Well Happy "Pre" 60th birthday.

You do not have to "miss the Viking classic beefy look".
Viking has a "relatively new to the market" Induction range.
At least 2 posters here in Garden Web have purchased it and though they haven't had it long enough to make any deductions about long term ability, They seem to love it and
"So Far , So Good"!

It is really the only induction range (available in the US) that looks like a "Real range", ((Classic Beefy Look)),(at least to me anyway), and I love the control knobs instead of the touch controls---just a personal observation---.

Hopefully you are "Financially empowered" to be able to afford the entry fee, (North of $7,000). You can always "Take up a collection" for your 60th (LOL).

You can get the stove in many colors too!!! If I wanted a range instead of my Elux Ovens and cooktop, that would be the one I would buy, and I'm usually harping about things being "Over Priced"---which it is, but were I buying a range,--- that would be a "Must Have"-- money be d* etc (well you know)!

Good luck on your pending decision, I can certainly understand your present distaste for Viking!

By the way, The wife and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE, our induction cooktop as does "just about" anyone that has bought Induction!

Gary

Hmmm, Gary, north of 7k is out of my comfort zone.

I am "financially empowered" enough to drop that on a range, but only because have a habit of finding (settling for?) less pricey options, LOL. I'm still happily driving the Toyota I bought in 96.

Back to the Samsung (model FTQ307NWGX for $1800). Consumer Reports rates it comparable to the GE Profile (model PHB9255P(SS) for $2400) and the Kenmore Elite (model 97203 for $2500).

Then again, the same issue dumps on the Blanco Silgranite sink which I and many GW Kitchen Forum folk like quite well.

Other input? Anyone know this Samsung model or its kin?

hey celticmoon ...Im one of the posters mentioned by Gary who bought the VIKING Induction ..And he is right , i do love it .. When i was looking at the induction ranges , i really felt the need to touchy feely with them ...some felt cheap , some a little exotic , some just to much electronic controls ..The great thing , they all work the same ...And you will never go back to gas again ...I cant belive what fuss is brought up about pans humming and making noise ...I asked those same questions of others too, and seriously a non factor and a bit of a joke ... what it comes down to is cookability and they way control conduct the heat in relation to your cooking style ... I can adjust and control my heat with out looking or seriously thinking about it ..Its become part of the cooking process ...which is exactly what i wanted ...Like you i have settled for a less pricy option in the past ... But this time I really worked my way thru the brands and features of the induction ranges ... was i surprised that it led me to a 7000 dollar range ...oh yea ... but i found it had the features that most matched what i really wanted in a range ... and then there was the color ... but thats just me ...embrace induction and you will not regret the decision ...Do a little searching , all the ranges have be covered at some point ... Brad

1996 Toyota Camry?
Nicest design and best quality for the money they've ever done in my opinion.

The choice in induction ranges is "slowly" getting better.
I like the Kenmore 97203. My similar model from a few years ago has been trouble free. Not a big fan of Sears or their repair division so that's good.

The GEs seems to get pretty good comments also.

Here is a link that might be useful: Induction choice

RAV4. But still a nicely designed vehicle.

I am undecided. I may get the Viking serviced once more to buy myself some time. It would make it easier to sell the thing if it worked.

Thank you for that link. There is a Sears Outlet a few blocks away and everything shows up there sooner or later. I may narrow down my choices and inform my contact there and be ready to pounce. That worked well for the Bosch DW and the washer & dryer.

I will also check out the Viking induction at the classy appliance place down the street. Could be worth the splurge. It IS a big birthday.

Old Irish saying : "There's no pockets in a shroud"

Thank you JW for all that info. I had read those posts - very helpful.

The CR ratings I'm referring to are in a current special CR kitchens mag, not the regular monthly CR. These ratings do break out induction from electric, with GE Profile, Kenmore & Samsung in a virtual tie (90/89) and all scoring better then anything - gas, dual , professional - anything. The trio is followed by Electrolux EW301S65JS (73) and Maytag MIR8890AS (67). The Maytag score is still higher than most ranges. Viking induction is not listed.

The Samsung rating is for the discontinued FTQ though.

I'm still confused by the square burner 'rings' on the new Samsungs. I'll have to go play with one and read up more.

Thanks for your help.

On CR, sorry for the misunderstanding. CR does provide performance evaluations separately for each type of electric stove. Reliability data is presented in a separate chart and comes from the annual membership surveys. AFAIK, the reliability survey results lump all of a brand's electric stoves together. I did not recall seeing results for Samsung electric ranges in the reliability ratings, although Samsung was appearing in the results on other kinds of appliances such as refrigerators (where it was indeed on par with Kitchenaid). I'll have to go look at that special edition again.

The Samsung NE597NOPBSR has square burners on the left side in what Samsung calls a "Flexcook" zone. Picture a rectangle that is 9 inches wide by 18 inches long with a dividing line about halfway (9 inches) towards the back. The controls enable you to run this unit as a single 9" wide by 18" long burner with 3.6 KwH of power(boost power up to 4.6 KwH) or run the units as separate 9-inch-square 1.8 KwH burners, each capable of power boost to 2.3 KwH. Apparently, when run separately, you can simultaneously power boost both of the left side burners in the Flexcook zone. The right side burners have the more common arrangement with a single inverter where power-boosting one burner will reduce power to the other.

For further reading, I found the manual at Samsung's Canadian website. The link is below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Samsung NE597 Induction Range Manual

Now I am really confused.

The Samsung website still shows the induction as being the FTQ model.

The NE595 and NE597 are all electric, no induction. Nice big knobs though.

....????

Okay, here is the full model number: Samsung NE597N0PBSR. Try searching on that + induction.

If you only search on Samsung + NE597, you will only find radiant electric Samsungs that also begin with NE597 and NE595. An example is the NE597R0ABSR. If you go to vendor sites, look down the list of Samsung stoves and be sure that the title contains the word "induction."

As for Samsung US website, several of us have pointed out the puzzle of the new induction stoves not being listed. The link I gave you in my preevious post will take you to Samsung's Canadian website where you can find Samsung info on the induction models.

Nobody here knows why Samsung's US website has not been updated to reflect the current induction models being sold by Best Buy, Goedekers (sp?), Plessers and others.

Same kind of oddity with the new Kitchenaid induction stove. AJ Madison and others are offering it but Kitchenaid's US website does not even mention it.

Yes, I see them on the Best Buy and other vendor sites. That is really strange that the Samsung site doesn't have them.

At the Goedeker site the 595 picture and spec shows 4 round burners, I take it the square ones are only on the 597?

As I said, I decided to service the Viking, but once again - more frustration. The last service company I used is out of business. The one before that has quit servicing Viking. The Viking site directed me to call a local furniture store (that I do not trust to buy anything from, and that I am pretty sure has no Viking trained staff) or call in someone from another service shop an hour away (odd...I am in Milwaukee and nobody in this metropolis can service Viking?) I called the appliance place I bought it from and they had no other service suggestions. I called Viking and they directed me to the local distributer in Illinois. They can send someone maybe 10 days from now. $180 to cross the threshold. But, they told me, since it is out of warranty I don't have to use their certified repair tech. OK then, any non certified repair suggestions? Nope. Could you maybe peek at who's recently ordered parts from around here? Nope. Arrrgh.

The Viking induction may be the bomb, but I am scratching it off my list. I won't sign on for another round of this, and will limit choices to those my accessible service company can/will service.

I wish the Samsung 595/597 induction had the knobs the other 595/597 have. No inductions have knobs other than Viking and the unreliable Fridgidare hybrid? Rats. I am having trouble trading my knobs for a touchpad, especially one with a chicken nugget button. Good grief. This is cooking?!?

Uh-oh. I'm becoming one of those people...

If service is a concern, then getting parts for Samsung stuff may be an issue to consider. Have you talked with whoever services Samsung around Milwaukee? Can they get parts from Samsung quickly, as needed?

E'lux has a perfect turkey button; it works great.

>>>"At the Goedeker site the 595 picture and spec shows 4 round burners, I take it the square ones are only on the 597? Yup.

>>>"Uh-oh. I'm becoming one of those people... Welcome aboard.

"GE Profile." Just say no.

I didn't read all the comments above--just got to the GE Profile mention. I know people who have had problems with every GE Profile appliance that they bought, including the stove. Disastrous line of products.

Chac mool, there is an excellent service company here that services other brands. They just quit working on Vikings.

Well, I cleaned the bugger well and she's looking so fine.

Baked last night and the oven temp held true. All four burners lit immediately. I thnk she knows I am thinking about ditching her, so she is behaving well.

The self clean is still kaput, but it didn't ever clean that well anyway. I bought oven cleaner instead of a new range. For now.

I am still ready to jump on induction with knobs under 3k if and when it appears. I can't do a nugget button.

Thanks for all the help and info.

>>>"I am still ready to jump on induction with knobs under 3k if and when it appears. I can't do a nugget button."That is pretty much where I left off, too. Glad I could share what I learned while getting there. Wish you luck in keeping the old Viking going.

IMHO, the so-called 'square' hobs are actually round underneath the paint.

Might be.

Only way to tell would be to get a square pot, add enough water to fill the surface and see where the bubbles form when you heat it.

Or, the test could be done with a pot with a base is large enough to cover the full square.

celtic moon ..
have you tried all appliance service 414-212-5988
or A Star services 414-368-9192

Yes the all appliance guy was very nice to talk with. Not too familiar with Viking but willing to bone up if I want the self clean fixed. If the burners or oven whack out again I will call him.

luv2putt, just realized that tip was from you. Are you near here? I was hoping for you (and your Viking induction) you were someplace with better service...

Celticmoon:

fauguy just ran across this new, less expensive model of a GE induction stove (PHB915) and posted the link in the thread on sub-$2k induction stoves. The link to the AJ Madison site is below if you are interested.

Still no knob controls but at least there is no chicken nuggets button and it is priced similarly to the Samsung.

My recollection is that luv2putt mentioned being in the SF Bay Area. He and several others who posted in that long thread ("Racing Red Induction") were saying that the Bay Area service and support was pretty good for Viking.

Here is a link that might be useful: New, less expensive GE induction stove

I'm staying with the Viking. Cleaning the oven with Easy Off today was a horror, but the drip pans did come out like new.

So... the Viking advantages are :

familiarity of status quo
simplicity (no electronics)
usability in outages " "
couple thousand $$ in hand
no need to replace all my triply cookware

And...She cleans up nice for 12 years old.

celticmoon.. im nowhere near you , but i have been to Milwaukee a couple times on business ..I live in Northern Calif and within a 45 min drive to the norcal distributor for viking ...Your range does look good for 12 yrs old , pretty much same layout as my induction...

Have enjoyed reading every last thread about induction, especially the Viking range, but haven't commented until now... I've been trying for months to make up my mind on appliances (cooktop+wall oven vs. range) so that our kitchen remodel can begin. I'm between Milwaukee and Madison and the Madison Viking showroom I visited didn't have the induction to view in person. When I asked about service, he said "when you buy from us, it's our obligation/burden to find service providers for you" and acted like service was no problem. Maybe I should have pressed further to find out more. I would buy the Viking suite of appliances, if I weren't so afraid of them not working after spending that kind of money. My current appliances came with our house and are a low end whirlpool set that work fine but are pretty ugly. I appreciate every review and suggestion on these threads. First time building a kitchen from scratch and getting to pick appliances myself and I'm afraid to pull the trigger! Thanks for all the comments and advice here! By the way, I think your DF Viking is gorgeous!

keep in mind Viking offers a 3 year warranty !!!

DON'T BUY A SAMSUNG.... the new model NE599 is horrible. we ordered one 5 weeks ago and it finally came... with a chip in the top, silicone on glass top not complete, silicone seal on electronic panel missing in about 1/4 of it, marks on the door that don't wash off, crimping of stainless around oven door has flaws in it too.... and Samsung is not very responsive told i have to wait anther 5-6 weeks again - for what getting another lemon..... I love the duo flex oven and the duo flex top but everything else sucks...not a happy camper.

Elyzabeth- Where are you located? Canada or the US?am sorry you are not pleased with your range. It doesn't really sound like your range is a lemon but rather that it suffered damage in shipping. You yourself said that you are happy with its performance. As for the inability to get a new one for a number of weeks, where did you order the range from? If you did not order directly from Samsung maybe you should contact your dealer. Regardless, if the range arrived in the condition it did, you should have refused delivery.

I first discovered the NE599 on the Samsung Canada website this morning. It seems like all of the Samsung induction ranges being sold in Canada are now available on the ajmadison website except the ne599. I am particularly interested in this range because it offers the induction jobs that can be bridged as well as the divisible oven. Does anyone know when this range might go on sale in the US?

Just thought I would bump this up to see if anyone has any information on the Samsung NE599N1PBSR. Strangely, every Samsung induction range seems to be available in the US except this one.

I just got my new samsung model NE599 on wed. I had used the oven once, one flex 9" burner once, the rear burner twice. Was making a large pot of soup yesterday on the 11" front power boost burner and it tripped the 40 amp breaker. Went down and tripped the breaker back and an error 84 appeared. Looked at the manual in trouble shooting did what it said. (leave breaker off for 30-40 sec and turn back on) same thing er-84 tried 3 times. Called samsung they kept asking us to look for a button that was not there. There were 3 adults looking for this button there was no such button.

After keying in "problems with samsung induction model NE599 " into google, I came across several posts were people have had problems with the unit, as well as their facebook page which had several posts about appliances breaking down and samsung taking a long time to send out a service tec and to get parts.

I spent a week here on GW going through induction posts before making my decision, really didn't want to spend 3k on a range so samsung was within that range. This model had everything I wanted the boil alert, duo flex top, flex oven. But after reading these posts I'm hoping that my retailer will take it back and that samsung will reimburse them.

Really am heart broken about this but I don't want to be without a range for 2 weeks or more while samsung tries to fix it.

I'm doing range research currently and have read many threads which have convinced me induction + convection are the way to go. But I really don't like the no knob look and several people who have induction have had a hard time with the push button feature. There seem to be some gorgeous ranges available in the UK that are induction with knobs and even funky side by side ovens : so cute!
Any idea how to get such a beast in New England?
The Viking is on my wish list but I might be storing food in our snowy backyard if I spend that much on just the range.

Here is a link that might be useful: induction w. knobs from uk