Pro Handyman Blog

So your handyman tells you he can’t find a matching knob for you stove. You just want to make the house rentable to start offsetting your underwater mortgage payment. You are faced with several unappealing ideas. You look at the stove and see three matching handles and one ugly metal post that the missing handle should be sitting on. You toy with the idea of going to an appliance store to special order one and pay shipping and handling. Worse yet, maybe you thought about calling an appliance repairman to get one for you…all good ideas, but probably a little more costly than you want right now.

How about this: go to a home center and buy 4 new generic knobs. Yes, they won’t match the existing knobs but who cares? They are going to match each other and you won’t have to wait 10 days and pay shipping and handling. If you are not looking for top of the line knobs and are looking for “functional”, as most landlords are, generic knobs are the way to go.

They don’t work in every case, but a generic knob will solve most of the problems. They are easy to install too. Just stick the new knob on the post sticking up and push down to seat it. To remove existing knobs, you will need to lift them off of the post. You may need to pry them off using a screwdriver, but make sure you protect the stove’s finish with a cloth.