We have the 48" Jenn-air built in, 5 years now, quiet, well lit, and trouble free cept for the icemaker. The icemaker has lasted about 5 years, but I think it's on it's last legs now, Since Whirlpool makes most the ice makers, not only for their brands, (KA, JA, Maytag etc) but also for some if not all the SZ's so I would not choose the KA over the JA due to the icemaker. A new one is about $150 so I figger , "No biggie" I got 5 years out of it.

The thing I really like about the JA, is the separate temp settings for the different sections of the fridge.
I like to keep the meat keeper just above freezing, and the
produce about 34 and the main part of the fridge at 38, I don't know if the KA allows you to do that.

I also like the crank up/down shelves in the JA both in the fridge and freezer, so if a bottle is a lil too tall, I just crank up the shelf.

While I have had KA Dishwashers and liked them and never had any repairs, I now have a Miele, and I would at least take the time to see if your dishes fit in a Miele.

Most the Jenn-air stuff is so new, (cept the fridges) that we just don't have that much info on them yet (here in GW) to get a good handle on their performance and reliability, alto their older stuff seems to run about 50-50 here in GW as far as performance/reliability--some loved them but others hated them.

Except for an occasional post here and there, most folks have been happy with the Electrolux Ovens, and in fact the single ovens are "almost always" 5 star rated.

As far as Speed Ovens go, The Miele Speed oven, (at least here in GW) come close to a "Perfect Rating" performance/reliability wise. I do have an Electrolux Speed Oven that I really like, and except for a screw that came loose on the handle, it has been trouble free for more than 5 years now.

Good Luck with your pending decisions and purchases!

Gary

Gary - I was considering getting extended warranty for the JA oven and speed oven because their ovens are so new like you stated. Normally I don't believe in extended warranties, but what do you think in this case?

Is there a difference? The warming drawer is the only one I'm familiar with. As far as I can tell, on that the KA and J-A are identical. Whirlpool twins :)

I guess I will have to go down to Pacific Sales and compare the 2 Fridges (JA KA). When I bought mine, JA had not been acquired by Maytag which was swallowed up by Whirlpool, so at least back then, there was a difference and in fact, back then KA didn't even make a 48" built in.

I did post some time ago, where different appliances were made, and I do know that some of the JA's were made in a different factory than the KA's jut cant recall if the SXS fridges were, so I will see if I can find that post again.

Usually I don't take the extended warranties, but I did for my Elux Induction cooktop, Like the New Jen-airs, it really didn't have much of a history and it was $79 for 5 years, so I took it--alto the cooktop has been trouble free.

So In this case, were I buying the JA's I would take the extended warranty, there's a Good chance your dealer "Might" give you a deal on the extended warranty as the JA's are now "Price fixed" grrrrrr! Be sure to find out who is doing the extended warranty though, as you don't want to be "tied into a repair company" that is reknown for poor service---We seen quite a few post about those types of companies.

Good luck with your decisions, and please review them should you choose to go JA---as ya know there a "dearth of info" on them right now.

Gary

They're both Whirlpools, and I would do just about anything to avoid Whirlpool's abysmal customer service. The only KA that I would remotely consider is their DW's, as they are are some of the original Hobart innard designs---until they ship those overseas too. JennAir, well, I wouldn't buy anything JennAir. Whirlpool still hasn't figured out what they're doing with JA as it was a direct competitor to the KA line and they don't want to lose either "name". Sorta like Ford and Mercury. You're buying the same exact product, but maybe a fancier bling on one of them and that's it.

Current Kitchenaid dishwashers have NOTHING in common with the old Hobart-built dishwashers except for the "KitchenAid" logo. The new ones are all thinly-disguised Whirlpool dishwashers, similar to top-of-the-line Whirlpool-branded machines. Recent Jenn-Air, Maytag, and other Whirlpool-owned brands also use a variant of this design, as do Ikea dishwashers and some Kenmores. The differences are mainly in the control panels, door latches, and rack design.

Nevertheless, people do, in general, like the current KitchenAid DWs.

Well, we took the plunge on the weekend and went with a Jenn Air package: 48" SxS, 30" wall oven with culinary center, warming drawer, speed oven and 36" induction cooktop. I guess I'm a bit of a gambler because I know some people are JAir haters, but we got a good deal and I'm hopeful that their new technologies will have proven positive by the time we install (December). There have been few reviews of the new JA appliances so I guess I'll pave the way and keep everyone posted on how we do with them. To be honest there are lovers/haters of every brand out there and my head was so full of information/opinions gathered from this from this forum that we just said 'let's go for it'. I haven't bought my dishwasher yet but I think it will still be the KAid.

hi Mardo,
I have been looking into buying jennair appliances. And pricing is attractive with free DW. There are not enough reviews out there for Jeann Air. I came across this post when looking for one . So what has been your experience so far? Any input would be helpful.
Thanks!

I bought a new Jennair range about 5 years ago for my previous home.

Turned out to be a real POS. Control board went belly-up within the first-year - replaced under warranty and the new one died 6 months later.

Even when it was working, it never could hold a steady oven temperature. It was poorly finished, and the downdraft exhaust was so ineffective I disconnected it and installed a proper hood. Both the griddle and grill did not fit properly and were real pains to use.

When I moved I bought a real range for my new kitchen instead of eye candy.

Good luck with your purchases,
Doc

We won't be finished building our home until late 2012/early 2013 so using my new Jennair appliances is still a long way away. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it all ends up okay. Eventually I'll write a follow up report.

My electric cooktop Jen-Air never cooked well enough for me (purchased years ago). When purchased, I called the company to see if there was something I could do to make it heat better. NO REPLY. My friend just purchased a gas Jen-Air cooktop and complains it takes forever to boil water and wants her old cooktop back.

Jenn Air Induction Cooktops: We just remodeled the kitchen and got a Jenn Air Induction Cooktop - 36" x 5 burners and LOVE IT! We installed the 36" Induction because we don't have natural gas or propane here. My partner is a CCA Trained Chef and hates anything other than gas for cooking. I thought the new induction unit might be an acceptable compromise. Turns out it is far more than just "acceptable" to both of us!

The JennAir Induction unit is fast, powerful, quiet, and every bit as instantly responsive as natural gas or propane would be. The other day we were doing pasta for dinner. Four out of the five burners in use at the same time. 1.) a large stockpot of water boiling, 2.) the sauce heating, 3.) some turkey-sausage for inclusion in the sauce & 4.) had some mushrooms and onions going on a So four burners running, the vent hood on medium / low, and my kitchen stayed cool!

We're in Phoenix. We dread cooking on the stovetop in the summer because it heats up the whole house for several hours afterwards. The AC strains to recover and hold the temp to a moderate 79 degrees. NOT ANY LONGER! The kitchen didn't heat up, the food cooked perfectly, water boiled almost instantly even in an 12 quart stock pot. After I drained the pasta and wanted to "sauce" it in the pro way - I put a large non-stick skillet on the stove, put in a couple of drops of olive oil and added the damp pasta, stirred it around for 30 seconds on high, added the turkey sausage, veggies, and finally the Marinara sauce. The big 3500 watt burner (boosted to 4500 I think) handled it beautifully. The large skillet was hot in an instant. The olive oil was smoking slightly when I added the damp pasta. The sizzle of the moisture coming out of the pasta sounded just as it would have, if I'd been using a 30,000 BTU gas burner! The veggies were re-warmed and then heated thru in seconds, as was the sausage. Finally the marinara sauce was up to a low simmer in less than ten seconds! Stir Stir Stir and it's time to serve it. Everything was perfect. Absolutely perfect! And still there was almost no residual heat.The kitchen was still cool! Believe me, that NEVER happened before when we used a conventional electric cooktop in the old kitchen. I could put my hand on the Glass Cooktop and it was warm, not scalding hot or dangerously hot. I am well pleased with the JennAir Induction Cooktop and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

BTW: I bought Miele 24" for an oven, vent hood, and the Miele dishwasher.(the Diamond G59xxSF model.) But the Miele 36" induction cooktop was nearly $3700 plus tax and installation. The JenAir was on sale and I paid a little over $1000 for it. With the savings I upgraded to a Miele 36" built-in fridge/freezer. As you can probably tell by my choice of appliances, I have no problem spending money when there's a reason to do so. But as much as I like Miele products (and I am really fond of them and their incredible quality ) I couldn't bring myself to spend an extra $2700 to get the name "Miele" somewhere on the cooktop! While I am the first to tell you Miele and Quality are nearly synonymous in my experience, I cannot throw away an extra $2700 for a label. Everyone I spoke to said their Miele Induction units were good. No one said they were great or totally trouble-free. The JennAir owners I talked to seemed to be far more impressed or satisfied with their choice of cooktops. Odd? Yes, it seemed so to me, also.

While I cannot comment on any other JennAir appliances, I can tell you that their Induction Cooktop seems EXCELLENT and has worked impeccably for us since it was installed. Considering the savings, I could buy THREE JennAir induction units (on sale) for what I would pay for one Miele and FOUR OR FIVE for the cost of a VIKING INDUCTION COOKTOP (that's a whole other story! but a very costly one, I assure you!)

If you have a choice between Natural Gas, or Electric, I'd still recommend first choice of Electric Induction for it's amazing efficiency, overall speed, and safety. I'm told that with Induction, some 93% of the power you pay for in Kilowatts goes into the food, not into heating up the burners or the room. This 93% number is weighed against a 55% energy efficiency for gas and 30% energy efficiency for conventional electric coil type burners.

Also, you won't need a vent hood rated at 1200 CFM or better, and you won't suffer with your kitchen being turned into an over all summer long, either. These modern induction units are making serious inroads into professional kitchens all over the country, too, for their ease of use, efficiency, safety and speed!! In a restaurant setting (just like in your homes) the induction units are FAR cheaper to run than is Natural Gas or Propane or conventional resistance electric heating coils.

Sorry to ramble, but the Induction unit from Jenn Air has really been amazing and I don't hesitate to recommend this unit and/or Induction Cooking in General for it's many advantages and no discernible disadvantages. If we suddenly had Natural Gas available tomorrow, I might switch out the water heater, or the heat pump AC unit. Maybe even the dryer. But I'll stick with Induction cooking for the foreseeable future unless something better comes along ...