Thread: So I woke up on Saturday and bought a house.

Thanks everyone for the well wishes. We moved in this past weekend and all is going well.
I took pictures and a run-through video that I'll post up soon. We've cleaned the old apartment and handed in our keys so we just have unpacking left to do now.

We found out the electric stove in the new house is brand new ($299 coil unit from Sears), so we're taking the opportunity to run a natural gas line to the kitchen and get a proper cook's gas stove in there. After looking at some cheaper models we were really sold on this unit:

http://s.shld.net/is/image/Sears/02262372000?hei=600&wid=600&op_sharpen=1&qlt=90,0&resMode=sharp&op_usm=0.9,0.5,0,0

http://s.shld.net/is/image/Sears/Div022_FGR_FGGF3056KF_F6?hei=600&wid=600&op_sharpen=1&qlt=90,0&resMode=sharp&op_usm=0.9,0.5,0,0

http://s.shld.net/is/image/Sears/Div022_FGR_FGGF3056KF_F4_910?hei=600&wid=600&op_sharpen=1&qlt=90,0&resMode=sharp&op_usm=0.9,0.5,0,0

http://s.shld.net/is/image/Sears/Div022_FGGF3054KF_Control_913_B01?hei=600&wid=600&op_sharpen=1&qlt=90,0&resMode=sharp&op_usm=0.9,0.5,0,0

We will be picking it up from the local HH Greg tonight for $720 but Sears has the good pictures on their site.
Frigidaire 30" Convection Gas Range hhgregg.com

It has everything I like in a stove and more. The broiler is on the top of the oven (not in the bottom drawer) and it's gas. That's good enough for me. The giant convection oven, split oven racks, center oval burner and built-in griddle are all real nice bonuses that made the purchase worth it to me. I love cooking on a large, flat (cast iron) surface. Most of the reviews online were very good and promising. The only issues people had were with the knobs getting hot after baking for long periods of time, one person didn't like that the cast iron griddle and grates weren't perfectly smooth (which I agree is annoying), and someone mentioned the trend of putting the grates so high up over the burner that more energy is needed to heat the pots and pans is annoying.
I figure I can deal with hot knobs (or they sell a heat shield I hear) no problem, I can sand down the griddle and grates if I really want, and I can also lower the height of the grates and griddle if I'm feeling extra adventurous. However I'm not convinced having them higher is less efficient. Although maybe they keep raising them up because people get scared when the flame comes out of the side of the large pans like on older stoves? Maybe it's more efficient?

The plumber estimated $300-$350 to cap off the gas to the gas logs in the fire place (going to burn wood dag-gummit!) and run the extra line to the kitchen. The plumber comes recommended and we're in a time crunch so we'll just have to pay the price. I'd cap the line off myself but right now the concept of closing off a gas line with solder and a torch in a crawl space isn't my idea of a good time. :o

A couple more days of microwave meals and we'll be in business.

When is a good time? 4th of July?

Hopefully you don't have any psychotic neighbors.

Spring would be a good time to cap off the line. My mind would be clear enough to take on the risks, and the weather would be good enough not to freeze/melt my precious body.

Oh, and we've met some of the neighbors and so far no psychotic behavior. We'll see how long that lasts. Maybe we'll get to be the psychotic neighbors? =D

Anyone want a cheap, white, brand new GE electric stove?

Lucky! Looks like nice place so you should be safe.

Just a note. Typically copper lines for gas aren't soldered, but brazed. You can do it if you have a MAPP torch (or acetylene, preferably), but propane won't be enough. It's certainly trickier than soldering water lines, though hardly impossible.

A proper gas stove with a range of burners (large to small and an oval 5th) is a joy to have. We did a dual-fuel gas cooktop/electric oven. Allows the lower drawer to also be an oven (at 500deg it's more than a warming drawer), and electric typically works better than gas for a convection oven. Honestly, we hardly ever use the convection feature though.

Good to know, and certainly outside of my tool range right now.

I'm hoping we'll enjoy our stove just as much. I too don't predict using the convection feature much (although maybe I will) and it was only really icing on the cake. The convection fan turns on with an auxiliary electrical heating element to supplement the gas burner(s) so that sounds like a plus from what you're saying.

We just bought the stove in the store and I completely forgot about state sales tax. We were hit with $50 extra so right now I'm going to see if I can order online and avoid that, and return the one we ordered tonight. =(

Edit: Checked the website and they are charging tax too, so I don't feel bad anymore about it. Odd how that works...

Yeah, that makes sense. They were starting to have those when we built out house. Runs of on just a 15A 120V line, right? Clever way of allowing a convection oven when what you have is a traditional gas line with 15A 120V electrical to power the timer, etc. Sounds like you could have done one like we did since you already had 220 there for the old stove, but frankly, I like the idea of a gas over better in a lot of ways. Our electric takes ages to get up to temp.

I really love the gas broiler for certain things which is the main reason I like gas for the oven. Yah, we have 220V obviously already there. I was kind of hoping the new stove would accept 220V but you're probably right I'll have to find some 120V for it somewhere instead. That might end up being an issue actually...
I could grab it from one of the counter plugs temporarily but something else will have to be done long-term.

You can replace the breaker on the 220 with a 120v 20A breaker (you'd probably have to pigtail the ~6awg down to 12awg to fit into the breaker) and replace the receptacle with a 120V one (again, probably have to pigtail down to 12awg). You'd just use the black (hot) and white (neutral) and ground and cap off the red on both ends (that assumes a 4-wire outlet, you might only have a 3, in which case you just use all three, but run one to ground, one to neutral and one to the hot). Having wires much heavier than the circuit rating is fine (just not the other way around).