Range/Countertop Dilemma

18 years ago

We have a new-ish, perfectly good, electric, free-standing range in the current kitchen. It will be moved to a new area with the remodel but I'd like to add some depth to the counters there and eventually have a slide-in range. I don't cook enough gourmet meals to justify anything fancy but the children are young now and one of the things I can see myself wanting down the road is the option where two burners can cook one big pan evenly. Most likely we will have DIY soapstone counters with the remodel but we've done this before.

So, my dilemma is whether to bump out the cabinets a few inches andÂ

1) Use the almost wonderful, existing range for a while with a gap behind it

2) Get a new slide-in one now that fits the space and my one request but may have "issues" that my current one doesn't.

I wouldn't say money is a major issue but I also don't want to toss a perfectly good range that I know works and get one that may be off more than a couple degrees or, worse yet, have major malfunction issues that need to be addressed with the manufacturer. Considering we don't have many guests who would even notice the gap behind a free-standing range, what would you do for a period of approximately a year to maybe five?

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Comments (10)

cherigw
18 years ago
get the slide in (you'll still have the "issues" issue in five years. . .and it might be worse). Donate the old one to Habitat for Humanity, Salvation Army, Goodwill. . .
raehelen
18 years ago
Well,

Keep the range.

If you're DIYing the counter, just silicone a piece in place behind the stove. You can nail/screw a ledge of wood to support the SS on the wall and onto the sides of the cabinets, and either just rest the piece or dab some silicone to hold it in place.

I assume you will also keep an extra piece on hand to put in place once you have your slide-in.

If you don't want the range sitting out from your wall, you could bump out the drywall. No biggie to build a 'temporary' wall on top of the 'real' wall. Easily patched up with some plaster and paint. That's the beauty of DIY. As Mike Holmes says "In a renovation, anything is possible".
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rhome410
18 years ago
I'm too practical and don't have hundreds to spend replacing great-working items, so could you consider building a filler for behind this one for now? OR - If you bumpout the counters and push the range back against the wall, will it be horrible? BUT - Will you have problems later with fitting the counters properly around the slide-in when the range is replaced, creating more expense? That could change my mind toward getting it now.
weissman
18 years ago
Why would you need to bump out your cabinets?!? Put the freestanding range in place now. In the future, if you replace it with a slide-in range, you can put a strip in behind the slide-in range to fill in the gap. It's done all the time.
raehelen
18 years ago
I didn't suggest bumping out cabinets- just bumping out the drywall, IF, she wanted her range to rest against a wall, rather than having a piece of soapstone behind the range.

IF she had cabinets above the stove, I'd just have the drywall go over part of the uppers' bottom, and hide the crack with silicone. I'm just suggesting the drywall be bumped out behind the range- no need to move cabinets!

I personally would just tack a piece of soapstone behind the range. (Would catch anything that fell off back- if you like to put things on top of that ledge :>) She was talking about having deep counters, so I could see why she felt the range might look odd with a large gap behind it.
backinthesaddle
Original Author
18 years ago
The depth of the counter (right now) is dependent on what stone we choose and partly based on the deal we get for the slabs. Some are 26" deep, which would mean only bumping the cabinets out an inch and essentially have no effect on the range. If we went with a 30" slab, we might take advantage of that and bump the cabinets out by up to 4", which could mean a 3-4 inch gap behind the free-standing range.

IÂm not so sure I mind having a useless piece of soapstone behind there for a limited amount of time. But, it will certainly look awkward and IÂm wondering how awkward in the scheme of things.
backinthesaddle
Original Author
18 years ago
Oh, the other consideration is if we can accommodate a slide-in range at all now or whether we need to have it on hand before the counters are in place.
raehelen
18 years ago
Actually,

That's a better point! I sort of forgot about that. (We just added a slide-in to our new kitchen).

I was just thinking of the gap behind the range. You do want the opening to be fairly precise, cuz the slide in has to go over the edges of your counter.

You don't have to have the slide-in present, but you DO need to know the measurements. Perhaps ask an appliance store if there is a STANDARD default measurement (like DW which are pretty standard), or if it varies widely from one manufacturer/model to another. Also, if you are switching to gas, etc. you have to have that in place ahead of time- changing electrical, etc.
backinthesaddle
Original Author
18 years ago
From what IÂve seen online and in the stores, slide-ins take up the same space as free-standing so they are interchangeable side to side and front to back with a standard 24" cabinet. My dilemma is whether to set it up for a slide-in (in a more that 24" depth cabinet) and live with the free-standing range we already have that doesnÂt look right or splurge on another electric slide-in now.

Switching to gas is a future plan but not something IÂd want to do now with an almost 5 year old and nearly 3 year old twins. ThatÂs why IÂm wondering if we should try to get a few more years use out of the wonderful range we have now, even though it doesnÂt fit perfectly or buy something that looks better but I know IÂm not going to keep for the long term.
weissman
18 years ago
are you buying prefabbed soapstone - otherwise you can have the fabricator cut them to whatever depth you want.