How did you find out about chambers stoves

[ha_asfan]

Two years ago, I suggested to a client, that we incorporate a vintage stove into his house re-model. We looked [superficially] at some website info but lost interest when told there was a two year wait time for every stove we found interesting, Chambers was not something of interest at that time. Only a few months ago when it became apparant that we would be purchasing an oven for our own home did I return to the sites and stumble upon the Chambers site and, as well as you know, I became a Chambers geek immediately. After just ten days of having Francis Bavier Chambers [yup, finally came up with a suitable name] in the kitchen, I can't understand how we got along without her ! Chambers Kick !

[lowracer]

<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ March 09, 2006 10:44 PM: Message edited by: lowracer ]</font>

[sadiepike]

Wife said she always wanted one since seeing the neighbors years ago. Don't know what happened to that range (it was a green low back probably 61C) and the neighbor is gone. The neighbor's comment was that it was a hunny.

We will be remodeling our kitchen next year, that is if we don't have to borrow the money. The focal point of our new kitchen will be Matty the Chambers cooking with the gas off.

It's the standard of the world. What company's product used that slogan?

Ron

[quintonk]

My 1936 Magic Chef's oven door broke and the oven wasn't heating right. I needed an upgrade and the models at the Great Indoor's, well I just didn't like them. I got depressed, asked my bible study group to pray, I prayed and the next day I looked on Craig's List in Cleveland and low and behold there was this vintage stove called a Chambers. I had never heard of one, but it looked good, it was close, my dad got a good look at it and the rest is history.

[lorikeets]

I love watching the Food Network cooking channel. One of the shows (30 Minute meals with Rachel Ray) has a Chambers. I loved the broiler and had never seen a stove like this. Started doing research, found out what it was, and started watching ebay. I live in So.CA, so had to wait a while before I was lucky enough to find a peach in L.A. So now "Granny Ida" lives in my 1890's Victorian home, and my love of cooking has grown exponentially since I got her.

Gwen

[debgro]

I was looking for a new dishwasher on ebay, under major appliances nearest to me. I saw this red "stove" and I HAD to have it. I stayed up until 6:00 in the morning doing Chambers research. I got great advice from this board about price and condition. I made my offer and she came home this Sunday!

[chipperhiker]

My initial opinion of a Chambers was, I'm afraid, a bit far from the mark.

I heard a story about a vintage store restorer on NPR, and immediately was fascinated by the old stoves. I searched every vintage stove web site I could find, and read any article. I had no particular favorites, but I have to admit that the first time I saw a Chambers, I thought it was a bit odd looking compared to the same vintage O'Keefe and Merrits or Western Hollys. I really wanted one of the O'Keefe double oven stoves.

Then I found out about the many things that make a Chambers unique - thermowell, thermobaker, retained heat, funky broiler, and I was hooked... Who cares about a second oven when I can use a thermobaker! Much cooler.

Suddenly the little duckling grew into a swan.

I started haunting this site and eBay, and now I have Daisy. She's so pretty, despite her obvious issues. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but some of us need to see things more than once, I guess.

[treatmaker]

Hey guys,

I don't know if this was ever a topic and if it was sorry to repeat. I'm just curious on how all of us got hooked on Chambers stoves, how you found out about them.

I first knew about them 20 years ago. My mom had a friend who owned one and always raved about it. When my mom saw the stove she told me all about it. You see, I loved to cook and bake and started in my pre-teen years and could spend hours in the kitchenware department looking at all the gadgets. So my mom's description of that stove was shelved in my memory and when I finally had my own home the hunt began....

[taheckler]

What a terrific topic - thank you, Treatmaker!!

Gosh, I really had to think to remember how I wandered down Chambers lane...

About a year-and-a-half ago, I wanted a vintage stove for my next house so I started watching e-Bay for vintage stoves to figure out which one would suit me. My mom had a 1950's stainless steel (I think it was a G&S or an O&M, but can't remember) behemoth back in the 1970's that I was rather fond of with a griddle in the middle and two ovens. I first thought I wanted something like that. But then I found someone just wanting to get rid of a 1920's Detroit Jewel and had it listed for $5. I bought it, and had my first painful lesson on shipping costs. The seller said that someone who knew stoves would be the best person to buy it and after I got it, I saw why they said that - it arrived in a box, in pieces!! They were planning to restore it, but once they had it totally in parts, they changed their minds. It's a beautiful stove with near perfect cream/green porcelain, and one day I will go out to the garage and attempt to reassemble it. I think I can now, but at that time, there wasn't even a hope of a chance. So I put it all back in boxes and went back to my e-Bay stove search....

Like everyone else, I was also intrigued by the 6-burner double-oven stoves and thought one would be perfect, but thought that the price was prohibitive. I'm glad I didn't buy one, though, because I got a chance to see one in person months later and was surprised that it was alot smaller than I had expected... While surfing e-Bay for Magic Chef's, I found a regular 3-burner 1930's model that was restored and gorgeous. I then saw an ad in a local paper for an old Magic Chef and it was listed as a double oven. So I went to see it, hoping it would be "the" double-oven stove. Turns out if was the same 1930's 3-burner single oven model that I had been admiring... But, the price was fair and the stove was in terrific shape, nearly perfect, so I took it anyway, thinking I might use it, if not for the main house, then maybe for a vacation home one-of-these-days. I also signed up with TOAC and started getting their newsletters and started looking for vendor resources for my Magic Chef restoration.

Well, e-Bay is addictive and I wasn't quite satisfied with my Magic Chef, so I kept watching the stoves. I came across unusual stoves I had never seen before called "Chambers". I saw one of Todd's reprimands to an e-Bay seller asking them why they were selling their treasure (bless him!!!) and to check out the Chambers Lover's website, so of course, I did!! I read about the Thermowell and broiler and the triple insulation, and I was convinced, THAT is the stove I wanted!!! But, there's very few in California, and I knew that if I had another stove shipped, my husband would divorce me. THEN, I got a new issue of "The Old Appliance Club" and there was an ad in there by a lady in northern California who had a Model B she was GIVING away. Well, I'm never first for the good stuff, so my expectations were low when I sent her an e-mail. I was sooo excited when she wrote back and said she still had it. It was a Thursday, so I made her PROMISE she would wait for me to get there on Saturday, and to not give it away before then. She was nice, and did. So I rented a trailer and we made our trek up north. My husband wasn't impressed with The Elvia, but was a good egg about it. I, however, was thrilled to get my Ugly Duckling - she was exactly what I wanted!

Yes, I still have the Magic Chef and the Detroit-Jewel-in-a-box in my garage. I rather like them both so don't know what I'll do with them yet (one gets very attached to old stoves). But the Chambers is exactly what I was looking for and I'm now done with my search for the Perfect Stove.

<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ December 08, 2005 03:20 PM: Message edited by: Tura Heckler ]</font>

[annnt]

Well, as we were planning to build a home a couple of years ago I was doing lots of searching and trying to find as much "salvage" as possible to try to make the house as environmental as possible (you know reduce, reuse, recycle, etc). I have a friend who collects Wedgewoods each time he goes to California, so I thought a vintage stove would be a great piece of salvage to include. I started surfing the web and came across this web site ([url]http://www.vintagestoves.com/stove/continental37/[/url]) and really wanted an aqua Western Holly. I looked and looked and looked, but I think all Western Hollys were initially white and I sure didn't want to pay for a refurbished one (if I recall correctly the initial one I saw was selling for $8,000!).
Then, I got an issue of Natural Home magazine that featured a kitchen with a yellow 90C and I really liked how this looked. So, I started investigating Chambers and decided I loved the B's (I must admit that I went just for looks and only began appreciating the thermowell and cooking with the gas off after I started using it). I found a yellow one through a wanted ad I placed with antiquestoves.com. I had a friend of mine pick it up from Missouri in his llama trailer (more about this when I get around to contributing to the virtual convention). I spent a lot of time cleaning it right away and then it sat under the carport for a year and a half until it got installed in our new house this past summer. Cooking is now so much more enjoyable (and I'm sure my concoctions are even tastier!).
The End.
annnnt