just clean the hob and blackened the solid rings lol

It's the hassle I can't face.
And how many holidays can I have for the price of a new kitchen?

I may get someone in to clean the oven though!

Your comments made me smile. Since then, I have objectively looked at the kitchen and wondered? Would a new kitchen really change my life? No. Would it make me amazingly more happy and contented? No. Would my friends be really impressed and would it change their attitude? No. Would it be very expensive? Yes. Would it be a load of hassle? Yes.

Conclusion- I'll live with it, and blacken the hop once in a blue moon ahahahaha.

We looked at a bungalow not long ago which had an immaculate 1960s kitchen in a midnight blue shiny formica and blue and white tiles on walls and floor.
It was stunning but I wonder if the people who bought the place ripped it out?

My grandma had those red tiles on her kitchen floor many, many years ago, she didn`t polish them, just washed them using a rag mop, and they always looked nice. Both my grandmas had fireplaces that had to be black leaded, one grandma nearly broke her heart when my auntie, visiting from Oz, bought her a new tiled fireplace and the old one was ripped out.

the back 'Parish' kitchen is all Red Formica- young friends just go crazy for it...

when people visit, they say 'oh tommettes, I love those' so ..

Oh dear! I just remember my mother on her hands and knees polishing the floor with Cardinal Red then telling us off if we walked across it with dirty shoes
They got covered up with "nice" Marley tiles eventually

Ah got visitors arriving from San Fran as B&B- so making a bit of extra effort.

'I do hope you don't have those red tiles on the floor, though,'

I do lol. Use a floor cleaner which has linseed oil in it, never polished them on hands and knees - can't kneel anyhow

I've got those red tiles as a kitchen windowsill. Can't buy Cardinal now to polish them, but it's been replaced by something else. Cant remember the name because I rarely get the tin out of the cupboard.

Gonegirl I think the idea of the blackening actually has a sound basis in science
A black hob will conduct heat more efficiently.
We replaced our cooker recently & I was surprised to read in the instructions that they advised using dark cake tins and pie tins for this reason.

I wouldn't bother.
Actually, neither would I

perhaps I'm just slovenly

I can remember my granny blackening the grate (complete with oven) back in the forties. Never heard of it done for an electric stove though. I wouldn't bother.

It's refreshing to read that someone has a kitchen older than mine

I do hope you don't have those red tiles on the floor, though, I can remember my mother polishing them with Cardinal Red polish!
We also had a black range which needed 'black-leading' - but I never had to do it.

Warm the rings a little, use the blackening stick and polish with soft cloth ... takes you straight back to the 60s/70s - ahaha

ah yes, in the UK used to have the non solid coil rings. The back kitchen (ex parish room) has two non induction ceramic hobs ...

BLimey, not something I’ve every done, probably as well as I can imagine the mess I would have got in. .

I have seen it but never used it. Stoves with solid rings were standard in just about every Army quarter we ever lived in. They took an age to heat up as I remember. If anyone threatened to take away my super fast, wipe-clean-in-seconds induction hob I would commit murder!

Don’t know Jura, I have never heard of blackener for stove rings though I have never had an electric one. Could it be used on a gas oven? (Really refreshing seeing you post on threads unconnected with politics btw!)