Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

OK, I've now had this stove for about six months, and this review will be long and boring, but I can tell you what I've found out. It's an expensive purchase, for people like me, anyway, so getting a clear picture of what you're buying is worth the long and boring. The stovetop and the gas oven are two different topics; let's start with the stovetop. This is actually pretty functional, although I've never used all the burners, and don't know why there are two warming burners. I find myself using it on a regular basis and getting things done, and basically I'm pretty happy with it. A qualification: although the flames look big and bright, there's less oomph than I've had in previous gas stoves -- in particular, bringing a pot of water back to a boil, after you've put stuff in it, doesn't happen as quickly as I'd like. (This matters for cooking pasta, for instance.) I looked at other reviews online before buying, and they either praised how easy the stovetop was to clean, or complained. I can now see why you'd get both reactions. The stovetop is basically a shallow metal kitchen sink, except that unlike a sink, you don't burn stuff on it. So it's actually easy to get gunk off (like washing out the sink), much easier than previous porcelain stovetops I've used. But the metal stains, esp. when you burn oil, and that *is* hard to get off. I guess if you just want it sanitary, it's easy to clean; if you want it pristine-looking, it involves elbow grease. An apparently uninformed salesperson told me that nowadays, when you turn a gas knob, there's no mechanical connection; it's just a chip behind the knob. However, during a power outage, although I wasn't able to do anything with the oven (which is controlled from a touchpad), I *was* able to cook on the burners. So that must not be true, and in fact, controlling the flame with the knob *feels* mechanical. By my lights, this is a very good thing -- that you can cook when the power is out. Of course, you have to light the burners with a match in that case. And during the outage the flames were uneven, which I suppose means that some gas flow regulator must be electronic. Switching to the oven. OK, I'm a lot less happy about this part. The basic functionality of an oven is to bring a space to a designated temperature, and keep it there. (More or less: you expect the actual temperature to fluctuate around the target temperature.) This oven doesn't do that. Food came out either undercooked or overcooked. I thought maybe I had a defective unit, so I had a technician come out to look at it. He basically told me that the oven was working as it was supposed to; maybe he was wrong, but I'll go ahead with the review on the assumption that this is what you'll get. Here's what I saw when I followed up: I'm now the dubiously proud owner of an AC clamp, so I can see what the temperature inside is, in real time. (The oven won't tell you this: it just shows what the temperature is *supposed* to be.) First of all, I found I had to wait *much* longer than the oven preheat indicator says, for the temperature to more or less stabilize. And then I got results like these: set to 500 degrees, ends up at 450; set to the 325, ends up 320; set to 350, ends up 325; set to 450, ends up at 375. (Yup, it's like lab work, keeping charts.) That is, the difference between what you ask for and what you get isn't constant, and also it's often greater than the adjustment constant that the software allows you to enter, as a one-time thing. --I.e., this is an oven where you also have to buy that AC clamp, and leave the probe inside the oven *all the time*, so that you know enough about what the real temperature is not to ruin your recipes. In the end, I *can* cook with this oven (watching the AC clamp readings), but you know, you shouldn't have to do it this way. Other reviews talk about the oven fan noise, and whether or not it's too loud. The issue isn't the loudness, it's *what* noise it is: it sounds pretty much exactly like the wind whistling through the treetops, and is the soundtrack for ghost stories. You'll probably get used to it quickly, or at least I did, but if your eating area isn't separated from your kitchen, your dinner guests won't, and they'll find it really distracting. It kind of gets in the way of normal conversation if you've got the main course in the oven while you're serving the appetizers, or dessert in the oven while you're eating the main course. Turning to Installation issues: Other reviews I read before buying suggested that if your countertops are a little high, the feet will handle it. That wasn't my experience. My counters are 37", and extending the feet far enough to accommodate that made them pop off when the installer tried to slide the stove in. I had to have a platform built to put the stove on. The installer also noticed plastic shavings coming off the feet when they were turned, and was worried about damaging them by adjusting them further. The stove is unusually heavy; the installer remarked on it, and that's how it feels to me also. This is actually a safety issue, if you think about it. Because the gas shutoff is supposed to be accessible, it has to be (by law, I was told, but haven't checked myself) right next to the appliance. In a slide-in range like this one, that means, behind the range and buried in your cabinetry, where you can get to it only by sliding the range out. That's not such a great idea anyway, but when the range is as heavy as this, if you smell gas, or a monoxide alarm goes off, sliding the range out to turn off the gas isn't a realistic option. (And I'm pretty sure that if I tried to do it at all quickly, I'd damage my countertops.) Overall, the gas stovetop is fine. The oven is usable in the end, but doesn't have the basic functionality that an oven is supposed to. I was trying to figure out who this range makes sense for, and it right now my guess is that it would work well as a builder unit for McMansions. It wouldn't be out of place, in terms of the trim level, and most of the people who buy McMansions either don't really cook, or will buy a different stove if they do. For all I know, that was how it was intended. In any case, here's my recommendation: if, after all this, you're still thinking about this range, don't decide until you've spent, say, a week cooking and baking with it... and if you can't find a friend or vendor who can put you in a position to do that, definitely, definitely hold off.