Issue Date: January 19, 2003

Lifestyles

Collectors are hot for the Imperial Chambers

Here's why this decades-old oven stands as the holy grail for America's growing cult of antique-appliance aficionados.

By Mary Beth Klatt

The Imperial range made by the Chambers company had as many as eight burners. Above: a more common, less deluxe Chambers model.

Every product has its golden age. For car aficionados it was the '50s, with its fins and beautiful lines. For some serious cooks, it was the '20s through the '40s, when the Imperial Chambers was produced. It was a gas stove so well-insulated, you could make ice cream on top while a roast simmered within.

Chambers fans are part of a larger group of vintage-appliance buffs who have sprung up in the past decade. Some are searching for authentic fridges and stoves to outfit a period house. Some favor retro design. Others nostalgically seek out appliances that remind them of their grandmothers' kitchens. Those in search of the holy grail of ovens can choose among old Magic Chefs, GEs, Hotpoints and other makes, but these range rovers will accept nothing less than the homely Imperial, which is so rare that only a handful survive today.

Tim Goodwin, 39, a Mobile, Ala., emergency room physician and gourmet cook, started looking for the range of his dreams two years ago. His hunt was spurred by a fire-engine-red 1940s Chambers stove featured in "This Old House Magazine".

He found one just like it at Hugh's Place in Port Allen, La. But when he learned that it had been sold, shop owner Hugh Marionneaux showed him another stove, even more desirable than the red one. The unrestored '30s-era white-and-black porcelain Imperial Chambers range had "church lady" legs, six burners, chrome levers and a double oven.

While Goodwin held off on his decision, he kept that stove in mind.

Others on the prowl for an Imperial Chambers, however, wouldn't hesitate. Although they could easily buy a contemporary high-end range for the same price, Chambers fanatics prefer to scan classified ads and troll eBay, flea markets, farm auctions and estate sales to find an Imperial. They'd rather get by with what they have until they can find the stove of their dreams.

"Imperial Chambers stoves are for people who really like to cook," says Ed Semmelroth, who repairs vintage stoves in Tekonsha, Mich. "Most people know what they're after. If you get one that's restored properly, it should last a long time and appreciate in value."

The 800- to 1,200-pound ranges sold for "about a dollar a pound," as salesmen used to tell prospective customers. Prices now average around $6,000 and have gone as high as $17,000 for a rare, restored six-burner model from the '30s.

Vintage-appliance lovers turn to places like the Old Appliance Club in Ventura, Calif., in their quest. The club's ranks have increased 25% this year, to well above 6,000. At AntiqueAppliances.com in Clayton, Ga., and Hugh's Place, buyers wait eight to 10 months for their appliances to be refurbished.

John Chambers founded his company in Shelbyville, Ind., in 1912. He called the line featuring his largest model the Imperial. There's no way of knowing how many were made; the Chambers company deliberately cooked the numbers to foil the competition, according to Old Appliance Club founder Jack Santoro. The huge ranges were snapped up from the '20s through the early '40s by churches, large estates and wayside inns, but production stopped when the Chambers family sold the company in 1955. Remaining stock was moved to the KitchenAid Co. in Oxford, Miss. Aficionados shudder at tales of Imperial owners selling the ranges for scrap in the 1960s and '70s.

Three years ago, Semmelroth found a 1929 Imperial Chambers in a house of the same vintage in Montclair, N.J. The filthy six-burner model didn't work when Semmelroth first saw it, but he eagerly paid $500. At about 1,200 pounds, "it looked like a hernia in action," he says. "It was about the heaviest stove I ever saw." Still, it was worth it, because it had all the options Imperials offered. "It's like finding a diamond in a gravel pit," Semmelroth says. "I don't expect to find another one."

It took him about a year to fix up the behemoth, power-washing and refitting the pieces. The restored range was listed on the Old Appliance Club Web site and sold for $17,000 within six weeks to a Florida physician.

Alabama ER doctor Goodwin, too, ultimately bought the Imperial he had been shown months before. The owner of an old Maryland estate with an abandoned outdoor kitchen had contacted Hugh's Place owner Marionneaux about the stove. He drove nearly 1,300 miles to retrieve the 800-pound treasure.

Goodwin agreed to the cool price of $8,500. ("I liked the story behind it," he says.) It will take Marionneaux about a year to restore the stove. For now, Goodwin and his wife cook for their four children on their home's lackluster '50s-era three-burner stove. But he's already fantasizing about the antique's arrival: "It's going to be the focal point of the home, where everyone gathers."

Mary Beth Klatt, a freelance writer in Chicago, last wrote about tracing your house's history.