Oven and Cooktop question

10 years ago

Greetings,

We are renovating our kitchen and need to make a couple of important decisions. Perhaps some readers could offer some advice.

1) We would like to have two ovens. What is better: Gas range/oven combo + one electric wall oven or Gas cooktop with 2 electric wall ovens. I think the cooktop + 2 wall ovens would look more elegant, but some people have advised that it's better to have a gas oven in the house as well because it cooks moister and this is what professionals prefer. Is it true that electric ovens will do a poor job cooking roast chickens, etc? Do people with electric ovens regret not having a gas oven?

2) We cannot afford any high-end (Viking, Thermador, Wolf) brands. We were thinking of something more middle-range. Right now we're leaning toward Kitchen-Aid Architect II series electric oven(s). If we go for a sole cooktop we may be able to get a deal on a Dacor which looks great, but I have read bad things online about reliability. Anyone have experience? Any other recommended cooktops?

We would prefer a slide-in gas range but most of the ones in our price range we have seen aren't the most attractive. Does anyone have any experience with the Electrolux range or Frigidaire? Any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Comments (3)

foodonastump
10 years ago
Deleted response - wrote to wrong thread!

This post was edited by foodonastump on Mon, Sep 30, 13 at 15:37
sjhockeyfan325
10 years ago
I wonder why noone makes a cheaper tall cd fridge. For that matter, I wonder why noone makes a cd fridge that's really cd (other than the expensive built-in ones).
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wekick
10 years ago
I prefer the configuration of a rangetop(vs cooktop) and two separate ovens. You can pick out the best component for you on each. On oven if one part goes down you are not stuck replacing two components. If one part of a double oven fails you may lose both. You can also put your ovens a a specific height. I am stuck replacing my range (2008)now because of a problem with the oven that will be very expensive to attempt to fix and no assurance that it can be fixed.
It is a common misconception that gas is moist heat. This comes from the idea that water is a product of combustion and is in the oven cavity. Gas ovens have more ventilation so that the moisture and that produced by the food is lost so the oven cavity is dry.. Gas is often used commercially though because it is cheaper. They will have steam injectors if they need to for bread. Before you buy any oven understand all the differences between gas and electric and convection with and without a third element. There is a lot written if you will enter "gas electric ovens" in the search box at the bottom on the front page of this forum. With electric you can have a drying effect with convection that you have with gas or "moist" with convection off. You can bake with either and have a reasonable result. Theoretically, you will get that the top end of performance(even heat throughout, ability to direct heat and more control of humidty) with electric that has elements and fan(s) controlled by computer boards. Others don't want the hassle of the boards and are happy with just the fan-on and off. Not every oven that has the bells and whistles is that great either.
I have an Electrolux wall oven and Wolf DF range. Both have had issues with the blue enamel chipping. No recent complaints on the Electrolux but there are problems with the Wolf products still. Both have great performance though and the Elux is a lot cheaper. If you want to avoid the blue enamel, deegaux posted that this link below is a rebadged Electrolux. It has dual fans and you can get it on sale. With computer boards and current manufacturing standards I would get the longest extended warranty you can get. I don't like Sears but would have to consider this if my current wall oven goes out.
Any brand you are considering search it on this forum.

I did use a Frigidaire all electric range w/a convection fan for about a week a couple of weeks ago and was impressed with how even it baked with two half sheets in and the convection fan turned on. It was less than a year old but I couldn't see the model number anywhere.

edit- You may wish to consider an induction cooktop-many love them.

Here is a link that might be useful: rebadged Electrolux

This post was edited by wekick on Mon, Sep 30, 13 at 16:43