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gidgetgirly

Purchasing a Bertazzoni tomorrow! A bit nervous!

gidgetgirly
11 years ago

Hello! I'm new here at Gardenweb :) I'm purchasing a Bertazzoni 36" gas range, the 5 burner with the black knobs. I'm a bit nervous! I grew up with a gas range but haven't used one in 20+ years!
I'm currently using a 12 year old 30" Frigidaire electric slide in with glass cooktop. Is it hard to get used to all gas? Is it difficult to control? Is it well made? And does the kitchen get unbearably hot? My little electric range puts out some heat, and in the summer it does get a little sweaty when cooking.
How is it for baking, especially on Pampered Chef baking stones? (I love my stones!)
I'm purchasing the range tomorrow, getting a wonderful deal on a floor model in brand new condition :) super excited!!

Comments (11)

  • otterkill
    11 years ago

    Just a FYI...when purchasing a range floor model, double check that the oven door/hinges are working well. I have a bluestar so I can't comment on your range. But gas is great. I switched over twenty years ago and a bonus you can use the stove top in a power outage. Just have to light with a match. Good luck with the new addition!

  • jwvideo
    11 years ago

    Gas puts more heat into kitchens than electric stoves although some or a lot of that can be mitigated by running a range hood that vents to the outdoors. Do you have a range hood or are you getting one?

    Gas puts out more heat into the kitchen simply because gas burners are less efficient at applying the burner energy to a pan. Smoothtop radiant electric burners, like on your old stove, will apply roughly 50% of their energy into pans, assuming the pan is well matched to burner diameter. With gas burners, it will be somewhere between 33% and 40% depending on the stove, burner design, burner size, grate design, and pan size. Also, gas ovens tend to vent more heat into the kitchen and the combustion by-products (mainly water) make for a humid and therefore hotter feeling heat. Convection fans add to the amount of heat that gets vented.

    If you have not already done so, I suggest you search for Bertazzoni threads here as I recall there have been several in which posters have discussed questions like yours in the course of the thread. I do not have a Berta, so I cannot give you more specific information.

    But, again, a good venting rangehood can make a lot of difference in how comfortable your kitchen feels when cooking in hot weather.

    As for control, many people find gas easy to control because you can see the flames which provide "direct visual feedback." With an electric stove, you learned what knob, dial or position will be approximately right for the pan and what you want to cook. You would have to relearn some that with any new stove you get, gas, electric, induction or whatever. Gas knob positions may be rather similar to what you used with your old stove, but you will still need to watch and get some experience. Should not be difficult, at all.

    For learning the oven, I suggest you get a couple of inexpensive oven thermometers and use them to get a sense of how evenly the oven heats and how precisely the knob positions correspond to the actual heat in the oven. Baking stones will work fine. With vintage 1950s and 60s gas stoves, one of the longstanding "tricks" for breads and pizzas was to use unglazed quarry tiles (which is essentially what a lot of baking stones are). Preheating them (often laid on the oven floor) could make for a very even heat. (Read the Berta manual to make sure that layering tiles on the oven floor is not going to be problem.) There is no reason that baking stones on the regular racks should not work well.

    This post was edited by JWVideo on Wed, Dec 5, 12 at 17:22

  • gidgetgirly
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    @otterkill yep, hinges work great! I must've opened and closed that door a million times :) thanks for the heads up! I wish I could afford a Bluestar, they are beautiful! Unfortunately out of my price range but I do like the Bertazzoni :)

    @jwvideo thank you so much for all the info! So helpful!! Yes, I did read about the exhaust, I'm going with a 1000 cfm. May be a bit overkill since I don't ever cook with 5 burners at once, but better to be safe than sorry.
    I had my contractor check everything out beforehand, and he said it all can be done. I'm very excited :)

    I ended up purchasing it today, retail $2999, bought it for $2150. Brand new, excellent condition, not a scratch on it. It's got the warranty as well. I think I got a great deal, it's in my price range and I couldn't be happier :)

  • jwvideo
    11 years ago

    The 1000cfm unit will be overkill in some senses but in others it will be a distinct advantage. For one thing, you can move a lot of air at low speed settings when it will be much quieter than less powerful hoods.

    Don't forget to check on the possible need for make-up air. You may or may not need it in your home, but you want to check. The abbreviation MUA is often used here on GW if you want to search for prior postings on the subject.

  • gidgetgirly
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks jwvideo. That's one of the reasons I wanted to go with the 1000 cfm, because it will hopefully be quieter. We have a standard 12 year old Frigidaire microwave hood and it's so LOUD. You can barely talk over it. You can shout, however. ;)
    Do you think I should go for an exhaust with less cfm? I don't really know much about exhausts, just from what I've read here.
    I did read about the makeup air, I'm still learning about that. Thanks for the abbreviation on what to search for here, I didn't know that.
    I'm sure my contractor and gas guy will know more about it. We certainly aren't doing any of this ourselves.

  • gidgetgirly
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Oh, one more question, isn't there an exhaust model that you can turn up to 1000 cfm or switch it to a lower? That would be a really nice option. Who knows? Once I learn to cook on this little Bertazzoni, I may end up with all five burners AND the oven going all at once :)

  • jwvideo
    11 years ago

    Well, pretty much any residential range hood will give you a number of speed settings. For the money a 1000cfm unit costs, you should be getting a variable speed control that start with a low and quiet setting that goes in steps on up to loud and full power (at which point you may be sucking cats and small children off the floor of the kitchen.)

    This post was edited by JWVideo on Fri, Dec 7, 12 at 12:46

  • gidgetgirly
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    So should I save the money and buy a less powerful hood? Thank you so much for answering all my questions. I've never done this before! I'd like to save money where I can as I have a very tight budget.

  • jgopp
    11 years ago

    I posted a review of my bert range a few weeks ago. You can find it linked below. Best of luck!

    Here is a link that might be useful: Bert review

  • gidgetgirly
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thank you so much jgopp!! I'll check it out now :)

  • JohnnyOregon
    10 years ago

    It's my first day as a Garden Webber...and my first post, so be gentle with me! I'm echoing gadgetgirly's original post re: purchasing a 36 Inch Berta. Was wondering how things are going for you with it? I'm still torn between the gas/gas model and the gas/electric models so any advice, even recycled advice will help. BTW from what I've already read, gardenweb forum members are the most polite, helpful group I've EVER run across. Thanks in advance!