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bmorepanic

Dacor Distinctive All Gas 30 inch - initial impressions

bmorepanic
10 years ago

I'm a little jaded now because of my history of failed range relationships so I'm not in love with it yet. I mostly like it so far.

The very best thing is the oven door. It's thin, stays thermally cool, doesn't have "things" to clean around - it's flat and the gasket is not on the door - it's on the oven frame. It's well balanced, feels light but solid, like a well made car door. The door is vented underneath the burners and then out the back. Almost all of the heat, fumes, moisture went out the back instead of out the front.

The next best-est is the grates. There are only two and both are 14" wide by almost 24" long. It's a wide, flat surface. After the nxr, it looks huge. They are well finished and won't scratch my pans. No noises like railroad engines grinding against the rails.

The oven works fine. I like that it doesn't have the famous blue porcelain. I like that they chose a porcelain color that looks like burnt on sugar - all my oven spills will blend right in.

I have a couple of small things I wish were different about the oven. It could have a second light on the right side. They use fixed porcelain rack supports, I wish they were removable for easier cleaning.

Baking test was ok - I first used a tube of pillsbury biscuits. They were done in the time stated and fairly evenly golden brown, not extra crispy or black on the bottom. Using the convection fan during preheat, seemed to be stable at about 15 minutes - 5 minutes longer than the preheat light went off.

The largest possible thing that can go into the oven is 24 x 17. So 20 x 15.5" Air Bake = good to go but a full sized commercial sheet pan won't fit. 3 racks come with it - two normal with a little pull handle in the center and one sliding with ball bearings.

The broiler, while not an infra-red, is pretty cool. It works for sure and has almost wall to wall coverage in the oven. AND the instructions specifically say never to clean it - if it looks bad you just run the broiler for about ten minutes and it should incinerate whatever was attached.

It has defendi burners. They work pretty well with the higher grates, together they deliver more heat to the bottom of the pan and less waste heat going up the side.

They are italian; molto bene; but the timings, and a little bit the expectations, need to change to accommodate the extra heat. I find that I'm used to a certain size flame delivering a certain temp and its all different now baby!

The 18k burner is a dual burner with the center burning hotter than the Isphording. Calling it a simmer-sear burner, although hokey, is pretty accurate. Does a nice simmer at the low end and a nice sear on the high end - the whole bottom of the pan becomes evenly hot.

I wish The 18k burner was on the right instead of the left. That is partly because of where I have counter space and partly because I'm right-handed but I'll get used to that after a while. I'm sure the big burner ended up on the left because the two 15k burners are lined up on the right hand side to be able to run a big griddle.

The pair of 15k burners are just fine. If you turn one all the way down, you get a nice place to finish cooking rice but they do not get as low as Isphording. Whether or not the 15ks can simmer might be dependant on pan size and construction, but I'll need to use a simmer plate if I'm pressed for another simmer location.

The last burner is a small diameter 10k burner which also does a nice simmer. The smallest pot that can still be effectively used is about 3". I made nice coffee in my little Italian pot that has a 3.5" base in a reasonable period of time.

The largest possible thing on the burners without impacting another burner is 13 x 14 inches on the front and 11 by 14 on the rear burners without crossing into the air space over the island backsplash.

Uncovered, I could boil 2.5 cups of stone cold water on the small burner in a 5" pot,in 7 minutes - no fooling full rolling boil.

On the medium burners, I could heat 7 cups of water in a teapot until the whistle blew in 8 minutes. For a gallon of water, I used a 6 qt pot with a 9" diameter on the large burner - mostly uncovered in 15 minutes. I will retry that using a 15k burner instead and see how that works.

I have no feelings yet about the porcelain top. Really dilute pinesol makes quick work of clean up.

The thing I miss most about the NXR is the front bullnose that kept crap off the burner knobs. I thought I'd miss the burners and I did; right up to the moment I first used the new burners.

Comments (13)

  • tcap1
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hmmm I was very curious about this model, thanks for the opinion.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Appliance Repair and Service

  • black88mx6
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Waiting on the pictures. ;)

  • wekick
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Very useful review. Thanks for posting.

  • cookncarpenter
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Very thorough review, and helpful to people researching and comparing.
    It puts the idea in my head I should post a review of my nine month old Bluestar.

  • bmorepanic
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I hope you do. Ones done by people who've owned an appliance for a while are the most helpful. I feel like I'm still in the burn off period. Sorry I don't have a lot of photos to show - most are documentation. It's not completely installed.

    The range came with an optional spacer for the back and we will be installing that onto the back of the backsplash. Without that piece, the crack between the oven door and the oven is a little too far back and the island trim vents a little too close to the wall. It's not a fire hazard - just makes fluid on the wall.

    We're buying the "L" shaped trim kit for the sides so they will lap over the counter edges a little. That will stop the rain-of-terror where things go down between the end of the counter and the range. this one is just a little bit smaller than the NXR.

    We've spent a little while deciding what to do about the shortness of the legs. We're thinking put the entire thing up on 3/4" wood runners screwed through the floor and into the subfloor. The anti-tip bracket would be mounted on the runner.

    Since that will look a little clumsy, maybe a tiny little toe kick in front of it? Or Dacor sells a little stainless toe kick for this range. It's removable but a little costly.

  • jwvideo
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    For the toekick, I suggest a little, three sided box, painted black to match your cabinets' toekick. That will help limit the amount of "stuff" that inevitably accumulates under the stove. (Can't remember who, but one of the regulars here referred to that area as "the land that time forgot."

    The new stove looks good, btw.

  • black88mx6
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    bmorepanic,

    Range looks good, I like the big window.

    I took off the NXR logo on my range; I joke with my wife that we will put a viking or wolf logo there; but in reality I just like the look better and it is much easier to keep clean.

  • bmorepanic
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I thought so, black99mx6, but then I couldn't find it. It looks like the same foam tape you described. Did you use a heat gun or a hair dryer? I'm in no hurry as I'm going to wait until its at least 4 months old, just in case!

    We're doing the pad and anti-tip bracket tomorrow. What you see in the photo is the very maximum leg extension - its out enough to make me nervous but still too short. In preparation, we moved it off the skis and dropped the legs down to approximately their new height and it is much better.

  • black88mx6
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Heat gun and dental floss takes it right off. Keep the heat away from the glass.

    I did check with Duocorp prior to confirm that there were no holes behind it.

  • bmorepanic
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The wood skis work well combined with lowering the legs. The anti-tip bracket is installed on a ski. We used wider lumber than strictly necessary and screwed down both the skis and the bracket. No more shimmy when the oven door is closing a little fast.

    I have to say that the diagrams in the installation manuals are kind of dense. While not wrong, they tend to attempt to show multiple models and multiple options on the same diagrams - makes it a little hard for normal people - oh say myself and the local handy person to completely understand.

    Thanks for the tip about the logo; rats about the heat gun. I'll have to ask around.

  • jwvideo
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    A heat gun will work faster but a hair dryer on high may work for this job.

  • black88mx6
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Once heated up, dental floss is used to "cut" the adhesive. The older string type floss works better than the new flat thin stuff. Work it back and forth like a saw.