The Smeg Piano gas cooktop has a UFO ready-for-blast off look. These two appliances have exteriors of polished stainless steel — I think that means just like the stainless steel countertop edging I found at New York Metals. If you are renovating your kitchen and need new appliances suitable for a mid-century modern look, I think these look like real contenders. Available from various retailers.
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30 comments
1964forus says
Glad you check these pages, Pam. I regret they painted the cabinets in this house we’re waiting to close on, but what do you think of the kitchen in this MCModest? Cook top and oven may be replacements from the 80s, I don’t know.
http://aws.trulia-cdn.com/pictures/thumbs_4/ps.60/3/3/2/7/picture-uh=b1853a6933632ba57f4678dd90c0d6e-ps=332775746a858ddf646f4db475dafd.jpg
Main bath is huge, with square aqua sink (w/hudee), aqua tube and white 4×4 tiles halfway up walls. Toilet, alas, was replaced at some point. Half bath has round white sink w/hudee and aqua tile halfway up walls. Both have wall heaters.
pam kueber says
Lovely! Easy *enough* to strip the paint if you want to return to the natural wood. The kitchen looks to be an amazingly efficient work space. Good luck with the closing! Send me pics when you’re in!
1964forus says
Will do! Just glad they left the hammered pulls, but I do like a white kitchen, also. I’ll see how the paint job works out.
Tamar says
Hi Pam,
Since it’s been a while since this was posted, I wonder if we know how well the oven works? Have you had any feedback from the flock?
I’ve been Googling my fingertips down to a nub trying to see if they are worth the prices. I have a knotty pine kitchen with a very small built-in space for a wall oven that goes UNDER the cooktop/countertop. It’s bee a challenge trying to find something that will fit that space and fit in with our lovely cabinets. It seems like this is the right size but, yowza!, that price tag… I’m just hoping to get a little more info if you have any before taking the financial leap. So, any intel you have would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much for all you do for us retro addicts! Our 1954 Storybook Ranch remodel couldn’t have been possible without all your wonderful resources. I’m terribly grateful!
All the best,
Tamar
pam kueber says
Thank you for the nice comment, Tamar.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard from any readers who bought these.
What dimensions are you looking for? 24″? Googling I see a number available. Summit has some retro-looking ones. Prices are great; not sure about quality.
Tamar says
Our current wall oven is 25″ w x 30 1/2″ h. Super tiny, right? Unfortunately, the Summit (and most other wall ovens, actually) is too tall for the space.
I’ll keep digging for more reviews on the Smeg Piano oven. I think this might be our only option for that tiny space without having to remove the cabinetry. I looks like this one is a little short, but smaller is something I can work with. I also like that it says it’s fine to install it below the counter, which would not be up to code for most ovens.
pam kueber says
not possible to get yours fixed, or to find vintage? https://retrorenovation.com/2011/08/29/parts-service-and-advice-to-fix-old-stoves-and-other-vintage-appliances-a-list-of-9-online-resources/
Tamar says
Unfortunately, this is a venting problem, which is related to the integrity of the oven and will impact the countertops as well. I was supervising so many contractors when we were doing our remodel that I didn’t have enough focus to give the kitchen. The countertops were installed before the oven and left no room for venting it properly from the back through the counter. An HVAC crew told me they could reroute the venting out through the face of the oven, which I knew didn’t seem safe but trusted them out of desperation. You can’t have the oven on and use the cooktop without hot gas streaming up into your eyes, condensation forming on the underside of the counters, and the counters and surrounding drawers getting very warm. It’s pure tragedy. Every appliance person I have met with has said there’s no way to vent it properly without destroying the countertops, which would be fine but I can’t get the aqua boomerang from formica anymore and my entire kitchen design was hinged on that aqua so the dollars just keep adding up. Recently, an appliance repair person told me that the wall oven isn’t worth saving since they cut out a vent section in the face and that the door had already been repaired but the work had not been done well. Again. Just tragic.
Our storybook ranch was in terrible, completely unlivable shape when we bought it. It needed a roof, plumbing, electrical updates, two new bathrooms, flooring, kitchen (minus the cabinets), paint inside and out, chimney repair and had a circa 1960-ish kidney pool that looked like something out of “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” with all original equipment that didn’t work. and no fence around the backyard to safeguard our adjoining neighbors’ children from the hazard of drowning. To make things more challenging, everything inside the house had to completed within 30 days of our purchase and I was under enormous pressure to make it livable. We just couldn’t afford rent and a mortgage. All in all, I consider myself lucky that the oven is the only job that didn’t pan out perfectly. Outside of that, all the contractors did great work. But now we’ve been here for 4 years and I’d hate to burn the house down just because I was trying to bake a potato…
pam kueber says
Yikes! Your house sounds like it found lovely owners!
Michelle Cummins says
I have a Thermador oven and cook top stove. Did not know they were collectors items until I came to this website.
Any ideas on how to restore them? The cook top needs repair?
Thanks.
pam kueber says
Michelle, see our FAQs.
Evan says
We are in the process of restoring a 1948 ranch style home. The kitchen is currently equipped with coppertone electric cooktop and built-in oven. I prefer gas, so we are on the search for replacements. These look very good to me, but I don’t care for stainless steel. I wonder if they are available with enamel finishes. I would go for a vintage set, however they are just not to be found in gas, and my husband is not in favor of “re-installing” and old appliance anyway, even if we did fine a great set in say..aqua?
I don’t think the coppertone pieces are the original anyway, so I don’t feel bad about letting them go. They work, but I’m not crazy about the color…so out they go.
Rene says
I have an authentic Thermado wall oven that looks very similar to the Piano. We took it out of a house built in 1956. It works fine and is in good shape. I’ve been storing it for two years and its time for a new home. Hit me up if you have a use for it. I’m in Jacksonville, FL.