Kitchen appliance difficulty

MichaelB - looks like cutting the cabinets is feasible. Something like Hermit described should work. But the easiest attack will depend on how the cabinets above and below are constructed. Any cabinet guy should be able to handle it with no problem. The electrical problem should be an easy fix as well. Either move the electrical box in the wall behind the oven or attach a longer electrical whip to the oven.


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W2R said:
A good handyman is worth his weight in gold. It took me several years to find one. Knowing a good handyman is one of many reasons why I love developing roots in the community. For me, doing it myself is not an option since I am unusually "un-handy" and despise this sort of work. What can I say; I'm a retired academic. So, I really need my handyman. He knows his limits and will call a licensed electrician, plumber, or whatever, that he works with when something is over his head.
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Is his name Frank? :D
 
I will throw out an option...

An oven/microwave combo with convection in both...

Whoever owned the house before us put this in... we never do need the double oven, but I have used the convection feature on the microwave a couple of times... it is not that big, so if you do need two real ovens this is not an option...
 
The cabinet doors are definitely so close to the ceiling that only the front can be seen, not the top of the door itself. There is more room in the cabinet and losing 3 inches or so wouldn't disturb the overall look.

Something that did just occur to me, is the oven is already pretty high. If the top oven shelf is another 3 inches higher it might be out of range for DW.

I'm feeling much more comfortable about this, expanding the cutout height doesn't seem to be a risky project. Good ideas and good feedback, very much appreciated.
 
check6 said:
Is his name Frank? :D
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No - - some of the advantages of not being married, are that he doesn't have to do my handyman work or mow my lawn, and I don't have to do his laundry or cook for him. We like it this way. :D
 
MichaelB said:
The cabinet doors are definitely so close to the ceiling that only the front can be seen, not the top of the door itself. There is more room in the cabinet and losing 3 inches or so wouldn't disturb the overall look.

Something that did just occur to me, is the oven is already pretty high. If the top oven shelf is another 3 inches higher it might be out of range for DW.

I'm feeling much more comfortable about this, expanding the cutout height doesn't seem to be a risky project. Good ideas and good feedback, very much appreciated.
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My girlfriend's wall double oven is very high and she has a hard time taking anything out that's heavy. She's 5'5". Even if it's not heavy, it's awkward trying to get things out because the hot oven door is in the way.
 
I would remove the cabinet above the stove. Remove the doors. Using a table saw or using a straight edge/clamp make very precise cuts to the sides and back, just below the inside top panel. Remove the top panel. Remove the amount you need to trim from the side panels, try not to cut into the back panel. Place the top panel back in place an and mark the back panel and then trim the pack panel. Glue, screw/nail the top and back panel in place. Reinstall the cabinet.


You know need to mark the front panels to trim. Turn the panel 180 degrees so the hardware is at the top. Have a friend or DW hold the panel in place with the aligned with the top of the front panel of the neighboring cabinet. Mark the bottom of the front panel -- this is the amount you need to trim. Again, use a table saw or cutting edging and clamp so you get a clean edge. With any luck you won't need to relocate the hinge hardware -- reinstall you front panels and you should be good.


The electric is no big deal. But if you're not comfortable doing electrical, pay a local electrician -- he should be able to relocate the outlet in less than an 1 hour.


If I
 
We replaced a double oven a couple of years ago. The replacement we were considering didn't really match up with the original hole.

What turned out to be helpful for us was to move beyond replacing the double oven with another double oven. Instead we ended up with a stack of three devices: a microwave/convection oven on top, a traditional oven in the middle, and a warming drawer at the bottom. This fit just right.

We only occasionally used both ovens concurrently. Now when we need that, the microwave can be pressed into service as a (convection) oven. And DW loves the warming drawer. I mean really really loves it.

Since this also provided a microwave, that freed us up to ditch the microwave we had above the stove with it's lame recirculating fan and replace it with a proper vented hood. We now have fewer problems with cooking odors nice it vents them outside.
 
Replacing a dead wall oven actually was the catalyst for a kitchen redo for us. Other appliances were also aging and I wanted to reclaim the counter space that the floor to ceiling oven cabinet used.

We removed that cabinet and extended the counter through that space, hanging a new upper cabinet. The aging cook top was replaced with a slide in, full sized range with a larger oven. While we took out two wall ovens, they were small. Replacing with one large oven has worked well.
 
Several years ago, we replaced a oven/microwave unit with a oven/microwave/warming drawer unit. The new unit was about 4" higher than the old unit. I removed the bottom or the cabinet above the cutout and moved it up to create the necessary clearance. I then needed new cabinet doors to fit the smaller cabinet opening. I managed to order some custom raised panel doors off the internet. They weren't a 100% match, but extremely close. Once they were painted to match, I'm the only one who can tell the difference.
 
I was curious about what is disintegrating on the current unit.


Our range/oven is a free-standing unit -- not built in. It is about 30 years old. I recently rebuilt part of it (ie relay) and it is working fine again. All our friends were telling us to get a new oven, but I wasn't ready to give up. New oven designs don't necessarily follow the design of our kitchen and I was not interested in a full remodel project. I also wasn't interested in electronic modules and controls etc.


Oh I forgot to mention. The oven is a Sears/Kenmore and was actually made in the USA - Chicago actually.


I feel quite good about extending the life of this appliance.


-gauss
 
I have a full cabinet shop, however I'm not a professional cabinetmaker. It appears that those cabinets are of a euro design without any face plate. And I would think the door panels are melamine or some kind of chip wood product. They're just not easy to reconfigure.

I hate to say it, but have you considered a complete kitchen re-do? Those cabinets are about as basic and styleless as any I've ever see.

We're also hung on double ovens, but have found the cost of such units to be pushing $2800. You can buy 5 stand alone stoves for the cost of one double oven.

We now have double ovens in a GE Monogram stand alone stove unit--with convection on the large oven. And we are moving it to our new house next week--after I get the granite cut 1". We're moving the Fridgidare Gallery stove unit to our current house.

I'm sorry I don't have a better suggestion.
 
W2R said:
No - - some of the advantages of not living together, are that he doesn't have to do my handyman work or mow my lawn, and I don't have to do his laundry or cook for him. We like it this way. :D
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Fixed that for you!:D
 
MichaelB said:
Re-cutting the opening is an inviting option, but I'm not sure how messy it can get or how expensive it might be. Above the oven is a cabinet, below is a drawer. The drawer has plenty of height to "give away". Between the drawer and the oven above is a shelf of some sort, thickness unknown. That shelf would need to be cut out or removed, and a new one put in about 3 to 4 inches lower. The drawer itself would need a smaller front, the challenge would be to match the formica.
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I had built some new cabinets to replace an island that just wasn't working out in our kitchen with a slide-out pantry, extra cabinets, and breakfast bar. When it came to matching the cabinet doors/drawers of the existing cabinets I was able to find those online to purchase directly from a manufacturer. Ours were stained to match, but it should be possible to match a formica cabinet face too. For our project I built the cabinets but had a local cabinet maker take care of the counter-top ordering and installation. I felt their price was pretty reasonable for that, and I'm pretty much a DIY cheapskate. If you contact some local cabinetmakers and ask them to quote doing the modifications, even if they don't work out chances are you might learn some good ideas from their perspective on it based on the existing cabinet structure. My thought is reworking the space below would be preferable to keep the working height of the oven more comfortable.
 
You are entirely missing out on the opportunity of using this as an excuse to tear out the cabinets and put in new cabinets which will allow you to also put in new counters and a new backsplash and all new appliances while you are at it.

Of course, I equally approve of the option to just buy a new house....

In all seriousness, I wanted to replace my gas cooktop with an induction cooktop. The counter was odd shaped and when I looked at it closely the clearances made it difficult (and perhaps impossible) to put in the new cooktop. So we needed new cabinets, which would mean new counters. By the time we worked through the options we had an entire kitchen remodel planned. (We won't actually do it because we plan to downsize even more in a few years so it doesn't make sense to do a complete remodel here.)
 
To all those that suggested a new kitchen, thanks, but no thanks. That is not the way to get invited to my next cookout, either. :)

Repairing the ovens isn't practical. The coating (enamel, porcelain?) is flaking off inside one. There is a cloth / asbestos gasket that runs around each door, and both are badly frayed and burned. The lower oven does not heat well.

I stopped by Lowes this morning. They are interested in selling the new appliance but not the cabinet work. Tomorrow I'll start looking at craigslist for kitchen / woodwork folks.
 
Do you use the drawer under the ovens? If not, leave open with no drawer front and use for storing a short step stool or use a basket or decorative box in the opening for storing bake ware.
 
None yet. The plan is to remove the old oven, widen the cutout, relocate the outlet, then put in a new oven. Looking for a way to do that without spending megabucks. :)
 
I agree with posts 10, 11, 23, & 32. Did this back in 1993 (bummer that wife's father died right in the middle of the project and it ended up stretching out about 10 days to get finished). If you trim the cabinet doors at the top and move them up, no worry about having to move the handles. Also, by leaving the bottom section alone, you won't have to worry about hurting the integrity of the oven, knowing it will have a solid base to sit on since the base has always supported the other oven.
 
Payin-the-Toll said:
I agree with posts 10, 11, 23, & 32. Did this back in 1993 (bummer that wife's father died right in the middle of the project and it ended up stretching out about 10 days to get finished). If you trim the cabinet doors at the top and move them up, no worry about having to move the handles. Also, by leaving the bottom section alone, you won't have to worry about hurting the integrity of the oven, knowing it will have a solid base to sit on since the base has always supported the other oven.
Click to expand...

I thought so too, until MichaelB mentioned his wife's height, then I remembered the difficulty that my friend has with her oven being to high.
 
But either way the oven is going to be within 1 1/8" or so of where it has always been so I doubt that his DW will notice 1 1/8".... :D
 
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