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):
And the data plate:
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:
