We took a nice, late '40s, all-gas O'Keefe & Merritt out of service to do our vintage remodel. It's been taking up space in the garage for over a year. Tried to sell it a couple of times on You-know-who's List, no serious takers even at a low price. My wife's boss is taking it for free today. It's odd--there are websites where you could spend thousands for a freshly-refurbished unit of the same range. Advertise it locally and no one is interested.

The O'Keefe & Merritt looks very cool but functionally it is quirky, no doubt. The oven heats unevenly and the pilots don't always light the burners. Still better than low-end modern ranges. (We went high-end and installed a CornuFe dual-fuel. DW is in heaven every times she cooks on it.)

Best of luck with your dilemma!

There's a 40" kenmore and a 40" frigidaire. Unless you get very lucky on craigslist, something like an O'Keefe and Merrit is about $5k and northwards restored.

These guys are around 2k to 2.5k - and are findable for less.

Here is a link that might be useful: sample for frigidaire

I'm new here and this is my first post. We're planning to build a new house, and I've started planning my kitchen, so I've been reading lots here...

I've been cooking on an early 1950s O'Keefe & Merritt for the past 16 years and I love it. I live in rural western Canada, and when I moved here from NYC after getting married, we needed a stove for our empty kitchen. We learned about the O&M from a sign on the supermarket bulletin board, where it was offered for $25. It was in the woman's basement and was a beast to get out, but once we got it cleaned up (my husband took some parts to the car wash and I worked on the rest at home), it has been a dream to cook on and to look at. It has four burners and a griddle, along with the original integral salt and pepper shakers and timer. Of course, for me it wasn't too much of a change because I learned to cook on the 1930s gas range in our NYC pre-war apartment, which my mother still has and uses.

For our new kitchen in the new house, I'd love to get another vintage, but larger 8-burner range, either O&M, Chambers, Wedgewood etc. and supplement the small oven with a modern wall oven. But if we can't find (or afford) a larger vintage range, the O&M is coming with us! (We live on a farm, so the old house will stay on our property...)

yesdear is right about the prices for the ranges when they are advertised locally vs. the antique stove refurbishing websites. One place you might want to try is stovelist, which I've linked to below.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Stovelist

I have a vintage range, a Wedgewood-Holly circa 1960. We've also got an O'Keefe and Merritt in the garage that we replaced in the rental unit of our duplex when we took down the chimney that was used to vent it (and remodel plans made it impractical to install a stovepipe). Ours at least works great most of the time. We've had a bit of trouble with the door hinge (a screw keeps working loose, so we have to take off the door and open it up and replace it). The downsides of the old stove is that you have to vent the oven (for combustion gases) and energy efficiency, with the standing pilot lights. But they work well, and can be repaired seemingly indefinitely.

Where are you located? I think our OK&M is 36", but it might be 40". I'll check if you are interested...I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area.

We gave up a 1940s 4-burner with griddle O'Keefe and Merritt range when we redid our kitchen. (I sold it in about 5 minutes on our neighborhood listserve even though it was missing some parts and the Grillavator -- I assume it was a broiler -- never worked. Our neighbor who bought it sent it off to be refurbished and made it the centerpiece of her new kitchen!).

I cooked on the OK&M for 15 years and it was okay. We had to turn the pilots on the burners off because they heated up the kitchen so much. I never used the griddle (although another neighbor with the same stove says the griddle is her favorite part).

One of my biggest problems was the size of the oven. I could barely fit a half sheet pan in it and it only had one rack (I borrowed the neighbor's rack whenever we had a party). I love my new range -- 3 racks that fit a 3/4 sheet pan. And pilotless ignition. No more matches.

I've had my new cabinets in my garage for 2 weeks, but I've been dragging my feet on demo and install due to the range issues. I really want a Chambers range, but if I can't find one locally within my budget, I'll need to settle for something else.

I've decided I want something that I know will keep on working, and working. I love to cook, but nothing fancy, just simple fare. I bake moderately, so massive oven size is not as critical to me. At present I have a full sized Kitchenaid with a ton of features and modes which I never use. I turn it on, set the temp and cook. I don't pre-program, I don't use Sabbath Mode, I rarely even use the convection.

Another reason for going with a electronic-less stove is I've had a bad experience with a Kithchen Aid (aka Whirlpool) refrigerator computer circuit board that has been replaced twice in 3 years. Nearly every new range I've read about has had some issues with electronics, especially Jenn Air. Scary.

Every Chambers owner I've read about has raved about their stove. It seems like, "this is the last stove I'll ever buy" is used a lot.

I say, go vintage.

Kathe

Here is a link that might be useful: Chambers Range

kathe's right! I have a 1936 Chambers C, 6 burner, 2 oven, w/ a griddle & broiler and LOVE it! It works great in our eclectic vintage kitchen and is so much fun to cook on.

Yay vintage!

I drool every time I see farmhousebound's yummy Chambers...

Chester, I designed my kitchen remodel last year around a 1949 O'Keefe & Merritt (39") that I got on Craigslist and restored. It's a lot zippier than the newish cheapish Maytag I inherited with this house. You can adjust the burners to be as jet-fuel-eqsue as you need, and the Grillevator is pretty darned swell for effortless singe-free broiling. We don't use the stovetop griddle much but love having that extra workspace on the range.

I do not miss the large cavernous oven of modern stoves; instead I actually love how quickly and evenly the smaller oven heats up. I have three racks, so space is never an issue, and last Thanksgiving I fit a 22lb bird in there.

The thick smooth white enamel is a dream to clean after years of modern pebbly-surfaced rental stoves.

I'd say that oven size and the pilot lights are probably the two issues that hold folks back from using vintage ranges more often. I most certainly do not miss the ghastly electronic panels and their endless beeping and repairs.

If you decide to go the rehab route, I got new insulation, safety valves (bringing it up to modern code), various spare parts and lots of handholding and advice from the folks at antiquestoves.com.

Here is a link that might be useful: antique stoves

Question for those with vintage ranges: Have you had them restored? Did you have the safety valve put on? Do they still light from a pilot? Do you still have to light the oven manually?

Apparently there's a lot of disagreement among vintage stove fans and repair shops whether you should still be using a match to light the oven, and I think code on the issue varies by locality.

Ours came in the condition you see above except they cleaned it up and converted from natural gas to propane. We did not want to re-porcelain as we like the character in the piece. We did not have safety valve put on but has not been an issue with just DH and me. If you look at the lighting levers (for lack of better term) in the pic above, you will see they kind of have a built in safety system in that the button on the top has to be pushed down and lever lifted up while lighting. Yes, we still light the ovens manually.

I did all the restoration work myself. My O'Keefe and Merritt is auto-lighting, no match required for anything. It has pilot lights -- they provide the spark when you turn the burner (or oven, or grillevator) knob. Just like any gas stove until the advent of electronics in the 1970's. Living in Maine, I don't mind the slight added heat of the pilots as much as someone in a warmer clime might.
I did need need to replace a safety valve for the Grillevator that kept deciding the pilot light had gone out and turning off the flow of gas - but the device was original to the OKM.

As far as I know, there is no way to retrofit an electronic no-pilot ignition system into a vintage stove. They do make an after-market safety for the Chambers models to switch the oven from match-lit to pilot, see the link below.

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It's always funny, though, isn't it, what people find acceptable-slash-modern? Folks often ask me with ill-disguised horror in their voices if I have to use a match to light my stove. I did it for years in Europe, wouldn't bother me a whit if I had to.

But my German friends, for example, would be horrified at the tank water heaters those same folks have in their homes (all that water just waiting to cause a flood! All that wasted energy! Why don't they have instant pass-through water heating like other civilized people?)

Here is a link that might be useful: Chambers & safety systems

As far as I know, there is no way to retrofit an electronic no-pilot ignition system into a vintage stove.

Yup, one of the rehab places offers this service. Don't ask me which, this is a brain fog day.

It's not weird to me to use a match to light a stove. It can be an issue if you have house guests who stay with you and might be clueless.

Paydirt! Lots to think about, thanks!
This is in upstate New York, which is pretty good for old stoves (I've been watching a few and came close to pulling the trigger once). Not the Bay area or Southern California, but not bad. Lots of folks who see West Coast prices for restored stoves who eventually find that buyers aren't as easy to find.

I'd be ok with an oven pilot -- and with clean up unless it's in really sorry shape. I'd turn off the propane when we'd leave.

There are a couple of places not too far away that sell restored stoves. One has an Anderson, which was a Chambers knockoff. There are some seemingly in good shape inexpensive unrestored ones in driving distance. I'm thinking that if I can find an appliance repair place that would deal with the safety valve and check out the rest, I'd more than happy to clean up. (I'm a coward fooling around with stuff that can explode, and, talking to the propane guy, I think they'd insist on safety valves.)

Circuspeanut and farmhousebound -- they're gorgeous!

When we get to the kitchen reno, my plan is to arrange around something (either built for me or built out of a server) modeled on the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: butcher shop

If you're in Upstate, call Historic Houseparts. I'm not sure they carry stoves, but they probably know where you could get one.

There are a few good parts and restoration places in NY. Check them out and if you have time, give them a call. I'm sure they are very knowledgable and can answer any concerns you might have about parts, availability, etc.

Good luck!

On a personal note, I'm going to see "my" Chambers on Wednesday. She's buttercup yellow and I believe a model C with the high backsplash, like Rachael Ray's if anybody watches that show. If she looks as great as her CL pictures, I'm going to bring her home. I'm so thrilled.

Kathe

{{!gwi}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Vintage Range Parts & Service Sources

Jeez, circuspeanut, are you SURE that site is selling stoves?