Since we’re on stoves this week, here’s one that I’ve been meaning to showcase for a while: The 39″ wide, two-oven Kenmore Elite range from Sears. Today, it’s priced at about $1,900 for gas, $1,800 for electric. That’s alotta dough, but not so much as the lovely Big Chills. And this stove has that nice, wide, retro stance. While I love vintage, I have to say there is one big thing that I do miss: A self-cleaning oven. This Kenmore, with its stainless steel finish, suits a retro renovation kitchen well. Pair it if you can with a “fitted” 24″ deep stainless steel fridge … edge your countertops with stainless steel… and go in any direction that you please with the cabinets, it would work out just fine, I think. Online at Sears.
For those of us living deprived of a self-cleaning oven, the Vermont Country Store offers a non-stick oven liner. You put it on the bottom of your oven to catch drips. You then can pull it out and wipe it clean. Guess I will have to get one of these. But, I will need to check, first, if it’s parakeet-friendly. Also, for who is going to make the pie. New this fall, $14.95 online at Vermont Country Store.
George sent in these photos of his retro renovation kitchen — he very ingeniously “built in” his wall oven by creating a brick veneer surround. I’ve definitely seen precedents for this idea, and am so pleased to see a reader do it. George shares his experience, and a bit of the step-by-step his contractor and mason used to get the job done. And we get to see more of the adjacent vintage GE stove — a dumpster-dive! –> Heck yeah there is more →
MIB NOS bathroom and kitchen items are still out there, readers. Reader Tami made a big score with this 1980 Mercury exhaust fan, which she found for $27 on craigslist. I asked her if she could tell us the whole story and some more about what’s going on in her kitchen: Heck yeah there is more →
Sherri read this Time Warp Wives post from last year and asks, “What is the gizmo above the stove??” Does anyone know? How about some wild and wacky guesses? 
Meanwhile, remember the vintage “Teasmade” – as in ‘tea is made’ combo alarm clock, radio, and tea maker that I spotted on ebay last year? tea hee, those wacky brits.
