Operation Heart of the Home – Gas Range edition
The kitchen came with this glass down draft stove cook top. I can’t really say that it was horrible because it wasn’t. It was just fine. peachy. a-ok.
BUT….(you saw that one coming didn’t you?!)…
it wasn’t new or exactly my cup of tea. I know that sounds super bratty. I can hear the screeching nails on the chalkboard in the statement. So you’ll have to forgive me and my first world problems.
The glass cooktop was in much worse shape when we first bought the house…it had a buildup of baked on food particles that created a 3D effect similiar to a topographical map. The rings around the burners were like little mountain chains ready for seasonal skiers. I scraped with a straight razor and cleaned and scraped some more. Most of it cleaned up ok but there was evidence of it’s past life and the down draft really wasn’t functional and there was only one large burner so I always just stuck with cooking in one pan.
But I was not about to spend a thousand dollars on a new stove top. No. I don’t have gold bars laying around. If I did, I probably would go straight to Willy Wonka’s factory and get my everlasting gobstopper 🙂
Without the moolah on hand, we scheduled this project to phase 3 of our kitchen transformation and didn’t blink an eye.
Then the unbelievable happened. We were perusing the aisles of Lowe’s when we saw the clearance section of appliances (did you know there was a clearance section? it’s a magical place I tell ya) and I spied a gas stove top. I thought the price was a joke. All of the other ones were marked down from 1200 to 800…not $344. So I immediately picked it up and walked over to Jer put it in the cart (which was a giant blue race car that Will was driving). I put it in like it was a can of spray paint….casual-like and trying not to draw attention….hoping that Jeremy wouldn’t notice the extra $344 on our checkout bill.
He’s the logical one of course….so he was all like “umm…let’s google it first”.
After it passed the ‘Jeremy-google-test’, I became like a defensive end for the Patriots….blocking random people in the aisles as we headed to the checkout girl.
I was really excited to get the backsplash done because that meant that our cooktop could be officially installed. (see the old backsplash up there? I’ve been sitting on this bad boy for a long time!)
Since the cooktop is a gas one, I called in the pros. That’s my brother and his back end. He is a licensed plumber and works with gas all the time so he was the obvious choice for my cooktop installation. Oh and he’s free for me because of the whole blood thing and I know lots of embarrassing information from his youth 🙂
The existing glass stove top was a downdraft…meaning that the center part of the cooktop there is a vent built into it. The engine below the cooktop sucks the air down and through the ducts to push the steam and smells outside. I grew up with a down-draft (it’s what my parents have in their home even till this day) so I never really gave it second thought. And then I had a regular overhead exhaust hood at our other house. Here’s the old post about that bad boy. It changed my life.
Not really…but I did realize how much more I like the overhead version. They just work better. The steam naturally rises so the downdraft always has to work ridiculously hard and doesn’t naturally get all that moisture or the smells. It’s easier to catch a fish as it swims downstream people.
So I would not miss that about this stove top. I also was ridiculously excited to cook with gas. From everything that I’ve heard, cooking with gas is faster, easier and heats more evenly. And Jeremy can attest that I need all the help I can get in the kitchen 🙂
After Jeremy unplugged the stove top and disconnected it from the duct work, it was time to remove the old to get ready for the new…
Then it was time to cut the granite for the new cooktop.
EEEKKKK!
Yes, you read that correctly….we must CUT the GRANITE.
When I realized that fact, I was all like Sandra Bullock….nonononono! stopthisbus! ohwaitI’mfallinginlovebutabouttodie! I may or may not have called out Keanu’s name just for kicks.
My brother brought his grinder…another reason why we wanted him to come…he has fun tools 🙂
We put down Frog Tape to mark the lines on the granite and to help reduce chipping.
We drew directly on the tape to have the unit centered on the cabinet.
Then Brad used the grinder to go over the lines while Jer held the shop vac. It got dusty. REALLY dusty.
Over and over on the lines…the key was to go slow and steady.
oh and expect the floors and walls and eveything to be covered in black dust.
Here it was after the lines were cut about three times each.
Then we used a hammer to tap the granite until the crack got bigger and bigger as the cut piece fell away.
Eventually the crack got so large that the piece set loose and came off in their hands. Ours actually broke in two so that shows how easily stone can break!
Then Brad cleaned up the corners….before they looked like this:
He simply removed the little plywood piece beneath the countertop and used the grinder to clean up the corner.
This was after he did one side. Then they did the other side.
When it came to installation of the new cooktop, I left it up to the pro.
He used a liberal amount of pipe sealant to the threads of the pipe that extends from the new cooktop then screwed it to the regulator.
After it was all attached under the cabinet, we had the stovetop functional.
Let’s take a look under the cabinet, shall we? When we first installed the unit, there were three different things under there. The silver metal one was electrical for the previous cooktop (it’s since been removed and boxed), the regular plug wire (newer cooktops have electrical version of a pilot light so they need plugged in), and the yellow line (that is gas).
Okay – now for the before…
and after….
The only small issue that we have now is the support on the backside and covering the small crack showing. The new stove top was wider but not as deep as the previous one. So that meant that we had to install the new one as far forward as possible – allowing it to sit on the granite on three sides while the backside was left unsupported and with a quarter inch gap. (don’t worry! We solved this problem with $1 and a few 2×4’s!)
So that is our new stove top situation. Pretty great, huh?! I’m just pumped that the unit was so affordable and installation was free. Pinching those pennies! And I’m thrilled to be cooking with gas. And not the kind that leafy green veggies, fiber and pregnancy.
p.s. This is a sponsored post brought to you by FrogTape for Bower Power’s Frog Tape Fridays. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.
Love the new cooktop!!
You better be glad I wasn’t in one of those aisles at Lowes. You and I would have had a race car cart show down for sure! 😉 Looks awesome!
i love how in the after picture the way your lighting is hitting the new stove top. it looks like heaven is shining down!!
cooking with gas is WAY better then electric. My goal is to one day have a house with gas stove!! (stuck in electricville now 🙁
LOVE that stove top! We are so looking forward to a new house where we can get a gas range! Electric is killing me… and my pots 🙂
So shiny! It looks great!
I love love love gas stove tops. And miss mine so much. (No gas available in this house. Bummer…) Nice work – you’ll love it!
Great deal!! So, I can figure out how you supported the back, but how did you seal the crack so it looked okay and was easy to clean?
I love how the light from your range hood makes it look like angels singing over your meal prep. I don’t even turn the light on … what the angels don’t know wont hurt them 😉
Gorgeous! I grew up with an electric cook top that my mom still uses, but I’ve been using a gas range for 5+ years, and it is the only way to go. Now you won’t have to worry about Will and Weston reaching up and burning their fingers on a hot cook top like my mom did when I was growing up.
I love the new cooktop! What an awesome deal!!
So pretty! I love the new cooktop, but after having a glass top and knowing how easy they are to clean, I will never have anything else. Looks great!
Who knew a range could mAke such a big difference? Gorgeousssssss.
What an awesome deal!! I’m laughing at the thought of you nonchalantly placing the stove-top into the blue race car. 🙂 Awesome. Cutting the granite is giving me anxiety!!! EEEK! Keanu! Glad everything turned out excellent though! And kudos to your bro on his lack of plumber’s crack. 😉
Beautiful! We, too, switched from glass (ugh) to gas. We had a blemish on our glass cooktop that looked just like Jesus. If it had been a cooktop only, we would’ve tried to sell it on eBay & might’ve recouped some of the cost of running the gas line to the range and the new range itself!
I am so jealous! I would give anything to switch from glass stove top to gas. One day!
I’ll come back this week and tell you about it! I promise!
xo – kb
How awesome! It looks great! I love gas stoves too. Not into electric ones at all.
So so so so so so so much nicer (and better for cooking!!). Nice work!
What kind of gas cooktop did you end up buying? We have been looking and wondering what brands are the best?
You guys have done such a nice job on your kitchen. I love the colors and want your backsplash! So bright and pretty. Such an improvement. In the beginning I thought your original kitchen looked really nice in the pictures, but this is 100% nicer. I don’t know which I like better, the kitchen or the extra space in your master.
Looks amazing! I currently have a glass top stove, and even though it’s less than 1 year old, I still hate it 🙁 They look so great, but the care and babying to keep them clean and scratch free is huge.
Ohhhhh thats exciting!!!! I love it!
Katie,
I happened to wander in to the Flor store here in Atlanta the other night and see you and Jeremy with the little man. Congrats! I was with a friend and dropped off the pink floral lampshade for Clara’s room to John and Sherry…we just couldn’t stand in line for much longer so we decided to just be drive by stalkers! Ha! Anyways, the gap behind the stove top can be filled as they sell stainless steel plates that will cover the gap left when one replaces a stovetop or stove. We bought one about six months ago when we replaced our range. Go to Amazon and look up filler plates based on the brand stovetop you bought. They look great and they really only cost about $20. I could not completely tell by your photograph but it looked like this might be what you needed! Keep up the good work, blogmama!
Thanks Jennifer – bummer that I didn’t get to meet you! We were there to support the Petersiks and planned to be drive-by-stalkers too 🙂 Plans never work out the way you think, huh?!
xo – kb
It looks so much better! And I’m loving the little glimpses we’re getting of your kitchen as the stove top goes in. I was wondering if you have a list of “phases” for you kitchen. It looks so good, you can’t possibly have that much left to do. 🙂
I’m right there with you girl. Call it a First World Problem all you want, but I live for the day we can replace the nasty glass top stove that came with our house (why does anyone like them??!!) with a sleek stainless gas range.
And you’re right. Cooking is faster and easier with a gas range. You’ll love it!
Dang – steal of a deal there! Yeah, I would also tremble at the thought of cutting into the almighty stone, but it sure does look like a million bucks! Your kitchen is seriously looking gorgeous!
the Stove has turned out really well , they diod a really good job on that , well done all involved
My last house was an glass top electric stove that I absolutely loved! So easy to keep clean. This house has a gas stove with a glass top and a rear down draft that doesn’t work at all well with the gas flame; it’s constantly pulling at it. Since the stove is in an island, we can’t really add a vent hood. So I’m going to look at an induction top instead. But I was worried about the gap and between you and Jennifer, I’m going to get started on this project.
And by the way, I don’t think glass tops are created equally because the last one was much easier to clean than the current glass top.
You will love the gas cook top. When I redid my kitchen I put in a dual fuel GE. Electric obscure, gas cook top. Best of both worlds.
the new range looks amazing!! i still can’t over your kitchen — beyond beauitful!!
We do. Here is the post where I talked about the phases.
xo – kb
It’s a DCS by Fisher & Paykel gas 5 burner. We didn’t go into it armed with info so we don’t know what is best but I do know that this is more of a commercial grade cooktop and so far, we love it.
xo – kb
I love cooking with a gas stove and oven!
I once worked at a LeCreuset outlet. We got 70-80% off store prices. Cast iron + gas stove/oven = kitchen heaven!
Loveeeee the new cooktop! I had gas in my previous home and miss it terribly now. Maybe I will be lucky enough to have another gas range in the future. Enjoy cooking!
Ack! I want gas sooo badly! And I don’t mean the tooty kind! I have a glass flat top currently and I hate it for canning on. It takes forever to heat up because it cycles all the time so the glass doesn’t get too hot and break. Your new stove looks great. Also, I have the same metal trivet. Over and out!
1st world problem or not, I told my husband that I would not cook onthe old stove when we bought our house. It was a ticking time bomb. I quickly got the 36 inch range I wanted.
The cooktop looks great. We installed a new electric cooktop when we moved into our house and we had the same problem with the depth and width. We ended up going to a sheet metal fabricator in our area and having a flashing made for the space. It looks great, like it was meant to be there.
Love the new range! I’m so jealous that you made the switch to a gas burner! I grew up with a gas stove and it’s so much better than electric! Plus, you can cook a tortilla right on the burner! 🙂
You clearly know this already, but that stove top is UH-MAZING.
The gas range looks awesome. I love that the burners are on a flat level instead of sitting inside square wells. It makes clean up easier. Anyway I’m excited that you have gas now. It’s the. Best. Enjoy it!
I love the new stove but I’m really looking for part 3 of your baby story, Katie. Don’t leave me hangin’
We have been living in our rental home for two and a half years and had an electric stove for that time. I really, really didn’t like it and, even though the landlord said I could replace it for a stove I liked (but couldn’t get past my Nana’s voice in my head…), I persevered and just accepted it. Lo and behold, right before Thanksgiving last year it died! Woo hoo, now I have a nice shiny gas range too….. and I managed it without sounding like every first home buyer on House Hunters (oh, I just HAVE to have the latest/best of EVERYTHING or I will DIE!). Can’t wait to see how you fixed the back on that now.
I LOVE my gas stove. You’ll have to pry it out of my cold dead fingers! One thing to invest in though would be some simmer plates for slow simmering. Gas often doesn’t get as ‘cool’ as an electric plate can. I got them here in our local supermarket, they sort-of look like flat frying pans with holes in them!
Also, I only set a dish towel on fire once before learning not to chuck them down next to the stove….
It looks fabulous
Gas beats electric hands down!
In fact, it would really, truly be a dealbreaker if a house couldn’t be converted.
We bought our weekend home 12 years ago August and it had an electric cooktop. I can honestly say I’ve used the cooktop maybe 20 times – it’s all microwave or eating out when we’re there!
BUT we’re redoing our kitchen (in the measuring for cabinets phase right now) and CONVERTING TO GAS/PROPANE! (Key angel choir!)
You are absolutely right, gas is waaaaaay easier/faster to cook with than electric. I hope you’re having fun with it! My parents have electric right now and they hate it. I keep telling my mom to just get a different one and she’s like, “But we’d have to run the gas line over!” like doing so is worse than the plague. So I guess she can’t hate it that much. 🙂
Love, love, love gas cooktops!!! Especially the ones with continuing grates, like the one y’all bought. We have one in our new house (Frigidaire Professional), and our old flat-top electric stove doesn’t even compare against the cooking power of our new bad boy!
Wait.. why was it marked down so low?? I must know! Return? Display model? No box? How is it possible??
We think because it was no box. It did have an instruction manual but thats it.
xo – kb
This is awesome . I had no idea they sold straight up cook tops at Lowes (I’m still a renter, but a girl can dream, right?) so I’m definitely tucking that piece of info away. =)
When I moved into my apartment, it took me a few weeks to get used to cooking with gas, I’d always known electric. Now I’d never go back!! Things definitely cook faster and more evenly, plus “pre-heating” is a thing of my past. Fantastic. Good luck!
Go figure a post about a range would be the first time I comment on your blog after reading forever. Your blog even made me brave enough to buy a foreclosure! ::awkward nerd snort::
You’re going to love it. Seriously. We just moved to Northern WI 2 years ago and guess what, everyone has gas everything here. Gas water heaters, stoves, whatever they can get away with. Because electricity is so expensive. (I’m originally from TN, land of the TVA cheap electricity.)
When we bought and installed our gas range I took pictures and sent it to my mama. I seriously feel like a cooking show every time I cook. I miss my old 1950’s rancher house in TN with it’s cute little built in oven and stovetop with scalloped hood but this is like cooking with science. I mean it is, but you know. Big girl cooking. I feel like I’ve finally graduated from easy bake.
Trust me. In a few days you’ll be narrating your cooking experience (bonus points for Julia Child impressions) and pre-measuring into glass bowls. 😀
Congrats congrats!
One thing has me concerned. This new cooktop is now gas. The code requirements when it comes to gas stoves/cooktops is much more strict than an electric version, and your two side cabinets might now be too close to the cooktop. You may want to check with your local fire code. I only mention this because it’s a safety issue, and as someone who installs custom kitchens, it’s been the cause of a lot of problems when it comes to designs (since the cabinets need to be so far from the cooktop).
If I remember correctly, the distance from the corner of the cooktop can’t have any cabinets within a 30″ radius of it. Basically if you take a tape measure from the corner of the cooktop and make a 30″ arc, no cabinetry can fall within that arc.
I will definitely check. I know our neighbor has a similar set up and their cabinets are in the same location with a 36″ range but I will definitely ask about it. Thanks for the heads up.
xo – kb
My mom has that same stove and she loves it! If you’re into pancakes, there this removable griddle piece you can buy that fits over two burners at once so you can make massive amounts of pancakes for your boys when they have their entire football team over in a few years : ). Or bacon–it’s also good for making tons of bacon!
Ah-MAZE-ing!
WOW! What a great deal on the stove and what luck that family could lend a hand and make it happen!
I wish my hubby was more willing to give some things (like house projects) a try!
I love this kitchen! that backsplash is to die for! and the stove is a perfect fit!
Our house was built to code and the cabinets are closer than 30″. Probably not the best but in 15 years we’ve had no problems.
This is going to sound like “duh!” But I had to point it out to someone (ahem) who lives in my house: when the electricity goes out you can still light the burner. It’s called using a match. And then you can cook on your cooktop (and heat water) when there’s no power!
Brother Brad here,
Thank you for noticing the fact that plumbers can work without exposing there back side, but, as for me, I cheated a little and had mine surgically lowered to improve the observation experience that my customers enjoy. For just a small down payment and affordable monthly payments you too can have your legs protrude directly from your back! Just kidding! All in good fun we had a blast, and you get nervous thinking about cutting granite, imagine trying to cut the granite of your sisters! Oh did I mention that the whole fam was watching! No pressure, just don’t mess up right? I’m just glad everything worked out, and Katie, it wasn’t for free, you owe me at least something cooked on the new range right? Hey remember, fat people will always work for food!
Brad,
I thought we weren’t allowed to talk about your operation after the whole issue with the side effects of the extended bowel. Just sayin. And yes, food – it will be yours next time you come see me 🙂 Love you.
xo – kade
Looks amazing! i love your ‘new’ kitchen! everything is gorgeous. Question – did you already have a gas line running up to your cooktop? We have an electric range, but a gas furnace and we are thinking/wondering about running the gas line up to the kitchen to get a gas range. I was just wondering if you had to do that or if it was already there. Cheers!
We did. Apparently the builders were smart enough to install a gas line right there (we think it was because they figured someone might need gas for a stove top or a dryer – which is on the other side of that wall).
xo – kb
My mom has that same stove and she loves it! If you’re into pancakes, there this removable griddle piece you can buy that fits over two burners at once so you can make massive amounts of pancakes for your boys when they have their entire football team over in a few years : ). Or bacon–it’s also good for making tons of bacon!
Dude. That sounds amazing.
xo – kb