Old KitchenAid built in cooktop

[alr2903]

http://memphis.craigslist.org/app/3894282723.html

 

[appnut]

I think this is influenced from the Chambers heritage since KA acquired Chambers if I remember correctly--that's how I remember Chambers ranges' burners.

 

[tomturbomatic]

You might want to check out the Consumer Reports issue where they tested the Chambers design gas cooktop. They tested for evenness of heat distribution by placing a thin layer of sugar in a good skillet and placing it over a suitable heat setting or flame height for heat-sensitive food. The sugar in the skillet over the Chambers daisy burners scorched in 4 circles before the rest even melted. I guess the burner design was a way of getting more heat under the center of the pan instead of just having it go up the sides, but if that is what you want, go with some form of electric cooking instead.

 

[combo52]

KA Gas Cooktop

These were a Chambers design and while they were interesting they were a total mess to keep clean and whether they had constant burning pilots or electric ignition they clogged easily and often did not light reliably.

 

This is also the only one I have ever seen that had only four small burners, usually they had two 6 turret burners for greater heating speed and better evenness when using a large skillet or TRYING to actually boil a pot of water [ never easy on a gas cook-top, LOL ]

 

[hydralique]

I had a wealthy client back in the late '80s who had one of the six burner Chambers rangetops. She was a bit of a food person and took her cooking seriously, to the point of taking classes from a culinary school in Paris. She cooked for her family on weekends but had a cook who came in on weekdays.We redid the kitchen as a part of a larger remodel and ended up doing new cabinets and appliances. Most of this went smoothly but the owner was very unhappy when I told her Kitchenaid had swallowed up Chambers and discontinued their products - evidently she got along with the burners. We ended out with three Gaggenau two-burner units that seemed to do the trick for her.

 

[firedome]

those Chambers daisy burners

CU tested were the older single row orifice type, the later dual row with flat diverter top "Plane of Flame" burners were far better... we converted our 1955 copper Chambers cooktop at camp in Vermont to the POF type, overall they can't be beat for low heat saucier work and the like and put out 30% more heat than the older type, but when we need to heat up serious quantities of water such boiling Maine lobbies or for canning 18 pints at a time, we do that on the 39 inch '56 Hotpoint with the 2600 watt RF burner for the really big pots.