Yes, it can be done: You can get replacement parts for your vintage stoves, ovens, ranges and other old appliances. Kathy did it — using a resource that readers pointed out here on the blog. Oh, and so cool: Kathy’s kitchen was originally used by a professional cook in the Betty Crocker Test Kitchens! Continue on for Kathy’s happy ending story –>
I just wanted to say thanks for such a great web-site. I was able to get the broiler parts for my original with the house, yellow 1959 GE wall oven that the local Service Plus plan (through local gas company Center Point Energy) repairman said they “couldn’t” get anymore. I found your mention of The Old Appliance Club, and they hunted down the parts twice! I didn’t order soon enough the first time.
Gets better! My repairman said since they told me the parts were not available the first time they came out, they would REIMBURSE me. Wow! Saved $150.I was really happy to keep my oven and cook-top since they are great, original, and the original owner was a professional cook in the Betty Crocker test kitchens in Golden Valley, MN at General Mills near my home. They have some history connection.
My broiler works great. Only cost me the monthly svc fee of $17.50 and I don’t have to remodel and get new appliances. I got an estimate on the remodel. Minimum of $1,500 and then buy the appliances to boot. Thanks again. I’m hooked now that I know I can do this! On to the teal bathroom! (The pink bathroom is in the basement.) 🙂
One happy girl!
Way to go, Kathy. And thank you, The Old Appliance Club!
Kathy says
Safety is always the first priority with your own little “bunch”. So, it doesn’t all match. Put on your retro apron and make like Carol and Alice and whip up something yummy for those little ones! Isn’t warm memories part of why we are all attracted to the retro vibe anyway.
So my kitchen doesn’t all match either. My kids could care less when warm fresh popovers come out of that oven! Enjoy Myra!
denise says
Love the yellow, so glad you could fix it!!!
Paul says
Congrats, Kathy! Those cooking appliances are great looking! Now we just need to find you a yellow fridge 🙂
Myra says
See, this kills me. I have matching coppertone brown GE appliances: cooktop, hood and oven from about 1962. We just recently had to give up our oven because the bake element broke for the second time since we’d been in the house. I had successfully replaced it the first time, and when it broke for the second time in three years, that was it. The poor oven superheated and was hot to the touch – a concern with small kids in the house.
Unfortunately, as much as my husband and I cook, we had to replace our Brady Bunch baby. We still use the cooktop and Hi-Touch vent hood, but the oven has been relegated to the basement. *sigh*
When I can bear to part with everything, I imagine I’ll try to sell it as a set.
Patrick Coffey says
Myra check with the same place Kathy checked with……I bet they can help you find the element you need to make your stove safe again
Patrick Coffey says
Oops I meant Kathy not Karen my mistake
pam kueber says
No, you are not losing your mind. I called Kathy both Kathy and Karen in the story… (my excuse is that there is a Karen story tomorrow)… Kathy alerted me and I changed the story along with the comments that had come in so far.
DawnT says
I have the same oven but with the window and meat rotisserie which still works! My house was the 1959 show house for a local Des Moines developer W. Reed Davisson.
Kathy Merchant says
How fun we have the same oven from GE! I saw the rotisserie in the original 1959 GE owner’s manual. What I nice feature. My local family owned appliance store has a vintage yellow oven on display. I think they said it was called “Buttercup” ?
Gee, if your house was a model home, it must have a lot of upgraded features. Lucky you! Our house was built by Associated. It is the “Wabasha” model with some changes. There was also the “Sibley”, “Norman” “Marshall”, “Stevens” and “Brucewood” model of ramblers thru Associated.
Patrick Coffey says
The color of Kathy’s appliance is not “buttercup” GE called it Canary Yellow and it was offered alongside Woodtone Brown, Petal Pink and Turquoise Green in 1959.
Kathy says
Ooops. Thanks for catching that Patrick. I think it is the Knowles dinner plates on the table that are called Buttercup! Mom got them one piece at a time when you bought gas at the filling station. Remember that?!
DawnT says
There are some neat things like a Nutone intercom/ tube radio in the bedrooms with the copper-toned master control in the kitchen. The original floor had been carpeted over in the 1970s, [edited]. The original 9×9 tiles were cream with metallic bronze, gold, and silver splashes. I had a cry when I saw what had been destroyed. There were short cuts in the structural supports, however. I had the dry wall open to raise the height of the showerhead and saw a pieced together stud. Eeck! Who knows how often the builders did that!
My kitchen lay out is the same as yours right of the oven including pocket door. To the left of the oven is a broom closet turned pantry and then the walkthrough to the dining/living room. I painted the walls nearly the same blue as you did. I’m changing it to more of an aqua to match my new VCT flooring. Your cooktop is much cooler than mine. I love the “Blender” push buttons on the wall.
clg1977 says
Love it. I need to work replace a few cooktop coils and fiddle with the wiring on my electric double oven/stovetop combo. The larger coils work very intermittently. I’ll use this for inspiration.
Kathy Merchant says
I would highly recommend trying the Old Appliance Club. I got great service and they are very knowledgeable. Their web site explains how to request parts from them pretty well and if you need to call instead of email they are very helpful on the phone as well. Good luck!
lynda says
So pretty!
RetroSandie says
I love your yellow kitchen! It’s so sunny and cheery looking. It’s great that everything else was in such nice condition. Very pretty!! Be sure you show us the bathrooms!!! And a tour through the house would be pleasant! 🙂
Paula says
Kathy, your kitchen IS gorgeous and I’m so glad you got to keep your yellow cooktop and oven. It’s sad to be told something isn’t available, and after it’s too late, you find out it was. Happened to me with some tile before I discovered this great site.
PATRICK COFFEY says
YEA!!!!! Kathy…I am so thrilled you did not subscribe to the new is better way of thinking that is so prevalent these days. Your kitchen is gorgeous and it would have been a shame to throw away that gorgeous oven and cook top. I am so glad that you could find what you needed. It just goes to prove that the older stuff WAS built better.
Kathy Merchant says
Thanks Patrick! I love my oven/cooktop too. It’s great this kitchen is more than retro good looks. It is still a hard-working, 3-meals a day, cookie baking, family dinner type kitchen and I really need a reliable appliances.
Too bad the original matching yellow refrigerator died only 2 weeks after we bought the house in the late 1980’s. If only I’d had Retro Renovation then, we might have saved the frig too!
Patrick Coffey says
We can find you another fridge in Canary Yellow GE Fridge or you can find a nice working vintage fridge and have it sprayed that color but I vote for going with the a vintage GE fridge myself of course a white one would go as well……..
vintigchik says
Most people think (oddly) that it’s easier to replace than to do a little digging and keep what you have. Try finding a new appliance today that will last as long as this one has. I have a newer cooktop in my kitchen (came with the house) and it already needs replaced. It’s probably less than 10 years old. JUNK!