Insurance is a big part of the real estate puzzle when we’re working with clients – maybe more so than most people think. Examples would be: availability of a reasonably priced insurance policy can impact whether or not financing is possible for a purchase (buyer issue but eventually also a seller’s); it can have limitations on coverage if a house is vacant (affecting sellers); or there might be issues to consider if you put in a commercial range in your private kitchen. Which brings me to the meat of this post….. (warning, be prepared for puns in this post!)
I’ve been looking with some clients at mid-price range homes in the Seattle area (ok, maybe $600-700k to some isn’t mid-priced) and one we came across has what seems to be a serious range/oven. So serious the owner is claiming it is the same make and model as what Julia Child used to use in her own home kitchen. The brand is Garland and they make some hot cookin’ stoves!
When my clients started looking seriously at a house with a Garland range/stove I started talking to Gerald Grinter, of our contributors here on the Team Reba blog, and here are some of the bits of important information I gleaned from him about commercial ranges in private, home use settings. I’m consolidating his answers to keep space to a minimum and interest high regarding the info.
In something like this, a main concern is cleaning. Are there hoods/vents that need to be cleaned regularly? Usually commercial equipment like this is cleaned on contract every 6 months depending on how much they are being used. Was it installed professionally with pavers etc.? These are needed to handle extreme heat. We see this a lot in high end homes and expensive remodels. Other considerations are whether or not the electrical load is appropriate or upgraded properly in the home to handle both the stove and the hood venting. In older homes this is a major consideration unlike a custom home that may have been built with this type of equipment in mind. Weight of the stove is also important because older homes, such as the ubiquitous Craftsman found in Seattle, weren’t necessarily built to accommodate 1000 lbs of direct weight in the kitchen.
Insurance will also be impacted by the reason for having a commercial range/stove in a private residence. Is the owner teaching cooking classes? In those instances, you’d likely need a different kind of insurance product to cover the commercial use of the stove in a home and to cover other liability issues.
As a listing agent I would want to be sure and ask the seller to make it clear if the stove is commercial or residential in nature and to provide what info you can on it. While the agent in this case is telling us – via his client’s input – that this is a residential range you wouldn’t think so by looking at it. And, when you turn on the venting hood it sounds like a jet engine turning on.
This photo is not from the listing I’m talking about but it is a listing that is in Vermont with a massive Garland range similar to the one I’m discussing in this post.
