Porcelain Stoves

By Clell G. Ballard
Published on July 10, 2015
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This Monarch model is a classic example of a black-and-nickel wood- and coal-burning kitchen stove.
This Monarch model is a classic example of a black-and-nickel wood- and coal-burning kitchen stove.
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Stoves like this transitional model had porcelain surfaces accented by the classic nickel trim.
Stoves like this transitional model had porcelain surfaces accented by the classic nickel trim.
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Later kitchen ranges had porcelain coatings on all surfaces other than the cook surface.
Later kitchen ranges had porcelain coatings on all surfaces other than the cook surface.
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After the rusty culvert in the background was moved and dried vegetation cleared away, this is what Clell saw half-buried in the ground.
After the rusty culvert in the background was moved and dried vegetation cleared away, this is what Clell saw half-buried in the ground.
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Porcelain on the stove’s warming ovens has a few chips, but no more than one would expect from a stove regularly used for several decades.
Porcelain on the stove’s warming ovens has a few chips, but no more than one would expect from a stove regularly used for several decades.
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The front of the stove is amazingly nice. The clear glass oven temperature gauge carries a patent date of Oct. 24, 1922.
The front of the stove is amazingly nice. The clear glass oven temperature gauge carries a patent date of Oct. 24, 1922.
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It is hard to believe that after more than 40 years of regular use and another 40 years in a junkyard, exposed to the weather, that the only appearance items missing are two cross Ts and one cooktop lid.
It is hard to believe that after more than 40 years of regular use and another 40 years in a junkyard, exposed to the weather, that the only appearance items missing are two cross Ts and one cooktop lid.

My article on kitchen cookstoves in the March 2012 issue of Farm Collector, What Goes Around, Comes Around: Wood-Burning Cook Stoves Enjoy Resurgence,resulted in dozens of responses. Several people who live in our little town even sought me out because they Googled wood- and coal-burning cookstoves and came across my name. Maybe the reason for the surprising interest in those old stoves is that everyone who is older experienced them when growing up. Before electric and gas stoves became commonplace, the wood-burning kitchen range was the heart of every home.

As can be expected, some people wanted to know the value of a given stove. Often they’d inherited a kitchen range from a deceased relative. When email was used, pictures of the stove in question were sometimes included. What has become obvious is the vast majority of wood- and coal-burning kitchen cookstoves that still exist are the modern ones with porcelain (the industry called it “enamel”) surfaces.

I grew up in a home that had a cream-colored porcelain cookstove with red trim. One of my jobs as a child was to carry wood in every evening to keep the wood box full. Not only were all of our meals cooked on that stove, it also heated water stored in a tank that stood behind it. It was purchased new in the mid-1930s, long before I arrived on the scene, as one of the few new items my parents were able to buy during the Great Depression. They were proud of the stove. I don’t remember much about it other than it just had a shelf on top instead of warming ovens. It was obviously one of the cheaper models. They were so poor when starting out in married life, if anyone came to visit and wanted to sit, they had to bring their own chairs.

Revolutionizing the kitchen

Black-and-nickel kitchen ranges were the standard for decades. However, when stoves with porcelain surfaces were developed, it was considered a major leap forward in housekeeping. Wood and coal are by nature dirty items that had to be carried daily into a kitchen. Keeping the stove that burned them clean was a chore. The many nooks and crannies where the shiny nickel trim pieces were attached caught all kinds of dirt and soot. One doesn’t just take a rag and wipe the surfaces of that type of stove. They were charming in appearance and an efficient source of heat, but they made keeping a clean home difficult.

I have been unable to find historical accounts describing the development of the process of applying porcelain to stove surfaces. Photographic evidence suggests that the process began with the smaller parts of the stove. In those models, the main stove was still black and nickel, but features like the oven door and warming oven lids were covered with porcelain. It is safe to assume that manufacturing facilities where porcelain could be applied to large objects did not exist. By the 1930s, however, it was possible to have porcelain covering all surfaces except the actual cooking surface.

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