ve moment: while packing for our upcoming move to New York City, we are in the process showing our house for rental (again: "How can you handle the stress?"), and the ramping-up of our culture's "have-it-all" standards are exemplified in our 1969 GE Hotpoint stove. My husband and I make three meals a day from scratch on that trusty workhorse. A decade ago, we easily rented our house out when we... [more]
ve moment: while packing for our upcoming move to New York City, we are in the process showing our house for rental (again: "How can you handle the stress?"), and the ramping-up of our culture's "have-it-all" standards are exemplified in our 1969 GE Hotpoint stove. My husband and I make three meals a day from scratch on that trusty workhorse. A decade ago, we easily rented our house out when we went on sabbatical.
Now, despite beautifully redone bathrooms and yard, and EPA-approved lead abatement for families with children, our realtor tells us we have a problem: the stove. It has to go, he tells us. Not because it doesn't work -- it still works great -- but because people "expect" certain things. My husband and I were aghast as we pondered a major stove upgrade, but then we recalled acquaintances with gorgeous Viking stoves that sit unbesmirched by actual cooking, almost as if the stainless professional-quality stove is more prop than appliance, a requirement for kitchen happiness in the modern world. To look at our house, then, is to see the glaring absence of a Viking in our kitchen.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/what-my-sons-disabilities-taught-me-about-having-it-all/260479/[less]
Response by Triple_Zero
over 13 years ago
Posts: 516
Member since: Apr 2012
You know what I "expect", Realtor? I "expect" that well-made, perfectly-working appliances will continue to be used until the end of their natural lives and not thrown away in favor of some modern piece of junk that it would otherwise easily outlive. Show some respect for the hard workers who made that stove, and made it to last.
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Response by NYCMatt
over 13 years ago
Posts: 7523
Member since: May 2009
The irony here is that the $5,000 Viking stoves require almost routine (and expensive) maintenance, whereas that 1969 Hotpoint may NEVER have needed a day of service in its life.
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Response by aboutready
over 13 years ago
Posts: 16354
Member since: Oct 2007
i have a glorious burgundy viking stove that i use two or three times a day, so far so good. it's a major piece of machinery, so i bought a fairly comprehensive warranty, partly because of all of you naysayers.
is the 1969 hotpoint part of a retro kitchen? if not, it needs to go. and if a kitchen needs to be gutted it doesn't matter. but there are things that should be done to sell a place that don't sit well with sellers. and so it goes.
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Response by Boss_Tweed
over 13 years ago
Posts: 287
Member since: Jul 2009
My mother's been using her Viking stove pretty much daily since 1989 and it hasn't needed any maintenance
work at all. It's gorgeous, and it came with the apartment she bought. The people who had it before her
used it for at least half a dozen years before her.
If the apartment she'd wanted had a Hotpoint, she would have bought that apartment and used the Hotpoint.
I'm against unused trophy kitchen equipment as much as the next person, and I also cringe when people
discard perfectly good appliances to please some mythical buyer (why not just lower your asking price?),
but please, let's not knock the Vikings.
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Response by oldgreyhair
over 13 years ago
Posts: 122
Member since: Nov 2010
My perspective: replace the stove. At 42 years of age, it is past its useful life. Replace it with another Hotpoint if you want. Although it works perfectly, maybe the realtor happens to be right? Is the stove very clean? What color is the inside? Even with the cleanest household, 42 years of built up baking can look very ugly inside! The price of these things are not too high. Check out consumer reports for manufacturers other than the aspirational brands. Good luck.
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Response by ab_11218
over 13 years ago
Posts: 2017
Member since: May 2009
you need to rent your apartment. spend $500 for a cheap stainless steel stove and forget about it. if your apartment stays empty even for a few weeks, you'll end up loosing that money anyway.
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Response by NYCMatt
over 13 years ago
Posts: 7523
Member since: May 2009
"Even with the cleanest household, 42 years of built up baking can look very ugly inside!"
Spoken like someone who apparently isn't a very good housekeeper.
My grandmother's 1962 Hotpoint has nothing "built up" whatsoever, and gleams -- inside and out -- the same way it did when it was delivered off the factory floor.
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Response by alanhart
over 13 years ago
Posts: 12397
Member since: Feb 2007
... and that's the magic of the Swanson brand TV-Dinner (TM)! Plus no dishes to wash.
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Response by oldgreyhair
over 13 years ago
Posts: 122
Member since: Nov 2010
Matt, Good for grandma. Maybe she can over and give my apartment a good scrub!!! LOL. Other than your grandmommie's house, you haven't seen too many homes. PS: my Thermador is as pristine as the day I installed it. I never cook: almost always eat out!
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Response by NYCMatt
over 13 years ago
Posts: 7523
Member since: May 2009
Alan, don't be a douche.
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Response by alanhart
over 13 years ago
Posts: 12397
Member since: Feb 2007
My Fisher & Paykel gas range is filthy beyond belief, bearing lusciously carbonized splatter from tens of quackless ducks, scores of dead chickens, and an errant beef roast or two. No light escapes through the window anymore (the bulb turns on automatically with the convection fan).
But it doesn't matter -- the thing still works like a champ, and when I sell my apartment it'll be the next owner's problem. He'll probably put in a retro-chic earthy almond-tone 1969 GE Hotpoint stove and instantly increase the value of the apartment by 10% by so doing.
You know what I "expect", Realtor? I "expect" that well-made, perfectly-working appliances will continue to be used until the end of their natural lives and not thrown away in favor of some modern piece of junk that it would otherwise easily outlive. Show some respect for the hard workers who made that stove, and made it to last.
The irony here is that the $5,000 Viking stoves require almost routine (and expensive) maintenance, whereas that 1969 Hotpoint may NEVER have needed a day of service in its life.
i have a glorious burgundy viking stove that i use two or three times a day, so far so good. it's a major piece of machinery, so i bought a fairly comprehensive warranty, partly because of all of you naysayers.
is the 1969 hotpoint part of a retro kitchen? if not, it needs to go. and if a kitchen needs to be gutted it doesn't matter. but there are things that should be done to sell a place that don't sit well with sellers. and so it goes.
My mother's been using her Viking stove pretty much daily since 1989 and it hasn't needed any maintenance
work at all. It's gorgeous, and it came with the apartment she bought. The people who had it before her
used it for at least half a dozen years before her.
If the apartment she'd wanted had a Hotpoint, she would have bought that apartment and used the Hotpoint.
I'm against unused trophy kitchen equipment as much as the next person, and I also cringe when people
discard perfectly good appliances to please some mythical buyer (why not just lower your asking price?),
but please, let's not knock the Vikings.
My perspective: replace the stove. At 42 years of age, it is past its useful life. Replace it with another Hotpoint if you want. Although it works perfectly, maybe the realtor happens to be right? Is the stove very clean? What color is the inside? Even with the cleanest household, 42 years of built up baking can look very ugly inside! The price of these things are not too high. Check out consumer reports for manufacturers other than the aspirational brands. Good luck.
you need to rent your apartment. spend $500 for a cheap stainless steel stove and forget about it. if your apartment stays empty even for a few weeks, you'll end up loosing that money anyway.
"Even with the cleanest household, 42 years of built up baking can look very ugly inside!"
Spoken like someone who apparently isn't a very good housekeeper.
My grandmother's 1962 Hotpoint has nothing "built up" whatsoever, and gleams -- inside and out -- the same way it did when it was delivered off the factory floor.
... and that's the magic of the Swanson brand TV-Dinner (TM)! Plus no dishes to wash.
Matt, Good for grandma. Maybe she can over and give my apartment a good scrub!!! LOL. Other than your grandmommie's house, you haven't seen too many homes. PS: my Thermador is as pristine as the day I installed it. I never cook: almost always eat out!
Alan, don't be a douche.
My Fisher & Paykel gas range is filthy beyond belief, bearing lusciously carbonized splatter from tens of quackless ducks, scores of dead chickens, and an errant beef roast or two. No light escapes through the window anymore (the bulb turns on automatically with the convection fan).
But it doesn't matter -- the thing still works like a champ, and when I sell my apartment it'll be the next owner's problem. He'll probably put in a retro-chic earthy almond-tone 1969 GE Hotpoint stove and instantly increase the value of the apartment by 10% by so doing.
http://www.antiquesnavigator.com/d-42256/vintage-gehotpoint-rangestove-mind-cond-1969-w-hood.html
If you're going to go retro, go all the way with either avocado or harvest gold ...
I can't believe that NYCMatt still makes his grandmother scrub the stove.