More about stoves

My birth mother, who lived in San Francisco and her husband's ex-wife both cooked on Chambers stoves. There must be a story in that somewhere. They got along beautifully.

Anyhow, once I started looking at the AGA, I got to thinking about the old Chambers and wondered if any were around today. Surprise. Rachel Ray cooks on a Chambers. I'll have to look at her stove more closely. I enjoy her dinner in 30 minutes show.

I found lots of web sites but most of them didn't give much detail. Here's one with lots of pictures.

http://tinyurl.com/a69bp

The Chambers was a huge, heavy, stove which cooked on retained heat. I think the weight was in the insulation. It usually had at least one well for veggies, another larger for roasts and other meats, a grill/broiler sometimes 6 burners, and some had a trash burner as well. The stove required a large kitchen surrounding it.

We put our meal in the various compartments on high heat for 20 minutes (I think, it's been a while), turned it off, went to work and came home to dinner. In some respects, it was a large crockpot.

When my mother moved for about the third time, she sold the Chambers. Her newest home was a third floor apartment that either didn't have an elevator or the elevator wouldn't have supported the weight of that monster. Whichever, it would have taken a crane to bring it up if her window had been large enough.

Some are selling for $20,000. and higher. People are lovingly restoring them.

My adoptive mom cooked on the same stove (Hotpoint) for at least 30 years. She had the same refrigerator (Kelvinator) for almost that long. It was still functioning when she replaced it - she needed a little freezer space.

There's a lot about that time I don't wish back but they sure knew how to build products to last.

And speaking of stoves, I should go fix brunch.

10:49 PST here, Mollie - San Francisco 3, Jacksonville, 0. I'm sure you're watching.