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Honored Contributor
Posts: 20,019
Registered: ‎08-08-2010

I've now been 6 months without an oven!

We remodeled the kitchen in the summer of 2019. My fridge and stove are old (fridge is about 35 years, stove over a decade, maybe close to two decades old). They are white, and are not really a good look in my new kitchen. But....the only things really out there are stainless, black and white. I'm looking for something else. I want something with a copper/brown tint to it, and there was one manufacturer doing a grey kind of stainless look that might work, but there wasn't any real selection in styles/sizes. 

 

So the short version is I am/was willing to limp on with my old white, and wait for what I really thought would look good, when I find it, or when they 'invent' it. And of course when you make that kind of decision, to not 'settle' for something you don't want (cause you already have something you don't want), that is when the old stuff breaks!

 

We have a gas (propane) range, and have had it act up in the same way in the past. Needs a couple of parts and we are off again. Called one company in July, they came, adjusted stuff, and it didn't work. I told them what parts we had replaced with similar issues in the past, but no, I know nothing. Gave up on them, called another company. They came, said needed the same adjustments, did it and within two days, was malfunctioning again. Called them back and he agreed the parts were needed. Geez, Really? 

 

So in August they quoted the parts, and labor, I readily agreed and off they went. I knew Covid was going to delay things, but we are now over four months and still no parts. I call about once a month and am told they have hundreds of other customers waiting on parts, that the basics they keep on their repair trucks are almost gone, many can't be had to restock, and they don't know what they are going to do when what little they have left runs out. 

 

It's been quite frustrating, to say the least, for someone who cooked and baked daily even before Covid, and now that we are home so much more, wanted to for especially this holiday season. 

 

My stove top works, I have an electric skillet, electric stock pot, crock pots and a big roaster. I have had the roaster up in the kitchen since fall came and weather cooled down, and it works for baking things like casseroles, baked beans, side dishes etc. But isn't the best or easiest thing to bake cakes, cookies and things like that. Honestly if I had known this was going to go on this long, I'd have gotten a countertop toaster oven type thing back when they had TSV's and free shipping etc. I just never really wanted one, because I don't want a bunch of those type appliances (feel the same about air fryer, insta pot etc.) taking up space on the counter, in the cupboards, and I am happy with just a stove (well, one that works! lol) under normal circumstances.

 

I wasn't going to bake Christmas cookies this year. We have never had a year in many generations when the family recipes for cookies and treats weren't served, so I thought today I would give it a shot in the roaster and see it I could make them presentable. Takes much longer per batch, can't put many in at one time, as if stuff gets too close to the edges, will burn, but I'm making it work. 

 

My Christmas baking has always been a labor of love, and family enjoys and appreciates it. It's a much bigger labor of love this year, that is for sure! I've done a couple of varieties of cookies today, will try a couple of more tomorrow!

 

Anyone else had issues getting parts for appliances, car repairs etc. because of Covid? I'm definitely loosing my patience with the whole thing!

Honored Contributor
Posts: 69,397
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: I've now been 6 months without an oven!

I've heard of people having trouble buying appliances.  If someone lists a freezer for sale on our Next Door app, a bidding war ensues.  I've heard of people having appliances painted at auto body shops who wanted unusual colors.

 

Several years ago, I got a Breville convection oven.  It is not a toaster oven but cooks just like a big oven and will take a 9 X 13 casserole.  I have not used my big oven since the day I got it.  That one is used for storage.  I keep it on a rolling cart, not the counter.  Something to consider.

New Mexico☀️Land Of Enchantment
Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,233
Registered: ‎07-18-2015

Re: I've now been 6 months without an oven!

Sounds like a heck of a lot of frustration. Glad you found a way around it, but still!!

Hope you can soon find a replacement.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,824
Registered: ‎03-21-2010

Re: I've now been 6 months without an oven!

I think you should buy an inexpensive oven until the time you can find what you really want ..... the price you are paying for the parts needed to fix the old oven just isn’t worth it .... then when you find what you really want you can sell the inexpensive oven or donate it to a needy family .... at least in the meantime you have an oven that works!!!!

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Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,781
Registered: ‎03-13-2010

Re: I've now been 6 months without an oven!

@Kachina624     I have used a countertop oven/broiler since I have lived in this house (20+ yrs).   I don't even have a clue if the "real" stove oven (that came with the place) works.   di

♥Surface of the Sun♥
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,672
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: I've now been 6 months without an oven!

@Desertdi 

 

Hey Di, I just spotted this.  While I was still working I pretty much fixed my meals that way too.  I seldom used my oven and broiler.

The moving finger writes; And having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line Nor all your Tears Wash out a Word of it. Omar Khayam
Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,781
Registered: ‎03-13-2010

Re: I've now been 6 months without an oven!


@Lindsays Grandma wrote:

@Desertdi 

 

Hey Di, I just spotted this.  While I was still working I pretty much fixed my meals that way too.  I seldom used my oven and broiler.


@Lindsays Grandma      If you wonder how I fed my elderly mother......she didn't have any idea WHO I was.    She refused to eat anything I cooked, because she thought I was trying to poison her and steal her money.    I went out and got take-out boxed dinners from restaurants in the neighborhood for her.    di

♥Surface of the Sun♥
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,672
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: I've now been 6 months without an oven!

@Desertdi ...You know, it didn't come to my mind, but now that you mentioned it, you really had your hands full didn't you?

The moving finger writes; And having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line Nor all your Tears Wash out a Word of it. Omar Khayam
Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,808
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: I've now been 6 months without an oven!

How completely frustrating! I have no suggestions but can only commiserate.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 18,781
Registered: ‎03-13-2010

Re: I've now been 6 months without an oven!


@Lindsays Grandma wrote:

@Desertdi ...You know, it didn't come to my mind, but now that you mentioned it, you really had your hands full didn't you?


@Lindsays Grandma   During the day,   I had help from an "eldercare agency"......but my mom was a handful.   She actually punched one of the girls (nursing students) in the solar plexus.   The girl quit....thank heaven she didn't sue me. 

 

  My mom also carried a knife.  (A little "pig-sticker" that gang members carry.)  We kept taking them away from her.....but she always came up with another one.   I don't know where she acquired them, or where they were hidden.   

 

Sometimes, I would go to work, and actually cry on my boss's shoulder.   She was a kind and understanding woman, thank God.    di

 

My mom had taken care of my dad at home, when he was dying of cancer.   I felt that my dad would have wanted me to do the same for her.   

♥Surface of the Sun♥