something for me

I finally did something I've been wanting to do since I moved in - replace the top of my stove. 

Doesn't look too bad, right? Look closer, especially the left side. All of those black spots are where the enamel has chipped away. This is the stove that came with the house and it cooks great. But it looks awful. 

I don't know what the previous "user" (tenant) did with it, but both sides were rusted and cracked, not badly but still. Over the years of my using the stove and putting really heavy stock pots on it, the cracks have gotten worse. I've had horrible visions of my giant stock pots full of water and goodies caving into the whole appliance. That wouldn't be good. 

I'm glad I've had enough life experience to ask the internet if it was possible to just purchase a replacement top rather than having to replace the entire appliance. Sure enough, Sears sells the top that fits my stove. 

It was not supposed to arrive until next Friday, but when I got home today there was a giant box in front of my door! Happy Day! 

I was excited to pop it on and cook my first meal, but I soon realized it wasn't going to be that easy. There were things to unscrew and to pry off like the prop-up-thingys incase you need to clean inside or relight the pilots:

and the oven vent.


I decided to cook one last meal on the old top instead. And deal with this project when I was no longer starving. First I wanted an omelet, but that quickly morphed into a frittata. Bacon, onions and carrot greens (yes really! I looked it up last night) They just taste crunchy.

Done!

Eating first was a good idea. There was a lot of cleaning that had to happen. It took me about an hour to deal with all of it. The trivets had to be scoured so that they wouldn't immediately leave dirty marks on the stove and all the knobs needed a good cleaning. I got a little bit too ambitious with the oven knob and so now I can't tell what temperature it is anymore. Guess what I have to purchase tomorrow?  

I'm also not quite finished. I still have to unscrew the prop-up-thingys but I need an allen wrench. I have a giant box of them I purchased at a flea market years ago. Too bad the box is at work for a project there and as I left today, I thought to myself, I won't need those this weekend.