How to fit a new oven up a stairwell?

November 10, 2020 7:25 AM

My boss has a specific oven he wants to buy, unfortunately we are concerned it won't fit up his stairwell. Has anyonce had experience in getting an appliance into a tight space or nifty ideas for angling? The stairweill is 27.5" wide. According to the specs, the range is 30" wide. It is 25-3/4" deep but 29-1/4" deep with the handle.

My boss has a specific oven he wants to buy, unfortunately, we are concerned it won't fit up his stairwell. Has anyone had experience in getting an appliance into a tight space or nifty ideas for angling? The stairwell is 27.5" wide. According to the specs, the range is 30" wide. It is 25-3/4" deep but 29-1/4" deep with the handle.

The stairwell is 27.5" wide. According to the specs, the range is 30" wide. It is 25-3/4" deep but 29-1/4" deep with the handle.

The store he's looking at getting it from says they won't remove the door for him upon delivery. Does anyone know, would it be easy for him to remove the handle or door of the over himself or hire someone to do it?

This is the oven he is looking at.

Does anyone have any suggestions how he might fit it up his stairwell?

Or, if not, what he really likes is the induction, does anyone know of a brand of an induction oven on the smaller size that might fit his stairwell?

Thanks so much.

posted by katesharks to Home & Garden (12 answers total)

Without knowing the exact model nobody can say with assurance, but for the last two ovens I've owned it was relatively easy to remove things like the door. For one model it was a necessary part of the installation process (I prefer wall ovens).

Different option: hire riggers to move it in through a window. This will not be free.
posted by aramaic at 7:35 AM on November 10, 2020 [2 favorites]

Even if they won't remove the oven door upon delivery, download the manual and find out how to remove the oven door. Mine can be removed by removing two screws, and then position/lift. I.E. 1 minute if you know what you're doing.

With a stove being a right rectangular prism there aren't really a lot of tricks available. (sofas/chairs have a lot of tricks one can try.)

Are there any corners/turns in the stair well? What about doors? Is there a railing? If there's a railing you might have to carry the stove over the railing - check that there aren't any bump downs in the ceiling that could prevent this. Be sure to measure the complete path to avoid surprises.

Sometimes when narrow stairwells are just that bad, a large window or a large balcony door are the best way to get a large object in/out of the house. You probably want actual movers who will have safe-ish locking pully/rope type stuff. If you do try to take a stove up via a rope on your own, you probably want at least three people, as well as plan for a method that you can put a bar in the window and securely attach the rope so a break can be done while the object is partially up.
posted by nobeagle at 7:35 AM on November 10, 2020 [2 favorites]

In the East Coast city that I am familiar with, this is a common problem downtown. There are excellent local movers who use upstairs windows to hoist things in. They are surprisingly successful. I don't know what the cost is, and I guess it would depend on how much it's worth to your boss to have this particular oven and how long he plans to keep it. Worth doing a Google to see if such services are available in your area.
posted by ClaireBear at 7:37 AM on November 10, 2020

To second what nobeagle said, as someone who lives in an old house with some narrow areas, be sure to very carefully check the turns and doorways in the path, not just the stairs themselves. I have had things that would have theoretically fit up the stairs, but couldn't get TO the stairs because they couldn't make the turn, for example. When there's a lot of cost and effort on the line, it's sometimes worth making a cardboard mockup or something similar to actually test it out. With these weird angles, it can be very hard to ascertain what will fit with just a tape measure. (Just don't forget to account for how much heavier the actual appliance will be. Maneuvers that require lifting it over your head, for example, might be tricky or impossible.)
posted by primethyme at 7:38 AM on November 10, 2020 [3 favorites]

As I see it, boss has 5 options. One, remove the door if that will make it fit. Two, alter the house or the stairs. For example, do the stairs have a railing that is in the way? Remove the railing. Three, through a different path such as a window or upstairs door or slider. Four, get a different oven. Five, give up the dream on the new oven.

It is my experience that the delivery folks will do a straight forward delivery, but once you start getting creative, they will not risk damage to either the appliance or the house. You will need to have them deliver to the outside and hire actual movers or a few strong individuals with specific tools and know how, i.e. a moving company. Hiring movers could up the price by $500 CAD or more.
posted by AugustWest at 7:48 AM on November 10, 2020 [2 favorites]

Is there an oven already in the space? That just looks like a regular stove, so somebody got one up there before, so I would assume it can be done again.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:58 AM on November 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

I would assume it can be done again.

Just as an aside, this is a risky assumption. I've encountered units that could not be removed, because they were put in place before the surrounding structure was finished with the renovations and the necessary clearances no longer existed.
posted by aramaic at 8:28 AM on November 10, 2020 [7 favorites]

Construct a sturdy cardboard box with the same dimensions as the oven (either with or without door), and try to get it up the stairs. If that fails whatever way you orientate that box, get the movers as mentioned above. Else, make note of the way you had to hold, tilt and rotate on the way up.
posted by Stoneshop at 8:33 AM on November 10, 2020 [15 favorites]

The store he's looking at getting it from says they won't remove the door for him upon delivery. Does anyone know, would it be easy for him to remove the handle or door of the over himself or hire someone to do it?


The door should just lift off. Occasionally there are a couple screws to be removed or a lever to manipulate but otherwise a very simple procedure. Removing the handle usually requires disassembling the door so that should be avoided. When it's time to put it back on you should set the hinges at the broil stop position before sliding them into the case of the range.

Is there an oven already in the space? That just looks like a regular stove, so somebody got one up there before, so I would assume it can be done again.

Nat necessarily. Besides what aramaic said back in my appliance days I on more than one occasion completely disassembled an appliance; transported the pieces up/down a flight of stairs; and then reassembled. It was common enough I had specific models I recommended purchasing.

When your boss goes to move it he is going to want to be careful not to lift it by the back splash. Many of them are mostly plastic and they won't support the weight of the range.
posted by Mitheral at 9:01 AM on November 10, 2020

With the Frigidaire oven that I had, it was much easier to remove the whole door than to take off the handle. Each of the door hinges had a flip lock that could be pried open with a flat screwdriver. Once the hinges were unlocked, you had to lift the door up and out at an angle. I found it a little more challenging to reinstall it than to remove it. Look on YouTube for videos showing door removal for various models....all very similar.
posted by wryly at 12:17 PM on November 10, 2020

Additionally, what are the current oven's dims? Job's not done until the old one is gone - maybe it was hoisted in.
posted by achrise at 12:19 PM on November 10, 2020 [3 favorites]

Not sure this applies, but it's not unheard of for people where I live to take out a window and use a crane to bring in a big stove/oven combo.

That's extreme but if you have an old house with narrow stairways, it's sometimes the only way.
posted by small_ruminant at 1:28 PM on November 10, 2020