Question from Andie
Hi Debra,
So grateful for you and loving your new website! Congrats!
My question: we desperately need a new oven and don’t know what to do!
Is it safer for us to purchase a floor model, that’s been sitting in an open room for a time? Or will it still outgas when it’s home and used for the first time(s)?
Really do not know what to do about ovens and this issue. Thank you!
Debra’s Answer
I wish I could just tell you to go purchase a certain brand but haven’t found one yet that has been designed to be toxic-free. This is one of those items where I need to educate the industry. That’s part of why I’m establishing my Zero Toxics website.
The last time I purchased a stove, I purchased a floor model at Lowe’s. And it was fine.
The last time I purchased a refrigerator was at a Sears Appliance Outlet. Just type that into your favorite search engine and your local outlet will come up. Also try Sears Scratch and Dent Appliances.
These appliances have been returned or refurbished or scratched during shipping. They all work just fine but have minor imperfections. I bought my last washer/dryer at a Sear Appliance Outlet store too.
So that would be the first place I would go.
From experience I can say ANY stove that hasn’t ever been used for cooking, that includes floor models, stink for months after you get them home. Used is the only way I can go, someone else has had the fun heating them up and of being poisoned!
And I use gas, I’m so sensitive to the electrical field from electric things, I can’t use electric to cook with.
I bought a whirlpool stove in early 2012. The store kindly delivered it and put it on my enclosed balcony for a few weeks and then came back to put it in the kitchen. When first using it, it smelled horrendous – both the stove top and the oven. I had to put the stove top on (the burners) and open windows and leave the apartment, had to do the same for the oven. I think the oven took longer to outgas than the stovetop. What would have been ideal for me is to have been able to run it while it was on my balcony – but not the right outlets for that – what a shame. I dread when I have to buy a new one. Good luck.
Another great place to start is your local appliance store that does repairs. I have found they are an incredible resource on the state of the industry. Who changed, sold, has had quality control issues etc. Also a certain brand sold through a big box store is not necessarily the same model as the smaller retailers have. Check the entire model number and verify with the manufacture. Many big boxes have them built to their specs and it will be like a ABC123 verses an ABCa123. I have not find a single brand to recommend either. They change from model to model and year to year.
Great tip. Thanks 🙂
For me being in the cookware business for 40 years, cooking on a gas stove is always the best and then ab electric coil stove. The worst performing stoves are the glass top stoves. They are designed for people who want their kitchen to be spotless and they are easily scratched and the temperatures are too high for cooking. Restaurants would never use a glass top stove. Too much breakage and heating problems. Gas is the best in my opinion. 🙂
As a cook I agree and used a gas stove for many years. At the moment I don’t have a choice where I am living.
However, a few years ago I tested my indoor air quality and the VOCs spiked when I turned on the gas stove.
The solution is to make sure you used the hood vent to carry the combustion by-products outdoors instead of letting them spread through the house.