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A New Range Brings We couldn't fit the Fisher Paykel into our existing stove space--the kitchen fireplace. We would have to expand the fireplace. Also, we'd have to install new electricity. And we'd have to move the gas line. 
We called in our mason, Phil Ruth, to expand the hearth by one foot. Then we had an electrician install a 50 amp outlet.( I've never worked with that kind of power before, so I wanted an expert to do it.) We thought we'd have to move the gas line but, then, it made more sense to run it inside the fireplace at the back of the stove. 
I learned that we'd have to install a big fan inside the chimeny to vent the heat, smoke, and moisture up to the roof. You need a fan that can move 100 Cubic Feet per Minute for every 1,000 BTUs of heat the stove-top puts off. Your owner's manual will tell you how many BTUs your stove-top generates. Ours generates 80,000 BTUs if all six burners are going. That means we need a fan that moves 800 CFM. That's a big fan. Mind you, it will be rare that we're firing all six burners at maximum temperature. So I got a 700 CFM fan. Needless to say, it wasn't easy installing the thing inside the chimney (see video for details). 
Next to the light switch, I installed a transformer that allows us to vary the fan speed. Also, just inside the chimney (above the stove-top), I installed recessed lighting in a plywood cover wrapped in sheet aluminum, which looks like stainless steel but is easier to work with. I bought a high-quality stove-top filter and installed it inside an aluminum picture frame to create a custom filter for the range. You have to have a filter; otherwise, grease and dust will muck up the fan. |
Jill and I are dangerous when we shop together because we can be very impulsive. Our new kitchen range is a good example of this. We always wanted a big stove because both of us enjoy cooking and we cook every night. But the kind of stoves we dreamed about are way beyond our means. Or so we thought until we wandered into a Sears scratch-and-dent store and saw this four-foot Fisher Paykel professional range. It was half price. That was still a lot of money but we thought we could swing it because we were about to refinance our house. So we bought the Fisher Paykel. Then the fun started. 
