Kitchen Ranges

50. There are so many different kinds of kitchen ranges on the market at present, that we will not attempt to describe them, except in a general way.

Portable ranges, or kitchen stoves, as they are often called, are commonly used in small framed residences, for heating and cooking purposes, also in places where the brickwork of the chimney is not wide enough to allow the range to be "built in." Portable ranges, therefore, stand on the kitchen floor, about 9 inches or more clear of the back wall. If the floor is made of wood, they should be set upon zinc or galvanized sheet-iron floor plates, which should project at least 1 foot out on the firebox end to intercept any live coal which may fall on the floor. Portable ranges are usually "single-oven" ranges; i. e. they are mainly composed of one oven, one firebox, and the necessary flues to conduct the heated gases around the oven. The principal objections to portable ranges are.

1. They occupy too much floor space.

2. They overheat the kitchens, and thus impair the health of the people who use them.

3. The stove-pipe connections are not only hideous, but are a source of nuisance and periodical expense.

51. Brick-set ranges, so called because they are set in brickwork, are generally employed in brick or stone buildings, and in such wooden buildings as are provided with specially wide chimneys. These ranges may be purchased either "single" or "double oven," or they may be had in rows of three or more, as the conditions may require.

52. Kitchen ranges should all be provided with some means for carrying off the vapors from cooking pots, etc. otherwise, the odors from the kitchen will permeate the whole building. To properly accomplish this, a special ventilating flue, at least 8 inches by 12 inches, should be built close to the smoke flue in such a manner that the hot gases from the range fire can heat the ventilating flue and cause a good draft. A sheet-iron hood is often used to draw the vapors together and guide them into the ventilating flue. When a special ventilating flue cannot be obtained, the next best arrangement is to lead the vapors into the chimney flue through an ordinary-wall register near the ceiling, a hood being employed like a canopy to hang over the range. When a hood cannot be used it is customary to arrange the throat piece with a slide, or hinged opening, as shown at a in Fig. 26, allowing the sheet-iron smoke pipe b to rise up in the chimney flue as high as possible without choking off the vapor vent. Any range can be selected from the manufacturer's catalogues, and the dimensions of the openings to receive them should be obtained from same, before the chimney is built, so that the range may fit snug when set in place.