KITCHEN FURNISHING.


Stove, or Range?

The question often arises, even with old housekeepers, Which shall it
be--a stove or a range? There are strong points in favor of each. For
a small kitchen the range may be commended, because it occupies the
least space, and does not heat a room as intensely as a stove,
although it will heat water enough for kitchen and bath-room purposes
for a large family. That the range is popular is evident from the fact
that nearly every modern house is supplied with one; and thus the cost
of, and cartage for, stoves is generally saved to tenants in these
days.

There are these advantage of a stove over a set range: it requires
less than half as much fuel and is more easily managed--that is, the
fire can be more quickly started, and if it gets too low, more easily
replenished and put in working order; and the ovens can be more
quickly heated or cooled. But, although you can have a water-back and
boiler with most modern stoves or, as they are now called, portable
ranges, the supply of hot water will not be large. And you cannot
roast before the fire as with a range.

So near-perfection have the makers of ranges and stoves come that it
would be difficult to speak of possible improvements, especially in
stoves. This can be said not of a few, but of a great many