Craigslist

So awhile ago I looked on craigslist for something. I don't remember when that was or what I was looking for, but I don't think I found it. Than recently a couple weeks ago I decided to try and look to see about a new computer desk. I discovered there is a lot of things on craiglist. I have found it to be kinda my new favorite website. I check it almost daily now in the "free" section. I did find my desk on craiglist. I bought it though it wasn't one of the things listed as free. But I got a desk I really like for $20. I am happy with it.

Anyway we have been living in this house for 29 years and a few months now... I don't know how new the house was at that time, but we still have the same oven and stove cooktop from when we moved in. The oven is pretty small and I guess the cooktop too. Our cooktop had 4 burners, it's gas and has a pilot light ignition. Several years ago one of the burner knobs was getting to be so hard to turn on and off and it was kinda hard to make sure it was completely off so my dad took the knob off and so we didn't use it anymore because we didn't want to risk any gas leaks etc. Than recently the burner we use most frequently wasn't really lighting very well and we were frequently having to use something extra to light it. So I was doing some investigating and found that the tiny tube thing that runs from the pilot to the burner had a hole in it. So as we would try and start it was leaking. I told my mom we should probably start looking for a new stove because I didn't want to risk any fire/ etc. I love my family too much for that. In the meanwhile I switched that burner with a different one that was used less frequently again for safety reasons.

I was doing some research online. I called the habitat for humanity restore and they only had one gas cooktop but unfortunately it was too small. I looked at Warehouse Discount Centers, Lowe's, Home Depot, Sears online. I found that of course the discount center was the least expensive, But they did have one matching one at Lowe's and Lowe's will price match. the one I found was a basic simple one very similar to what we had and the price was jsut under $250. I wanted to buy it for my mom but I had just paid bills and didn't have enough to do so. Than the thought hit me to look on craigslist. As I said it had just become my new favorite website! So I was looking and in Ventura county didn't find anything. I found a few but they were mostly too small. So I decided to take a chance and check in LA county. I knew that it was a risk and may be somewhere in the San Fernando Valley or I may find something way too far to go but looked anyway.

I was looking on Tues the 8th.... I found an ad that had been posted the week prior on I think the 3rd or 4th and it said they wanted to sell it that weekend. It was an ad for a 36" gas cooktop (which is what we needed) for $100. It said it was a Kenmore and had only been used about 5 months but they decided they are going to remodel their kitchen so they were getting rid of all the white appliances! I figured there was no way they still had it, it said they wanted to get rid of it that weekend which had already passed and stuff. It was in Downey which I knew was only about 50 miles so I decided to give it a shot. I called the lady and she actually told me she still had it! She told me there were some people that she was going to be calling back but than she told me she would wait until the next day at noon to see if I wanted it or not since I didn't live close. So I checked with my mom and dad and we decided we definately wanted to check it out! So I called her back and said I would come right than if she wanted (it was about 7:30 when i was talking to her) or the next day, we decided on the next day.

So on Weds my mom and I and my nephews drove down and we bought it! The lady whose name was Faith... or at least that's what she put on the ad and answered to when I called, but her voicemail on the phone said Diane... anyway she told both my Mom and I that the week before she got a bunch of calls for the stove and misplaced some of the numbers, and the ones she did call back she said they could come the following week to look at it but never set anything up or anything. She said that when I called she felt she wanted to give me a chance and not call any others back. We told her that our stove is at least 30 years old, that my dad is getting VA benefits and my mom is disabled and financially it was tight times, and that our stove was dying. We knew it was meant to be that we were the ones to get the stove from her! She was also selling a refridgerator and dishwasher... I guess she really was remodeling! She said she had the cooktop for about 5 months, it looked brand new, there was a little bit of dirt under the knobs, but otherwise didn't even look used! She had the installation kit and manual stuff still in the sealed package from when they bought the stove!!

So that night I pulled out the old greasy grimey stove and Dad and I were doing some measurements and such. The next day after I got home from my morning institute class we went to Do It Center and bought some supplies we needed to install the stove. This one has a deeper base than our old one so it was going to hit the drawers we had in the cabinet so we got some wood and raised the countertop. Well Dad did that part while I went back to the store to by some adapter stuff we needed because the new gas line didn't fit our old gas valve. I had to go to several stores to find what I needed. The new cooktop has 5 burners. 3 are normal burners, one is a lower powered "simmer" burner and one is a high powered burner for fast boiling! It is a pilot-less electronic ignition. So we had to run power to it. Like I said Dad did most of the installation of the wood to raise the countertop, but I re-installed the counter as well as did the gas line and installation of the cooktop! We worked together to fix the drawer tracks since they were worn out so the drawers would work better. ANyway it took most of the day but it works! No leaks and it looks amazing! I love the new stove! It works great! I am so glad we were able to get what appears to be a brand new cooktop that is way nicer than the one I was looking at from warehouse discount center for less money! This particular one is a $650 cooktop at Sears!!!!! This is how it looks installed!