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rara19

Used 3 yr old Viking Range

RaRa19
9 years ago

Hi,

Im between getting a Viking new off the floor model 48inch dual gas/electric for $8900 plus 3 yr warranty or one I found from craigslist.

They say its 3 years old, all gas, and has been sitting in an unfurnished house for years. They dont even have it plugged into a gas area to test it (current location its in doesnt have gas). They asked $6500, I talked them down to $4500. Is this a deal?

Im doing a renovation on my whole house and money is really tight. Just trying to save some $$$. I appreciate your input.

What should I do?

Comments (8)

  • bbstx
    9 years ago

    That is a great deal, but you couldn't run fast enough to give me an all gas stove. In my previous house I had a dual fuel Viking and I loved it. In the current house, I have an all-gas GE Cafe. I hate it. EVERYTHING burns in the oven unless I use the convection mode. I was going to get the GE Cafe in dual fuel, but a friend who has the all gas GE Cafe told me that the all gas worked fine and I didn't need to spend the extra money. I forgot to take into consideration that she does no baking and no from-scratch preparation. All she needs is something that will bake a pot pie!

    Although I had not one minute's problem out of my Viking, I understand they can be finicky. I would only buy the used one if I could adequately test it.

    If you can get the serial number off the Viking, I'll bet their customer service can tell you how old it is. They may also be able to tell you if it has had any service calls. Viking customer service is very nice and very helpful. (I said I had no trouble out of mine, but the granite installers beat it up pretty badly and I had to get a repairman to replace some parts.)

    [sigh] I wish I had a Viking again instead of the POS I have.

    Here is a link that might be useful: How to find Viking serial number

  • hvtech42
    9 years ago

    Believe it or not, gas ovens are used every day by people who actually bake. Sounds like something is wrong with your Cafe.

  • bbstx
    9 years ago

    hvtech, I've wondered the same thing. One of these days soon, I'm going to do the slices of bread test to see where it is cooking hot. Then call for service.

  • busybee3
    9 years ago

    i have a 4 yr old allgas viking range in the house we moved to recently--- i have never had a gas oven before and it seems to work fine, tho i haven't done a whole lot of baking yet.....
    i would be very leary of buying anything without being able to test it tho... if it works well and has barely been used, it sounds like a great deal to me...

  • attofarad
    9 years ago

    My wife had a Viking all gas range and electric wall oven. She baked in both, no complaints. Now, we have an induction range, works great.

  • hvtech42
    9 years ago

    Overall, Viking has gotten bad reviews here and elsewhere, in pretty much all categories: reliability, performance, repairability, and customer service. $4500 may seem like a good deal but it is an awful lot to spend on a brand with a shaky past when you aren't even getting a warranty.

    This post was edited by hvtech42 on Tue, Jul 29, 14 at 21:50

  • gin_gin
    9 years ago

    My Viking all gas is more like 10 years old, so it may not be a fair comparison to a 3 year old model. But I hate the thing. Hate. The oven temperature is impossible to control exactly. If I set it for 350 I may get anything from 300-400. I have to keep an oven thermometer inside. The convection fan actually makes cooking more uneven. It also takes a very long time to heat up and puts out so much more heat into the kitchen than any oven I've used. The burners are nice and powerful, but they are all the same size, which is huge. On all but my largest pans the heat is all on the edge & sides of the pan. I hate how the oven works so much that I'll never have another pro style gas range. I want a temperature display and some indication of when it has reached the desired temperature.

  • bbstx
    9 years ago

    I had forgotten about the issue that gin gin brings up. For those of us who've gotten accustomed to a digital oven temperature setting, using a dial where you have to guess if you've set it for 325 is a bit unsettling. I eventually acclimated, but I've got a good friend with a Viking range who feels exactly like gin gin.

    If you are purchasing new, though, you ought to know that Viking was sold to Middleby Corporation in late 2012. The new Viking and the used Viking you are looking at weren't made by the same companies. The new Vikings may be more reliable than the old Vikings (like when Ford bought Jaguar), or may be not.

    Here is a fairly recent thread about Viking ranges. Scroll to the Feb 14 at 23:19 by JWVideo for a fairly thorough analysis.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Viking sold to Middleby