Ovens
Buy and sell ovens in Panama.
A built-in oven is bought to fit a hole in a cabinet, and in Panama that hole comes in two systems sold side by side: European-format ovens 60 cm wide, which shops here label as 24-inch, and American 30-inch ones at 76 cm. The two do not swap, so the width on a listing matters more than the badge on the door. New or pre-owned, gas or electric, they run from a plain Nisato or Sankey with a rotisserie spit to convection ovens and oven-and-microwave towers, and used ones tend to come out of kitchens being refitted.
Built-in ovens, gas or electric:
the fuel decides more than how the oven cooks. A gas built-in runs off the same supply as the burners and still needs an ordinary socket for its igniter, light and rotisserie motor. An electric one bakes more evenly and usually adds a fan for convection, but some plug into a normal socket while others want their own 220 V line, so the rating plate settles whether your kitchen can take it. If you bake bread or cakes, convection earns its keep; for roasting and reheating, a plain gas oven does the job. Combination towers stack a built-in microwave above the oven in one tall cabinet, while a microwave that sits on the counter belongs in microwaves. An oven with burners on top in one freestanding body is a range, under stoves and cooktops, and the small plug-in boxes are in toasters and toaster ovens.
The 24-inch label and the 30-inch cabinet:
most arguments about fit start there. A European-format oven is 60 cm wide and goes on sale here as a 24-inch, while an American 30-inch is 76 cm. The smaller one in the larger opening leaves a strip open on each side, and the larger one will not go into the smaller cabinet without a carpenter. Measure the cabinet opening rather than the front of the old oven, which overhangs the hole all round, and check the depth and the space behind for the gas hose or the cable.
Entry 60 cm ovens and the top-end towers:
a plain 60 cm built-in, gas or electric, costs around $260 to $460 new, and a 30-inch convection model around $550 to $950. That leaves a used entry oven very little room, because whoever buys it still pays to have it disconnected, carried across town and fitted again, and those costs barely shrink when the oven does. So an older basic one sells for a small slice of its new price, often together with the cooktop from the same kitchen. The money is at the top, where a Bosch, KitchenAid or Samsung oven-and-microwave tower runs into the thousands new, and a recent one that works on every function is a real saving.
A used oven, lit and up to temperature:
is the only way to judge one, ideally with an oven thermometer on the middle shelf. On American-style gas ovens the glow-bar igniter weakens with age: it glows orange but takes a long time to light the burner, or never does. European-style gas ovens light by spark and hold the flame through a thermocouple, and if the flame dies when you let go of the knob, that part or the safety valve needs replacing. On an electric model, look at the bake and grill elements for blisters or breaks, and listen for a grinding convection fan. Then the door: it should stay where you leave it halfway, close firmly against its seal and keep its inner panes clear rather than clouded by grease that has crept between them. Racks, the tray and the rotisserie spit are the pieces that tend to go missing.
Taking an oven out of the cabinet to sell it:
give the width in centimetres and in inches, since shops here label it both ways, then the fuel, the voltage on the rating plate and the functions, from convection to rotisserie. Photograph the front, the lit cavity with the racks in and the plate itself, and say whether it is still fitted and who will take it out. Leave it connected until the buyer has watched it heat, then have a technician disconnect it and cap the gas line before anyone lifts it. Someone driving in from Las Tablas or Costa del Este will need the mounting screws and trim to fit it again, so bag them and tape the bag to the door.