It was white

1989 - Had a 1957 Canadian Tappan-Gurney (white) in the kitchen of my 1st home

1991 - Got a 1979 Bélanger smooth-top with a self-cleaning oven (almond). It got moved to downtown Montreal in 1994.

1995 - Was given a 1979 Beaumark (Made by Hotpoint for The Bay department store); it was white but the self-cleaning oven still worked. The Bélanger got donated...

1995 (Fall) - Bought a country house in Mountain Lakes; it came with a mid-60s Frigidaire Deluxe which was in bad shape. This got replaced with a 1986 Kenmore (white-not self-cleaning) which a friend gave me.

1997 - Bought the house next door to the house in Mountain Lakes; it came with a 1974 Admiral white 24-inch range. This was by far the worst range I ever encountered (as bad as the Roy...)

1999 - Found a 1974 Kenmore range in avocado green (along with a matching fridge) - these went to the first Mountain Lakes house to join the 1978 Kenmore avocado dishwasher I had. The '86 Kenmore got donated.

2001 - Moved into a condo-type apartment in Montreal; upgraded to a brand-new Whirlpool Gold smooth-top, self-cleaning, stainless steel range (under duress from Hubby and our interior decorator). The 79 Hotpoint went to a good friend.

2003 - A friend gave me a 1962 McClary 24-inch range in turquoise. It was a wreck - this was my first range restoration! This one went to the 2nd Mountain Lakes house; I managed to con a neighbour into buying the Admiral. He didn't sue...

2004 - Found a 1964 Kelvinator Masterpiece 30-inch range in turquoise (with matching fridge). These went into service in the 2nd house in Mountain Lakes. The old McClary went to a collector friend in Montreal.

2007 - Bought the house in Ogden; sold both houses in Mountain Lakes. The avocado Kenmore range stayed in that 1st house, but the turquoise Kelvinator moved with us. In the 'new' house in Ogden, there was an mid-80s Jenn-Air cooktop and a Hotpoint built-in oven. They were fine, but then I found a GE Wonder Kitchen!

2009 - renovated the Ogden Kitchen - the GE range in the Wonder Kitchen was installed

2010 - Sold the Kelvinator turquoise range (and fridge) to a collector friend

2015 - Bought the house in St-Liboire. The turquoise 1962 Flair 30-inch range went into that house. The '01 Whirlpool was sold to a friend of a friend

2019 - Flair and Wonder Kitchen still doing fine (but I do happen to have a 1964 GE 30-inch range in turquoise Just In Case something goes *boom* on the Flair!)

 

[goatfarmer]

My dad was a Frigidaire authorized technician, so all we had was Frigidaire. I remember a 1968 wall oven in stainless, with the matching countertop  unit in stainless. 

 

[circlew]

Westinghouse

My parents bought a Westinghouse Imperial 30 range sometime after my dad returned from the Korean War in 1953. I'm not sure what kind they had previous, but I'm thinking it was a gas model from Mom's comments. The new range was installed when they renovated the kitchen, installing Youngstown steel cabinets at that time. I still have it stored for future use in the basement.

Occasionally my mom would talk of getting a new range, but after looking at them, she said they were not as good of quality - too "tinny". So she used the Westinghouse until she passed away. I used it for several more years, until I moved out to renovate the entire house.

The rental house had a cheap Admiral (Magic Chef) for a while, but the oven control stuck on it, so landlady replaced it with a much nicer Tappan (Frigidaire). It never gave me any trouble.

I bought a Kenmore flat cooktop for my new kitchen, and will get a GE wall oven soon, when I finish the kitchen.

 

[askolover]

My parents got their first range in 1966 when they married, a new Frigidaire 40" in coppertone and had the huge storage drawer on the left and a full-width drawer in the bottom.  It was replaced in 1992 when we changed over to gas with a TOL Caloric with infrared broiler and sealed burners.

 

[robbinsandmyers]

My grandparents had a 1952 Tappan Suburban Deluxe oven that was probably the LaSalle of ovens back in the day. They bought it new and it lasted until they were both gone in 1988. At which time my dad and uncle broke it apart to get it down from the second floor it was so big and heavy. Still worked perfectly although the door hinges were tired and the plastics were cracking and breaking.

 

[superocd]

Growing up, my parents had a ca. 1997 KitchenAid electric range. Before that, I think it was a Kenmore electric range (WCI/Frigidaire?) from the late 1980s. Dishwasher was a GE Potscrubber original to the house (late '80s) and the refrigerator was an Amana bottom freezer ca. 1997. I think the fridge before that was a more basic Kenmore top freezer unit, which was moved to the garage. Their current home is all Maytag ca. 2015, with their range being natural gas and convection.

My grandparents had a propane Magic Chef range in their Windsor mobile home, which they bought new in the late 80s. They also had a factory built-in GE microwave, a GE Potscrubber 600 (just like ours!) and a GE top-freezer refrigerator with a woodgrain ice door on the front of the freezer door (I have yet to see another fridge like that). All of those appliances were almond.

My house came with a ca. 2004 Frigidaire smoothtop range, SxS refrig. and dishwasher, all in white. I replaced those in 2014 (a year after buying the house) with a stainless Whirlpool Gold kitchen package, with a radiant range, a hidden control DW and a French door refrigerator. I did buy the matching OTR micro but decided to replace it last year with a more powerful hood-only unit from Broan (600 CFM). I donated the Frigidaire appliances (and later the Whirlpool OTR) to Habitat for Humanity so hopefully somebody out there is getting good use out of them for cheap.

 

[fan-of-fans]

Tom, that Tappan sounds like the one that's in the house of a friend of mine. Their's was a smooth top, self cleaning and white on white. It had been installed in 2009 following a house fire that had consumed the kitchen.

I thought it was odd to see the Tappan name again after so many years.

Their's seemed to work alright. The only thing was my friend always used the broiler with the door closed, which I don't think it was meant to be on that model stove, and the trim at the top of the door discolored a yellowish color.

Jim, I think those almond Magic Chefs were very popular back in 80s mobile homes. I've seen also an electric version that too was very BOL, no clock or oven window in almond.

That Kenmore smooth top with light sounds like a Roper built range. In the early 90s they had a Lady Kenmore version with black glass door, black glass top with expandable element, and chrome control panel with light.

 

[ea56]

With All the Snow I Have on My Roof

I can remember a whole hellva lot of stoves! The first stove that I recall my parents having was a 36” BOL O’Keeffe and Merritt gas stove, that they bought in 1952. We also had a small Servel Gas refrigerator in this same home. When we moved in 1954, the same stove and fridge moved with us. In 1955, the very night the first televised version of Peter Pan with Mary Martin aired, my dad had a brand new Manitowoc huge, bottom freezer refrigerator delivered to replace the Servel.

Then when we moved in 1958, the O’Keeffe and Merritt and Manitowoc came too. Then, in 1959, the gas stove was replaced by a new 30” Frigidaire Electric stove, with French Doors for the oven.

Then in 1962, we moved to a home built in 1956, with an AEK Westinghouse kitchen, the stove top in brushed SS and the built in oven in Coppertone finished SS, not painted. The Westinghouse DW also had the same Coppertone front. The refrigerator was a huge Westinghouse, bottom freezer, with a drawer in the middle, between the fridge and freezer compartments. The drawer was for fresh produce. The Manitawoc was relegated to the garage.

Then in 1963, after my father died the year before, we moved to the last home I would live with my family in. It was custom built in1961, with a galley kitchen, built in electric stove top and single oven, both Welbilt’s, in coppertone enamel and there was a 61’ Coldspot bottom freezer refrigerator, probably a 17cu, and the 62’ Whirlpool MOL automatic w/suds saver was also in the kitchen, the 62’ Whirlpool dryer was on the open back porch off the kitchen. In 1969, the Whirlpool Automatic was replaced with a new Maytag Wringer, model E, with a pump, of course.

I’ve lived in so many different homes and apartments before we moved to our present home in 1994, that it would take pages to list the different stoves and fridges I’ve had, so I’m not going there, LOL.

Eddie