My Oven Rant
I haven’t had a working oven in almost a month. A month! Our landlord had ordered one once it became clear that no place in town would be able to fix the old one. It should have been an easy fix, to be honest. It wasn’t our landlord’s fault or the repair folks in town. GE just made a piece of crap oven (JRP28 series) with an obvious problem and no replacement parts. However, this would not be obvious at first glance. I’ve looked this oven up online and at first glance, it has pretty glowing reviews. Then if you look closely, you will notice those reviews are for the seller – not just the product. If you REALLY start to dig around, you will find that the actual product reviews are not so glowing. The biggest complaint involves the wiring in the clock. If the oven gets too hot, the wiring will burn and malfunction. Then it will beep incessantly until you turn the power off in the circuit breaker box. Yes, if the OVEN gets too HOT. WTF. This means that if you cook anything for an extended period of time, you’re screwed. If you try to use your self-cleaner (which is right there on the oven features), you’re screwed. If you cook anything above 450 º F, #you.are.screwed. This is not some cheapo appliance. These ovens average $1500.
Now, a new oven did arrive last Wednesday, buuuut the very nice and competent Sears installers found a few things wrong. The original handyman who had installed all the appliances to begin with obviously had no idea what he was doing. The first problem discovered was that the oven had not been installed properly. The Sears installers barely needed to pull on it to just have it fall out of the wall. This is frightening. My kids are with me in the kitchen on a regular basis. I do a lot of cooking and baking. If my boys had been next to me while I opened the door a little too hard just once… Well yeah. Disaster.
The second thing was that the oven they took out, which also means the oven that had been ordered, were not the correct size for the space. Which means we have to wait even longer as a new one is shipped out. C~, the original handyman, is a bit of an idiot. He has worked on things around this house since we moved in, but we haven’t heard from him since this whole oven fiasco started. He started to fix the siding on the house, but never finished fixing it, and never did paint it.
It is my understanding that he is the one to blame for the purchasing of the appliances in this house. Dumbass. I mean that term for C~ and for the landlord who was willing to trust him. Supposedly he was able to get the appliances at really great prices. I do believe that you get what you pay for. That does not mean pay an arm and a leg for everything. Do a little research first. It takes a little effort, but that will usually pay for itself with a quality product.
Anyway, since we will not have an oven for at least a week or 2 longer, I have started to look at my options:
- Using my father-in-law’s super awesome grill.
- Finding some unique solutions.
You could try making Indian bread (such as roti or chapati) in the pan. There should be tons of recipes around the internet.
But don’t tell me about landlords… I’ve called them twice about the hot water not running at two out of three faucets – the first time they sent an electrician (what the heck??), and ever since – nothing. I think I’ll call them again and threaten to cut rent, that should get them going. ^^
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I have actually made some Indian dosas (I will be posting the recipe soon). They were delicious. I served them up with Indian-style potatoes and onions. Mmmmmm.
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