Our oven broke and our cooktop became unclean-able and it was time for a change. It has been a disaster. I ordered a new cooktop. I love it. I love the way it looks - black, sleek and modern. It uses convection cooking, which seems like magic to me. I turned off the power at the breaker box. Took out the old top. The hole was slightly too small, so I enlarged it using the pattern. I cleaned the area, added the soft cushion on the bottom of the glass top and began to put it in place and then I banged the top left corner and the glass broke.
I finished the install, but was embarrassed, angry and frustrated with myself. I spent a long time figuring out the wiring, but eventually got it all hooked up. It cooks great, but looks bad. Now I’m trying to decide if I should reorder a new one. For now it sits in the kitchen and is judging me. It makes me feel bad.
In the process of getting ready to get a new oven, I began removing the old oven. It also had a glass front to it and the hinge on the door was broken. If you opened the door it fell like a rock. It was one of the reasons we were replacing it. During the process of moving it, the door came down, hit the floor and the glass front shattered. It was safety glass so 1000’s of pieces littered the floor. It took forever to clean. I was embarrassed, angry and frustrated. I had studied Consumer Reports and ordered a new oven. I was so excited for it to arrive. I paid for the company to take the old oven with them. When the delivery people arrived they looked at my oven and said they would not take it. It took awhile for me to figure out that they would not take it because it was still hooked up to the wall. I turned off the power, unhooked the wires and they were happy. They left me the new one and took the old one.
Like a little kid on Christmas, I was ready to hook up the new oven. We drug it in place, lifted it into the hole only to find out that it was slightly too large, not by much, just a tiny amount. We took it out and I studied the hole. It was going to be a simple fix. I got some tools and worked for a couple of hours and had the hole big enough and the area cleaned. We tried the install again and found another problem at the back of the hole. Out came the oven and in I dove in with my tools. This involved sheet rock, clouds of dust and a huge mess. Another hour transpired, but again the hole was ready and the oven slid into place perfectly.
The last step was connecting the electricity. I had three sets of wires and none matched. I read online about wires. I watched videos about wires. I made a chart listing the configuration of my wires. I made a plan. I went in and looked at the wires. I called an electrician. A man has to know his limitations. They hooked it up with ease (exactly as I had diagrammed) and with confidence (which I lacked). It's not bad to ask for help. We all need it sometimes.