November 2013
Our stove was delivered on a Thursday, my parents were arriving for Thanksgiving break on Tuesday and I had an entire Thanksgiving meal that needed to be prepared and cooked. The question quickly became: would it be on the old stove or the new one?
As soon as we ordered the range we knew we would have to install a gas line in the kitchen. For some unknown reason our old stove was electric even though all the other appliances/systems in the house ran on gas (boiler, water heater, dryer). Since the house already had gas, the install only required a plumber to install a new gas line to the kitchen from the basement. Josh called our local plumbing company and explained what we needed to get done and asked if it was possible to get it done in the next week. Turns out they had an opening on Monday morning and we grabbed it. Possibility for Thanksgiving on the new stove- high.
But, it wasn't quite that easy.... we have always hated the layout of our kitchen. The combination of having the fridge and the stove next to each other with no counter top made cooking very difficult and tended to create a pinch point in the main area. The good news was our our new stove only need a 120v outlet to run the starter so the 220v outlet for the old stove could be removed and we were no longer tethered to it's existing location. The logical choice was to utilize the underused area we would call the nook.
Originally, this was a built-in seating area with benches and a table (long gone by the time we bought the house). Since then we have used a wire shelf to make the space into an ad hoc pantry space. In a kitchen that is 12' x 7' the relatively little used 5' x 5' storage space was a huge waste. We decided to swap the stove and the wire shelf, and then after more thought the shelf with the fridge. This moved the fridge closer to the dining room and the middle of the room. Suddenly we created a bigger work triangle and gained counter space adjacent to the stove for prep. Win.
Granted, we could have removed the existing stove, moved our fridge over and put the rack immediately into the new space. However, there was no way I was removing the existing working stove until I was 100% sure this new stove was working. Don't I sound like a jaded homeowner? (Really it's just the sad truth after years of expecting a brand new nice thing to work and then being in a lurch when it didn't).
On Monday morning, our plumber arrived. The entire job went well, the gas dryer sits directly below and so we only had to stub up through the floor from an existing T on the line. In two hours he had plumbed the line, restarted all our pilot lights and tried the stove to make sure it worked right. We were thrilled and that night we quickly broke in the range. I had exactly 3 days to learn all the tricks of gas cooking before I put it through the paces of an entire Thanksgiving dinner. 
The new stove was an unrelegated success! Together Josh and I made our very first Thanksgiving dinner and every step of the way NXR was there. Here is some celebratory pictures of our bird, and spread!
You guys must have been really happy about things working out. I don't know if getting a range that specifically runs on gas was originally part of the plan, but at least it paved the way for your kitchen to be remodeled. The stove and fridge sitting right next to each other could have been dangerous too, so having those two separated was a priority.
ReplyDeleteLevi Eslinger @ Capital Plumbing & Heating