Iron range
The cast-iron wood-burning range with hotplates, rings and oven – it replaced the open hearth in town and country.
The iron range with an enclosed firebox was far more efficient than the open hearth. It spread in Sweden in the second half of the 19th century, and Swedish foundries made thousands of models.
The range provided an oven, hot water in a tank and hotplates to cook on. It lived on in the countryside long after gas and electric cookers reached the towns.
Materials: Cast iron, sheet iron, firebrick
Manufacture: Cast in parts at foundries and assembled on site; the doors often decorated with reliefs.
Rings in the hotplate that lift out to bring the pot closer to the fire.
The foundry’s name in relief on the doors.
Revival-style decoration on older ranges, plainer flat doors after 1920.