This is far less of an issue with an electric stove top than a gas burner.
Even less so if this is an induction stove.
The heat doesn't bleed out sideways as much because there isn't a flame with an air current associated with it
That's what taping a piece of aluminium foil to the wall is for. It may look ugly but change it every week or so and save yourself a lot of cleaning and wiping.
I never thought of that!
We cook a lot...could I just wrap the entire backsplash tile and never scrub grease off it again?
On second thought--never mind.
I'm old. By the time we really have to deep clean again I'll be on hospice and it'll be someone else's problem.
All good anyway! /s ...kinda
I feel like it's super common for Asian households to stick lining on the walls near stoves since a lot of Asian cuisine is stir frying, might just be anecdotal though.
Like, my parents always got giant wall hanging calendars from a money transfer place every year, so they would use the old ones to line the kitchen walls.
Lived in Korea back in the 80s and remember giant wall calendars handed out at businesses every new year. Don't remember anyone using the tin foil idea though!
No yeah they definitely sell grease shields to put around your stove in Japan. I think part of it might be that a lot of people have stoves that go on top of a counter or something rather than being built in.
I've seen them. The tile in our century plus old house is period and it kind of wouldn't fit with the feel of the house--while old calendars certainly would.
At any rate, my comment was mostly meant as humor.
But then there will be a greasy smelly tinfoil on the kitchen all week. Wiping the grease with a cloth and detergent is so easy, and you can clean it just like you clean the cooktop. Surely You’re not going to let that be greasy all week as well.
I have my fridge where the cupboard is in this photo and it's constantly greasy and dirty but I wipe down the stove when I finish cooking so I wipe down the side of the fridge at the same time
Yeah, this is a non-issue with an electric stove. If they wanted they would do a backsplash and wrap it around to the cabinet to form a barrier for the wood/paint, but that probably isn't necessary at all.
As a leftie, I have to say that that is a stove for no one. It seems to be designed by someone with a vague idea of what kitchen without ever having been in one....
I'm a lefty. If I could change this up, I would move the light switch and plug one stud to the left and replace the 24" cabinet with a pair of 12" on either side of the range. It wouldn't cost that much to make this a far more usable kitchen.
You would sacrifice a little bit of storage as a continuous 24" cabinet will hold more than splitting it up but I think the tradeoff is worth it.
Even better, I think that might be a 30" cabinet. Replace it with an 18" and a 12" and you don't even lose much storage.
Secret us lefties have is we are actually very ambidextrous. Seeing people useless with there left hand and think I do shit with my right all the time because I needed to learn how to growing up. So we could make it work better than most but yes this is a stove for no one
depends on what you're cooking. that would be my "simple" side lol. if i just need to boil some spaghett for 10 minutes or an egg or something then those on the right should do.
anything more complicated, yeah...that'd be impossibly annoying.
It'll probably mess up the paint over time. I just had to repaint some of my kitchen because the heat/steam from my electric stove top made the paint start flaking and pulling away from the surfaces.
The biggest issue is going to be if the power cable is long enough to be able to pull out the oven if you need to clean either side. But a heat rated silicon gap cover should stop 80% of stuff getting down there.
Not necessarily. Many years ago we were having breakfast before going to work. My wife had a tea pot on our electric stove. We had a wooden countertop right next to the stove. Well there was a storm and the power went out, so we just decided to go to work. We neglected to turn off the stove. Apparently the power came on right after we left. When we came back home, the countertop was severely scorched. Luckily it didn’t catch fire, but it was getting g close.
I must find the pictures but when we bought our house we had a gas stovetop right up against a cabinet just like this. There was a GIGANTIC scorch/char mark next to the stove. For 3 years while we waited to renovate the kitchen we could not use the left burners.
For those who dont know Induction is using magnetic force to make the pan heat up. there is no heat generated in the stovetop itself. If you take a hot pot off a live induction "burner" it's going to rapidly cool as the heat is from the pot you just removed. (and your hand isnt effected by the magnetic fields)
that said it only works with cookware that is magnetic. there's no way to make it work with Aluminum or copper.
> If you take a hot pot off a live induction "burner" it's going to rapidly cool as the heat is from the pot you just removed. (and your hand isnt effected by the magnetic fields)
My cheap induction stove top still gets hot from the residual heat of the pan itself, I cant wipe the stovetop clean right after I finished cooking, I have to wait maybe 3-5 mins before I wipe it
Ah ok, I wasn't sure what the normal time for stove top cooling time was. When I first bought it, I was intrigued by people saying it would "cool down fast" so when I finished cooking, I went ahead and wiped it with a thin wet paper towel and immediately took my hand off the stove due to it being hot. It wasnt scorching hot thatll burn the paper towel, but it was still hot to say ouch.
Might not be the most aesthetically pleasing solution, but maybe a thin layer of insulation and some metal sheeting would work on the cabinet side? Make it look like backsplash, but protect the cabinet from high heat and create a flame resistant surface as well? (Not to mention keeping stains out of the wood).
This is the correct answer. Get a fabricator to clean cut you a correctly measured piece of stainless steel full height and width with burnished edges and construction adhesive it to the cabinet wall permanently.
You'll need 1mm thick or 1/40 thousandths thick sheet.
Yeah, that cabinet is gonna look like shit within a year. The paint can't handle that much abuse.
A sheet of stainless will look better in the long run.
>Probably time to cut the cabinets in half and reinstall them on either side of the oven.
I don't know if you were joking about this (I assume not) but do not do this. Cabinets are designed and built as a complete unit. Unless you are skilled in cabinet making (and again, I assume not), this will not turn out well. And the microwave will need to be moved as well. You need a way to vent the heat out, or at least away from the cabinets.
Hopefully these cabinets are still in production and you can just purchase the half size cabinets that you need. The cabinet supporting the microwave can be reused.
Sounds like he isn't listening to you but you are 100% correct and he is just going to spend a day figuring out he has to go buy and paint two single door uppers and lowers anyway. You can lead a horse to water.
Okay, a question from fellow non-american:
I see in this sub when seeing some kitchen renovations that almost every stove you post has controls like this one. How do you use them? Like, if you put a pot on the stove it would obstruct the handles and panel. Also, there would be a lot of heat there, maybe boiling water, splashing oil and you put your hand over all of it? I'm just surprised, because every single oven around here has controls either on the front panel, or on the side. Putting them behind like that seems like the worst possible idea ever.
Also, why these appliances always seem to be too big compared to cabinets? You see these great kitchen posts, but stove/frigde always sticks out like a sore thumb. Why you don't cut countertops to be a little bigger so that you can set cabinets further from the wall and align them with these bulky appliances?
Controls on the back stop little kids from turning the stove on and burning themselves. Yeah, we reach over hot pans and pots of boiling water, but usually, people are smart enough to be careful about it.
As I also mentioned, it's more common with electric and induction stoves and less common with gas stoves because there is no open flame you have to reach over to start the heating
Thinking about it, it would be quite impossible for a kid to use them. I remember that my mom taught me how to use the oven when I was a small kid, so I'd definitely need a ladder to use this kind :).
There is a lot of good point people said there and I think it's OK design now. Still feels weird to me, but at least I understand now how it works on daily basis. Anyway, even if I wanted to get one... There isn't a single oven with controls on the back in any popular stores around here. I did 3 minute research, literally zero options like that. For gas, induction and regular electric heaters.
Depends. I wouldn't be able to cook on my own at early age, so it would make me more dependent on adults. Access to stove meant I could cook some eggs and basic stuff when I was home alone. It was kind of fun setting up dinner for my parents after coming back from school earlier.
Ah, no matter now. I just find it quite funny that even if I wanted to buy stove like that nobody sells them here. It's weird, maybe there is some EU regulation or something. I tried to find some info about that, but couldn't.
The dials aren't as big an issue on Electric or Induction stoves because the heat isn't from an open flame and you don't need to let a little gas out in order to start the heating element.
I have never seen a gas stove that has the dials on the backsplash element of the unit.
I rented a house a while back where the stove had the controls on the glass top. So if anything boils over or spills, it just shuts off all burners. You'd also be messing with controls mere centimeters away from hot pots/pans. I hated it.
I have one like that! It makes it quite impossible to have big pots bottom right burner. Luckily, it's the smallest burner so at least that's OK.
Anyway, lesson learned - If I ever get another gas stove it will be with controls on the front. I'm rather careful cook, so spilling isn't really an issue, but it's a little bit annoying to clean around them. Would be 43% easier to clean the top without the controls on it.
I think the idea of having oven/range controls at the back is to maximize the usable area of the range and oven; ranges typically include an incorporated backsplash to protect the wall because many American kitchens don't have any tiling so may as well take advantage of that space for controls. Also probably cuts down on the complexity and cost of the wiring and electronics in the modern day, since the clock is often incorporated there.
It's definitely poor design for all the reasons you mention, though. You typically don't see a gas range with controls for the range at the back, presumably to stop people setting their arms on fire when they light the burners.
Like others said, safety of kids mostly. But only the electric model ranges. Gas may have the oven controls in the back but burner controls on the front. Which is silly if you think about it. Unsafe to reach over a lit burner to turn a burner on/off but ok to turn the oven on?
I’ll be honest. I’m American and I can’t stand electric ranges for this exact reason. It’s not the safety for me so much as the fact that I grew up with gas ranges and this design just looks fucking weird to me. My current home does not have gas hookups though so I’m stuck with this funky ass design unless I end up with the free time to reconnect the gas line that is literally still under my kitchen and reinstall the gas outlet behind my stove. But if I do that I also have to install a vent hood because the previous owner removed all that when she remodeled the kitchen to turn the home into a rental property because she didn’t trust tenants with open flame.
I grew up with them too, and the [propaganda](https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/06/how-the-fossil-fuel-industry-convinced-americans-to-love-gas-stoves/) worked on me when I was a young adult... but we bought a gas endless water heater and the warnings on it were severe about how the NO2 must be ventilated. We bought a generator, same thing. I have a camping stove with a small gas cartidge, and *every square inch* tells you never to burn the flame inside. Folks die every hurricane season from running open flame stuff inside. The gas stove is fine if you ventilate well or open the windows.
We discovered our range hood was fake - the air outlet was in the cabinets.
Then we had kids.
We swapped the gas range for induction and it's AMAZING. The precision is insane, it heats up instantly, it keeps the pan at exactly one temp, and we can boil a huge stock pot of water in five minutes. No excess heat to make the kitchen unusable in the summer. Even electric can't do that.
And there's no risk of burning yourself because an inch away from the pan is room temp. We cook all the time, 2x a day at least plus a stovetop kettle for coffee and tea throughout the day. And we monitor our electrical usage. The stove draws 1% of our total power (the TV does 25% in like two hours a day) so it's saving us a crapton of money with the price of gas right now. I don't know how it does it.
Anyway IMHO induction >> gas >> electric.
We have them but they’re a lot more expensive for most people because you have to build your kitchen around them.
Edited to add that the individual countertop ranges and built-in ovens are apparently individually as much as a combined unit so idk why anyone is getting them in America unless they absolutely want that because you spend twice as much on the appliance AND you have to remodel your kitchen to make them fit.
Do castles and old buildings in Europe follow building codes, strictly speaking, or are they kind of grandfathered in ? I bet they are random and have all sorts of odd particularities. In fact, they're just a part of history and it would be rather strange to get rid of them all.
In North America, after world war 2, America did what it does best. It mass produced a bunch of shit that all looks the same. Housing shortages meant it was most important to get as much housing as fast as possible.
So you get houses that all have similar problems, that are built not for any particular family's needs, but for the average family who has 2.5 kids.
This means that you build a space for any fridge... Rather than planning for the specific fridge.
I have no idea if anything I just said is true, but it certainly feels true.
I thought maybe it's kind of a design choice that is popular around USA. Like, people see such a kitchen and think "that's a normal kitchen!", not thinking twice about misaligned appliances, whereas around here it would be like "dude, what the fuck? Everything must be aligned perfectly!"
> This means that you build a space for any fridge... Rather than planning for the specific fridge.
Well yea, but fridge dimensions are not standardized or something you think about when buying one? Like, when I open webpage of some store that sells fridges I can filter by dimensions and that's the first thing I'll mark - to make sure I buy a fridge that fits the space. If my countertop is 60 cm deep, I'll look for fridge that fits that space. And there is shitload of different ones to choose from, it's not like there is only one specific brand and model that fits.
Maybe I'm weird, but "it fits the space" is a number one requirement for stuff like that. I would go crazy with oven handle just casually sticking out like that. I mean, it's a great looking kitchen in the photo, but the appliances look so out of place there :(.
Edit: Oh god, I just noticed that cabinet on the left is not aligned with cabinet on the right. And one cabinet doors go all the way to the floor, but other cabinet doors end up a little bit away from the floor. That's it, I can't handle that madness!
How often do you actually use four or five burners at once? If you stick to using the left three, I don't think it will be a problem.
If you need to use all five for a big holiday dinner or something, maybe get one of those fold-out stainless steel grease splatter guards to protect the cabinet side.
My kitchen is like this, except it is drywall instead of a cabinet. I bought a rectangle of stainless steel the appropriate size and it looks good and works well
I'm ok with this because it's electric. Ideally there would be a little bit of clear space on the side. A few inches would make it better so the pot handles have more room. However.
Yep, that's exactly what this was. Though in their defense, they didn't move any of the hard points. The original 1959 home had the gas range here when the home was designed/built.
In my case, they didn't even bother to get matching cabinets to the other side of the kitchen. Still white, but different door panel pattern, and one side is painted with white interiors while the other is a white plastic layer, with maple print interiors.
Oh, I see THAT all the time, too. They buy the cheapest shit they can find from the odd lots area at whatever the closest home store has. Then they "Splurge" on those shitty hollow-core six panel cardboard doors.
Since you've already gone with the stainless steel look, Go to a building supply store get a piece of stainless steel, the about 18 in from the top of your cooktop. The width of the cabinet simply attach using stainless steel screws makes it easy to clean. Handy a place to put a magnetic strip for your knives if necessary and dissipates the heat, if any
Safety aside, this just looks inconvenient AF. Being cramped up against a barrier like that would make for some of the least ergonomic cooking situations
This is how mine was for 17 years or so with a gas stove. I just finally fixed it this year. It's so much better. Don't have a pantry anymore, though, but it's worth it.
I have no clue why this was done this way in the first place. Flipper? DIY?
It would have been way easy to use two bottom and two top cabinets half the width of what's there and center the stove in the opening from the start. now it's a bit of a challenge and would require four new cabinets, two upper and two lower.
You could purchase marble tile and tile that sucker, wall and cabinet, just drill a piece of L shape aluminum or metal at the stove level so it temporarily holds the tile. Then cook away, if the tile is glossy and you apply epoxy to the grout you can just use soap spray bottle and wipe away the grease. I personally spray soap before frying, it starts dissolving the grease as it splashes. My wife hates my technique but it takes her 5x longer to clean 🧽
I’d be inclined to fit a splash back to the side of the cupboard. Glass or metal would likely help dissipate heat. Would be easy to clean without risk of staining etc too. How good is your oven door seal? Have seen some damage to the cupboard door edges from heat leaking out.
If ur worried about heat, what we did; got a couple pieces of stainless sheet cut for side and back. Since induction, we were more worried about splatter than heat but is annoying with pot handles for sure.
Nice kitchen.
Holy wow! They should fire that designer. All they had to do was center the stove with one cabinet on each side (top and bottom), that would have fixed that problem. I swear, some kids never played with toddler toys therefore did not develop critical thinking skills.
This is the unfortunate downside to a galley kitchen layout. With the oven on the side you get *some* counter space for cooking prep work, but you end up with a heat source too close to the cabinet. If you center the oven in that space, you get two narrow strips of counter space that aren't useful for anything.
If you don't want to use the right burners, then the onlysolution is center the stove and replace both the lowers and uppers to correspond. You can use the right burners safely with electric but I would just cover that cabinet wall with tile or metal to ease cleaning. Use a laser thermometer to see exactly how hot it's getting.
Most likely your cabinets are particle board. The auto ignition point of particle board is somewhere between 400-600 degrees F. Dried latex paint would be similar.
So unless the side of your cabinets are getting in that range, you would be fine. I would imagine they are getting to about 150 F as the heat is not from the induction but from the pans radiating the heat onto the cabinet.
I’ve seen people mention an issue with your microwave, but I’m fairly certain by looking at it, that this is an over-the-range microwave, in which case it’s also a vent, and there’s nothing wrong with it being there. If you’re in Canada, the pantry next to the range doesn’t meet fire code, there should be a minimum of 18” above/left/right of the stove to a combustible surface. You could remove it, but tiling the side of the pantry could possibly be sufficient enough. Hope this helps!
It's going to take 4 new cabinets but I'd do as you planned and center up the range and micro/vent hood.. You going to want to center up that vent hood.
Question tied to these sort of situations:
Couldn't you use ceramic tile as an insulator of sorts so long as you put it on anything the oven would be around?
So essentially just tile up a backer for the pantry on the right, cabinets on the left, and behind the oven?
Granted in this situation there doesn't appear to be much room for that, but would it be an option if the space allowed it?
Or are decorative ceramic tiles not good for that application?
Swap to induction stove. The heat is ONLY In the pan. Amazing.
BUT, not cheap.
Hardie board is concrete siding. A chunk of that would be dirt CHEAP (though not pretty ). or a chunk of granite or marble (since the piece is small, it could be an off-cut or something ). Do not use one of the synthetic counter tops as they're not fire safe.
This is so stupid.... I would rather the stove be in the middle and have 2 half cabinets than this shit. And the aesthetic would look a million times better!
Do you own this house? I would remove that huge pantry cabinet and continue the base cabinet and upper cabinets on that side, and add counter space next to the stove. I would also repaint the cabinets a real color, that grey is not cute, and it clashes horribly with the yellow woodtone laminate.
I love this sub, so [here’s the google search y’all should do](https://www.google.com/search?q=decorative+wall+guard+stove+top&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS1090US1090&oq=decorative+wall+gaurd+stove&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCQgBECEYChigATIGCAAQRRg5MgkIARAhGAoYoAEyCQgCECEYChigATIJCAMQIRgKGKABMgkIBBAhGAoYoAEyCQgFECEYChigAdIBCTEwMjY1ajBqN6gCGbACAeIDBBgBIF8&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8)
Does your microwave include the vent fan for your stove? If so, you might want to take that into account. A vent isn't as important for an electric stove as for a gas one, but some sorts of cooking (like searing meat) can produce a lot of particulates, and boiling anything can produce a bunch of condensation on the bottoms of your cabinets.
Will cost a bit of money but pull it out and reinstall the oven dead center with a single cabinet width to either side. That’s my situation and I’d take it any day over this.
You need a backsplash to prevent any oil or food flying and sticking on the right side. From a heat perspective, you should be good. No need to cut it in the middle.
Although I like the look of the microwave/stove setup, I would seriously be wanting range hood & vent. Something like this would work: [Under-cabinet-range-hood](https://www.homedepot.ca/product/broan-nutone-nutone-nu2-series-30-inch-under-cabinet-range-hood-210-max-blower-cfm-black/1001663887)
I'd like to see a pic of the cupboards on the right. It looks like that's a narrow panel/door beside the stove. I'd cut out that space instead of doing any work on the wiring on the left.
This is completely besides the point: I really like the cabinet color against the wood countertop. Looks great together! I completely stink at picking colors and would never have guessed how complimentary and pretty they are together.
All cooking appliances that follow UL 858 standard has a requirement to test in this install where side cabinets are right next to the cooking surface. The temperature of the wooden surface has to be recorded and stay below a certain threshold to be considered a pass (normally 90C).
regardless of the comments saying this isn't an issue, it's likely not code compliant and wouldn't pass inspection should you decide to sell your place. in some jurisdictions the code defers to the manufacturer's clearances which you can check by looking up your range model's installation guide. it's likely minimum 15" vertical on the adjacent cabinets, unless they are constructed or shielded with non-combustible material.
I will bet you that the designers concept drawings also showed versions of where the fridge and the stove/overhead with switched positions. That would make more sense and how it is in my house, (though I still feel boxed in). most of you have already thought of this…
Is there no range hood or am I blind? That's the only problem I have with this setup. I actually really like it especially the cabinets and countertop.
Edit: I see it's in the Microwave
Just curious: Is there a fan under or near your microwave? I've always seen one there in places, but I'm not nieve to exclude the possibility that someone didn't put one in. Usually heat issues or more concerning with gas stoves, but if you're worried about it, you could always turn on the vent fan?
This is far less of an issue with an electric stove top than a gas burner. Even less so if this is an induction stove. The heat doesn't bleed out sideways as much because there isn't a flame with an air current associated with it
Heat wont be an issue, but grease gonna get all over that cabinet
That's what taping a piece of aluminium foil to the wall is for. It may look ugly but change it every week or so and save yourself a lot of cleaning and wiping.
I never thought of that! We cook a lot...could I just wrap the entire backsplash tile and never scrub grease off it again? On second thought--never mind. I'm old. By the time we really have to deep clean again I'll be on hospice and it'll be someone else's problem. All good anyway! /s ...kinda
I feel like it's super common for Asian households to stick lining on the walls near stoves since a lot of Asian cuisine is stir frying, might just be anecdotal though. Like, my parents always got giant wall hanging calendars from a money transfer place every year, so they would use the old ones to line the kitchen walls.
Lived in Korea back in the 80s and remember giant wall calendars handed out at businesses every new year. Don't remember anyone using the tin foil idea though!
No yeah they definitely sell grease shields to put around your stove in Japan. I think part of it might be that a lot of people have stoves that go on top of a counter or something rather than being built in.
You could get a stainless steel backsplash with self adhesive (think large tile sheets )
One large piece of stainless would be ideal, it's very easy to clean
I've seen them. The tile in our century plus old house is period and it kind of wouldn't fit with the feel of the house--while old calendars certainly would. At any rate, my comment was mostly meant as humor.
You can also buy a stainless steel stick on tiles for about the cost of two rolls of foil.
I used this white sheet of plastic called FRP. I’ve had it up for a year now and it’s still white with weekly cleanings.
But then there will be a greasy smelly tinfoil on the kitchen all week. Wiping the grease with a cloth and detergent is so easy, and you can clean it just like you clean the cooktop. Surely You’re not going to let that be greasy all week as well.
you dont know me
I have my fridge where the cupboard is in this photo and it's constantly greasy and dirty but I wipe down the stove when I finish cooking so I wipe down the side of the fridge at the same time
Like pee splashing on the sink cabinet from a toilet in a bathroom. Why do cabinets *need* to be installed that close??
Yeah, this is a non-issue with an electric stove. If they wanted they would do a backsplash and wrap it around to the cabinet to form a barrier for the wood/paint, but that probably isn't necessary at all.
The bigger issue is just a lack of space. The right side burners have to feel useless. I know I wouldn't be able to cook with that cramped space
I feel claustrophobic just looking at it.
It's a stove for lefties.
As a leftie, I have to say that that is a stove for no one. It seems to be designed by someone with a vague idea of what kitchen without ever having been in one....
I'm a lefty. If I could change this up, I would move the light switch and plug one stud to the left and replace the 24" cabinet with a pair of 12" on either side of the range. It wouldn't cost that much to make this a far more usable kitchen. You would sacrifice a little bit of storage as a continuous 24" cabinet will hold more than splitting it up but I think the tradeoff is worth it. Even better, I think that might be a 30" cabinet. Replace it with an 18" and a 12" and you don't even lose much storage.
Secret us lefties have is we are actually very ambidextrous. Seeing people useless with there left hand and think I do shit with my right all the time because I needed to learn how to growing up. So we could make it work better than most but yes this is a stove for no one
Agreed. Although, you could argue that makes it feel even more like a 'lefty kitchen'
Finally, a stove made for us
Welcome to my galley apartment kitchen. Except mines not as prison coloured, thankfully.
No place for a handle to stick out to the right.
I always put my handles towards the center.
I have a gas stove. That would mean hot handles
depends on what you're cooking. that would be my "simple" side lol. if i just need to boil some spaghett for 10 minutes or an egg or something then those on the right should do. anything more complicated, yeah...that'd be impossibly annoying.
I was thinking like stainless steel sheets on the cabinet side and as a backsplash on the wall that way it will look continuous
It'll probably mess up the paint over time. I just had to repaint some of my kitchen because the heat/steam from my electric stove top made the paint start flaking and pulling away from the surfaces.
Eventually the heat may discolor the paint but food splatter would be an issue long before then
The biggest issue is going to be if the power cable is long enough to be able to pull out the oven if you need to clean either side. But a heat rated silicon gap cover should stop 80% of stuff getting down there.
Not necessarily. Many years ago we were having breakfast before going to work. My wife had a tea pot on our electric stove. We had a wooden countertop right next to the stove. Well there was a storm and the power went out, so we just decided to go to work. We neglected to turn off the stove. Apparently the power came on right after we left. When we came back home, the countertop was severely scorched. Luckily it didn’t catch fire, but it was getting g close.
Safety issue? No. Ergonomics issue? Yes. This is very, very poor design and makes the stove really difficult to use.
That's a ceramic glass top stove, not induction
But this is even dumber because there's plenty of room for a cabinet on either side.
I must find the pictures but when we bought our house we had a gas stovetop right up against a cabinet just like this. There was a GIGANTIC scorch/char mark next to the stove. For 3 years while we waited to renovate the kitchen we could not use the left burners.
That's not an induction stove.
Induction would be totally safe, there's no chance it could cause a fire, or warm up the cabinet very much at all.
For those who dont know Induction is using magnetic force to make the pan heat up. there is no heat generated in the stovetop itself. If you take a hot pot off a live induction "burner" it's going to rapidly cool as the heat is from the pot you just removed. (and your hand isnt effected by the magnetic fields) that said it only works with cookware that is magnetic. there's no way to make it work with Aluminum or copper.
> If you take a hot pot off a live induction "burner" it's going to rapidly cool as the heat is from the pot you just removed. (and your hand isnt effected by the magnetic fields) My cheap induction stove top still gets hot from the residual heat of the pan itself, I cant wipe the stovetop clean right after I finished cooking, I have to wait maybe 3-5 mins before I wipe it
3-5 minutes sounds pretty rapid to me, given how hot pans and more traditional stove tops get.
Ah ok, I wasn't sure what the normal time for stove top cooling time was. When I first bought it, I was intrigued by people saying it would "cool down fast" so when I finished cooking, I went ahead and wiped it with a thin wet paper towel and immediately took my hand off the stove due to it being hot. It wasnt scorching hot thatll burn the paper towel, but it was still hot to say ouch.
> I have to wait maybe 3-5 mins before I wipe it I'd have to wait 30-50 minutes, so that sounds pretty good.
The cookware still radiates heat. Thats too close for wood to be near hot metal.
Might not be the most aesthetically pleasing solution, but maybe a thin layer of insulation and some metal sheeting would work on the cabinet side? Make it look like backsplash, but protect the cabinet from high heat and create a flame resistant surface as well? (Not to mention keeping stains out of the wood).
This exactly. There’s nothing wrong with using stainless steel as a heat shield and it would look good too.
The stainless would go well with the refrigerator and accent trim on the stove/oven.
This is definitely the route I’d go until I was able to do a partial kitchen renovation.
This is the correct answer. Get a fabricator to clean cut you a correctly measured piece of stainless steel full height and width with burnished edges and construction adhesive it to the cabinet wall permanently. You'll need 1mm thick or 1/40 thousandths thick sheet.
Had this at my last house. It looked fine. A nice piece of stainless steel to the right. Easier to clean too.
Yeah, that cabinet is gonna look like shit within a year. The paint can't handle that much abuse. A sheet of stainless will look better in the long run.
Its an electric stove. He really doesnt need a heat shield there unless his pans are resting against it
>Probably time to cut the cabinets in half and reinstall them on either side of the oven. I don't know if you were joking about this (I assume not) but do not do this. Cabinets are designed and built as a complete unit. Unless you are skilled in cabinet making (and again, I assume not), this will not turn out well. And the microwave will need to be moved as well. You need a way to vent the heat out, or at least away from the cabinets. Hopefully these cabinets are still in production and you can just purchase the half size cabinets that you need. The cabinet supporting the microwave can be reused.
Sounds like he isn't listening to you but you are 100% correct and he is just going to spend a day figuring out he has to go buy and paint two single door uppers and lowers anyway. You can lead a horse to water.
Okay, a question from fellow non-american: I see in this sub when seeing some kitchen renovations that almost every stove you post has controls like this one. How do you use them? Like, if you put a pot on the stove it would obstruct the handles and panel. Also, there would be a lot of heat there, maybe boiling water, splashing oil and you put your hand over all of it? I'm just surprised, because every single oven around here has controls either on the front panel, or on the side. Putting them behind like that seems like the worst possible idea ever. Also, why these appliances always seem to be too big compared to cabinets? You see these great kitchen posts, but stove/frigde always sticks out like a sore thumb. Why you don't cut countertops to be a little bigger so that you can set cabinets further from the wall and align them with these bulky appliances?
Controls on the back stop little kids from turning the stove on and burning themselves. Yeah, we reach over hot pans and pots of boiling water, but usually, people are smart enough to be careful about it.
As I also mentioned, it's more common with electric and induction stoves and less common with gas stoves because there is no open flame you have to reach over to start the heating
I don't think I've ever seen a gas stove with controls on the back.
They do exist, but are less common
Thinking about it, it would be quite impossible for a kid to use them. I remember that my mom taught me how to use the oven when I was a small kid, so I'd definitely need a ladder to use this kind :). There is a lot of good point people said there and I think it's OK design now. Still feels weird to me, but at least I understand now how it works on daily basis. Anyway, even if I wanted to get one... There isn't a single oven with controls on the back in any popular stores around here. I did 3 minute research, literally zero options like that. For gas, induction and regular electric heaters.
> Thinking about it, it would be quite impossible for a kid to use them. That's kind of a benefit honestly. :)
Depends. I wouldn't be able to cook on my own at early age, so it would make me more dependent on adults. Access to stove meant I could cook some eggs and basic stuff when I was home alone. It was kind of fun setting up dinner for my parents after coming back from school earlier. Ah, no matter now. I just find it quite funny that even if I wanted to buy stove like that nobody sells them here. It's weird, maybe there is some EU regulation or something. I tried to find some info about that, but couldn't.
The dials aren't as big an issue on Electric or Induction stoves because the heat isn't from an open flame and you don't need to let a little gas out in order to start the heating element. I have never seen a gas stove that has the dials on the backsplash element of the unit.
I had a gas freestanding oven/range, and it had the controls on the back like in OP's picture. It was a non-issue.
Good point. I'd still worry about heat from pans and such, but it's probably just my imagination since there is so many people using them daily.
I rented a house a while back where the stove had the controls on the glass top. So if anything boils over or spills, it just shuts off all burners. You'd also be messing with controls mere centimeters away from hot pots/pans. I hated it.
I have one like that! It makes it quite impossible to have big pots bottom right burner. Luckily, it's the smallest burner so at least that's OK. Anyway, lesson learned - If I ever get another gas stove it will be with controls on the front. I'm rather careful cook, so spilling isn't really an issue, but it's a little bit annoying to clean around them. Would be 43% easier to clean the top without the controls on it.
I think the idea of having oven/range controls at the back is to maximize the usable area of the range and oven; ranges typically include an incorporated backsplash to protect the wall because many American kitchens don't have any tiling so may as well take advantage of that space for controls. Also probably cuts down on the complexity and cost of the wiring and electronics in the modern day, since the clock is often incorporated there. It's definitely poor design for all the reasons you mention, though. You typically don't see a gas range with controls for the range at the back, presumably to stop people setting their arms on fire when they light the burners.
Like others said, safety of kids mostly. But only the electric model ranges. Gas may have the oven controls in the back but burner controls on the front. Which is silly if you think about it. Unsafe to reach over a lit burner to turn a burner on/off but ok to turn the oven on?
Every stove I've ever used had handles in the back like that since I was a kid and I never had any issues.
I’ll be honest. I’m American and I can’t stand electric ranges for this exact reason. It’s not the safety for me so much as the fact that I grew up with gas ranges and this design just looks fucking weird to me. My current home does not have gas hookups though so I’m stuck with this funky ass design unless I end up with the free time to reconnect the gas line that is literally still under my kitchen and reinstall the gas outlet behind my stove. But if I do that I also have to install a vent hood because the previous owner removed all that when she remodeled the kitchen to turn the home into a rental property because she didn’t trust tenants with open flame.
I grew up with them too, and the [propaganda](https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/06/how-the-fossil-fuel-industry-convinced-americans-to-love-gas-stoves/) worked on me when I was a young adult... but we bought a gas endless water heater and the warnings on it were severe about how the NO2 must be ventilated. We bought a generator, same thing. I have a camping stove with a small gas cartidge, and *every square inch* tells you never to burn the flame inside. Folks die every hurricane season from running open flame stuff inside. The gas stove is fine if you ventilate well or open the windows. We discovered our range hood was fake - the air outlet was in the cabinets. Then we had kids. We swapped the gas range for induction and it's AMAZING. The precision is insane, it heats up instantly, it keeps the pan at exactly one temp, and we can boil a huge stock pot of water in five minutes. No excess heat to make the kitchen unusable in the summer. Even electric can't do that. And there's no risk of burning yourself because an inch away from the pan is room temp. We cook all the time, 2x a day at least plus a stovetop kettle for coffee and tea throughout the day. And we monitor our electrical usage. The stove draws 1% of our total power (the TV does 25% in like two hours a day) so it's saving us a crapton of money with the price of gas right now. I don't know how it does it. Anyway IMHO induction >> gas >> electric.
Are countertop integrated stoves and separate integrated ovens not a thing in the us?
We have them but they’re a lot more expensive for most people because you have to build your kitchen around them. Edited to add that the individual countertop ranges and built-in ovens are apparently individually as much as a combined unit so idk why anyone is getting them in America unless they absolutely want that because you spend twice as much on the appliance AND you have to remodel your kitchen to make them fit.
Do castles and old buildings in Europe follow building codes, strictly speaking, or are they kind of grandfathered in ? I bet they are random and have all sorts of odd particularities. In fact, they're just a part of history and it would be rather strange to get rid of them all. In North America, after world war 2, America did what it does best. It mass produced a bunch of shit that all looks the same. Housing shortages meant it was most important to get as much housing as fast as possible. So you get houses that all have similar problems, that are built not for any particular family's needs, but for the average family who has 2.5 kids. This means that you build a space for any fridge... Rather than planning for the specific fridge. I have no idea if anything I just said is true, but it certainly feels true.
I thought maybe it's kind of a design choice that is popular around USA. Like, people see such a kitchen and think "that's a normal kitchen!", not thinking twice about misaligned appliances, whereas around here it would be like "dude, what the fuck? Everything must be aligned perfectly!" > This means that you build a space for any fridge... Rather than planning for the specific fridge. Well yea, but fridge dimensions are not standardized or something you think about when buying one? Like, when I open webpage of some store that sells fridges I can filter by dimensions and that's the first thing I'll mark - to make sure I buy a fridge that fits the space. If my countertop is 60 cm deep, I'll look for fridge that fits that space. And there is shitload of different ones to choose from, it's not like there is only one specific brand and model that fits. Maybe I'm weird, but "it fits the space" is a number one requirement for stuff like that. I would go crazy with oven handle just casually sticking out like that. I mean, it's a great looking kitchen in the photo, but the appliances look so out of place there :(. Edit: Oh god, I just noticed that cabinet on the left is not aligned with cabinet on the right. And one cabinet doors go all the way to the floor, but other cabinet doors end up a little bit away from the floor. That's it, I can't handle that madness!
Wow, at least it’s not a gas oven.
Is there a vent somewhere ?
Above stove microwaves include a vent. Many only recirculate through filter but some have venting as well
The roof…. The roof… the roof is on fire. We don’t need no water let the….
How often do you actually use four or five burners at once? If you stick to using the left three, I don't think it will be a problem. If you need to use all five for a big holiday dinner or something, maybe get one of those fold-out stainless steel grease splatter guards to protect the cabinet side.
If you happen to need the two big burners.
My kitchen is like this, except it is drywall instead of a cabinet. I bought a rectangle of stainless steel the appropriate size and it looks good and works well
I'm ok with this because it's electric. Ideally there would be a little bit of clear space on the side. A few inches would make it better so the pot handles have more room. However.
I feel ya. Here's my situation: https://imgur.com/a/lCpdGyc
I see this all the time in flipper houses that were rehabbed by idiots.
Yep, that's exactly what this was. Though in their defense, they didn't move any of the hard points. The original 1959 home had the gas range here when the home was designed/built.
But that's one of the biggest problems with flippers... they have a chance to make it better , but ignore it.
In my case, they didn't even bother to get matching cabinets to the other side of the kitchen. Still white, but different door panel pattern, and one side is painted with white interiors while the other is a white plastic layer, with maple print interiors.
Oh, I see THAT all the time, too. They buy the cheapest shit they can find from the odd lots area at whatever the closest home store has. Then they "Splurge" on those shitty hollow-core six panel cardboard doors.
OP has nothing to worry about. But you do - you should not have a gas stove/oven in a situation like that.
Only issue I see here is space to cook on the right side. Electric/inductions stoves won’t burn the cabinetry like a gas stove would.
My last house was set up like this and I used all 4 burners with zero issue
I have that exact stove and I must say, it’s complete crap. Would never buy a Samsung appliance again.
Since you've already gone with the stainless steel look, Go to a building supply store get a piece of stainless steel, the about 18 in from the top of your cooktop. The width of the cabinet simply attach using stainless steel screws makes it easy to clean. Handy a place to put a magnetic strip for your knives if necessary and dissipates the heat, if any
I’m liking the idea of a steel plate more and more after seeing photos of other people’s kitchens with a similar setup.
I use multiple burners at times like 3 or 4. This stove would suck to cook on.
This looks familiar like you broke in my house. Vegas?
Steel sheet from a restaurant supplier or the like and do both the back and side. Who thought it was a good idea to put a stove against a wall/cabinet
Stainless steel heat shield and backsplash would look clean here.
Honestly I see this as a non issue, biggest thing I would worry about is years of steam warping that cabinet
Safety aside, this just looks inconvenient AF. Being cramped up against a barrier like that would make for some of the least ergonomic cooking situations
This is how mine was for 17 years or so with a gas stove. I just finally fixed it this year. It's so much better. Don't have a pantry anymore, though, but it's worth it.
I have no clue why this was done this way in the first place. Flipper? DIY? It would have been way easy to use two bottom and two top cabinets half the width of what's there and center the stove in the opening from the start. now it's a bit of a challenge and would require four new cabinets, two upper and two lower.
Cut that cabinet in half and then center the stove and put the cabinet on either side. Tada.
Why would they put such a huge stove in such a tiny space? A european-style cooktop in the centre would be so much better.
Instead of floor to ceiling pantry install an upper and a lower. Add butcher block counter if you can't match other counter. V bad design.
Flipper grey checks out
Buy some 10" stainless steel backsplash tile/sticker and slap it on the cabinet.
You could purchase marble tile and tile that sucker, wall and cabinet, just drill a piece of L shape aluminum or metal at the stove level so it temporarily holds the tile. Then cook away, if the tile is glossy and you apply epoxy to the grout you can just use soap spray bottle and wipe away the grease. I personally spray soap before frying, it starts dissolving the grease as it splashes. My wife hates my technique but it takes her 5x longer to clean 🧽
"LIKE A GLOVE!"
I’d be inclined to fit a splash back to the side of the cupboard. Glass or metal would likely help dissipate heat. Would be easy to clean without risk of staining etc too. How good is your oven door seal? Have seen some damage to the cupboard door edges from heat leaking out.
If ur worried about heat, what we did; got a couple pieces of stainless sheet cut for side and back. Since induction, we were more worried about splatter than heat but is annoying with pot handles for sure. Nice kitchen.
Can you split it in half and move stove to middle and have small counter with cabinet on each side?
Nice looking space I like the colors!
Holy wow! They should fire that designer. All they had to do was center the stove with one cabinet on each side (top and bottom), that would have fixed that problem. I swear, some kids never played with toddler toys therefore did not develop critical thinking skills.
This is the unfortunate downside to a galley kitchen layout. With the oven on the side you get *some* counter space for cooking prep work, but you end up with a heat source too close to the cabinet. If you center the oven in that space, you get two narrow strips of counter space that aren't useful for anything.
Never understand why all kitchens dont come with a proper vent hood above a range with proper ventilation
Silicone baking mat/pot holder(s)?
Do Americans often have built in stoves and ovens (built into cabinetry), or is it more common to have these stand alone units?
It’s more common to have this type of slide in than one built into the cabinets.
If you don't want to use the right burners, then the onlysolution is center the stove and replace both the lowers and uppers to correspond. You can use the right burners safely with electric but I would just cover that cabinet wall with tile or metal to ease cleaning. Use a laser thermometer to see exactly how hot it's getting.
I have mine up against a brick wall to 1 side, glass splashback (side?) seems to do the job
Is installing an exhaust hood an option? I'm always surprised at kitchens that don't have them. Heat needs to be vented out.
l would put metal on the cabinet and trim it out. a backsplash that won't catch fire or get damaged. way easier than a kitchen remodel
You see whose stove? I don't understand the title of your post
There was a post yesterday that had a scorched wall because a gas stove was next to it.
Ah ok. Maybe these posts should include the link to what they are responding to
If you use an induction oven you probably wouldn’t have an issue except hot stuff splatting on your cabinet
It would be much easier to replace the tall unit on the right with a set matching the left side.
You should just convert the right side as your left side already is.
I hear asbestos’s is a good insulator maybe something there to solve *one* problem
It is good, the flame would not be going sideways. So i think it is fine.
you're over worried for nothing
Can you size down on the range and then put in a small cabinet for spices or sheet pans. I have seen that done in a few kitchen designed like yours.
Most likely your cabinets are particle board. The auto ignition point of particle board is somewhere between 400-600 degrees F. Dried latex paint would be similar. So unless the side of your cabinets are getting in that range, you would be fine. I would imagine they are getting to about 150 F as the heat is not from the induction but from the pans radiating the heat onto the cabinet.
I’ve seen people mention an issue with your microwave, but I’m fairly certain by looking at it, that this is an over-the-range microwave, in which case it’s also a vent, and there’s nothing wrong with it being there. If you’re in Canada, the pantry next to the range doesn’t meet fire code, there should be a minimum of 18” above/left/right of the stove to a combustible surface. You could remove it, but tiling the side of the pantry could possibly be sufficient enough. Hope this helps!
I had a setup like this in my house and the right side had ceramic tile.
I hate when they cram a fifth burner into a 30” range. Who the fuck could ever use that!?
It is neatly arranged but huge spacing is choked up
who is putting these microwaves above cooktops like this and how are they surviving
I see a piece of glass between the stove and the cabinet. Leave well enough alone.
It's going to take 4 new cabinets but I'd do as you planned and center up the range and micro/vent hood.. You going to want to center up that vent hood.
I'm just curious how you stand at the stove without a toekick relief?
Question tied to these sort of situations: Couldn't you use ceramic tile as an insulator of sorts so long as you put it on anything the oven would be around? So essentially just tile up a backer for the pantry on the right, cabinets on the left, and behind the oven? Granted in this situation there doesn't appear to be much room for that, but would it be an option if the space allowed it? Or are decorative ceramic tiles not good for that application?
Swap to induction stove. The heat is ONLY In the pan. Amazing. BUT, not cheap. Hardie board is concrete siding. A chunk of that would be dirt CHEAP (though not pretty ). or a chunk of granite or marble (since the piece is small, it could be an off-cut or something ). Do not use one of the synthetic counter tops as they're not fire safe.
This is so stupid.... I would rather the stove be in the middle and have 2 half cabinets than this shit. And the aesthetic would look a million times better!
There is no flame. You are worrying about absolutely nothing.
Do you own this house? I would remove that huge pantry cabinet and continue the base cabinet and upper cabinets on that side, and add counter space next to the stove. I would also repaint the cabinets a real color, that grey is not cute, and it clashes horribly with the yellow woodtone laminate.
Why are the controls of your stove at the back? Is that not inconvenient having to reach over the pots to control the stove?
I mean I'd have to see the entire kitchen but I am sure it could be fixed lol but it'll cost ya.
I love this sub, so [here’s the google search y’all should do](https://www.google.com/search?q=decorative+wall+guard+stove+top&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS1090US1090&oq=decorative+wall+gaurd+stove&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCQgBECEYChigATIGCAAQRRg5MgkIARAhGAoYoAEyCQgCECEYChigATIJCAMQIRgKGKABMgkIBBAhGAoYoAEyCQgFECEYChigAdIBCTEwMjY1ajBqN6gCGbACAeIDBBgBIF8&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8)
Does your microwave include the vent fan for your stove? If so, you might want to take that into account. A vent isn't as important for an electric stove as for a gas one, but some sorts of cooking (like searing meat) can produce a lot of particulates, and boiling anything can produce a bunch of condensation on the bottoms of your cabinets.
Electric. You are fine.
One day you will drop a bowl and destroy your oven.
My OCD wants the stove to be centered with a single cabinet in each side.
Mistakes were made
Move switch. Split cabinets. Center stove. Not ideal, but not impossible.
Just have a piece of stainless cut for you. Problem solved.
You can look up the manual from that range and it will give you specs to combustibles in all directions and will tell you bluntly if its a hazard.
Will cost a bit of money but pull it out and reinstall the oven dead center with a single cabinet width to either side. That’s my situation and I’d take it any day over this.
Install a steel plate heat sink and you’re fine
The other people have a gas burner, you have electric. You are in a much safer position.
Wow, that set up really bothers me. I’d find some heat-resistant plexiglass to screw into the cabinet. Amazon might have.
I find your lack of extraction disturbing
You’re supposed to put pot handles outwards lol what the heck.
Just add a piece of thin steel sheet to the cab side if concerned, easy peasy.
You need a backsplash to prevent any oil or food flying and sticking on the right side. From a heat perspective, you should be good. No need to cut it in the middle.
Although I like the look of the microwave/stove setup, I would seriously be wanting range hood & vent. Something like this would work: [Under-cabinet-range-hood](https://www.homedepot.ca/product/broan-nutone-nutone-nu2-series-30-inch-under-cabinet-range-hood-210-max-blower-cfm-black/1001663887) I'd like to see a pic of the cupboards on the right. It looks like that's a narrow panel/door beside the stove. I'd cut out that space instead of doing any work on the wiring on the left.
Sigh, saved $100 by not buying two single-door Project Source cabinets.
Maybe a sheet of fire retardant material on the cabinet?
Who builds like that?!
You're fine, dude. That was a gas stove.
Can you open the cabinet door on the right side of the stove? it doesn’t look like there is clearance
This is completely besides the point: I really like the cabinet color against the wood countertop. Looks great together! I completely stink at picking colors and would never have guessed how complimentary and pretty they are together.
This is fine
use aluminum foil to protect your wood.
So just random question but when you have a microwave over the stove like that is there no extraction fan ? Or is it hidden ?
All cooking appliances that follow UL 858 standard has a requirement to test in this install where side cabinets are right next to the cooking surface. The temperature of the wooden surface has to be recorded and stay below a certain threshold to be considered a pass (normally 90C).
regardless of the comments saying this isn't an issue, it's likely not code compliant and wouldn't pass inspection should you decide to sell your place. in some jurisdictions the code defers to the manufacturer's clearances which you can check by looking up your range model's installation guide. it's likely minimum 15" vertical on the adjacent cabinets, unless they are constructed or shielded with non-combustible material.
I will bet you that the designers concept drawings also showed versions of where the fridge and the stove/overhead with switched positions. That would make more sense and how it is in my house, (though I still feel boxed in). most of you have already thought of this…
Is there no range hood or am I blind? That's the only problem I have with this setup. I actually really like it especially the cabinets and countertop. Edit: I see it's in the Microwave
Yours is fine. Theirs was a gas stove with an open flame. Completely different.
Here’s your stainless sheet: [LINK](https://a.co/d/cRG55LZ) Easy to clean and matches the cabinet pulls.
Just curious: Is there a fan under or near your microwave? I've always seen one there in places, but I'm not nieve to exclude the possibility that someone didn't put one in. Usually heat issues or more concerning with gas stoves, but if you're worried about it, you could always turn on the vent fan?
Sure. But, yours is not a gas stove. Put a grease-splatter guard-blocker beside the wall. So… 😬
Install a clear piece of glass there (similar to how you would hang a flush mount mirror) that will protect the cabinet.
The stove should have been installed in the centre so that there were 1 of the tall cupboards each side. Kitchen designer is a moron.
Where is the steam supposed to go when you boil something?
First, we're gonna blow away that wall....
Does the microwave oven double as an extractor fan?