For a year and a half, two coils on our stovetop haven’t worked. My wife, who does most of the cooking, struggled to prepare meals on the remaining two coils – the two little ones. Ever frugal, I went to Home Depot and bought two new big coils. They worked reliably for two weeks. Then they worked if you shoved the coil into the receptacle, hard, before you turned it on. Then they stopped working at all.
Rachel didn’t complain. She soldiered on. We took perverse pride in how long we limped along on two burners, eking more life out of the old Whirlpool.
But enough is enough. We went to Home Depot and Lowes Sunday, scouting Maytags, Whirlpools, G.E.s. Rachel ran her hand over the smooth black cooktops on the display stoves. (The coil models, out of fashion, were tucked away in a rear aisle.) We went home to clear our heads from the dizzying allure of those fancy new appliances before picking a model.
Then, at home, I realized we didn’t need a new stove at all. I could send away for a replacement kit for the coils and all the internal wiring. A hundred bucks or so. There was no need to abandon our ancient porcelin-white stove.
When I suggested this to Rachel Sunday, she actually considered it. That’s how patient a wife she is. She looked as if she was going to burst into tears, but she said yes, maybe it made sense to cobble together a repair job on our antique stove instead of buying a new one.
But then, Monday morning while I was at work, Rachel went out by herself to an appliance store. Freed from my Rasputin-like influence, she realized that her own true heart’s desire was to have a shiny new stainless steel convection oven. With a smooth cooktop.
She called me at work and told me.
“I’m a glamour girl,” she said.
I abandoned my plans to scour parts warehouses for Whirlpool replacement parts.
I’m glad she got a new stove! =) I need a new one but as long as the burners and oven still heat up, I’m going to wait. I probably won’t get the kind with the ceramic top though. I like to use my cast iron skillet a lot.