Here's a couple pictures of our Chambers - named her Baby. We didn't do much of anything other than have them convert from natural to propane which is what we have at the farm. Alot of the kitchen was designed around her as well as a couple of other pieces.

I am as green as your cabinet every time I see Baby!

Ditto that, Dianalo. Baby and Farmhousebound's whole kitchen as a matter of fact!

farmhousebound, your Imperial is gorgeous. I WISH I had space for that.

I too have named my yellow Chambers. She's called LuAnn, in honor of her previous owner.

They really do have personality and character. Even though I haven't started cooking on her yet, I can't even imagine going with a "regular" range. They seem so blah now. IMHO

Dang! Now I'm really regretting my decision to not go and look at that stove. I really, really, really want a range with style and personality. So I guess I'll just have to watch the Craigslist ads diligently and hope that Fate smiles upon me. Thanks for sharing all your lovely finds. I'd love to see how they looked when you acquired them. That might give me a little more confidence to purchase vintage.

I just wanted to mention this Craigslist ad for anyone in/around Portland OR

''Vintage Gaffers and Sattler gas range. Baking and warming ovens sit side-by-side. Four burners and a grill. Needs some repair.''

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/app/2042961660.html

It is not my range, I just noticed it.

I have a Crown 6 burner, 2 oven gas range also Joshct!

I have to get my cabinets re-done to accomodate it. Does anyone have the use and care guide for it?

Thanks!

I saw a Tappan range that seems identical to Arlosmom's and the one she linked to. It is at an antique store in Warren Michigan. He says it must have barely been used. It is not restored - just in great condition, he said. Email me (see (My Page) and I will send contact info for the store.

I just got this one, more of a "retro" look than "vintage," probably dates from the late 1960s or early 1970s

I love love love my stove. It has two ovens, six burners with simmer burners, pilot lights which keep the ovens slightly warm for bread proofing and yogurt incubating, and is just all around pretty awesome. Just to toot my own horn! It is a Crown stove.

Nice stoves folks! We've aquired one just like peanuts, but are needing to convert to LP. We drove 400 miles to look at it and brought it home. The fella even had a complete history of it. Belonged to his Aunt who'd bought it brand new in California, but insisted that it be moved with her back to Oklahoma even though it was never hooked up again. It's in exceptional shape. We'd be very pleased with it if we could find someone that could assist with the LP conversion.

I found this thread while researching an oven in my home. My Real Host belonged to my mother, who passed unexpectedly. My wife has no interest in it, so I am selling it locally -- thought I might share with anyone interested who has found or following this thread.

http://newjersey.craigslist.org/atq/2960085998.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Craig's List Ad

Hi everyone! I just bought a 1940's Wedgewood to redoe my kitchen as well. No overhaul of the stove for now - it's in great shape. Only "crud" on it is on the clock - blue and green and oily. Anyone have magic substance for cleaning their chrome?

I would love to see a picture LinneaPJ. But I have no info on cleaning :(

Okay. I had to register here finally, after MANY VISITS pursuant to a stressful copper countertop adventure (circuspeanut you are pretty much a Google search celebrity in that area, by the way), to post in this thread.

My wife and I have not one, but two old Wedgewood stoves, and we want to install one (and a few parts from the other) in our kitchen. I had a city inspector here last week who expressed concern about ventilation. The oven and broiler compartments are set up for direct vent but we have no desire/budget/patience/room for ducting, either exposed or in the wall.

Anyone know how these stoves work without direct venting? When rehabbed/converted, is the duct just sealed off? I'm worried about choking off fresh air for the stove. We're going to have to build a custom hood to match the 40" width so we can easily provide enough overhead ventilation, but I don't want to have problems like francy described with black smoke coming out of an open vent hole. Also considering adding some ducting to redirect the stove exhaust up through the little heat vents on top of the back panel, but that's not necessarily a good solution. Hope someone has advice.

We took out the direct vent for our O'Keefe and Merritt when we remodeled and replaced it with a standard range hood. This passed inspection with flying colors (they actually had more concerns about the old chimney than about the new hood--it was also venting our furnace and hot water heater and apparently was waaaaay out of code, though of course grandfathered in till we started the kitchen work). You will get some exhaust coming out of the vent hole, particularly if (like me) you don't always remember to turn on the hood when you turn the oven on. Put tile or another wipeable surface behind the range and wipe it down periodically and you're good to go.

If you do want to keep a vent of some sort, you can put a standard duct into the wall and do the classic vintage stove pipe vent route into it, assuming your stove is in a location where the vent would pass code (ours wasn't and we would have had to move it to an outside wall, which we weren't interested in doing). Either way, I would definitely not seal the vent off completely. Good luck!

I have the thing about half disassembled on the front porch now. It's kind of fun to take apart, actually. I took a break for a sandwich and some more research. Just sent an email to a local appliance parts shop in search of valve grease at a reasonable price... Looking at their catalog, they can order a lot of the same stuff that the specialty restorers sell (safety valves, thermocouples, and so on) and I bet their markup is lower.

I'll post pictures at some point of the dirty old thing. Hope I didn't damage the thermocouple capillary when removing it from the oven, but it was already kind of bent out of shape so might have been a lost cause to begin with.

EDIT: Update, looks like there are no springs at all on the oven doors so we'll have to buy some of those. I removed the valves for cleaning and lubrication and semi-accidentally opened up the thermostat... Then decided to close it up again before I broke it, and forego a more thorough cleaning of the oven valve. Not sure how to get corrosion off the orifice nuts, I think I'm going to try baking soda and/or vinegar first.

This post was edited by bakemaster on Sun, Mar 31, 13 at 22:26

hi Bakemaster,

Sorry didn't respond earlier, someone just sent me this thread. That's hysterical about the DIY copper counters and my "celebrity". By the by, they helped with the sale of our old bungalow -- buyers seemed to love them. I'm hoping to make some more for our new old house, to go with the 100-year-old slate/soapstone counters we have here.

Stoves!

For getting corrosion off the valves & nuts, baking soda and a toothbrush are a good first step. For more stubborn stuff, I've had good luck with one of those tiny wire brushes and soaking with PB Blaster - watch the smell though! Do it in the shop, not the kitchen. If you have screws that just won't unscrew and you're slowly ruining the slot, use a combo of PB Blaster (let it sit a good while) and this miracle stuff called Screw Grab, which actually makes your screwdriver stick in there better.

Ditto what you say about sourcing many of the parts from a regular appliance dealer or gas technician. Robertshaw still makes models of thermocouples etc that will work just fine. You can get the little rotary or push toggles for lights anywhere. (I found the high-heat wire, high-heat electrical tape, and ceramic wingnuts on Amazon in a smaller quantity - a little more expensive than bulk, but I really didn't need 100 yards of high-heat wire and was sick of being treated like a dithering housewife by the local pro electrical distributors. Your mileage may vary.)

Some things, like the door springs, might only be available as specialty replicas from http://www.antiquestoves.com/toac/, http://www.antiquegasstoves.com/pages/parts.html, etc. One of my folding canopy springs snapped while disassembling it, and since it's kind of a chore to take the whole thing apart, I decided to go for new replica springs rather than risking replacing it with another vintage one. They do say you should replace both springs per door at the same time to ensure even wear.

I don't know the level of tech specificity required, but I did have the TOAC guys rebuild my oven thermostat - works like a charm now. Could be any gas technician could do this, dunno?

I've had excellent experience with GrapevineSally on eBay, she carries lots of OKM and Wedgewood parts, including larger ones like doors or side panels, and will hunt things down for you as necessary. I had to replace one of the manifolds when we snapped off a screw during a recent overhaul of my stove, and she found one for me.

What I can warmly recommend from the specialty shops are two of the manuals put out by TOAC: oven doors and clock/timer repair. He has a series, but some of them are more common-sense than anything. The clock repair manual is golden; last week I repaired not just my own two clock/timers, but three others I had sitting around for spare parts. Come to think of it, post your stove pic and I'll see if the restored Wedgewood chrome-paneled clock/timer I have might work for you.

I've also got a really good vintage valve repair worksheet with excellent parts diagram - contact me offline and I'll shoot it to you via email.

In terms of venting, your stove should have steel venting stacks attached on the back that lead the oven/grill exhaust from the back of the appliance up to the top backsplash chrome vents. From there you can either construct a stovepipe like Artemis used to have, or you can just let your range hood take care of it, like we do. The stacks look like this. On my OKM, there are two parts, an attached square box right behind the vents, then the slightly trapezoid stacks that lead between those and the chrome vents on the side top.

With this no-stove-pipe set up, we've passed numerous recent gas inspections in the course of moving house (and moving stove with it!), so I doubt it's a safety hazard of any kind. Get a quality exterior-vented range hood, of course!

Enjoy and don't hesitate to holler with any questions - these stoves are really fascinating the more you open them up and fiddle.

Unfortunately I don't think our counters will be much of a selling point. We couldn't prevent the sheet from lifting in several places, and now there are saucer-sized areas that flex when you set things down on them. It pains me to think of the time and money we've put into projects I'm not satisfied with, but I try to look at it as paying tuition for a self-guided course in what not to do next time.

Anyway, on the topic of stoves. I was hoping to avoid taking apart the front of the stove (not the console, the panel underneath) because it looks like it's going to be a pain to get back together, but if the doors need two springs each, I guess I've got no choice. And I might as well open the doors themselves up if I'm going to take them off. (Glutton for punishment? Me? Nooooo...)

I'll be more than glad to take that valve repair worksheet; I foolishly failed to notice the orifices are bored in two different sizes before I took them off. I found an image of the same style of valve, though; you can see the orifices on the right are marked with two grooves around the outside, while those on the left have only one. Not sure if OKM valves are the same.

Definitely going to have to make a new duct for this. I might just see how much the sheet metal shop that sold me the copper would charge to do it for us since it's not a standard shape. But it's good to know that going up through those little chrome vents on either side of the clock is reasonable.

I picked up valve grease this afternoon from an appliance parts store. The guy at the counter was probably servicing these stoves when they were first made. He says to me, "I'll give you a deal but you're still going to call me a highway robber for this." $17 for 2.5 oz tube is still cheaper than anything I found online though (by weight - there's a 2 oz tube on ebay for $14 with free shipping that I almost bought).

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1919352}}

Valve sheet on its way. Most stoves of the period used the same Alltrol valves, so mine look much like the image you found. Happy wirebrushing and lubing.

You might consider visiting the octogenarian stove dude again and picking up some high-heat insulation for the doors if you're gonna be taking them apart anyways. Opening the doors is a lot easier than taking them off the frame -- just a matter of 2 screws and sliding the enameled exterior up & off. I suspect the new insulation I put in a few years back has really paid off, the stove sides and front don't get particularly hot when the oven is on. Recommend.

If you have an oven window to replace, though, that's kind of a 5-handed job, very tricky and irritating, and might lead to full-on spousal conflagration, as opposed to the mere steady secret drinking the rest of the process inspires.

Found this in the Lakehouse we bought last year. Its 10 years older than the house... 1956 General Electric Deluxe Liberator.... It has EVERYTHING including the meat probe, the griddle plate, and manual. All the lights work, all the burners work (replaced one). I'm not sure the clock works, but it maybe I can't figure it out..... I enjoy this oven better than my recently departed 1999 JennAir dual fuel range with downdraft vent. Go to Kitchen Stadium post if you want to read about my hatred of that....

A Deluxe Liberator! Is anything better? I swear the names are half the reason to own one of these vintage stoves. My Grillevator always gets oohs and aahs at parties.

Cheap entertainment.

Are you going to use the Liberator in your remodel, Will? It's a beaut. If you have it out anyways, you could take the clock out from the back and degrease and tune it up. Might just be the knobs are sticking, or you just need to clean out the ancient lube that's turned to varnish and clammed up the motor.

TOAC does sell an operation instruction sheet for these clocks; I haven't seen it, but their clock repair manual has been very useful to me.

Hi, I've been reading through this thread and I'm totally inspired by all of you and your pics! I am considering buying an Okeefe and Merritt, it's the 39 or 40" with periscope. My questions are about ventilation. I currently have a gas range WITHOUT a vent hood. Can anyone give suggestions on vent hoods that look swell with the OKM and won't break the bank? Also, I'm confused about what to do with vent hole if I get a hood vs. a stove pipe? And the stovepipe: is it mainly to vent away gas smells and exhaust from oven? I have always wondered if using a gas range without a hood is harmful to my health. Many people say no, don't worry about it, but others say there can be low levels of carbon monoxide or other residual particulates in air from cooking with gas. A friend is selling an OKM for $350, the enamel looks pretty good, not sure if periscope works, and it's missing the two bottom handles. Oh, and what exactly does the Grillevator do? Is it essentially a broiler, or is it also a second oven with an elevating rack? Last thing: I live in Phoenix Arizona and my kitchen is one of the hotter rooms in the house (because of the way ductwork runs, it's the last room to get air blown into). (Oh and actually the duct vent to kitchen is right above where my current and maybe future OKM stove sits!!!) I read that these stoves add heat to the room, but can that be alleviated by turning off surface pilot lights and just lighting when needed with a match or grill lighter? OR, is it that the oven itself is not as well insulated as modern ones and so releases more heat when in use? Thanks for reading and any input you can give!

I think I'll stick with it for a while at the lakehouse, its half the charm of being there. Reminds us of a day gone by, OK this was made the year my mother born.... but still.
Was considering redoing the lakehouse kitchen around it and an old Westinghouse fridge box in the basement which is not as pretty, and make s loud clattering noise that is quite annoying.

It feels like forever since I had time to work on this stove, I can't believe it was only 2 months! I finally finished my last full-time quarter of school and have a moment to breathe, so here are some of the pictures that I promised to post. The stove was partly disassembled just to make it easier to move before I even started working on it, these are of more taking things apart and cleaning up the valves.

You can see the doors are not quite even, I still have to remove and inspect them to see if they need work beyond cleaning and new springs:

Many decades of grease and rust under the cooktop:

"Vintage" wiring - replacing as much of it as possible!

Manifold removed:

Valves removed (careful with the wrench, that brass is soft as all get out!):

Valves cleaned, greased, and reassembled (careful with the WD-40, or it'll destroy your nice new grease job - use sparingly and clean it off before reassembly):

These images are all from back in April. I did more assembly, removed a bunch of rust, and painted a bunch of parts with black high-heat grill paint. Not sure if I have pictures of that yet. More to come now that I'm not drowning in homework.

If anyone is looking for a vintage stove in the Boston area, I just found this listing on Craigslist. Thought I'd share.

http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/app/3856820724.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Vintage stove on Craigslist

We are closing on a rental duplex and this is one if two vintage stoves that are in the units. Check out the shakers.

Here is a nice one for sale in Southern CA

https://post.craigslist.org/manage/4046361488

Here is a link that might be useful: OKeefe Merritt

Hey, vintage stove lovers.
Does anyone know where the serial number or model numbers would be on the old O'Keefe & Merritt stoves?
We just bought one, late 40's or 50's and need information.
Thanks and love you posts. They really help us newbies.

Posting in hopes that Circuspeanut (my new idol) will see this, as I can't seem to send an e-mail. We're the new owners of a reputedly 1941 OKM with a non-working clock, and I'm wondering if the TOAC repair manual is useful for Grayson clocks of that vintage. I'm not sure I'd be opposed to removing and saving the guts and replacing them with something functional if that's an option.

Wow there are some gorgeous stoves on this thread....

I wouldn't mind having a Frigidaire Flair stove in my kitchen, the ones with the oven on top with the lift-up door, and the retractable cooktop below, and a cabinet at the bottom. The wide double-oven version is more common and better-looking, but the 30" single version has a charm of its own. Somehow this 1960s stove anticipated the look of an '80s arcade video game console.

AvatarWalt and anyone else needing stove clock repair: I used generaltimerepairs in Iowa several years ago and was very happy with their service and how helpful they were.

My local repair people wanted to substitute a digital clock. Um......no.

Here is a link that might be useful: stove clock repair

Many thanks bananafana, I'll give them a look. Am I right in assuming that the the automatic on-and-off isn't something that's generally restored?

Actually, if I remember correctly, the auto on-off was my original problem and their mechanism corrected that problem. I might be mistaken, it was a while back, but I wouldn't assume that they can't do it.

I love love love old stoves, so this is my favorite thread. We have a late 1920s/early1930s Magic Chef in my grandmothers old house, it's original. Apparently it weighs a ton and when my mom did the floors years ago she had to use a car jack (hence the reason we keep putting off replacing them now.)

I don't know why but every time I see this thread title, I read it as 'got my hands on a vintage shovel' and just for a moment I think "what would you do with a vintage shovel in a kitchen?". Maybe I need stronger glasses.

fyi----there are lots of helpful articles on stove restoration on retrorenovation.com

Here is a link that might be useful: Retro Renovation site

I have an O Keefe & Merritt that I want to sell. It is super clean, and I know that the burners were working before I put it in my garage. I hope someone buys it soon. I hate to see it sitting in my garage during the winter. So cold here in Iowa.

Trying desperately to find out what model my OK&M is....this is it! do you know the model number by chance. This is the ONLY pic I could find of it anywhere!

Hi karooka-- just wondering if you ever found a good source for identifying models and dates of OKM stoves. Ours doesn't appear to have the manufacturer's plaque any longer, unfortunately.

Please help me out Vintage Stove Aficionados! I have a small kitchen and it gets warm very quickly when the stove/oven is on. Will a vintage stove (in this case a 1940's Tappan) make it even worse. Sweating my tatas off!

That's a good question, Nancy. My initial thought (based on nothing, so take it for what it's worth!) was "no difference," but I guess if the vintage stove were really well insulated you'd need to introduce less heat overall to, say, get the oven to 350 degrees and hold it there. In other words, with a poorly-insulated stove, the heating unit--gas or electric--would have to pump out more heat to keep the oven hot because the heat is dissipating into the room; a well-insulated oven would get to 350 and stay there longer without the need for the heating unit to come on again because the heat is contained in the oven longer. (apologies if I'm stating the obvious).

That being said, I don't know how you determine insulating efficiency. We have a 1940s O'Keefe & Merritt, rebuilt a few years ago with new insulation, that heats up when the ovens are on, but I couldn't tell you if its better or worse than the low-end Roper it replaced. It has 4 pilot lights burning 24-7, so that adds constant heat to the room too.

Hi all does anyone know the year of this Florence custom automatic gas heater stove

Maortiz, I'm sorry I can't help on the year, but that's a beautiful stove!

I've had my 1948 O'Keefe & Merritt stove now since 1982 when we bought it in LA. It moved to KY with us in 1984. When I bought it, it had been totally cleaned and had new valve piping etc. It had not been re-enamaled or re-chromed. I had a couple of pieces on the top re-chromed - waste of money as fumes from the stove, ruin the chrome. Mine could use some enamel in a few places, but the restoration places are all in CA (this was a brand that was never sold east of the Rockies), and shipping it would cost a fortune.

I adore my stove! "People" thought I should replace it when I re-did my kitchen a year+ ago, but never - I love this stove! It is a breeze to clean as the entire thing comes apart - there are even pans in the bottom of the oven that lift out for cleaning. I have my yardman do this a few times a year - he uses the basement washtubs. Greased Lightning cleaner works very, very well.

In the years I've had it, I've had one service call. It was a bit of a bother finding someone who would even come out - finally was told that I needed to call a company that works on commercial ranges as it has much in common with them. Guy came out, fixed the valve and I was good to go. The spring on the folding lid also broke - went on eBay and bought one and late husband installed it. Why on earth would I buy a new stove that would die in a very few years?

Mine is a single oven, Grillerator on the other side, one storage drawer beneath the broiler, 4 burners, and a built-in griddle. It is up against my cabinet on one side and has been since 1984 - no problems.

It does have 5 pilot lights and if I didn't have AC, it would make my kitchen far hotter in the summer. But the warmth is welcome in the winter, and the lid is the perfect place to defrost things, melt chocolate, proof yeast, and dry a wet dishtowel!

Thanks AvatarWalt, and also does anyone know if this stove has pilots for the burners or if it has an electric igniter cause I have to light the burners with a lighter every time I use the stove

I have an oldie OKeefe and Merritt in my oldie apartment in an oldie part of San Francisco. Is a vent necessary?? If so, my landlord won't be able to ventilate and will have to supply me with a cheapy new stove. I like this one a lot. It adds to the charm of my apartment and I would rather not get rid of it, but I care about my health more. I'm not sitting around here baking 8 hours a day like the women of yester-year so I've heard it may not be necessary. At this point my biggest concern is to get a flexible pipe attached so I can move it to clean. Anyone have any thoughts/opinions? Thanks!

Congrats on the great stove, HT! I don't think the ventilation issue is particularly dependent on whether you have a new stove or an old one: they both heat up when you bake, they both put out greasy residue when you fry something, etc. Switching out a nice old stove for a cheap new one won't make heat and grease go away, so I don't see any reason to get rid of the OKM solely for ventilation/health reasons.

H T, necessity of stove venting with the vintage stoves is dependent on why you want to vent, a luxury you won't get with modern gas stoves. A properly tuned OKM burns so efficiently, there are no problem levels of carbon monoxide. So venting wouldn't be a safety matter. It would only be needed for smoke or smelly cooking.

information?