Archive for the ‘Kitchen Improvements’ Category

Unknown Facts About Pot Belly Cooking Stoves

Thursday, February 25th, 2010
Adam M Rise asked:


A Potbelly stove is a type of wood burning stove made of cast iron. It is usually round in shaped with a small bulge in the middle. This seems to be the likely reason for the name of potbelly used in its description. These stoves are shorter and smaller than the normal antique wood burning stove most people are accustomed to. The potbelly stoves are constructed of heavy cast iron. Potbellies have been a part of the American tradition for many years and are a representative of Americana.

Historically these stoves have been very popular in the past as well as in current times. Apart from heating rail road stations, schools, houses etc, they have been used for cooking food in basically the same environments. Pot belly wood stoves were generally used for dual purpose of heating and cooking and were usually kept in the family kitchen. The potbelly stoves have a round shaped oven in the center of their body. These stoves come with at least one oven and in some cases many models came with dual ovens. In some of the more advanced stoves there is a mechanism which permits you to control the quantity of heat which arrives at each burner so that the person doing the cooking can decide the intensity of the burner according to the requirement of the meal being prepared.

In our modern times we are seeing the popularity of the wood burning stove being revived. There are a number of reasons for this occurrence. They tend to provide a very economic means of heating the home. If you compare the wood stove with electric or gas appliances these stoves actually will cut your heating bill by half. Though they can use wood or coal as fuels some people will actually use grains such as corn for fuel in their stoves. This alternative makes them even less expensive to operate. Apart from their economy of operation they are beautiful pieces of furniture. Some of them are quite decorative and stylish. They are well suited for installation within restored houses or houses with a Victorian or an old fashioned ambiance about them. Some people choose them to present a feeling of the past era in their home. Perhaps others feel that some older recipes can only be cooked on these stoves. Unlike gas burners and ovens these stoves tend to keep the kitchen warm besides merely cooking the food.

Some care must be undertaken prior to purchasing one of these stoves. You should purchase the stove according to the size of your requirement. In the market today you are presented with a choice where you can buy either a genuine antique potbelly wooden stove or purchase a replica of the older designed units. The older stoves are heavier and they are usually a collector item.

Wood Pellet Production Guide

Different Types of Modern Stoves

Thursday, November 12th, 2009
Pieter West asked:


Stoves come in all shapes, sizes and colors.  Modern stoves have come quite a way from the time when the only method people had for cooking was to suspend their food over an open flame or attempt to cook it on a piece of flame heated stone.  Once the wood burning stove was invented, modern stoves took off!  To be sure, there are still some people who use wooden stoves to this day-for cooking and for heating their homes.  The most common place stoves, however, are the electricity and natural gas burning stove and oven combination units.  Designers have been working tirelessly for decades to figure out how to create modern stoves that are fun to use and beautiful to look at. 

Knowing that there are technologically advanced modern stoves available, why would someone choose to use a wood burning stove?  The major reason that people choose wood burning stoves for cooking and heating is the money that they save by doing so.  Wood is inexpensive and easy to come by.  It costs far less to heat a home and do your cooking on a stove that is powered by wood burning than it does to pay for the electricity or natural gas that is needed to run one of the more modern stove units. 

When most readers read the words “modern stoves”, they think of something that looks like it belongs in a sterile or clean room at a hospital.  This is largely because the modern art and decorating movement places quite a lot of emphasis on clean lines and a lack of decorative touches.  In a modern small kitchen space, this lack of decoration can help make the space seem bigger than it already is.  In a larger space, the lack of decoration keeps the space from feeling cluttered.

Today the wood burning modern stoves are used mostly for heating and an electrical stove is used for cooking.  If you are forced to use an electrical or natural gas stove in a small kitchen space, you should consider breaking the unit up.  Instead of choosing a combination range and oven modern stove, look for counter top ranges and wall mounted ovens.  These make more use of the space you have available, and work around your current layout instead of forcing you to work around it.

Color-wise, almost any color modern stove will work in a modern kitchen.  Modern art trends toward the bold and contrasting colors, so your modern stove’s color should either blend in completely with the rest of your kitchen or stand out in stark contrast to the cabinetry and counters that surround it.  If you are worried about your small kitchen space, the matching color will help make the space seem larger.

The most important elements of many modern stoves are whether or not you like how they look and whether or not you will enjoy cooking with them.  Choose a unit that will make you happy and stretch out your small kitchen space!  You will be using your modern stove a lot, shouldn’t you like it?

Wood Pellet Stove And Boiler Guide

Antique Gas Stoves

Sunday, November 8th, 2009
Debra Atkins asked:


The antique gas stoves did not gain popularity until around the 1880’s. This holdup was due to the gas pipeline grid being delivered to each house in the larger cities. These natural gas stoves had assorted benefits over the wood stoves. With the wood stoves the whole surface top of the stove must be heated. The utilization of the piped natural gas cut down on the effort, time and price of locating and bringing in and then storage of the coal and wood into the house. Around the 1930’s, the gas stoves the coal and wood stoves two to one. This was due of the action development of the propane gas being delivered to the homes and business sectors out side the cities. The propane gas stove was used for these households and buildings.

The antique gas stoves can be refinished or restored to operational condition. There are a sizable choice of businesses located over that provide this inspection and repair. Many businesses can provide the custom coloring of porcelain and the factory special colors. The porcelain is a higher temperature ceramic glaze. The glaze is fused upon the metal surface in a real high heat furnace. There is no other finishing that will hold up to the higher temperatures of a gas stove as easily as the porcelain will. This is often called the stove enamel. When repairing, the old coating of porcelain is removed. A new porcelain coat is applied and then baked on in the higher heat furnace. This operation is not to be confused with a pigment or even a powder coating. Not one of those works can be to hold up the heat of the gas stove and is not to be considered as a proper finish for a stove.

There is likewise stove insulation and a significant number of mechanical and electrical parts and pieces to be for the stove to work right. A business that will provide the re-chroming of the gas stove parts can actually create a large-scale difference on the outcome of the repairing of the antique gas stove. Parts you may imagine needs to be thrown aside will be brought back to a wonderful, new, shinny look of new. Gas stove parts such as the the knob rings, griddle trays,and handles may be capable to be re-chromed and worked back to life-time.

A genuine re builder and preserver of the antique gas stoves can be able to exchange the gas stove parts like the burner values, gas stove burner, thermostats, and the safety values. Some of the other parts would be the timers and the clocks on the stove. With burner grates and all sorts of different gaskets for the antique gas stove, it is important for only a certified business attempt to replace a antique stove.

Wood Pellet Production Guide