The Gas Stove Saga
You may have noticed from the pictures and videos over the past few weeks, that we now have a gas stove.
I have never been crazy about the idea of a gas stove because of fires and gas leaks. However, a few months ago my husband came home from work after having been in discussions with coworkers about the benefits of gas over electric and he was determined that we were going to have a gas stove! His reasons for this were two fold. One he had always heard food cooks better, faster, and more evenly on gas. All the chefs use gas, he argued! (I'm not a chef and neither are you, I argued back!) Two, we could save on electricity costs by switching to gas, which is cheaper than electricity where we live. (Maybe, but electricity doesn't leak dangerous chemicals, I argued!)
At any rate, I am generally more miserly than he is and I often say no to various whims, but for some reason, this time I decided to give him a win. He duly researched different stoves and various deals on at the time and found a good deal on a gas stove at Home Depot. We went out and bought it all in the span of a weekend! As we walked away from the store, I told him I was reserving the right to say I told you so if anything went amiss with this new stove!
The stove was delivered and my husband arranged for a gas technician to make all of the necessary connections. Once the connections were made, my husband immediately turned the stove on and began making a roast. I immediately indicated that I smelled gas, but both my husband and the gas technician assured me it was just the normal smells of cooking with a new stove. The roast was cooked, we had dinner, I put Bubbas to bed, but as I left his room and came to the top of the stairs, I could still smell gas! The stove had been off for at least an hour at this point, so I became more insistent with my husband about the gas smell. Annoyed, he took a closer look and realized that he too could smell gas around the stove. A closer inspection revealed the smell most strong by the connection at the new stove. He shut off the valve at this connection and the smell of gas instantly began to dissipate. The technician came back the next day and, once he applied extra pressure to the line, it became obvious where the leak was. It was corrected and we haven't had an issues with it since, thankfully.
However, the damage had already been done as far as my anxiety over the stove. After that fiasco, I began to view it much the same way Kevin views the family furnace in Home Alone!
Every time I smell something weird now, I wander the house sniffing and making sure it isn't gas. It's mildly surprising I haven't passed out from this new habit yet! And with a small boy in the house, foul and indistinguishable smells are a regular occurrence!
After I calmed down from the initial shock of the leak, we then realized that our over the stove microwave-hood combination would be insufficient to vent the fumes created by cooking on a gas stove. So for the first month we had it, we had to be sure we weren't using any more than two burners at a time! We now have a much better, more efficient and proper hood that, when on speed three, does a great impression of a jet engine!
Unfortunately we only tiled up to the microwave when we did the back splash, so we also have to figure something out for the blank wall now. Maybe throw caution to the wind and let the kids do a mosaic! We could call that Art Deco, right?
We have had the stove for about two and a half months now and the stove and I have reached a cautious, mutual respect. I'm getting used to it, but I still sometimes find myself wandering aimlessly through the house sniffing!
