Polaroid Photo

Sat
23
Jan '10

Our new Okeefe-Merritt

This week Rob and I bought a vintage O’Keefe-Merritt stove to replace the one in our apartment. After years of cooking on the Wedgewood at our house, I’ve been thoroughly spoiled. So we got permission to change stoves and have been idly scanning Craigslist looking for a new one.

Behold! Four burners, a griddle, oven, warming oven and a broiler. It is a thing of beauty. The chrome and porcelain are in great shape and it just needs a little cleaning to be ready to go. We aren’t sure the year and model of this one. The closest I can find is the 1954 model 405.

I think the fellow who was selling it was a little taken aback when we bought it because the first thing we did was disassemble it as far as we could. These things are really heavy and if you pull out the burners and such the stove becomes manageable.  It felt a little like being an auto-team which is enhanced because the interior looks very much like it is made of engine parts.

This is our project for the next week. I’ll post photos as we go.

7 Comments »

  • http://marypearson.livejournal.com/ Mary Pearson

    Love it. It looks just like the stove of my childhood. It came with the house my parents bought back in 1950. My mom used that same stove for 40 years and finally wore it out and had to buy a new one. But she always said, it wasn’t as good as her old O’Keefe and Merritt.

    • http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com Mary Robinette Kowal

      It’s hard to wear one of these out. A little bit of love and they restore beautifully.

  • http://faerye.net Felicity Shoulders

    Lovely! I can see why you were excited when you tweeted about it the other day.

    • http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com Mary Robinette Kowal

      It is a pretty machine. When it is installed, you will have to come over.

  • stina leicht

    this is the exact model dane and i had in the hollywood house/garage apartment. i adored that stove. it cooked like a dream. the oven was dead on accurate and even. i miss that thing. i really really do. i’m envious. go you.

    • http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com Mary Robinette Kowal

      We had a fellow from the gas company come out to turn our stove once and he said that the reason that the older stoves are more accurate than new ones is because of the way the regulators are built. In the old stoves, it adjusts the height of the flame so you get a constant temperature. In new ones it cycles on and off so you get fluctuation.

  • momk

    Oh…does that one ever look familiar.
    Memories from days of yore in St.Paul.

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