for example - the "good as new" stove he "rescued" from the dump - which required rebuilding the kitchen counter (he made the cabinet to enclose it out of an old bureau) then replacing the cooktop with two portable electric stoves set into an old stainless steel sinktop (vbecause the oven worked but the burners didn't); and the oven timer replaced by a windup-clockwork gadget originally intended to control a lawn sprinkler (which was wired to the sink/cooktop because he didn't want to put screw holes in the stainless) - of course the oven and the two sets of heating elements all had to be plugged in seperately.