Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Why Old People Don’t Want To Change Things

Why Old People Don’t Want to Change Things 

I have hated my propane stovetop for the entire 15 years we have lived in this house. Knowing, after years of experience, that things are seldom as simple and easy as you think and always cost more than you planned, I finally decided to change the stovetop and change it to an electric.  Great. You go to Home Depot, buy the stovetop and make an appointment for them to install it after researching whether an induction stovetop is better. (No, it’s not because all my good Calphalon cookware would not work on an induction top and I would have to replace it.) Next we have an electrician ($$$)come out and check the wiring to make sure it is appropriate for the stovetop. (It is.) So the technician comes and announces that there are problems. 1. The old stove has a downdraft but the new one does not which may present a code violation when we go to sell the house. 2. There needs to be a trim to go around the edge of the opening to support the new stovetop but we can order the appropriate trim from the GE website.  He leaves and we will have to reschedule (and repay) when we have the appropriate trim. Fine, except that when JMM goes to the GE website to order the trim, he finds in big red letters that the trim is NOT FOR SUPPORT OF THE STOVETOP.  The website says that GE suggests installing wooden support strips. Do I see a carpenter in my near future. Or shall I put the damn stovetop back in the box and take it back to Home Depot for a refund? At least the old top had one useful burner. aaarrrggghhh. 

3 comments:

eileeninmd said...

Hello,

Change can be a pain. I hope you are able to work out the problems.

Enjoy your day, wishing you a happy weekend ahead.

RI1 said...

Bummer, Florence. Home Depot may charge you a restocking fee to add to your expenses. You may have to stick with gas all along. That's funny, because we have electric and would love to switch over to gas. Hubby set up the gas but unfortunately when we ordered our white induction stove, since it was a special order, they wouldn't take it back. So, electric we have. Perhaps the next owner will take advantage of the gas/propane.
In our case, however, the electric turns out to be cheaper to run than the propane. Sometimes I bake for hours and all that lovely propane would have been sucked up. What used to be $1.69 a gallon,now is almost up to $3. Electricity here is much cheaper than propane. So, it worked out well.
BTW, I wanted to tell you that since I've switched to the PBS New Hour, as you recommended, I'm so much happier. Great news cast. They give you the facts without murmuring under their breadths.
Thank you!

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

That is a bummer! It's not fair to have to pay twice when nobody told you about the downdraft and trim before you bought the stovetop. The HD kitchen consultant is supposed to do that.

I have a propane stove top in Florida (but it doesn't need a lighter each time -- there is a pilot light) and an electric one here -- every time we change I have to get used to how to cook all over again -- they really work differently.