Meet the Appliances!

So, how can one be so excited about new appliances? Well, considering the fact that neither the old refrigerator, nor stove worked properly, you cannot imagine the ease of my new appliances! One can indeed get excited about opening the freezer door and finding a bin filled with ice cubes!

Before I get ahead of myself, here is the new range.

This is a Bosch gas-powered convection stove. We originally looked at the Duel-Fuel models, but the difference between this one and that just didn't seem worth the extra money. So we settled for this model, which is just wonderful! The previous stove had an oven door that would not close and a broken clock/timer.

The new stove has a computer in it which makes cooking and baking a real joy! The stove not only bakes in conventional mode, as well as convection, but it also proofs bread, has a Sabbath mode, and self-cleans! This morning, I baked two loaves of plain white bread (unhealthy, I know) with the convection oven and it was so cool! The oven baked at 325 degrees instead of 350, and it took 25 minutes instead of the 35 minutes it normally takes.

We are so happy with the stove, except for one minor problem. Mark has always been one with a "pioneer spirit". As in, he built our house from "scratch" with help from my dad and brother. So, when it came time to hook up the stove, Mark said we could do it!

Well, now I am a bonafide plumber...can you believe it? Actually, we needed new connections for this stove, so I reconstructed the hookup under Mark's watchful eye. The good news is that all of my connections passed the leak test, and we were off and running.

The next step in the process was changing the new range from natural gas connections to LP. This proved to be a little more challenging. Mark switched out the new LP jets for the cooktop. Then, it was my turn to adjust the oven and broiler jets. The oven one went off without a hitch. For the broiler, I needed to remove 7 screws, then allow the tube where the flames disperse to lean against the back of the stove....oh boy... I could barely get the thing to move forward! Mark told me to pull...and **snap**! A wire broke from the ceramic ignitor. Argh!!!

Long story short, Sears is getting us a new stove. Hurrah! This, they were told by the Bosch rep, was the third defective stove in our area. Phew....I felt so bad, as I was sure I had broken it, but no, the stove had a problem!

So, I am able to use the cooktop and the oven, I just cannot use the broiler. However, a new stove shall soon be here and they (Bosch) will do the LP conversion and hookup. I am so glad I won't need to do this again.

Oops, before I move on to the new refrigerator, here is a picture of the inside of the oven, where you can see the convection fan in the back.....

Fortunately, the refrigerator was a much simpler installation. In fact, it was merely delivered, ice maker line hooked up, pushed into place, and then set to chill. My kitchen is so small (I prefer to think of it as "cozy") that I am unable to stand back far enough to get a picture of the entire unit sitting in its niche.

So, here is the top, which is the refrigerator part!

I love the interior of this fridge! At the top are the controls for adjusting the temperature in the fridge as well as the freezer. Below are two full shelves, (one is non-adjusting, as it is on top of the veggie and fruit drawers) and two half-shelves. Under one half shelf, there is a small deli drawer.

Do you know how much more inclined one is to make a salad when the veggies are sitting almost at waist level instead of doing deep knee bends to retrieve veggies that are nearly sitting on the floor? Oh this is soooo good!

AND, a door with little shelves for ALL of the condiments! Does everyone have a zillion different condiments?

And, the bottom of the fridge is the freezer compartment. This is where the new ice maker resides, completely functional! The ice maker not only is capable of making small, medium, or large cubes, but also features an on/off switch! When we leave for a time, we can turn the ice maker off so no new cubes are made until we turn it on when we arrive home!

We liked the bottom drawer fridges, but they cost quite a bit more. So, we opted for this LG model which ranked high in the Consumer Reports. The freezer door swings just like the refrigerator door, and there is a slide out wire drawer. We find this no problem as we keep the bulk of frozen goods in a large freezer in the basement.

Hmm...Murphy discovered some ice cubes someone dropped on the floor! Silly pup.

So, there are the two units which are making life better and simpler here in the Bristolwood. We have been using the refrigerator for a few weeks thus far, and are tickled pink with its service. The oven has been used twice now....once for the bread this morning, and just now for the pizza I just baked!

Off to enjoy a slice........