Suzanne O’Connor’s Bargains LA

Kitchen Fixes

Hubby has wanted an old vintage stove for decades. Far be it from me to deny him now that we are home owners. But old 300 lb stoves don’t do well on linoleum floors and suddenly the kitchen floor, which I hadn’t wanted to upgrade for a few years had to be replaced with porcelain tile… now. We were able to secure a heck of a deal on some tiles at Felikians in Pasadena (130 sq ft of porcelain tile at $4.00 instead of $5.50- yeah I have champagne taste and went for the highest end!) But no matter how you slice it, our costs just went up… again.

With cost souring, the hunt for the vintage stove went from purchasing a fully restored stove in mint condition through Savon Appliance ($3000-$4500) to finding one on Craig’s List in near mint condition. We decided to pay up to $1000 for one or under $300 if it needed full restoration. But at 38”-40”, we will need to loose cabinet space to accommodate it.  Hubby found a great deal on an Old Wedgewood double oven stove in near mint condition (Marsha at Savon Appliance told us what to look for) at just $500. These stoves are workhorses and will last forever.

The next kitchen problem was of my own creation. I want a dishwasher. Old homes generally don’t come with them. I do a lot of hand washing of dishes, but when we do entertain, a dishwasher is a must. To put one in meant losing even more cabinetry. I had to solve the cabinetry loss before I could purchase a dishwasher and have it installed.

Since we have a breakfast nook, a free standing, kitchen hutch added to the breakfast nook would solve the loss of cabinetry in the kitchen. But with budgets starting to run low, I have to keep the purchase at under $300. Trips to thrift stores, furniture consignment stores yielded either junk or cool pieces out of my price range.

I again went to Craigs List to hunt. Found a hutch that was water damaged and passed on it. Then looked at another that looked great in the pics but was actually too flimsy for the heavy-duty use I would give it. But the hunt finally paid off. I found a rustic, solid wood pine cabinet for $150 from a private seller in Santa Monica. Add in the $40 for a guy to deliver it and I paid $190. If I had bought it new, even at my discounters it would have run me $450-$550.

With the purchase of the rustic maple table from King Richards Antique Mall and the rustic pine cabinet, my cabinet problem is solved and breakfast nook is complete.

Next issue… the dishwasher!