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Poor little rich range


fresco

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A review of Trading Up, The New American Luxury in the current Atlantic asserts that "75 per cent" of all Viking ranges "are never used." If you happen on one of these orphaned appliances, please let me know and I will give it a loving home and lots of attention.

Arthur Johnson, aka "fresco"
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Ooh, sore subject. I live in an area where there are numerous second homes with trophy kitchens – we're talking Viking or Wolf or DCS or Garland ranges, Subzero everything, double Fisher Paykel dishwashers, granite-marble-gold-plated countertops....the homes get used 2 – 4 weeks a year, the kitchens almost never. Makes me wanna puke. Especially when I get hired to cater dinner and find that nobody bothered to calibrate the oven... :angry:

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Not entirely all that long ago when I was a lowly paralegal/legal assistant, I had a Viking pinned up on my cubicle soft fabric partition wall....

I'll volunteer myself for any orphaned Vikings, Blodgett's or Sub Zeros.

I'm working piece by piece. But already have a beautifully marbled floor with a stunning black granite counterop.

Surely non-attention/neglect potential issues herein. :laugh:

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That's disgusting. And we were hard on the guy who wastes food while trying new recipes and/or practices his knife skills!

PS In the next year I'm getting rid of my 30", 7-year old Wolf range. But it's a piece of shit, it's very tempermental. Its latest trick is that the broiler shoots out a flame of gas about a foot high when it starts up. The repairman tried to tell me that was normal if you don't use the broiler very often. Funny thing, it happens when I broil a few days in a row, too. Then he tried to say it was because I have a tile floor and it was too cold in my kitchen. Anyway, if anyone wants to come and haul it down 32 stairs in Oakland, send me an email. Meanwhile, I've used it every day, and just know I will roast more chickens once I buy one w/ a self-cleaning oven.

Edited by marie-louise (log)
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I've had three repairmen over the years-prabably eight or ten visits. The problem is that Wolf sold their residential line to Sub-Zero. The people willing and able to fix this pre-Sub Zero vintage stove are dwindling. After pitching a full-blown hissy fit to Sub-Zero, they send out one of their repairman, who knew nothing about my stove and acted like it was beneath him to be sent on this assignment. He's the one who made the broiler crack.

To add insult to injury, the person at the appliance store (where I was buying a new dishwasher) told me my Wolf had no trade-in value. I think it is a real POS.

I'm not sure which high BTU range I'm buying yet, but it won't be a Wolf, that's for sure. And whatever it is, I'll still use it every day!

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I'd be inclined to go right to the CEO of Sub-Zero and scream bloody murder. A gas range is not, or shouldn't be, very complicated. If Sub-Zero took over the line they should assume responsibility. Seven years--these things should last a lifetime.

Arthur Johnson, aka "fresco"
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I'm reminded of an experience I had several years ago, when Blovie and I thought we would upgrade our appliances. I was in the store talking with the salesman. My questions were about the gaskets in the doors, the BTUS, calibrating the temperature, etc. Suddenly, we were interrupted by a couple who wanted to know how much the "cute red enamel range" in the front window cost. They thought the color would bring out the color in their counter-tops or something equally rediculous. The salesman gave them the price and the guy promptly pulled out his credit card.

After they left, we had a good laugh. It was really very sad.

Edited by bloviatrix (log)

"Some people see a sheet of seaweed and want to be wrapped in it. I want to see it around a piece of fish."-- William Grimes

"People are bastard-coated bastards, with bastard filling." - Dr. Cox on Scrubs

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home.. home on the range

i have a 90cm 5-burner AEG. i'm quite happy with it but boy would i ever wanna trade it up for a 48" Viking. Why the hell for? I dont know

Do not expect INTJs to actually care about how you view them. They already know that they are arrogant bastards with a morbid sense of humor. Telling them the obvious accomplishes nothing.

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i'm sure i've seen at least 20 high end ranges in the philly area that were used less than once a month, if that.

i used to be a caterer, like gg mora.

some of those kitchens i've seen in homes are probably worth more than my house.

Herb aka "herbacidal"

Tom is not my friend.

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A few years back there was an ad campaign for a computer (I think the quality of tech support was the point of the ad campaign) in the upscale food magazines. In the first ad, you saw a thirty-something woman, tall, thin, blonde, and tanned, in her kitchen, holding a cup of tea (or toast), while past her through a doorway, you could see the computer in the far room.

The kitchen was an old-fashioned kitchen, but clearly restored. On the far wall were glass-pane front cabinets (white-painted woodwork), filled with a great many carefully collected antique serving dishes. Not an everyday dish in sight.

To the left were large windows, through which you could see the forest at the edge of the yard. On the right was the stove, a jumbo cooker, styled like an antique model. On it were sitting a toaster, vase of flowers, and enough other accessories that don't belong on a working stove to see that the stove was never used for cooking. In the "life" of this hypothetical yuppie, the stove was only a prop.

In later ads from this campaign, the stove was cropped from the picture.

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This may be slightly off topic. My Wolf range is 15 years old. I use it virtually every day. The electronic ignition on the burners is no longer functioning but I can live with that. However the oven, which was once a joy has now developed a mind of its own and is unreliable. Can anyone tell me if there is a way to calibrate it without a $250 service call?

Ruth Friedman

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marie-louise, I may be completely off base, but it sounds as if the jet orifices either might be clogged or even the wrong size. I'm assuming that all your repairmen checked the thermocouple. Gas stoves are kind of like gas heaters- once you realize there are few parts- you can get the confidence to read up on it, then be a genuine pain-in-the-butt to your repairman. :wink:

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I often wonder what food can possibly be prepared in those kitchen adverts.

What can you make from the ingredients typically displayed: a fresh salmon, some apples, half a dozen eggs, some red peppers, and a bottle of wine?

I you haven't had salmon/pepper omelet au vin apple pie, you haven't lived.

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marie-louise, I may be completely off base, but it sounds as if the jet orifices either might be clogged or even the wrong size. I'm assuming that all your repairmen checked the thermocouple. Gas stoves are kind of like gas heaters- once you realize there are few parts- you can get the confidence to read up on it, then be a genuine pain-in-the-butt to your repairman. :wink:

I probably should give it one more try and insist that the next guy pulls it out from the wall and checks the connections. I later found out that the guy who installed it is not well thought of by the other repairmen (don't ya love how they gossip about each other.) I have a brand new house so I'm sure the main gas line is not the problem, but maybe he gerry-rigged some connection back there because he didn't have the right size. The cooktop is great, it's just the oven that's been problematic. It's had a few factory recalls and at one point, the whole oven became covered in soot (it never did get clean after that.) It's a lemon.

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You'll be happy to know that our Viking range has been in constant use since we bought it! In fact, we redid our kitchen so that it would be showcased better - it didn't fit in well with the 70's marigold decor. Actually, we wanted to do the kitchen anyway... :raz:

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The prime example of this must be Gordon Ramsay's £60,000 industrial grade Rorgue stove which he had crained into his new home and a kitchen built around it. According to Delicious magazine, his wife Tana does all the cooking at home, but Ramsay has promised to cook more "now he has his masterpiece kitchen".

I can just imagine the scene 12 months down the line :

Mrs Ramsay to Mr Ramsay "Sixty thousand bloody quid we paid for that and when was the last time you used it?"

Mr to Mrs : "But I've been busy love, its not easy being a three star chef you know."

Mrs to Mr : "3 stars blah, blah, blah...now get down there and cook the kids dinner!"

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A review of Trading Up, The New American Luxury in the current Atlantic asserts that "75 per cent" of all Viking ranges "are never used."

I hd to go look up the description of this book on Amazon, and it sounds like someone's written a book about my mother. A few years back she had a trophy kitchen installed, two-oven Viking, Sub-Zero fridge, granite everywhere, etc. Can't remember the last time I saw her eat anything that wasn't grilled chicken. And she's always complaining about how much they cost to repair, especially the fridge. For my mother, the main practical difference between a $500 fridge and a $3000 fridge is that the expensive fridge breaks down more often. Before that we had some ordinary Amana that served quite well for more than 20 years. The one thing that was saved out of the old kitchen was the now 30-year-old KitchenAid dishwasher.

Now, to be fair, she does actually use this stuff, and she is not a bad cook. But she could have spent a lot less money on her kitchen with no noticeable difference to her. As far as I can see she just threw money away because she could, or at least thought so at the time. So she could have what Martha has.

"I think it's a matter of principle that one should always try to avoid eating one's friends."--Doctor Dolittle

blog: The Institute for Impure Science

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speaking of ranges, the flames on my gas burning hobs are kinda yellow tipped. Is there anyway to get them all blue and hot like in the pictures?

Do not expect INTJs to actually care about how you view them. They already know that they are arrogant bastards with a morbid sense of humor. Telling them the obvious accomplishes nothing.

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