In the last 12 months I have cooked and baked on four different stoves/ovens. Each has been very different from the others, and the cooking experiences have been challenging.
In Dickinson we had a quite old GE electric oven with a glass stovetop. We decided we couldn’t in good conscience saddle new owners with it. The glass top was scratched and uncleanable. The oven baked really slow and we needed to increase the temperature to get things done. We replaced it with a Bosch electric stove/oven which worked very well. It definitely was a positive selling point for the house.
As soon as I had figured out all the niceties of the new stove we moved to our current home. It had a 15 year old Kenmore gas oven with gas top burners. The previous owners had no problem saddling us with it, even though the control panel shorted out everything we started a top burner when the oven was lit. I didn’t like baking in the gas oven since things singed on the sides of the pan closest to the burners. I struggled baking with it, trying to adjust rack levels and temperatures. This was quite a trick in November and December for Christmas baking.
We finally got a brand new, dual fuel LG oven/stove that I really like. The oven is electric. The stovetop is has gas burners. Saturday night I made a apple pie with a crumble topping and found the the oven must burn hot as the crumble topping and crust got too dark, and I probably have to lower the temperature about 10-15 degrees when I bake. Sigh! I suppose most appliances have their individual quirks, but I am pretty tired of trying to figure all this out.
What would you feel you had to in good conscience, replace in your current home before you sold it? What have been the easiest and most difficult appliances/machines to learn to use?
Trail Baboon 
I learned to use a dishwasher when I was 10 or 11 years old. (Now I’m 74, so do the math and you’ll know how long ago that was). When I left home at 17, that was the end of dishwashers until I retired at 68. They changed during those years. I didn’t.
We bought a house with a 2012 model dishwasher. I treated it like the 1961 model. Eventually, it stopped getting things clean. 2 years ago we replaced it, and were taught how to run it. Were we to be forced or induced to sell this place, that machine is the only thing we’d leave. I’d junk the stove, fridge, washing machine and dryer and let the new owners set things up however they wish.
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i love gas
i have electric for the last 10 years
washr and dryer are strictly utilitarian
stove and fridge are like daily best friendspick your own oven and dishwasher i dont care at all
hot tub sauna steamer now im interested
furnace ac hot water heater big picture makes all the difference. new invention for heated/cooled floors entered my brain this weekend im going to look into
motorcycle that time of year again
cars trucks functional at 200,000 you betcha
a truck used to be priced like a ford or chevy 4 door at $5000 roll up windows. it dawned on them truck people drove trucks because the need trucks and base price switched to 50,000
by the way renee, when chris decides to move on from his truck, im interested. this year of 15 years from now
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I’m not sure if I would change out any of my appliances before selling and your experience backs up my thoughts. I have cooked/baked with gas all my adult life. (My mother had electric in her last home and I didn’t care for it at all.) If I changed out my stove, I would upgrade to a nicer gas range and then what if the new folks preferred electric? I am also a side freezer gal but I know a lot of people like bottom drawer freezers better. That being said, if I were replacing things just for the sale and not for my convenience before a sale, I would probably replace my washer and dryer with an inexpensive, simple set. When I was doing laundry yesterday, I did think about the fact that they are both 35 years old this year!
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With our kitchen remodel we replaced all the old appliances. The old refrigerator was smaller and was showing signs of imminent demise. We liked our 20-year-old Bosch gas range but opted to discontinue gas in the interest of air quality and in anticipation that the trend was away from gas. In its place we installed an induction range with electric oven. We also put in the first dishwasher this kitchen has ever had. I expect prospective buyers would find this all acceptable.
There has been a learning curve with the new appliances; even the refrigerator had to be programmed and had way more features and options than we would ever want or require. That’s the problem with digitally-controlled gear. It’s cheap and easy to add “features” and manufacturers get carried away. I don’t need to connect my refrigerator to my phone.
Not having had a dishwasher for 25 years, we are not accustomed to using one and at any one meal we have so few dishes it’s easier and more immediate just to wash them by hand. It may only get used when we have company.
The induction range is possibly the biggest adjustment. The oven is electric and seems to be hotter than our old gas one but the gas oven may have been under the set temperature by the end. Induction cooking is not entirely intuitive. You don’t have the visual cue of a gas flame or a glowing element. You just have the progressive numbers on the controls. In anticipation of the new range we replaced some of our cookware with induction compliant ones and everything works. Induction seems faster. I had never had a glass-top range. The surface seems vulnerable to abrasion and I didn’t like the way pans skate around on the slippery surface. Fortunately, with induction one can get a silicone sheet that sits on the glass and cushions it. Counter-intuitively as it seems, you can cook right through it and pans stay put.
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I realize I’m too old to answer my own question here, but I can’t think of one good reason why your phone needs to be synced up with your refrigerator. The only use I could think was if you could call your refrigerator from the grocery store and ask “how many cartons of milk do I have in there right now?” and I’m pretty sure your fridge doesn’t do that. Did the directions suggest a good use?
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I suppose if it suddenly stopped while you were out, you could get an alert, and then race home. (Don’t we all need just one more thing to fret about?)
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I think they do it because they can. Even my electric toothbrush can talk to my phone if I were to let it.
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Not ours but I’ve heard some new refrigerators are equipped with touch screens on the door and are connected to Wi-Fi. Apparently these screens can display advertising, possibly the result of conversational prompts.
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Geez… I don’t even like the ads that show up these days at the gas pump. Ads showing on my fridge? Fresh he**.
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We’d probably replace our refrigerator before selling the house. The light doesn’t always come on when we open it. A crisper drawer is lopsided, and it’s fairly old (10+ years?). Maybe do a bath remodel too because they’re the originals in a 26 yr old house. I’m fine with them, but new owners might want more style.
I’m “not allowed” to run the dishwasher, so I can’t speak to its challenges. I guess the stove can be sort of tricky to learn because the owner’s manual is a barebones pamphlet and there are about a dozen ways to work the oven: air fry, roast, bake, warm, convection, bread rising–just noticed that one a few weeks ago. 🙂
Chris in Owatonna
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With Bluetooth and wifi we could start our oven remotely with our phones. What a great way to burn down the house.
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hey barb
the nuns story is on turner classic movies at 230 today
right after the singing nun at 1245
da fightin chicago pope isnt on today but i know nuns story is a favorite
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Ah, wish I was not already scheduled! Thanks for the heads up anyway…
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In good conscience, I would redo the bathroom fixtures, but it’s very complicated – corner of sink is actually above corner of bathtub.
And the stove should probably be replaced, and the refrig should probably be replaced, but it’s hard to find one this small these days… this might be one of those houses you sell “as is” to someone who will flip it. Maybe a new stacking washer/dryer.
The furnace is probably OK…
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Oh, and this is another house that’s never had a dishwasher, and isn’t going to while we live here for the reasons Bill mentioned.
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We have a dishwasher but only because of YA. We actually did not have a working dishwasher for about five years and that was fine with me. In fact when YA is traveling, I never run the dishwasher.
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I bought our house “as is.” It was an estate, and had been on the market for a while. Apparently a lot of buyers couldn’t envision what the place might look like with the ugly, avocado green, sculpted, wall to wall carpeting, and the faded old wallpaper removed. I avoided paying for a cheap facelift with inferior materials because I had enough imagination to envision what a little work could transform this old house into.
I’m reminded of Steve, who, on the advice of his realtor, remodeled the kitchen of his lovely little bungalow prior to putting it on the market, only to have the house razed by the buyer and replaced with a large ugly box. Steve may have gotten a higher price than he would have otherwise, but man what a waste. I suppose each house is unique, depending on the neighborhood and other considerations, such as age, size, central air or not, as well as garage, attached or not.
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Yes, I remember that was the most charming little house.
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Luckily, most of my appliances are old enough to not need much training in order to use them. But that’s one reason some of them aren’t being replaced until I absolutely have to.
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Good Evening Baboons! I’m B-a-a-a-a-c-k!
I don’t think I would replace any appliances unless they were a physical blight on the appearance of the place. People all have their own tastes in such things. At best I would provide an appliance allowance. Having read the replies above, I am also opposed to having my phone communicating with any appliance. I have had a terrible time learning to program our Thermostat. Once I get it programmed, it is nice, but what a pain getting it there.
We arrived home about 3:30pm this afternoon after a great trip. I am physically tired after all the walking I did around Historic Savannah, but it was good for my hip. I was not sure it would hold up. But I am going to bed early but glad to be back on the trail.
VS, coming to retrieve the eggs is on my list.
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The oldest appliance in my house is the 1950’s gas range. It should probably be replaced, but I am too fond of it.
The second oldest is the dryer, which is noisy, and the door no longer shuts very well. It’s about 40 years old. I occasionally look at dryers and think about replacing it, but since the old one still works, I haven’t made it a priority.
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We had one of “those” dryers, until I could repair it no more. Plunked down the cash to replace it and were surprised how much sooner our clothes were dry, and how much quieter the laundry space was. Used it for 3 or 4 years before returning from life overseas and it was worth every penny.
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You’re all very nice. I left The Beast. It works well. I have no idea how old it is/was since it was there when I bought the place.
When I moved in here, I had to replace the stove and refrigerator immediately. They were in horrible condition and were old and filthy.
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