02/12/2021
Nothing like a little bit of drama just before guests arrive! A lovely family from Germany was flying in last Monday to celebrate Thanksgiving with their daughter, who lives locally. They were looking forward to preparing a Thanksgiving feast at the lake house, and we have absolutely everything they needed for this—except, we were to learn, the most-important item of all.
On Saturday night when I was making dinner, I put a sheet pan of vegetables into the oven to roast and quickly learned that the oven was not working. it wasn't just a glitch, our trusty workhorse Dacor oven was, so to speak, toast. Not only was it not working, we had a window of only a day and a half to somehow replace the oven—a project that under any normal circumstances would take weeks, at a minimum!
Brian did an online search for the highest-rated wall ovens and then tried to reach his usual appliance rep, but it was Saturday night and they were closed on Sunday. The next morning arrived gray and pouring down rain, and the clock was ticking even louder. We were down to 28 hours. After calling around, we learned that to order our dream oven it would take months. OK, we were willing to shift our focus to any other ovens that had good reviews. After yet more calls we learned that, due to supply-chain issues, there were literally no wall ovens of any type that would fit the space, available at any store within 300 miles!
It was time for Plan C. Perusing Facebook Marketplace, Brian found a couple of new LG ovens (which had decent ratings) of the right size. One of them was nearby, however, the owner didn’t reply, so Brian drove all the way to Everett on a dark, rain-slicked freeway to meet a man who had a new, boxed LG oven in his garage. Even though the oven was a half-inch too tall, it would have to do. Yet only part of the challenge was over.
Next up was installation. Without the benefit of a carpenter, Brian and our handyman had to alter the cabinet so the new oven would fit…and do it without proper training or the right tools. Getting it to fit was a beast that absorbed most of the day with more than a few moments of tribulation, but it was a success!
Next, Brian somehow managed to twist the arm of his electrician to convince him to drop his planned appointment to make an emergency visit Monday morning. Shortly after he arrived, the oven was hooked up and operational. It just needed a few hours to “burn off,” something you do with a new oven.
It was only an hour or two before our guests arrived that we knew for sure that they would have an oven for cooking their Thanksgiving dinner! And what an oven—it may not be the absolute best oven money can buy, but it works well and it’s a beauty, with bold, brightly lit digital settings and a surprise inside—a vivid blue interior. Our guest, Ingrid, said that it baked a really nice cake—the best compliment we could ask for!
