The Difference Between a Cookstove and a Range

I have been preparing a post (actually, what may become a series of posts) about regulating the heat of a wood cookstove's oven.  During my research, I was reminded of a technicality that I think perhaps I ought to address, especially since I always say that I want this blog to be about "all things cookstove."

I always use the word "cookstove" to denote a stove which is used for cooking and is fueled by wood or coal.  This is a common use of the word, and most people know exactly what I mean when I use the word this way.  However, our ancestors used this word to indicate only the small stoves which looked like the picture below.  The Original Fannie Farmer 1896 Cook Book notes that the ovens on these stoves could usually be opened from both sides.  One of the oven doors is open in the picture below.  The door to the upper left of the oven door would have been one way to access the firebox, which jutted into the top left area of the oven.

Photo from amberghistory.org

 A kitchen "range" was so named because of the larger range of different heat levels that it allowed the cook.  A range, or "set range," was a built-in affair which usually had its firebox in the center.  Ovens would appear on each side of the firebox, or might appear above the cooktop altogether, as in the picture below. 

Photo of a range at the Culinary Arts Museum in Providence, RI,
from abetterbagofgroceries.com

In 1896, Fannie Farmer wrote: "Set ranges, as they consume so large an amount of fuel, are being replaced by portable ones."  She further states that "A portable range is a cooking-stove with one oven door."  Thus, what I am always referring to as a cookstove is technically a "portable range."

Enterprise-Fawcett's Monarch Range.  This picture
is from their website: www.enterprise-fawcett.com.
This is a "portable range."

Something tells me that I might have a hard time convincing the four men who helped us move the Margin Gem into our kitchen that it is "portable."  I'm going to continue to refer to the portable range as a cookstove, and you'll all just have to forgive me for being technically incorrect. 

Phew!  I'm glad we've got this all cleared up.