I like my cute little stove that works okay

Help! My turkey won’t fit in the oven!

My house had no range at all when I bought it, so I made do with the microwave, a hot plate and a toaster oven for a couple years. (Hey, you can get away with that when you live alone. The dog doesn’t care.)

I love gas cooking and find that electric burners always tricks me up, so I ruin a lot of food. So when I had the money, about $450, I got myself a gas range. It had to be very small to fit into my tiny kitchen. (I think that my house must have been built by and for the Seven Dwarves, since it’s kind of a tight squeeze, even for a ShLEp like me.) ***

I saw this little wonder on the Sears web site, but it seemed impossible for me to place an order, to I went to the local brick-and-mortar Sears. Getting it delivered to my little mountain cabin turned out to be a bit of a nightmare, which is typical of Sears. However, that experience takes nothing away from the delight of having and using this little gas stove.

The problem is, well, it’s little. If I cook a turkey, the pies have to wait because your typical 12 to 20 pound turkey in a roasting pan takes up the whole oven, which is supposed to have a capacity of 2.92 cubic feet. Unfortunately, that capacity must also include the racks, plus a couple of inches on the top, bottom and sides, so your turkey doesn’t stick to the walls.

Even so, I do love my little Tappan gas range.

The Joy of Gas Cooking

I love cooking with gas because, when you turn on the burner, it is on. No waiting. And when you turn off the burner, it is off. The pan might be holding some residual heat, but the burner is off. With electric, I tend to burn or at least overcook everything, and there isn’t enough counter space in my tiny kitchen to take the pots off of the stove for resting or cooling.

In addition, I just love to make grilled cheese toast in the broiler and devour it along with a big mug of tomato soup. Electric ranges must be pre-heated for broiling, and that seems wasteful to me, plus I hate waiting. The gas flame comes on and melts the cheese right away.

When I’m in the mood for Somemores, a tasty sandwich made with graham crackers, chocolate and toasted marshmallows, I can toast the marshmallows over a gas burner. (Try that with electric burners!)

Features

This little range has an oven, a broiler and four burners with round steel grates. There are two pilot lights under the stovetop, one for the two burners on the left, and one for the two burners on the right. It stands about two feet wide, two feet deep and three feet high, with the back panel reaching about 41 inches in height. The broiler is on the bottom, under the oven, and has a porcelain-glazed metal broiler pan and grill. The oven has two racks, but I never seem to have enough room in there to use more than one rack. The inside of the oven measures 18 inches high by 18 inches wide and, you guessed it, 18 inches deep. It is not self-cleaning. (That doesn’t bother me, since most spills will eventually burn off when I cook stuff in there. Yes, I’m lazy about cleaning.)

Good and Bad

My little stove is light enough for me to move it by sliding it across the floor when I want to clean under or behind it, which happens once a year or less. (I am not a cleaning maniac, by any means.)

SAFETY NOTE: When moving a gas range, you must be sure that you turn off the gas valve and disconnect the gas line from your oven, unless you are absolutely positive that the gas line is long enough for the distance that the stove is moving and that you can do so without kinking the gas line.

The stovetop has only 2 inches between burners, compared to larger stoves with between 4 and 6 inches, so there isn’t any room for a spoon rest or to set down anything like a bowl or a cup. That is how they made it smaller than the typical range.

It comes in white. No other color, just white. The Sears web site shows an almond color choice, but Sears never has anything but white in stock.

You might have caught on by now that I hate cleaning, and the white range does show the dirt, but it’s actually pretty easy to clean with an all-purpose spray, a nylon scratchy pad and a gentle cleanser like Bon Ami or Soft Scrub.

The burners keep going out, so at least once a day I have to lift up the stove top and re-light them. There is no adjustment screw, so I can’t turn up the pilot lights to keep them from blowing out when I close the oven door.

The construction is rather flimsy, which is probably why it doesn’t weigh very much. However, although I did manage to dent one of the sides by bumping it against the cupboards, the stovetop and the doors to the oven and the broiler have held up well.

Closing Thoughts

I like my little gas range, and I don’t have enough room in my kitchen for a bigger one. Besides, I’m cooking for one, so it fills my needs pretty well.


*** ShLEp stands for “Short Ladies of Epinions”

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Thank you so much for reading my Epinion!

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