Defrosting the Norge

So, one of the trade offs to having a super cool vintage fridge is needing to defrost the freezer.  I've never done this before, so I put it off a little longer than I should have.  Now that I've done it, I won't be putting it off to this extent again.  It took MAYBE an hour and wasn't really messy or difficult.

This is what I started with.  We need new seals.

This is the bad corner, where the seal leaks the most:

I know, I know.  I promise it won't get this bad again!

First, I unplugged the fridge.

I started by filling my "custom ice maker" with hot tap water.  I really don't understand why it's called an "ice maker", but it came with it and it's pretty cool looking.  I put a few towels on the top of the fridge door to soak up any water that ran out.

I put it in the freezer to use to radiate heat into the freezer area.  I've heard people suggest boiling water but that seems a little extreme to me.

Next I used a wooden spoon to lightly scrape the loose ice into the "ice maker".  DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT use ANY sharp or metal objects for this.  DO NOT scrape hard.  You don't want to a damage the inside of your freezer.

I also used a sponge to wipe up water, and dipped it in the hot water to wipe off thin ice on the sides and bottom.

I gathered the loose ice and just dumped it into the sink.

After about 15 minutes, this is what was left

Next, I refilled the "ice maker" with more hot tap water and put it in the freezer.  This time I simply closed the door and waited.  About 10 minutes later, I opened the door and removed loose ice, then repeated.  After 10 more minutes, I did the same.  That took care of the ice.  I used a towel to "mop up" the remaining water, and I was done.

During this period of time, all our frozen food was chilling out in our equally vintage cooler.  It was still frozen solid when I was done.

Reloaded the freezer, plugged it back in, tossed the towels in the wash and cleaned the little bit of water out of the cooler.  Done.  Easy-Peasy Lemon Squeezy.

A new fridge

We just picked up a new old fridge tonight!  It's a later 1950's era Norge Customatic.  We do need to do a little repair work, which we discovered after hefting it into the Cottage.  The shelves are sliders, and both of the back pieces that the shelves attach to on the left side are broken :(

But it is very cool-check out the handles!

Uh...about that Kitchenaid

I know I SWORE I would get a green one.  100% for certain.  Yup, a shiny new green Kitchenaid would be mine.

Well, that was before I came across a 4C locally for $30.  Yeah, it's white-but it also has CHROME.  And about as full of old grease as the stove.  But I brought this WORKING beauty home for $25 and an hour drive.  It will look awesome with our Floyd Wells stove and our old Silex blender.

I will post the after cleaning pics..well, after I get it all cleaned up!  Just like the stove, it will be elbow grease and vinegar.  Maybe a soft toothbush.

So, about the floor...

I mused more on the idea of a pallet floor yesterday.  The main problems being: collecting enough pallets to actually generate the needed amount of planks, the taking apart of all of those pallets, and most importantly the fact that most won't be an equal thinkness requiring planing and sanding as well as getting them all to stay put (since they won't be tongue and groove).  I'm not sure face nailing will keep the planks from cupping up in areas where the dog (or the people) might bring in more water on their feet.

So I got to thinking about inexpensive white pine floors.  The problem is, they would look rather...new.  I know they wouldn't stay "perfect" looking long, since pine is so soft, but they would have that light pine color that just wouldn't match the Cottage and might look weird with the ceiling in the living room.

And then I researched old fashioned stains.  I alread figured on using linseed or tung (or a mix of them) oil as a sealer.  So I wanted a similarly toxin free option to make my new floors look old (er).  After looking about, I found this blog about coffee staining and distressing: http://pumpkinpiepainter.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-coffee-stained-chain-beaten-wooden.html with this final photo as the result (ok, so it's not a floor, but same idea)

Not bad, huh?  I also know that iron can leave darker stains (think of old nails in wood) so I am thinking of doing a base coffee stain with bits of iron left on it to darken some areas-or just put some steel wool in vinegar and brush it on after letting it sit.

The flooring might not be settled, but one thing is for sure, when it is, it will be unique and it won't look new or perfect!  Exactly how we like it here at the Eclectic Cottage.

Cleaning the stove, Part I

So, the Bengal doesn't look all that bad in the listing photos, but when we got there, we could see it could use a good cleaning.  I did some research on cleaning an older stove, and some looking into natural cleaners and came up with a vinegar water cleaner.  I mixed it about 75% vinegar and 25% water because the grease was really cooked on and thick.  I also mixed a 25% baking soda 75% water mix to neuralize the vinegar after cleaning. 

Here are some photos, BEFORE:

And AFTER:

It took about 4 hours and I'm not done yet!  I forgot to take a photo of the black cover that the burner grates sit on, but that was about 2 of the 4 hours worth of work.  I used a straight edge blade to scrape off layer after layer of scum and grease, and followed it with a Brillo pad.  I still have to finish that also.

What I did:

I mixed my vinegar solution and wiped it on with a soft cloth.  It broke up the grease almost instantly.  I then wiped where ever I had cleaned with the vinegar with a soft towel soaked in the baking soda solution.  Finally, I wiped everything down with a damp cloth with just plain water, and dried with a clean soft towel.  I am by no means an expert, but I wanted to use the baking soda water to neutralize the acid in the vinegar since I've heard vinegar can stain and I know that my stove's finish isn't in perfect shape as it is!

Stay tuned, I still have more cleaning to do on the outside, AND inside the oven and broiler too!  We still have to tear out the kitchen floor to do some repairs and find two replacement burner grates so the stove is not yet hooked up.  I am also still looking into converting it into propane.

Kitchen dilemma

Now that the great stove search is finally over (the great stove CLEANING, however, has only just begun), I am in search of the ultimate functional kitchen eye candy.  I wanted to wait just in case I happened to find a stove that wasn't white, so it would match.  But now, it's time...as soon as I decide on a color.  It's time to get me a Kitchenaid mixer!  Well, maybe not RIGHT now, but once I decide on a color, I can start bargin hunting my new mixer.  While I really would LOVE the look of a 3c or 4c in green, I wanted to find a newer one because we have our own t-shirt making business and I figured we could create a new line of decals for them.  The older ones are drool worthy, but since they are different in dimentions and style, I need a new (er) one for a template.

My dilemma is this: it seems no one around here carries them in the colors, just white, and I can't decide on which color I want.  I don't mind white, but as you can see from previous posts of my kitchen, it's rather monochromatic (if natural wood can be considered as such).  I want some COLOR!  I know I want either Apple Green or Pistachio.  It's just really hard to decide without seeing them.  I *think* Pistachio is "the" color, but I don't want it to be too washed out.  We have a great vintage Hamilton Beach milkshake maker that I'd like to match to, at least somewhat.

So that's my new kitchen dilemma, now that the stove has been found.  After that, it will be the fridge.  That will be quite a trip as well, I'm sure.  I'm leaning towards whatever one we find with the amazingly cool lazy susan style shelves (how on earth did that not catch on?!), but I've seen some nice ones without that option too.  And of course, we've got size restrictions, although since the refrigerators of that era were smaller than those of today, it should be as much of an issue as when I was stove hunting (if size didn't matter, I'd be looking for a Kelvinator Food-A-Rama, the first side by side).

A new stove!

As I had mentioned before, the kitchen range that came with the Cottage is in poor shape.  The burners function well, but the oven...well...it's scary.  So I undertook an extensive search for a replacement.  I started off looking at new stoves, but decided circuit boards belong in my computer, not my kitchen!  I've been wanting a vintage 50's era stove for many years. 

Originally I wanted an antique wood style stove, but figured insurance companies might not really prefer that (they did make ones with gas burners and a gas oven, as well as a "wood side" so we wouldn't have to over heat the house to cook in the summer).

So, I checked out all the great O'Keefe and Merritt stoves, the Wedgewoods, the Tappans.  I decided I really liked the mint green Chambers, and thought the griddle and Thermowell were pretty cool too. 

I found a 1951 Tappan Deluxe Doughboy with the great chrome oven and light up burner rings.  I was excited.  It even had the chrome crisper trays!  Then we remeasured the area we were going to remodel a bit to fit it, and found here was NO way it would fit :(

Then the stars aligned.  An unusual stove showed up on a nearby Craigslist.  A 30" 1950's stove!!  Anyone that has searched for vintage stoves knows it's rare to find a 30" stove that's from that era.  Typically they are 36"-40" or the smaller "apartment" stoves (21").  But, just listed only 2 hours away (one way) was an honest to goodness 30" stove!!  It's a farely rare maker too.  You'll find O'Keefe and Merritts, even Western Hollys and Magic Chefs, but search for a Floyd Wells Bengal, and there aren't many hits.  I have yet to locate another 30" gas Bengal in all my web searches (if you know of one, I'd love to hear about it).  All I've found are the larger wood/coal and gas combo stoves.

It doesn't have any of the typical bells and whistles of the era.  No bbq side, no thermowell or griddle.  There isn't even an oven light.  Just a cute little white and chrome stove.  Has a great cover for the burners though.  It's PERFECT!

Here it is (these are the listing photos, we haven't installed it yet):

Those two chrome "trim" pieces below the knobs are crumb trays, they pull right out for easy cleaning.


And the data plate:

It appears to be style AA-1.0.

We've got some work to do before we take out the old 30" Hotpoint and swap in this sweet little vintag beauty.  Two of the burner grates are cracked, so they will need to be fixed.  It needs a good, through cleaning.  All four of the burner knobs are cracked, so we'll need to replace or repair them (I prefer repair).  The biggest issue is it has been running on natural gas and we only have propane.  I've struck out with a local company to have it converted, but might have found a valve that can be switched from NG to LG with no orifice changes.  I'll be looking into that. 

In the mean time, we've still got the good ole Lopi to cook in and the Hotpoint has working burners.  I am not in a huge hurry to rush into converting it to propane, I'm just happy to finally have it!

This is a photo from when we bought the Cottage.  Look to the left, you can see the burners from the Hotpoint.  This is where the Bengal will be going:

And a more recent pic, excuse the dishes and mess, I was making chocolate chip oatmeal cookies (in the toaster oven):

A few more pics: