Open Microphone

I have been getting a lot of email questions lately. Most of which I can't answer.

What I thought I'd do is start a post that is purely questions (and hopefully, answers) from readers. This way we will have one location for readers to exchange information. I will then make a permanent link to this post and put it on the left side of the blog.

Please post any questions....answers....tips...advice.....etc. as a comment to this post.

Late 1940's Tappan

Angie sent me the following email about her stove, as well as a bunch of great photos:

"My husband and I moved into an old house that was built in the late 40's to early 50's.  In the basement we found an old Tappan 4 burner gas stove with oven.  I have looked at other pics of other Tappan ranges and they all have the timer dial in the center ( or at least thats what im thinking it is.  Anyway, I have included with my email several pictures of the stove.  Maybe you can tell me what year it is.  Sorry its not cleaned up yet.  We just began discussing the stove recently so I thought I'd try to do some hunting.  Thanks for any of your help, in advance :)"

I originally thought her stove was early 1940's.  I started looking through the 1940 and 1941 Sales Manuals I have and found a similar back splash and "cove" top, but the vents were vertical instead of horizontal like Angie's stove. Then I pulled out an older Owner's Manual (courtesy of Ron & Aiden) and bingo....found an illustration of a stove similar to Angie's. This would move Angie's stove to the late 1940's (possibly, 1946 -1947).

Also, note the similarities to Dionne's stove. I even (accidentally) hunted down the same Sales Manual picture.

Thanks Angie for sharing the photos!

Gleaming

Joe dropped this email to me about his shiny Tappan Deluxe...

"I took some pictures of my tappan for you. I bought this in 2006 from the granddaughter of the original owner. It was in good shape but needed a major cleaning. Over the last 4 years, I found the burner covers and the oven racks on ebay, ordered new burner knobs and replaced all of the bulbs. The only thing I have left to do is to rebuild the thermostat, find a pair of pyrex burner trivits and rebuild the clock again. I have attempted to rebuild the clock two times already out of parts I found on ebay, but it dosen't keep time very well. I think the problem is in the coil, because the telechron rotor works fine and the gears turn easily. The inside of the oven is almost spotless as is the porcelan finish on the exterior. We have the stove in our basement kitchen and it works better and is alot easier to clean than the new stove upstairs.
Thanks, Joe"

If anyone has Telechron clock repair advice for Joe, I'm sure he'd be happy to hear it. Check out the Tappan Chef salt & pepper shakers in the top of the stove. And if you peek in the pull out cutlery drawer on the open right storage area, I think I spot the same set of solid white Roman arch shakers that Katie showed us a few months ago.

Also, does anyone have any ideas for reproduction versions of the pyroglass plates that fit on the burner grates of some of the Tappan Deluxes? There certainly are quite a few stove owners looking for them.

Thanks, Joe for the photos. Your stove looks great in that kitchen!

Fabulous 400

I am going to take a short little break from posting photos of readers' stoves. Don't worry, I still have quite a few of reader's stoves in queue to post.

I ran across some info. on the Tappan 400 Series stoves. Up until now, I have focused on older Tappans, but these all-in-one units are very cool and it's fun to see what features Tappan carried forward and what features changed over time.

Center of Attention

I received the following email from Joe M.  We met Joe's Tappan Deluxe, Precious,  last year. At that time, Precious was sitting in Joe's garage. Joe is a commercial designer, so I was excited to see the new kitchen design with Precious as the centerpiece.

"Dear Tappan Talk,

Now that I have been able to move my stove Precious into place I am ready to seriously address some of her operational issues. My Tappan is a 1950 AV669-16 previously posted in your blog and although her knobs are working (glowing red) I found the cove lights do not work nor does the clock. I want to remove the cove containing these components but am wondering if the electrical components will cleanly “unplug” from the stove body in the removal process. Do you have any information? Also I have found your blog extremely helpful regarding my oven pilot light. This will not stay lighted but I found references to this problem under both Thermocouple and Thermostat and will re-address this with a qualified stove technician and hope to fix this as well as regulate the thermostat. Fingers crossed I won’t have to have it re-built!"

And then a quick update from Joe...

"...I have been tweeking the kitchen still further, switched-out the clock for one with a chrome (plastic) frame w/black face & white numbers & this weekend I bought a stainless steel shelf from IKEA to hang below the clock instead of the Victorian one I currently have. I’m trying to add a more commercial look/feel to the stove area to compliment Precious.

My kitchen guy has now added upper cabinets to which I am adding lights as well & with these cheap base cabinets, the kick bases are all the same as the cabinet finish….white…so I’m getting 20’ of black vinyl cove to glue to the kick base. The black will look more authentic and also help diffuse the differences in white between the floor and cabinet. I’ll send pics of this too when I finish."

This kitchen looks like it's out of the pages of a magazine. Thanks for sharing them Joe!

Is It A Standard?

Karen sent me these photos along with this email ...

"I'm glad to discover your blog. I have a Tappan stove,

The label on the stove says it is model number ZCKV 2662 Lot #2. Serial # H13088. Based on the description of the stove, which I found online, I think it is the 1953 Model 60. A previous repair guy told me it was the Standard model and so not worth saving, like a Deluxe. It came with the house I bought 8 years ago. The previous owner had bought it, fixed it up and installed it. The back lights up like a jukebox. There is a light in the oven, a clock that moves but doesn't keep time and recipies on the backsplash."

This stove looks a lot like a Deluxe, except the clock on the backsplash is rectangular, the door handles are more streamlined, the burner knobs and manifold panels are chrome. It has a pull out utensils drawer and towel holders in the right storage area, but I've never seen a blue drawer before. Finally, the thermostat knob is larger than a typical Deluxe.  1953 sounds like it might be about right.

Any other observations?

Is It a Tappan?

I have another mystery for you.  Mindy sent me photos of this cute stove asking if it is a Tappan.

I don't know.

The stove says "Deluxe" on the back splash. It has some features similar to a Tappan....and some that aren't.

The owners, Mindy and her husband, believe the stove is original to their 1951 house.  They tell me the stove appears to be propane. Other than the back splash, they haven't been able to find any with writing on the stove. What do you think?









Thanks for the photos, Mindy! Tappan or not, it's a great looking vintage stove.