Tuesday, February 16, 2010

There's a Range in My Kitchen, Dear Liza, Dear Liza....

And now for a random post to follow up the deep thoughts from last week. After our old range/stove broke last week, my husband and I bought one over the weekend. The sleek black range matches our dishwasher and has a smooth top (yea, no more gross burner catchers!).

The range arrived on Sunday, but it's currently sitting in the middle of our kitchen. I have to walk around it just to sit down at the kitchen table:


When the delivery crew attempted to plug in our new range, they discovered that our old range had been hardwired directly to the plug. Normally, a range comes with a power cord that simply needs an electrical outlet. Just our luck! Not only that, our wire isn't color coated nor crimped. The delivery crew wasn't allowed to fix the problem; they can only plug in the appliance.

So if you are planning on buying a house in the next few years, look behind the range!! I'm determined to tell the world of our misfortune, so as to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else. The home inspector never caught this mistake, so now we have to hire an electrician to fix the problem. We're aware that the previous owners hired a handy man to repair several little things around the house, so most likely they were aware of the problem but never told us. My hubby is an electrical engineer, and even he was dumbfounded at the shoddy wiring job. We wonder if this was a providential (although inconvenient) finding.

I still snicker every time I have to maneuver around the range. Besides, the range looks so clean, devoid of food and other messes. Good thing we have to fast for Ash Wednesday tomorrow. And thank God for our Foreman Grill, microwave, and slow cooker. :)

We have gotten socked with more snow which has closed the schools in the area for another day. This is what my backyard looks like right now. If our range doesn't get fixed soon, maybe my husband will have to grill in the snow. That would make a great picture!


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your backyard looks so cute all snow-covered!
Congrats on the new stove, although a bummer about the shoddy wiring. I can understand your frustrations there - we've found quite a bit of DIY electrical work around our house in the last 3 years. Some of it has DH just scratching his head...

Molly said...

I love your new range....I can't believe the wiring job! When will you have it fixed?

mrsblondies said...

Congratulations on the new range. Sorry you have to deal with fixing shoddy job.

Sew said...

smooth stove tops take burning water to a whole new level! I love ours, it's easy to clean, but I burn water all the time on the top of mine! ;)

I love it! Hope the electrician isn't as much as your new stove! hahaha

Percolating Petals said...

We're asking ourselves the same question, callmemama. Our house was built in 1973, so God only knows if other wiring in the house is faulty.

Anyway, one of my husband's coworkers is at our house right now, helping us to solve the problem. That's a perk for working with so many engineers!! Hopefully the range will work soon so I can cook a nice dinner for Molly. :)

I'm glad you all like the range!! It wouldn't pass on HGTV, but we're happy with it.

Maureen said...

Can't believe this happened just prior to Lent! Sure we all need to cut back but this is a little much :-) Hope everything gets fixed soon.