Cooking appliance

A cooking appliance, comprising:

• a cabinet that forms an outer appearance of the cooking appliance;
• at least one cooking device provided in the cabinet to cook items using a gas flame;
• a panel integrally provided with the cabinet or removably coupled to the cabinet so that a front portion thereof is exposed to an outside of the cooking appliance, and formed with at least one through-hole;
• a gas valve provided behind the panel and including a valve shaft that penetrates the at least one through-hole and extends in a forward direction from the panel;
• a knob provided in front of the panel to be connected with the valve shaft in order to ignite or extinguish gas or adjust a flame intensity, that causes rotation and a forward-backward movement of the valve shaft through a user's manipulation;
• a knob-ring provided between the knob and the panel, that accommodates a rear portion of the knob therein, the knob-ring being installed at a front side of the panel;
• a bearing secured in the knob-ring, that supports a circumference of the valve shaft behind the knob in order to allow the rotation and the forward-backward movement of the valve shaft, thereby preventing restriction of movement of the knob and the valve shaft, the bearing including a bearing housing coupled with the knob-ring;
• and
• a spring provided between the knob and the knob-ring, that generates an elastic restoring force with respect to forward-backward movement of the knob, wherein ends of the spring are respectively secured to the knob and the knob-ring, wherein the knob-ring includes a bearing housing insertion portion having a width in a forward and backward direction which closely contacts a width of the bearing housing to prevent distortion or eccentric bias of the bearing housing inserted into the bearing housing insertion portion.

A panel assembly for a cooking appliance, comprising:

• a panel formed with at least one through-hole;
• a gas valve provided behind the panel and including a valve shaft that penetrates the at least one through-hole and extends in a forward direction from the panel;
• a knob provided in front of the panel to be connected with the valve shaft, that causes rotation and forward-backward movement of the valve shaft through a user's manipulation;
• a knob-ring provided between the knob and the panel, that accommodates at least a portion of the knob therein;
• and
• a bearing secured between the knob and the panel, that supports a circumference of the valve shaft in order to prevent restriction of movement of the knob and the valve shaft, the bearing including a bearing housing coupled with the knob-ring, wherein the knob-ring includes:
• a frame having an opening formed in a front portion thereof, that accommodates at least a portion of the knob therein, and
• a rear wall provided at a rear portion of the frame and including a bearing housing insertion portion, which is formed in a center of the rear wall and into the bearing housing of the bearing is inserted through the opening of the frame and installed, the rear wall being installed at a front side of the panel, and wherein the bearing housing insertion portion has a width in a forward and backward direction which closely contacts a width of the bearing housing to prevent distortion or eccentric bias of the bearing housing inserted into the bearing housing insertion portion.