The first BIG old house dilemma, our Stove and Microwave set up

Wa, wa, waaaaa.... just when we thought we couldn't feel more stressed after we moved in, turns out, the oven didn't work. Well, it worked... a little, you could heat it up to a mear 300 degrees and it would take just under 3 hours to get there! WOW! By the time we could get the oven heated up to make dinner, it would almost be time to go to bed, not to mention that you can't cook many things at 300 degrees. And, we didn't have a microwave, we knew that going into getting the house, so we expected to get one after moving in. One big problem though, the space we had to install a microwave was very awkward, and unrelated, those lights were hideous, those have to go too!


In the photo above, you can see that the oven is set into a boxed area in the kitchen with low ceiling, and behind the oven is an even deeper space- sort of like a shelf, so hmmm, how are we going to get a microwave to hang in here? We didn't want a cheap counter top microwave, we wanted the real deal type you install in a house, or what I describe as the super fancy microwaves with fancy features and super powers!

With all the struggles we were having the first week in our house, fate finally delt us some good luck! Alex and I went to Appliance Smart to look for a discounted microwave, Appliance Smart is a type of appliance warehouse with scratch and dent and good deals if you can find them. As we walked down the rows of microwaves, we found the same microwave we had in our brand new condo, it was a GE Profile SpaceSaver 2.0 with a touch screen, a SUPER FANCY microwave! We looked at the tag and it was $499.00, which we weren't willing to spend at all, then, this is where fate came in, we found it again in the scratch and dent area, $99.99!!!! HELLO! Savings of $400.00?!?! So what was wrong with it? A slight scratch on the touch pad, which was barely visible, so I put my arms around it, guarding my super cheap find and Alex grabbed our sales guy! SOLD! Now, how the hell do we install this?!?!

So, the directions were geared toward a house where this would be installed under a cabinet and in between two cabinets, you know, how new homes are set up, which is pretty ideal, but not in this old house! It was up to my crafty hubby to figure out how to put this guy up, and fast since we didn't have a working oven (the stove did work, we survived for about 7 months with a microwave, stovetop, and grill). So, Alex cut and measured a frame for the microwave with 2x4 pieces of wood (sort of a makeshirt cupboard space), then installed the framing bracket on top of the wood.
Then, came the awful part, trying to hang the microwave, and this was a two person job, let me tell you, NOT EASY! It took us several tries, even figured Alex had to rehang the brackets to get the spacing exact, and when you hang a microwave, you have to butt up the very bottom back first at an angle, then press the top back in last after you feel the bottom brackets hook in, and if both don't hook, you have to try again, and again, and again, I think I cried at one point out of frustration and my arms about ready to give out from the weight of the microwave. But finally, it hooked in, HALLELUJAH!!!!

Yay! We had a microwave, then we were back to the oven issue, we lived with the crappy one until after our wedding, then with some wedding gift money, went to see kout a new stove. Can you guess where? Appliance Smart of course! Nothing better than finding an awesome deal! We found a lovely Frigidaire Professional Series 5 burner stainless steel oven, priced at Lowes for $1,700, at Appliance Smart for $900, so we thought well it is a good deal, then, Alex looked all around it, found a dent in the side, and we thought, lets see if we can get an even better deal, since it wasn't scratch and dent. The manager looked it over and said, okay $750.00, WOO HOO! We got a heck of a deal on the oven, and we can finally bake things!!!! I was also happier because it was so pretty.
So, here is the after, and I can't express how happy I am that we got it figured out, and we got new appliances at great prices. A couple things to note, we took down the ugly old track lights above the oven and installed an oil brushed bronze fixture that had an old feel to it, Alex also found some tin panels that matched the color of our paint and used them as backsplash next to the oven, which was kind of fun and fit the old feel of the house. I love it! And if you are wondering, the cute little door next to the oven, that is a laundry shoot, the shoot connects upstairs, but it is fun to have two shoots! Ahh, the charm of old houses!