PSA: Anti-Tip Bracket

This is obviously a departure from the usual here, but humor me.

Nearly 18 years ago I came home from school, went straight to my room and threw my things down. It was a Friday afternoon and I can still remember the unnaturally clean state of my room due to the house keeper's weekly visit.

My mom met me at the door to my room and told me she had some sad news. Those were her words. Sad. Not devastating or life altering. Remembering this moment now sad seems woefully inadequate.

My cousin, then two years old, had been attempting to reach something on the kitchen counter. Cookies, maybe. He opened the oven door to use it as a step and the oven couldn't support his weight and it tipped over. He was crushed by the weight of the oven. He was taken to the hospital and put on life support, but it was too late.

Do you know how easy it is to prevent this? We didn't. I would imagine that most people aren't even aware that this could happen or that there is a very easy fix for this potential problem.

According to this article, manufacturers have been requiring the installation of an anti-tip bracket that they provide with the oven. It seems to me that this would be a hard requirement to enforce, as proven to me today.

We had a new range delivered. Yes, to the house that we're selling. Don't ask. They made quick work of installing it and handed me the paperwork to sign. One of the boxes to sign was "Anti-Tip not installed/Release." Now, I'm not a boat-rocker, but I pushed the paperwork back into his hands. They were obviously annoyed, asking if I really wanted them to drill into our hardwood floors.

Do I want you to drill into the floor underneath my oven? The floor that will always be underneath an oven, and therefore always covered, forever and ever, amen? Yes, yes I do.

It took five minutes at the absolute most.

Here's a video on how to install an anti-tip device. Brackets are inexpensive and appear to be brand specific.

Maybe this seems unnecessary. Maybe you don't have children. Maybe your children are so well behaved they would never consider getting near the stove. Consider this: It's Thanksgiving day and you have dishes simmering on all four burners. You open the oven door and pull out the oven rack to baste your 20 pound turkey and your oven can't take the shift of weight. Then what?

Just do me a favor and check behind/under your range for the bracket. Then have a glass of wine to calm your nerves from all of the extra worrying you're bound to do thanks to this post.

I'm sorry. And you're welcome.