We loved it
September 2, 2011 (Friday)
Six months ago I wrote a blog entitled, “Main Street,” in which I mentioned our purchase of a new gas range in the late fifties. In keeping with the blogs about appliances the last couple of days, I will tell you about that range.
We had been using an old stove that suddenly exploded one day. I heard the sound, and ran to the kitchen to see Wanda standing there with singed hair, holding a match with its lingering smoke curling upwards in front of her shocked face that was trying to muster a smile. The next day we bought a new range.
We really loved that new stove. It was an O’Keefe and Merritt gas range, with a stainless steel top that included a smooth steel grill with two burners on either side of it. A special feature was an electric rotisserie which was put to good use through the years cooking whole fryers that were delicious. Pancakes and hamburgers, etc. were easily cooked on the grill (the grease drained into a pan beneath the grill). It was easy to clean, too. We changed the jets from propane to natural gas as we moved. One night in the old parsonage in Rockport, I was home alone and trying to make some adjustments on the jets when all of a sudden I dropped the jet and an open pipe at the top of the stove created a tower of flame reaching toward the ceiling. I ran into the front yard and turned off the gas at the meter, then ran back into the house to see what was what. Fortunately, that’s all there was to it. I fixed the jet, turned the gas back on, and everything was fine. I didn’t tell Wanda about it right away. I must have washed the evidence off the ceiling.
The porcelain finish on the vertical parts and the high quality chromium look of the stainless steel made it a beautiful addition to the kitchen. We enjoyed using it in four different homes. When we moved to this house, we couldn’t use it because of the built-in electric appliances, which we really enjoyed having and using. We hauled the old range to the country home where Wanda’s folks lived and stored it in a garage. Alas, it stayed there so long it was eventually discarded, so we bade a fond farewell to one of our favorite things. (Sorry, I could not find a picture of it. With its electric rotisserie, it was a unique gas model).