Hi All -

I thought others would benefit from the learning experience I just went through with my new freestanding GE profile all gas range. (http://products.geappliances.com/ApplProducts/Dispatcher?REQUEST=SpecPage&Sku=PGB980SETSS)

I just had this range installed in my new kitchen. The kitchen is not yet done, so I haven't used it yet, but I have high hopes for its performance. I picked it specifically for what seemed like a great set of features, especially the large griddle and two ovens.

But while I wait for my kitchen to be finished to try the range out, I wanted others to know that it does NOT sit flush against the wall as promised. There is a "bump out" behind the electronic controls that keeps it a bit more than 1" from the wall. It's very strange because the rest of the range seems to be carefully designed so that it is totally flat and the range would sit just about flush (within 1/4" or so) were it not for this bump out.

Because the bump out is over an inch and my backsplash is 3/4" this left an unsightly gap where you could see air space between the backsplash and the back of the range. It also caused the range to sit about 1" forward of my cabinets. Since the sides of the range are black (not stainless) and my cabinets are white this left an ugly 1" black strip projecting beyond the cabinets.

My appliance store wanted GE to come look at it, which they did, and sure enough the service tech said "yep, it doesn't sit flush against the wall". He told me to call GE Customer Relations, which I did. However, they were not able to tell me whether any other Profile ranges would truly sit flush against the wall. Apparently all they have to go by is the same specs you can get on line and those all say the ranges all sit flush and don't show this bump out.

After considering a few other options, and deciding we really wanted this range, we resolved the situation in my kitchen by cutting a hole in the wall to receive the bump out (being careful to make sure there was plenty of air space around any louvers) and it looks much better, but this seems like a design flaw to me. I'm really surprised that GE engineers didn't find a way to design this range so that the bump out wasn't necessary and it could sit flush to the wall as its specs say that it does.

Anyone considering this range should either plan for the wall to be recessed slightly to accept the bump out, or accept that they will have a gap between their backsplash and their range. I suspect this may be a problem for other GE Profile freestanding ranges, so caveat emptor!