Almost to the day, the Richland Center Sears Hometown Appliance store closed right when we were ready to purchase a new stove for our kitchen. The next closest Sears Hometown Appliance was located in Readsburg (about an hour or so away). From what we could gather, there was no where else to buy a stove in Richland Center.
So... we ordered a gas range from Home Depot. They happened to be having a big 4th of July sale when we made our purchase. We had the stove delivered to our Milwaukee house and brought it up in our trailer.
I (Maggie) had three criteria: The stove had to be white, it had to have a storage drawer vs a broiler or warming drawer, and it had to be gas (propane where we live). Ed just wanted to approve the final selection prior to purchase (he tended to like beefier grates vs flimsy ones; and, he did not want a griddle on the stove top).
We have one stainless steel appliance in our Milwaukee home and I hate it. Hate it! It is so hard to keep that thing looking clean what with all the finger prints that are very hard to get rid of; even when you wipe it down, it smears. Had I not been so absolute in my disdain of stainless (sure, it looks great when all sparkly clean), Ed might have been tempted to go with stainless.
My grandmother had a gas stove top. Even though I myself never have, the thought of a gas stove holds fond memories for me. Additionally, I like the idea of being able bring water to a boil almost instantaneously.
Ed used to be a proponent of and want a gas stove (because all of the cooking shows we watch use gas stoves); however, in more recent years, this has become less of an issue for him. He would have been happy with electric.
When I called the propane coop to come hook the stove up, I happened to mention that it would need a propane conversion kit. It turns out that while they unhook and hook up propane appliances (they had disconnected our old gas stove when we were gutting the kitchen), they do not install propane conversion kits. It turns out that propane conversion kits are appliance brand / model / serial number specific; there's also a level of liability there.
Finding a conversion kit for our make / model was harder than it seemed it should be. There was no apparent model specific conversion kit found (I tried amazon and various appliance part stores as well as Frigidaire and Home Depot themselves).
When I called customer service at Frigidaire, they said there wasn't a conversion kit for our model but said we could try the universal kit. They weren't sure that it would work though (and apparently customer service is not willing to work with their technical people to find out specifically). Frigidaire referred me to the dealer (i.e., Home Depot). When I called Home Depot's customer service, they referred to me Frigidaire (they said there was no way that they could know what propane conversion kit or part number I needed to order).
I then tried calling the online parts "stores". Depending on which store I called, they either referred me to the universal kit previously mentioned or said that the stove couldn't be converted (that made me nervous).
I then went back to the Home Depot website to scour comments / questions and answers regarding conversion kits used. It turns out that 2 different conversion kit part numbers were provided in the Q&A section by Frigidaire directly. One (the universal kit) was available from Amazon for $8+; the more specific model number kit was available for ~$60+ whether from Amazon or from the parts suppliers.
I ended up ordering the universal conversion kit from Amazon and paid $12 shipping to get it to us next day. When it arrived, the enclosed instructions mentioned all of the makes / model numbers that the kit was compatible with and our make / model # was not on the list (ah!). I did more internet scouring and came to believe (although I had to make a couple of leaps of faith to get there) that the universal kit would work on our make/model. When Ed reviewed the kit's contents (they described which kit piece went with what BTU burner), and compared it against our stove's specifications (in terms of burners and their BTU's), he made me even more comfortable that the kit would work.
Next step: Finding a plumber to install the conversion kit and hook up the propane (we also wanted the person to cut the old propane dryer line below the main level floor (it was sticking up where Ed will be tiling); we no longer need the line as the dryer we selected / purchased (when on sale) is electric.
Finding a plumber who had time and was interested in / capable of doing the install was next to impossible. I called every plumber / heating company in the area. Either they were too busy with new construction, didn't feel comfortable doing a conversion (apparently, there's not a big call for that sort of thing out this way) or didn't call me back altogether.
I did get lucky though in that the last person I talked to referred me to the guy who used to do the installs for the old Richland Center Sears Hometown Appliance. What a break! He was available within a couple of days and took care of us (the universal conversion kit worked after all). It turns out that he's a plumber and a heating / cooling contractor => I asked for his card and he will be our "guy" in the future.
I haven't gotten the install bill yet, but we are very happy with the result. The first thing I did (even before I texted Ed a picture) was to boil water in my new tea kettle. It was wonderful to have hot water so quickly. Can't wait to actually cook a meal!
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