Should I sell my Chambers stove?

9 years ago

I have loved Chambers stoves for years and have 3 friends with them so I've used them and understand them. When we moved into our house 5 years ago we knew that we would someday do a full kitchen remodel and I knew that I wanted to buy a colored Chambers stove for that kitchen. I looked online for about 2 years when a yellow one in great condition with a lot of pots came up about 2 hours from me. We had not even started the remodel but I knew that the colored ones were hard to come by. (BTW I live in a Chambers rich area - just not colored ones.) I bought it. I probably overpaid a little for it but whatever I loved it. It has been in my garage for about a year now.

We were supposed to start our kitchen remodel this past March but decided at the last minute that we would rather move than remodel. Our new house, we move in mid June, will also need a full kitchen remodel but it is years away. The new house is a little stretch for us financially so we just have to live with the kitchen as is for a while. I'm okay with that. My question is:

1) Do I move this 500 lb stove to the new house and continue to store it until we remodel? or

2) Do I sell it now? (knowing that it is unlikely I will find another one when it is time to do the remodel). We could use the money but it is not a make or break kind of thing. DH would really like a Chambers Imperial - but he doesn't realize how extremely unlikely that is.

- There is not a good way to put the stove in the new house as is. The new house has a 1940's electric Thermador with a griddle that actually works great (although we prefer gas). And the configuration of the kitchen doesn't allow for a home for the stove. (Although I could possibly put the Chambers where the refrigerator is and the refrigerator where the Thermador is - but then the fridge would stick out from the cabinets).

Tell me what to do oh wise ones!

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Comments (13)

magsnj
9 years ago
Definitely sell!! Let me know when so I can buy it.

(the above was sarcasm. Only sell something you love if you really like kicking yourself for years to come)
lisadlu
9 years ago
Keep it! Store it in a garage until you do your remodel. If you end up not using it in that future remodel then you can sell it at that time.
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plllog
9 years ago
If you can afford to, keep the stove! Perhaps before you're ready to redo the new kitchen, you'll be able to restore it (or get someone to do it). When you're moving a whole household, what's a stove more or less?

Do you have a big yard at your new house? Maybe you'll want to set up a cookshed in the meantime, if you have the space, and use the stove for canning, Summer cooking, or something?

Or just wrap it carefully, and put it in the garage. But put it up on pallets or something to keep it nice.

There's an antique stove that had been restored by a pro that I really wanted, but don't even have room in the garage, and it's from the '20's and not practical for my house. I still lust for that stove and if I wouldn't have to rent storage for it, I'd try to track it down...
cookncarpenter
9 years ago
Keep it!! ...or sell it to me ;)
The quality remains long after the cost is forgotten...
lavender_lass
9 years ago
You should definitely keep it!

Unless....you live in eastern Washington or northern Idaho... then please e-mail me :)

If you don't keep it, you'll probably regret it...and do you have a drawing of the kitchen, so we can see if it might work right now?
Texas_Gem
9 years ago
I will echo everyone else's sentiment, sell it....as long as you sell it to me.

In other words...keep it, no questions asked.
aliris19
9 years ago
Store it close to your old home so not necessary to move the behemouth if it turns out not to be needed in the end?
louislinus
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks guys! I am going to keep it. Even if it has to stay in the garage. I will draw up a quick layout and maybe you can help me figure out how to put it in my existing kitchen. What is a good free software for that?
francoise47
9 years ago
So many happy memories of cooking on my Chambers stove for over a decade....

If you think you want ultimately to have a Chambers stove I suggest that you keep it. Why? Because in my experience you will make less money selling your Chambers than you will pay down the road to buy another one. I don't think that the resale market favors individual sellers. Of course the market for Chambers stoves depends on your location. Here in the Northeast I've been trying for four years to sell the Chambers B stove we removed when we renovated. The market for Chambers seems to have dried up.
farmhousebound
9 years ago
Not only did we purchase our Chambers years before we were finally able to install it, we drove several hundred miles to pick her up. "Baby" sat in our garage for a couple of years and DH hooked her up to a propane tank and I was able to cook on it when needed :) No way would I give yours up!

BTW, ours is the Imperial :)
greenhaven
9 years ago
Louislinus, Lowe's website has excllent free softwaaree that is fully customizable, renders in both 2d and 3d and is shareable via email link here on the board. Screenshots are also post-able.

If you have to store the stove stuff dryer sheets into it to make it an unappealing place for mice to hide out, little turds.....
magsnj
9 years ago
Francoise47, my she's yard. Color me jealous. Before I did my kitchen renovation I seriously considered getting one of these, but never having used one, or known anyone who used one, I decided the remodel was going to be a big enough hassle without that unknown. They really are beautiful. I'd prefer the looks of most Chambers or O'Keefe stoves to any modern day one, even the super expensive ones.

I think the below is a link to farmhousebound's stove. Good golly miss molly, it's beautiful.

Here is a link that might be useful: Farmhousebound Stove
eam44
9 years ago
Francoise, why do I get the feeling that in addition to impeccable taste, you've had an interesting life?

Mag, you mean yar, not yard, I think. Autocorrect?

Louis, cool stoves belong to the people that love them enough to keep them. Sounds like you I think.