Disposable Appliances

We recently bought a new stove. The old one died on us when the bake element went up in flames, and although I could have fixed that problem, there were numerous other problems with it and so we decided to just get a new one. After searching the internet, we chose an Inglis, because it has a coil top, is not a self cleaning oven, and is in our price range. Better still we got it in a Future Shop sale! So it was delivered. But damaged, there was a box cutter scrape on it, a big one, and the bake element was bent. Added to that it was incredibly unstable, amazingly so, even though I adjusted the feet as much as was possible, we still wondered if it was going to fall over on us. So we called for a replacement which duly arrived, and was in good condition. But then my wife cut herself quite badly whilst cleaning the grill/roasting pan, the edges of which were incredibly sharp, so we relagated that to the back of the cupboard, and thanked the stars that it wasn't her bad hand that had been cut. But then a single chicken breast, roasting in the oven, created so much splatter that the entire inside of the oven is coated in sticky brown stuff that won't come off even with Easy Off oven cleaner! In the meantime, it took over an hour for one chicken leg to cook properly! So I tried to follow the instructions on how to recalibrate the oven, and followed them carefully, but of course it didn't work. So I just called up Inglis, well Whirlpool, who own Inglis. The woman was as helpful as she could be, but her instructions were the same as mine, and of course didn't work, so she is going to have to call me back.. Yeah right. Well I won't hold my breath on that one. Anyway, the oven still needs to be cleaned, so we will have to try something else to get the gunk off, but what I want to know is, why are kitchen appliances like this made so cheaply? We paid over 400 bucks for this one, and it was 150 bucks off, so it isn't the bottom of the range (no pun intended) and yet we are already thinking that we will have to get a new one in a few years time! We would probably send this one back to Future Shop now, except for the fact that we can't afford a more expensive one, and it is nearly Christmas! But honestly, it is aggravating that we are put to this trouble, when we have forked out money on a big ticket item like this.

The woman also said that we should be able to just use regular oven cleaner, and that we have the wrong care and use booklet to go with our new stove. I am about to go out, so I don't expect her to call me back. We will just have to add 15 degrees on to all our cooking temperatures!