Congratulations on your consideration. There are many good reasons that can motivate someone to seek out a vintage gas stove.

• Exceptional style and character
• Elegantly simple mechanical operation
• Superior baking performance
• No rapidly dying, non-replaceable computer components
• Reliable, durable – designed to last decades, generations
• Designed to be repairable
• Cook/bake w/o electricity
• Solid investment
• Truly environmentally friendly, replacing 4-5 modern stoves

Of course it’s not all beer and skittles. Here are a few key minuses.

• Most require some restoration, repair, serious TLC
• Some parts are expensive and/or hard to find
• Hard to find or non-existent owner’s and maintenance manuals
• Hard to find repair technicians, about two dozen professional stove restorers, they’re small business owners all over the US
• NG, LP use has fallen out of society favor, that is until electricity goes out, something that seems to happen more frequently these days.

Vintage stoves come in a spectrum of conditions, anything from professionally fully restored to a beat up chassis and rusty parts.

Most of the time used stoves will need, at a minimum, good deep cleaning, a cleaning that will require some disassembly. It’s best to either be prepared to roll up your sleeves, be a bold brave do-it-yourself-er and start your vintage stove adventure or find a shop to do the restoration.

Tip: Do not rely on the seller’s statement that their vintage stove works. It’s not that the seller is trying to pull a fast one. The stove may have worked the last time they used it. They may not even be familiar enough to know how he stove originally operated. And, unless you buy a warranty from that seller, no seller has an obligation to honor that boast. Finally, anytime a vintage stove is transported, something can loosen or break.

It’s just best to assume it doesn’t work. As a buyer, it will be your responsibility to make the stove work. You can have a professional vintage stove technician assess the stove for you, or learn to do it yourself. Also plan to do some deep cleaning of the stove.

If this is your first vintage stove, you might want to see if you can locate a professional vintage stove technician before hand. That is a cost, but if you’re concerned and not a big DIYer, it will be worth the peace of mind.

Other costs: transportation of a heavy appliance costs some coin. Getting the stove hooked up might cost. Sometimes a great plumber with a brain on her/his shoulders can do it. Sometimes, the gas supplier will do the hookup. That varies by location; town/city/county. state. Any restoration plans may cost.

It’s important to consider the impact of the entire acquisition.

How much do they cost

Completely restored means?

I’ve learned one has to ask a few questions when a seller claims “completely refurbished”. That can mean different levels of attention per seller. Sometimes that means only the stove’s cosmetics are updated. The visible portions cleaned so it looks pretty. But that’s not enough to claim “completely” anything.

You need to assess a few things.

– What condition is the porcelain enamel coating (inside and outside). Was it redone?

– What’s the condition of the chrome plating? Was it triple coated? (Very costly process)

– Was the electrical harness updated (new wiring)?

– Have the gas connections been tested for leaks?

– How accurate is the oven thermostat?

– Was the insulation in the doors and chassis replaced?

– Ask if the gas lines have been cleared or replaced, as needed.

– Have the clock/timers been cleaned, relubricated and tested?

– Were the gas valves cleaned and relubed?

– Were the thermocouples replaced?

– Were the cooktop burner gaskets replaced?

– Were the door springs replaced?

– Was all the rust remediated?

There is a solid justification why a completely refurbished vintage stove can come with an asking price in the thousands of dollars range. There is an incredible amount of specialized work that should be done, which cost in parts, labor, time and resources. In a proper refurbishing or restoration, the stove is completely disassembled, cleaned, checked, resurfaced, repaired, parts and materials updated, etc. and reassembled until it looks AND performs like new.

Don’t let the shiny brightness fool you. If you are concerned about getting your money’s worth, you need to be able to dig into details.