Cooking appliances described herein may include an oven and a cooktop disposed above the oven. The oven may have an oven cavity and an oven door configured to open and close the oven cavity by pivoting about a horizontal axis. A linear actuator may be coupled to the oven door and configured to reposition the oven door in a vertical direction. Using this apparatus, a user may be assisted by the vertically-repositionable oven door when lifting and lowering objects.