Actually, this is not our first new range. Way back in our first house we purchased a new electric range from Sears to replace our aging, decrepit and cheap range that was in the house when we bought it. The burners did not work well, there was no light or window in the oven and it was not self-cleaning. It was a huge upgrade to have a brand new range in our kitchen. Unfortunately, we only got to use it for a couple of months before we moved to South Carolina.

We didn’t have a new range when we moved to SC but it was only six months old. We were not the first owners but the second. They only lived there six months. So, we kind of thought that it was a fair trade pretty new for pretty new. The difference was our Oregon range was a coil burner while our SC range was a glass top. Out went my cast iron.

When we were looking at house to purchase, I thought that this was the time to upgrade from our worn out Jenn-Air to gas. What I mean by that is of course we were moving, but we had loved our old range to death. Even though it was around thirty years old, they stopped making parts for it. We had had the burner cassettes rebuilt several times. The light in the oven started burning out almost immediately after replacement so I stopped replacing it. The controls display had broken plastic that does not have a replacement. Occasionally, a fault would display and you would have to reset the breaker to get the oven to work. Even the auto-lock for self cleaning would get stuck.

I investigated replacing it multiple times but there was some problems. The first of which was that the range was of a non-standard size. Since the cabinets were built around it, that would mean some serious modification like cabinets, counters and tile. Also, the position of the range in the room required another downdraft or building a whole ventilation system. Downdrafts in general run about double what a non-downdraft runs. I really didn’t want a flat top due to the cookware that I own and like. Gas was available but we didn’t have it. So, replacing the range required a serious kitchen model.

A lot of the older houses we looked at had gas in the kitchen. I think because gas was a common heating fuel, it made sense to also have it in the kitchen. As the heating landscape has shifted away from gas to heat pumps, it saved a lot of money to not have two utilities at the time of building. Hence, gas is now a luxury rather than a necessity. And since our house was built in 2018, we fall into the luxury category.

Unfortunately for us (or fortunately), we selected a house that had a completely inadequate heating plan. We didn’t have a heat pump, instead we had inefficient and somewhat ineffective, resistant wall heaters. Had we had proper and efficient heating, we most likely would have elected to stick with an electric range. I would have never spent $10,000 just to have a gas range installed. And yes, the unit cost of installing a heat pump was approximately the same as a gas unit. We did pay more to run a gas line, might as well go all the way to install the gas in the kitchen.

This whole process was quite an ordeal. If I am being honest, I missed the heating situation before we made an offer because I was wearing rose colored glasses. Had I known that we were going to invest $35K right off the bat, I probably would have at least offered less initially. We got the quotes for heating in January. We could take no action until we actually purchased the home, that was August. Then the work had to be scheduled.

In some ways it was ideal in other ways it was not. We had to act like the general contractor in this project. We had to manage the electrician as well as the HVAC. The HVAC had to work with the gas company as well as the city. There was a lot of we are waiting for this or that in the process. What it did do was allow us to develop a separate scope of work with the electrician but it certainly slowed things down with us being the middle man. Because of all of the starts and stops things got missed, like plumbing our range gas line.

Once all of the gas work was done, then we had to switch the electrical for the range. Keep in mind, there is a gap in operation unless you have the new appliance on hand. Electrical ranges use 50A at 240V. But, a gas range (at least this one) only uses a 20A circuit. What surprised me is that 20A at 120V circuit can run two ovens simultaneously. Those counter top, air fryers really are just mini versions of the real thing. I always thought of them as a novelty.

End Your Programming Routine: I didn’t get the maiden voyage of the new range. My wife wanted to make some Mexican comfort food. It has been a very emotional week, we have the highs of the World Series and the very lows of our dog passing on. We also have the stress of all the contractor work that is wrapping up. I am fine with not getting the first crack. I have years of time to enjoy.