Over the weeks, the oven got worse. Last Thursday, for example, I turned it on to 350°F and it went to 350°, so I put my food in. After half an hour, I thought it was odd that there weren't any good smells coming from the oven, so I peeped in and saw the temp was around 165°. So I turned it off, turned it back on, again to 350°. It shot up to around 400°. Somehow I managed to get supper made without either burning it or serving it undercooked. But I was done messing around.
Our options were:
- to have someone fix it (rough estimates were around $250),
- fix it ourselves with only a guess that the problem was the thermostat (parts were from $50-$150),
- buy new (low-end basic model was around $400),
- or buy used.
We decided to check craigslist to see what was available in a used gas range and found this beauty for just $100. It's 10 years old, but it looks like new! Did I mention it's self-cleaning? Or that it has a power burner and a simmer burner?
It was 50 miles from home, but Shane happened to be working just a few miles from where the stove was, so he was able to save us an extra trip by picking it up after work on Friday. It had been installed to burn propane gas, so we had to convert it back to natural gas with manufacturer's directions that the owners had saved. The only snag was that the fittings for the gas line weren't the same size as our old range, so Shane had to spend another $25 for a universal kit to get it hooked up.
$125 for a range in this condition is a bargain, no matter how you look at it. Our plan for the old stove is to move it to our basement and set up a canning kitchen. We'll see if that really happens or not - we've had lots of plans for the basement over the years and it's still just a basement.
Meanwhile, I have some baking to do.
