I've had no luck in the regular forum so here goes...

My electrician ran into problems wiring the wall the range will be against. So, he's got the outlet the range will be hooked into @ 38" off the floor. W/ the 4" backsplash on the range that means only 2" below backsplash will be an electric outlet.
A. Isn't the heat coming of the range backsplash a bit too much to have an electrical outlet only 2" away?
B. How long is the plug on the range itself? Install manual show electic should be on the floor and not 38" off the floor, how am i going to plug the thing in?

Input please....

Thanks

Jeff

The power outlet can be at the floor, between the rear casters, or to the side-if you have open wall. The best pictures are the ones plumorchard took . She has 3 pages of them and you can find them by scrolling down to the 14th or 15 th post on "Calling American Range Owners"

jeff even if the the cord reached (which i highly doubt)you don't want it coming up the back then pluging in above the stove. will you even be able to do that with the anti-tip bracket in place. have him rerun the outlet to the base board or a shallow box in the floor. heck if he's really lazy he can just mount the box to the floor and run the line into th box horizontally just make sure it's close to the inside of the caster(wheel) because the gas line needs room also. i don't know if this install would be up to code but a quick call to the local inspector should suffice. if it's a situation where your not using a permit ask in a home improvement/electrical forum or call a electrical supply store and ask them if it is legal.
john

american range owners #2

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg0207484131846.html

calling all american range owners

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg1002112214634.html?149

The service guy came out yesterday and we had to do a couple of test runs before I could report in.

Apparently the gas regulator detent needed worked on. It was starving for gas. This could have caused every problem since the last service call - clicking, temp, lack of gas in oven, burners, etc. So he did that and so far so good. I thought they put in a new regulator the last time they were here (the others!) but can't actually swear to it, just remember them telling me they did.

After he left I was able to cook a cornbread (temp/timing seemed perfect), dinner went without a hitch and boiled some water today. So our fingers are crossed.

And, for the Atlanta folks - I now have a service company that I could recommend for you if needed.

Happy Cooking!

Next up - color panels!

Yes, thanks for the thread references. Wonder if there is a way we could archive them before they drop off the board?

Coming on here now as an American Range owner! We got it, and installed it (not an easy task) this past weekend, luckily my dad was visiting and he knows gas/electric.

Has been a dream so far.... and such a pleasure compared to our old commercial Vulcan heart which was loud and hot.

Thanks for all of the info and making the purchase smooth. And plum...so glad you are cooking again~

Here's what has me excited about the AR: minimal electronics; adequate but not eye-popping heat output (no 22k BTU flame-throwing for me!); good broiler; an oven that gives me room to grow as a baker; simple, timeless design that won't clash too much with my 120-year old kitchen; commercial/industrial street cred; off-the-beaten Viking/Wolf path; apparently sturdy no-nonsense construction (by your accounts), option to turn off the damn fan when I feel like it; swappable colors.

What worries me: I haven't seen one since I started seriously considering it. None of my local appliance stores carries American. Don't mind going out of my way to see/buy one, but am nervous about service. Even the best manufacturers put out a lemon now and then, plus a bunch more that are mildly "tart", as DH would say. After all, several of yours have had their tart moments, right? It seems the nature of the pro-style beast. But what if the only servicers in my area turn out to be dangerously tart themselves? Like the guys who tore poor Plumorchard's range apart and only made it worse... shudder... (glad that seems to have worked itself out, Plumorchard).

Wish there were a way to audition whoever would end up repairing my unit if I had a problem. Or at least find out if he/she has the necessary knowledge to do a decent job. Anyone ever successfully scope this out before taking the plunge?

BTW I live in New York's Hudson Valley, within a few hours' drive from NYC, northern New Jersey, most parts of Connecticut and western Massachusetts. I sent an email to AR asking for suggestions. We'll see what they come up with.
In the meantime... I'm intrigued by the number of you who boldly ordered long distance. Any regrets you haven't shared? Any words of wisdom?

Thanks again for all that you do.

I have a question for those who have been cooking on their stoves for a while. It is just my husband and I and sometimes I only cook small meals...for instance instead of making a full pot of sauce, I'll only make enough for that days meal. I use a couple 14 oz. or so cans of tomato sauce and seasonings in a medium saucepan. I use the smallest burner and leave it on simmer almost the entire time. It still bubbles like crazy? So much that I have to put the lid on to contain it. What should I expect with the simmer on this stove? Is the simmer on the smallest burner more powerful than normal burners on the glass ceramic cooktop I had previously? Is simmering a small pot of sauce out of the question? Thanks for any input you might have.
Great stove, just need to figure it out!

Thank you for the advice and reassuring my "fears". I thought that I had completely underestimated just how much power these ranges have...all I could think was "what have I done? This is way too much stove for us!!" I really love it...made cookies with the convection last night, they came out so moist and yummy...boils water like a chanp and is a breeze to clean up. Haven't had a chance to stir-fry or do anything with the BTU power, but I'm working on it!! Although I do have to say that my DH underestimated the broiler and burnt our french bread pizzas last night!!! He won't make that mistake again!!

I'll try your suggestions next time I'm simmering a small quantity of whatever and see if I can get it right. Thanks again John!!

Thanks for your help.

Tina

There is power to the range but the gas is not currently hooked up. I am hoping we can get everything addressed and fire it up next week.

I was surprised when I hit one of the knobs for the burners and all of the burners attempted to light. Not just the one I hit. I am assuming this is the way the range was designed but wanted to verify with everyone.

Thanks for checking your ranges operation. It is good to know that the two items I raised are by design and not truly issues.

The range will look even better when I peel the protective film off of it.

The countertop place came out and templated everything last week. Wednesday they are supposed to be placing the templates on the granite slabs.

I know you had some problems with your range but how are you liking it now? Do you have any advice about the simmer capability?

Thank you for any help.

Tina

I don't simmer much for long periods of time but find the lowest setting OK and have used the method John posted before - which is to turn the knob the opposite way for a lower flame. I don't think of it as "cheating" - it is just not marked on the knob. It's nice to be able to do that.

As always, if you can find a range live somewhere nearby check it out.

Good luck.

Someone, I won't mention who ;) posted photo's of the kitchen.

Here is the link to the first thread.

Here is a link with the granite installed.

They are ready, just need to get them shipped here!

It is time to see if Vent-a-Hood lives up to their claims of world class service and products.

Everything looks good on the range and I am looking forward to finally cooking on it. Although not sure how far off that is. Unfortunatly the project is continuing to drag on. Everytime I think we have the contractor motivated and onboard for the final push I am dissapointed.

We are at the point where everything is on the critical path and we are resource constrained.

dufflove call american range and ask. they don't bite........much : )
john

Anyway, we've had our range for almost a year now. We've had quite a few problems with it. I don't even know if I'll remember them all (and I definitely won't remember the exact solutions) but I'll try:

- Installed original range in June 08. Quickly notice that front knobs get hot after oven being on ~an hour. Ridiculously hot. Post thread here to see if others' get that hot. Get mixed responses.

- American quickly sets up appointment to have it checked out. Service guy tests temp, can't touch knobs either. Thinks the door is bent out of shape, causing heat to escape. While he's here, at one point when he turns on oven, a flame shoots out of the back area. Looks at me and tells me, "Yeah, that's not right."

- Get new door and some other parts for hot, flaming range. Service Man comes back to replace. Tests the temperature. Knobs still ridiculously hot -- outer side temp is higher than previous visit (160 first visit, 170 and climbing this visit).

- American and the appliance store where we ordered (in Chicago) bend over backwards apologizing and get us a new range. Yay for customer service!

- Replacement range installed in early August.

- Knobs still get hot. Not as hot, but hot. Decide to live with it and yell at kids not to step into kitchen while range is on. Keep fingers crossed that adjacent cabinets don't melt and decide not to cook anything that takes much more than an hour.

- Notice gas smell when we turn range on. Think/hope it's burnoff for first month. Finally convince husband original range, with all its problems, did not smell like that. DREAD complaining again to American. Wonder for a week or so if we can live with gas smell.

- In Oct 08, finally email Bert at American. One week passes. Email Junior at American. Another week passes. Call Bert who assures me someone will get back me. Wait another week. Nothing. Write Junior and Chris again. Later that same day, post a comment here. Chris emails me immediately.

- Hello, Very Nice Service Man! Comes out to check gas. Yup, not right.

- Get replacement parts. Welcome back, Service Man! Replace. Yay, no gas smell. Also tells me that the window fogging up (which original defunct range didn't do) is not a problem per se, but may become problem down the road. Mention to Bert who says it's normal. Let it go.

- In Jan 09, weird sound coming from gas valve in back suddenly. Also, broiler not turning back on after opening door (manual says 1 minute; ours takes at least 5 minutes). When it does come back on, huge sound like someone lighting a blowtorch. Keep fingers crossed that its normal. Contact American a couple times again before they schedule a visit. Hate myself for being the complaining customer. Service Man comes, determines something is wrong. Order 3 parts for the weird sound and faulty broiler. Replace.

- Go to friends' house for dinner, who has had her Thermador on for about hour and half at about 375. Knobs and front are room temp. ROOM TEMP! Not even warm. Adults all hover in kitchen in front of range. Toddler walks within two feet of range, with no resulting burn marks. Get jealous.

- May 8th 2009, husband writes Junior at American. Asks if we can have warranty extended from when replacement range was installed in August. Also notice there is condensation now for ~10 minutes when oven is turned on, on back riser and a little on back burners. Maybe it's always done that, but just trying to verify that it's normal. Regardless, range seems to work fine. (Anyone else notice this? Pls tell me it's normal and I've been too oblivious to notice before!)

- Don't hear from Junior, so on May 18th, forward email to Bert and Chris; ask for help.

- Don't hear from anyone, so next day write again. Couple hours later Bert writes back to tell me he's looking into it and will have an answer soon.

- May 29, write Bert and Chris again... nothing.

- Yesterday, write yet again... nothing.

There is our saga. To be absolutely fair, I would be SO annoyed with myself too. I want this range out of our lives as much as I'm sure Chris, Bert and the rest of the gang want us out of their lives. If only it were that simple. I'm worried that it's going to crap out on us soon, and with our luck it'll happen the day after the warranty ends, extended or not. I'll live w/the fogged door, the condensation, anything else that doesn't affect the performance of the range -- I just want to extend our warranty by (less than) 2 months. I do appreciate that they replaced the range and were really great about our concerns (originally anyway). We are coming up on the original warranty ending and maybe they just want to let it run out...

Just want to add my review -- okay, saga (sorry for the long post). While it seems like everyone here has been extremely happy with theirs and I'm glad (jealous, but glad!), I personally can't recommend it. Of course, the majority here seems to favor it -- it's how I found it in the first place! Go forth with your decision and if you choose to get an American, may you not get a lemon (or two) like we did!

I really hope you can get your problems resolved as it sounds like it has been a nightmare.

Best of luck.

Tina

buffalotina - our knobs do not get too hot. They get a bit warm when the oven is on for long periods of time. Not hot at all on short uses. (Note from above, that Thermador I think has a cooling fan that runs when the oven is one to help keep things cool...its auto on/off.)

After I posted this message, my husband called American and got through to Bert, who told us he was still waiting to hear back from someone else about the condensation and that in re: to the warranty, we would need to talk to Chris about it.

Also, after reading some people's comments here about the gas smell, my husband got worried about the gas smell that still lingers during preheating. So he told Bert he wanted someone to look at that too. Truthfully, since this had already been fixed and was not nearly as bad as it was before, I just accepted that it was going to smell while preheating. It definitely was not as strong and didn't last as long as before.

A short while after I posted this, i.e. the SAME DAY (and ~3.5 weeks after our original email), I got an email from Chris. My point is, it may be highly coincidental but this is the second or third time that Chris has contacted me just hours after posting here. In the past I have wanted to refrain from complaining about the service OR the range here until after I hear from them so they have a chance to fix it first, but it seems like Garden Web is the way to get their attention!

Anyway, we had the service people come take a look earlier this week, and lo and behold, something again was not igniting right away, thus, the gas smell. So, he adjusted something in the back, and that was it. Let's hope it doesn't happen again (but I'm not very optimistic). Fingers crossed!

Chris also assured me that the condensation in the back was normal, as did the service man. Why Bert needed so much time with this question if it's normal, I have no idea.

Finally, Chris did extend our warranty and was very nice about wanting to keep us on as customers. It's good that he finally responded and did so graciously, but at this point... a little too late. I really don't like that I have to complain here to get his attention; I would much rather they deal with their customers within, say, a week, but... it is what it is I guess.

plumorchard: good to know about Thermador... I hope you have continued success with your range!
chicagogirl: good luck with your range. Hopefully posting here will get your process moving...
buffalotina: to be fair, the knobs get hot after the oven's been on for ~1-1.5 hours. I can still touch them, but I don't know what would happen if I were to cook a turkey for hours. I don't think I'll ever try!

I also very much agree with you that it is a shame that you had to post here to get a response.

I hope that you have no issues with the range once these are resolved.

chicagogirl my windows get condensation upon preheating as well then it goes away.

tina my knobs get warm at best.

hi plumorchard i've been working on some outside projects and have been away for awhile. my wife is killing me! can't wait to go back to work and get some rest. i just hope mother nature is in a good mood.
john

The gas smell is getting stronger in the oven - we've quit using it - luckily since it is summer we can use the grill outside or the toaster oven.

I'll be sure to post any updates when I know what's going on.

Good Luck, I am hoping they get your issues resolved soon.

We are going through the joy of having our hardwood floors refinsihed for the second time in a row. The first original company tried to correct the issues there poor preparation created. Unfortunatly everytime they fixed one issue they created 3 more larger problems. Finally they demanded more money to correct their mistakes.

We are now trying to find another company to sand the floors down, restain (ebony), and then apply polly (Bona Traffic).

Needless to say we are very unhappy for a number of reasons. Starting over from square one with the floors, added expense, reduced life of the floors, large impact to the timeline, etc.

With all this going on we have not been checking this forum very often. Needless to say since the hardwoods are in the kitchen also we have not been able to use the range. It still has the plastic protective covering on the oven portion.

Hang in there!

Who did you use for your floors?

As you can imagine "once bitten, twice shy". We are very concerned that the next company do the floors right.

Notice the American Range logo is no longer a nameplate on the door but a sticker logo at the top where the knobs are. Wonder why they changed that?

Well, our broiler is not lighting once again. My husband tried to use it, it started up fine, then he opened the door to put in the chicken and it never turned back on.

Yes, we've gotten the broiler fixed before. The first time, it did turn back on -- it just took a really long time. This time, nothing.

Back to Bert, Chris, and this time Grant's Appliances as well (we bought from the Chicago location, which is apparently closed now). Without taking a look at it, they seemed to know what the problem was, assured me it was a different problem from before, and sent parts to Service All so they can come once again and fix it. In the meantime, I called Grant's and tried to exchange it for something - ANYTHING! I'm desperate for a working range that won't scare me to turn on for more than an hour, or need a service call every few months because something else has broken on it.

Grant's is not biting. They all 'agree that the best thing to do is repair this problem.' Seriously? How many problems do we have to have?

Beyond that, it doesn't even work well for us. Our old GE range was more accurate. The convection seems to make no difference as far as cooking times. I can't speak for the broiler since it's obviously pretty testy.

The burners are fine I guess.

Can you tell I'm bitter?

plumorchard: How's the new one holding up for you? Hopefully you're faring better than we have!

Regarding the gas smell - there has been absolutely none. (This was what got me concerned on the first range, it didn't smell at first and then later did - long story!) but for now not even the smallest hint of gas smelling. Which is my book is how it should be.

Also, I've commented before on the knobs not getting too hot. I'll change that a little by saying that during the burnoff (450 degrees for 2 hours and then broiler for 20 minutes) they did get pretty darn hot. But that is the only time I've noticed that - never during "normal" cooking do they get that hot.

And, I do have a wobble which will drive me crazy! It rattles the grates on the range so it makes a noise when you walk by - I'll call to see about leveling again.

The burners seem fine - no issues.

I ordered colored panels for the range a while back (one of the reasons we picked the range was because you could get colored panels) hopefully, we'll get those soon.

jll30- I'm so sorry for your troubles and completely understand where you are coming from. I'll be in that boat with you if we have any issues with this range. Please let us know how things are resolved for you. I know it is the pits to be frustrated every time you cook.

*sigh*

Hopefully you didn't get one of the ranges that have the persistently hot knobs. What I don't understand is why we are supposed to accept that they get that hot at high temps after awhile. Maybe it's not 'normal' cooking but still... I paid this much for a range with somewhat limited use. What do people do when they cook a turkey? (To be fair, I've never cooked one and at this point, I won't be hosting Thanksgiving at our house for a long time!).

I hope your wobble gets fixed soon and the colored panels arrive and look great! I've arranged for my friends, the service guys, to return and replace parts. I'm sure it will be fine... until our next problem. :(

The thing that is kind of interesting to me is that all the other brands (Wolf, Viking, Blue Star, Kenmore, any really) have dominant name badges. This seems a little quiet.

And, so far so good, still seems ok.

Hello GardenWeb Members,

Yes, we have moved the American Range logo (badge) from the door to the control panel. The logo is currently laser etched, like our range top burner graphics, therein when cleaning the control panel the graphics will not rub-off.

The reason for the re-placement of the logo is so our ranges, cooktops and wall ovens match other products in a luxury kitchen; i.e. refrigeration or dishwashers, products we do not manufacture.

We have always felt that our quality and performance are measured by the end-user experience and not by a logo (badge) ; )

We do sell the logo (badge) as an after-market part. Please inquiry via www.americanrange.com

Respectfully,
American Range

Another plus, seems like it will work better when we install the color panels too.

Now to play devils advocate... If someone who purchased a range wanted the optional version why not provide it to them at no cost. Isn't that like a car dealer charging for the plate cover with the dealer logo on it? I'm guessing the requests would be minimal since there is a logo there & the majority of folks aren't going to know there was another option (unless they saw photos). I know there is a cost involved but it seems a given if someone wants to brand their range more. Just my thoughts...

Also to all- glad to report all still ok with the new range. No problems at all. There is still a linger of the burnoff smell when we use the oven but it is going away. Also the knobs haven't been too hot again at all.

Hey I just noticed my whole kitchen kind of does match with the smaller logos...the dw is etched like the range, the fridge is only on the ice dispenser panel (small) & the hood doesn't have one at all. Cool!

What's wrong with Bert that you're wishing him a speedy recovery?

(I ask both because I've found him to be helpful and professional but also because my service person is waiting on an answer from him on a question.)

petestein1 sorry i missed your post, i thought i had answered it. did you get your info?
thanks plumorchard for helping me out.
john

Wow I looked at the egg i made and it was browned evenly and still runny inside. Amazing burners! I would have burned the outside and over-cooked the inside with my old 20 year old GE.

I have this to add. See this thread.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg0711433016787.html

Jon

I'm sure the burners will be enough for me. I got the wok ring with it so I'll see how that works out. The big burners seem plenty powerful.

We did the oven burnoff last night. It sure put out a lot of fumes. I'm wondering if our hood is working the way it should be. Didn't seem like it. I had the hood going full blast, two windows open, and a fan blowing. What experience did others have during the burn off?

I read through all of the threads on this range on this forum and was nervous about this purchase due to the issues with the gas smell from the oven and hot knobs , but we really wanted this range. It met our requirements better than anything else we looked at and was less expensive than a lot of the other pro style ranges. We just couldn't find anything else that we liked. We seriously considered Bertazzoni, but we didn't like the burner configuration, and I didn't think I'd be happy with the oven performance.

I called American Range before we made our purchase to query them regarding the issues owners had posted on this site. I was told that the gas problem in the oven was caused by bad valves and that they had remedied the problem and none of the current units should have the issue. They told me they hadn't heard about the problems of the hot knobs. Our appliance store hadn't received any feedback on it either, and they sell a lot of these ranges.

Here is what we found while doing the burn in. No gas smell issue, other than the first minute or two the oven was on, which is apparently normal. The sides of the oven got very hot and the cabinets next to the range were warm, but not hot. Hopefully this won't cause any damage to our brand new cabinets over time. The oven door got warm/hot. The door handle stayed cool. The shield that hangs out below the knobs got hot enough to burn skin if it was touched for more than a few seconds. The knobs got warm when we ran the oven, and were hot when the broiler was going. They weren't so hot that I couldn't use them to turn on the burners, but it was uncomfortable if I left my hands on them for very long. The longer the broiler was on the worse it got. The bullnose got pretty darn warm too after the 2 hours of running the oven and 20 minutes running the broiler. I wasn't about to touch the oven vent.

We put in the 4" riser vent. We did this because we put in engineered quartz counters and used it as our back splash. I had concerns about the heat venting straight up out of the standard vent onto the splash and possibly damaging the quartz over time. With the 4" riser the hot/warm air vents out the front and the wall stays cool. The air coming out of the vent was quite warm, particularly when the broiler was on. My husband and I are vegetarians so I don't expect we'll use the broiler very much.

I purchased a mercury oven thermometer and when set at 450 degrees the oven temp was dead on. I'll be checking lower temperatures over the coming week as I do some baking. So far we love the burners. We have a pressure cooker and the simmer on the small burner didn't go quite low enough for the pressure cooker when setting it the normal way. My husband ended up turning the knob back to the right past the light position to get it low enough. I'd read that suggestion on this forum somewhere. Hopefully there aren't any issues with doing that.

I don't know if I'd put one of these ranges in a home with small children or pets that might hang around the range due to the external heat issues. We don't have kids, dogs or cats, so it's not an issue for us. We do have a bird, but she doesn't wander around the range. We locked her up in a room upstairs while we ran the oven last night.

I am a little disconcerted about the external heat build up issues, but hopefully the function of the range will make it worth dealing with it. I may call American Range next week to see if they think all of it is normal. Since others have experienced it, it seems like it may be normal for these ranges. Although they did deny the hot knob problem when I asked about it before.

That's it for now. If anything else comes up or I learn anything new if I call American Range, I'll post again.

Thanks again to others for sharing their experiences on this forum. It was a huge help.

On many ranges, you can remove the knob to the burner and adjust the simmer with a very tiny screwdriver.

There's so little customer experience information available about these high end wall ovens. I'd greatly appreciate any owners' insights. Thanks in advance!