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momx9

Could you rank wall ovens?

momx9
11 years ago

I know I don't have much posting history here, but I've been reading til my eyes hurt, lol. I'm mid kitchen renovation, need to order my appliances, and am making myself crazy with the decisions about what to get.

I'd love to see a quick ranking of wall ovens (and maybe do other posts for other appliances) - just a list of your favorites, top to bottom, and a maybe a couple quick words about why you like or dislike a particular brand/model. I don't see much posted about mid-range appliance brands here, but if that's all someone can afford, it would be great to know which might be a better choice. And it would be really cool to include all, or nearly all, manufacturers, even the more obscure ones.

Thanks!

Comments (21)

  • wekick
    11 years ago

    What in dollars do you consider midrange and how do you use your oven now? Do you use convection or want to use I?

  • rococogurl
    11 years ago

    Consumer Reports which doesn't do much accurately on the high end but does list and test mid- and low-end appliances. It's one place to start. Alternately, a trip to a large appliance store will present the range of choices and there's the benefit of personal examination. When choices are narrowed down, it might be easier to comment on likes/dislikes and suggestions.

  • ginny20
    11 years ago

    What I read here last year lead me to get the Elux non-con with Wavetouch controls. I can't remember who it was, but one of the Appliances gurus said that IHO, the Elux was the best alternative to the high end ones. The easy glide racks extend pretty far. The self-cleaning works great. It has many nice features, like keep warm, perfect turkey, bread proofing, defrost. Elux had some problems in 2009-10, but they addressed them. I'm happy with mine. I just wish it had french doors.

  • momx9
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I guess I was looking for rankings cause I'm still not solid on my budget, and I'm trying to find deals on a floor model or scratch/dent model - I'd like to get a top of the line at a mid-range price, lol.

    for example, a local appliance dealer has a floor model thermador double oven on clearance for $1500 - but I seem to recall reading some negatives about Thermador - and wonder where the experts (the GW crew) would put Thermador in the rankings.

    Seems like such a BIG decision - we use our ovens all the time, big family (11 total), several kids on special diets so we pretty much cook everything from scratch, though I don't do as much baked goods as I used to.

  • momx9
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Here's another what if...
    Shopping the Sears outlet - they have Electrolux, DCS, Dacor, Bosch, GE, LG, Maytag, Kenmore ... the options seem endless.

    Though I'd love to get a Wolf, I'm pretty sure that's out of my price range unless I get really lucky - so of those listed above, what order would you put them (price being about equal)

  • jadeite
    11 years ago

    We got a Elux wave-touch oven from the Sears outlet. It turned out to cost less than half list price, came with full manufacturer's warranty and arrived in pristine condition. It had been a display model, never installed or turned on.

    It has performed perfectly so far (4 months). I've baked cookies, cakes and yeast rolls. I've roasted chickens and pork. And I've dehydrated 40 lbs of apricots. The oven has been better than expected in everything. I used the probe for the first time to roast chicken last weekend, and it got to target temperature quickly and reset to "keep warm" mode.

    Cheryl

  • dodge59
    11 years ago

    I guess by "Ovens" you mean double ovens.
    None of those, at least at the present time, are as reliable as a single oven, and were I in the market for 2 ovens, they would be two single ovens, but we wern't.
    We wanted a full size oven and a smaller (More versatile oven) and our 2nd oven is a speed oven and we love it, (as most folks that have them do).

    That being said, just by looking at the "Shear # of posts about ovens", here in Garden Web,as well as other appliance or cooking websites, your "safest bet", reliability wise, would be the Electrolux, probably followed by the Wolf---alto to be honest, Wolf has the
    "Better after sales support"------at least from info gathered from recent posts on Garden Web.

    Myself, I just prefer not to have ANY repair person in my house--so I play the best odds I can find,in choosing appliances that I hope, (and so far they have), run for many years, without "outside Service".

    From what we've read, The DCS seems to be reliable but we just don't see many posts about them, Same with Bosch but most the posts we do see about the Bosch ovens do seem to be positive.

    GE is kinda all over the place, some like, some hate, especially performance---even when they are working right.

    Never have seen much on LG and Maytag ovens.
    Kenmore because Sears changes every few years who actually makes the Kenmores, it is "Hit and Miss" alto right now they seem to be having more "hits".

    Saw many negative posts on Dacor ovens frying circuit boards, I would love to give them a "High recommendation" as they are located close to where I live---but just don't see enough "New info" to counter act the old info.

    So if I had to rate them, and Please Remember, this is just my studying of the posts here on Garden Web, (In the last 5 years or so and from other websites) and my "Synopsis" of how those posts add up--OK?

    OK Here goes!(This is the order I would weight them if buying),

    (1) Electrolux
    (2) Wolf
    (3) Bosch
    (4) Kenmore
    (5) GE
    (6) LG
    (7) Dacor, Maytag, just don't see enough info to rank one above the other.

    Good luck with your choices, and your request is pretty hard for folks to "Answer in the manner You requested" as there are likely to be some "Flames" about my post, but I'm a tuff old buzzard, and it would really take a "Crazy" to acquire a taste for "Flamed Buzzard"!!!!!

    Gary

  • vintage_rose
    11 years ago

    I think you are best off looking at consumer reports, internet reviews and reading forums like this. Also, looking carefully at what features you need, color, size, etc...

    My personal rankings are extremely subjective and are based on what I think look good, but when we were shopping the sales people seemed to rank the ones we were looking at (27" and under 5K) as follows:

    1)Viking (above our price, but had the color and style I wanted)
    2)Electrolux
    3)Kitchen Aid
    4) GE
    5) Frigidaire

    But the ones I like best are the Thermador and Viking models that have knobs and an analog clock. I've never owned either brand so I cannot comment on performance.

    Best of luck to you on your choice!

  • wekick
    11 years ago

    Not that many people own more than one brand of more current models, so it is difficult to get comparisons and rank them. The best you can do is what Gary did and sort of summarize what people have been happy with on this board. I currently have a Wolf oven, in a range and an Electrolux wall oven. Both work great. You would be hard pressed to find much difference in the results. I might give a slight edge to the Wolf because of the dual fans and customer service. The dual fans are more significant in a 36" wide oven though. I had a very dismal experience with Dacor in 07-08. My computer boards on a range and wall oven did not fry but never did work. I also felt the appliances, new models, top of the line were poorly made. One of the plastic handles broke and the enamel chipped if it was tapped with a pan. They did buy them back after trying to fix them for 7 mos. They did write me to say they have streamlined their customer service now.
    I would say people seem to like Electrolux single ovens(more issues with their double ovens) and Wolf. At least these get the most buzz.
    Bosch and DCS also have happy owners.

  • momx9
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks folks - I must admit, Gary, I've read pretty much every post here about ovens, and have appreciated your comments a lot! I REALLY appreciate it!
    Dh likes the idea of stacking two single ovens, mostly for the idea that if one of them dies, we'd still have a working oven! So I'm guess I'm leaning toward two singles, though it will cost a little more than a double.

  • Cavimum
    11 years ago

    "We got a Elux wave-touch oven from the Sears outlet."

    Thanks for your post. It reminds me that we have a Sears outlet nearby and I need to go there and price our wall oven, if they have any.

    A friend of ours chose the Elux Icon (four years ago) for the ball-bearings in the racks. She tells me there is no resistance in pulling them out.

  • appliance_b_guide
    11 years ago

    If you can't afford Wolf or Viking, then definitely stick with Electrolux. No one makes a better product in that price range currently and their service right now is getting high marks from all my customers which have needed service.

    You can read reviews on most of these on my blog. Hope that helps!

    Anthony
    Appliance Buyer's Guide

  • herring_maven
    11 years ago

    As many have already noted, different users have different criteria for choosing ovens, and -- so far as performance is concerned -- very few of us have extensive experience performance-testing units of more than one currently available model. When we remodeled our kitchen in 1999, we assumed that within category (e.g., comparing 27" convection ovens vs. 27" convection ovens), performance would be roughly equal, and thus made our decision primarily on two nonperformance criteria:

    (1) whether the heating element on the floor of the oven was exposed or concealed -- at that time, exposed was the rule and concealed was the exception, and we wanted concealed; and

    (2) the vertical dimension (including mandatory clearance requirements above the oven) of the units. We planned to install the oven undercounter, and hoped to be able to have a shallow storage drawer under the oven for extra oven racks and shallow dishes like pie pans. We found significant differences among brands in applying the second criterion, and ended up with a vertically compact Bosch 27" convection oven (which allowed us to install the desired storage drawer underneath it), which has served us well for a dozen years.

  • ginny20
    11 years ago

    Gary - mm mmm, Flamed Buzzard! I like mine with a little Montreal seasoning.

  • wekick
    11 years ago

    If you can't afford Wolf or Viking, then definitely stick with Electrolux.
    As a person who has actually owned used both (Wolf and Electrolux) for the last 4 years extensively and is from Missouri, I'm not sure you could "show me" the difference in results. I would leave it to the OP to read about Viking on these forums.
    I am using a GE profile range this week. It has convection but nowhere near the flexibility in temp + convection combinations of the Electrlux. It seems to take a long time to preheat as well. Everything has baked pretty well though.

  • cj47
    11 years ago

    I have a double Electrolux, non Icon, and have been very satisfied with the performance for the last two years. I also cook from scratch, though not for quite the crowd that you do! I make the full range of commonly done things--breads, pies, cakes, cookies, meats/meals/etc. I've used the bread proof setting to set yogurt and it works beautifully. I also frequently use the 'keep warm' settings. I rolled my eyes at the "perfect turkey" button, but honestly...it really does work. The roll out racks are simply wonderful, just as convenient as I hoped they'd be.

    With all due respect to Gary and the others, I'm not sure that Wolf and Electrolux are actually in the same league, with Wolf being more than double the price of the E'lux ovens. If you're talking about "midrange", Electrolux is probably at the upper end of that, whereas I would place Wolf ovens in the "high end" category. When I was shopping, I checked them out and they are very solid, and by all accounts, absolutely terrific. The dual convection looks like it would be totally awesome. There's another member, Rhome410 that has a large family and she chose the Wolf E Series. I recall her being happy with them, and perhaps she'll chime in here.

    Being a solid mid-range gal myself, I chose the Electrolux ovens and have been very happy with their performance. No regrets at all here--they work just as I hoped that they would, and I'm happy with them.

    Best of luck!

    Cj

  • momx9
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks for the review cj! Just the sort of thing I need to hear - and yes, the ability to do yogurt or proof bread will be a big plus!

    This site is a gold-mine of info, for which I'm very thankful!

  • dodge59
    11 years ago

    Thanks for your comments CJ, but I was not taking price into account when I did the ratings, and we did not when we made the choice of the Electrolux.

    Electrolux has the "hide away" wavetouch controls and readout, Wolf Did not, also the display on the Elux was larger and I could read it without hunting down my glasses which are "Always on the wrong story of this house".

    The Smooooooth fully gliding out racks are what really sold us, as we knew the oven would be "below counter" and the racks would certainly make it convenient for retrieving heavy hams, turkeys, roasts etc from that location. Also the huge window is a lot of help when located under counter.
    So back in 2006 only Elux offered those racks.

    Right now, Wolf had some problems with some of their model ovens, (I think the cheaper series ---- well less expensive anyway) with the ovens turning themselves off, and in fact Rhome has had this problem, but it has been fixed and she is very happy with Wolf Service.

    Recall, one of my goals in my previous post was to pick the ovens that are most likely to never require service.
    I wish we could find actual sales numbers for the different ovens, but when you consider that every Sears sells Electrolux, along with the fact, as you mentioned, The Electrolux's sell for considerably less than the Wolf's, I think it's "Safe" to deduce that Elux sells a lot more ovens than does Wolf. Assuming that, then if we takes a rough percentagage of the failures of these ovens, I'm sure the Electrolux's "as a whole" have a lower failure % rate.

    Hope this explains my post CJ.

    Cheers!!!

    Gary

  • Laura_PA
    11 years ago

    I've been looking at ovens too, and right now i'm leaning towards Electrolux and Advantium 240. I actually loved the feel/racks/door of the Thermador, even more so than the Electrolux or the Wolf lower end model. But I can't find enough of any kind of recent rating/review on Thermador ovens.

    Gosh for $1500 if it was a current model I'd probably take my chances.

  • kashmi
    11 years ago

    Like Shannonaz, we have a F&P wall oven that we purchased 5 or 6 years ago. At that point there were plenty of excellent comments about it on this forum, but not so many now. So here's my impression.

    Our criteria were these: true convection, deep enough to fit our round pizza stone, analog & simple controls over digital controls, and an enclosed bottom element. Plus I wanted low temp settings for drying tomatoes -- which we also now use for yogurt. (I bake a lot of breads, but prefer a low temp rise, so don't use the proof setting for that.)

    The oven has met these criteria quite well. I've come to appreciate how very well insulated it is. With the convection setting, it heats up quickly, too.

    I do recall reading about problems with self-cleaning, but we've never used it. Probably because we also have an outdoor wood fired oven and that's where most of the messy protein cooking happens. We keep our pizza stone on the bottom rack and cover it with parchment if we're about to cook something messy.

    Finally, while it took getting used to, having the light on while something is baking makes it easy to check on progress.

    As you can tell, we love our F&P oven and would replace it with the same, assuming that the company has maintained the same level of quality.