Range Replacement, Modern or Retro?

[qualin]

OK Everyone, I'm considering buying a new stove to replace our old Roper. The Roper works fine for now, but it's nearly a BOL stove. It lacks Self Cleaning, gets hot in summer and is very basic. The broiler went out on it a while ago in a fantastic lightshow of sparks. This spooked my wife, so I'm casually looking.

Our house isn't legal for a gas range, since the hood doesn't exhaust to the outside, so electric is the only way we can go.

Before I proceed, my biggest question is, should I consider a Traditional Coil Top or a Flat Surface? The flat surface ones are appealing due to their easy ability to clean, but you can't use cast iron pans on them. As well, if the glass top is broken, I might as well buy a new stove at that point in time.

Here are the features I'm looking for:
- 30" Range, Single Oven, Rear Backsplash, Rear or front controls.
- Must be HEAVY HEAVY HEAVY. The heavier the better.
- Self-Cleaning Oven, preferably with a steam clean feature.
- Convention Oven preferably
- Meat Probe. (Do they even make those anymore?)
- Rotisserie feature. (Do they even make that anymore?)
- Your standard clock / timer / etc.

The thing is, my wife hates stainless steel appliances. HATES them. She actually loves colored appliances, like pink, green, etc. Doesn't seem like that's an option anymore.

Any opinions on the Elmira Stove Works Northstar Ranges / Fridges / Microwaves? They certainly are a conversation piece, but they could be junk under the hood. :/
Same goes for "Big Chill" stuff. (Can't use their ranges.)

Looking at Ranges today, it seems that the coiltop stoves are near BOL now.

I'm not partial to brands, but it seems that GE, Whirlpool, Samsung, LG, Frigidaire and Electrolux appear to be the only choices in the appliance shops.

 

[frigilux]

Consumer Reports rates GE ranges quite high. AW member and avid baker mix finder (Kelly) has used a moderately-priced glass top GE and gives it a big thumbs-up. I have two Frigidaire ranges (one gas, one electric), but they are nearly 10 years old, so I can't comment on their new products. Mine have been trouble-free and I like them. Consumer reports generally rate them in the top half of their ratings.

Whirpool ranges haven't fared as well in CR's reviews.

 

[volvoguy87]

Stuff.

I've lived with both and I've come to loathe electric.
I've had both coils and glass. I disliked the glass because I found it to be high-maintenance and I didn't like how restrictive it was regarding what pans I could use.

As for coils, my store sells replacement parts and I've learned a great deal about coils. The nicer stoves have coils with more turns (how many time the coil wraps around). More turns = more even heating and can indicate higher wattage. I've also learned that the electronics are ALWAYS the weak link. A vintage stove may last longer and perform as well as a new one, but you may have to saccrifice a self-cleaning oven. A new one may work well, but when the electronics fail, they are expensive. Also, the electronics are prone to going NLA early.

Good luck,
Dave

 

[xraytech]

We have a Frigidaire smooth top that is about 5 years old now, I cant say that I like it too much, the oven thermostat doesnt seem to stay calibrated, we've had 2 thermostats fail for the burners and ultimately they end up being unable to shut off, and the paint has peeled off around the oven steam vent. Would I buy another, no. I am more impressed with the newer GE ranges after using a few of them.

 

Personally I would keep my eye out for a nice late 60's-early 80's range that way you should be able to get self cleaning as well as an overall more reliable product

 

[norgeway]

I Have..

A new Hotpoint smooth top in my kitchen, and while I do like the self cleaning oven, and really have no problems with the glass top, the storage drawer is totally useless, and in general the whole stove is flimsy, but ive never had anything but vintage till now,,cooking wise its fine, but eventually I will go back to vintage..I use my old Hardwick in the laundry room much more than the new stove.

 

[petek]

10 odd years back we bought a new KitchenAid coiltop (at Trail Appliances in the SE I might add)with the convection oven and probe. Loved it BUT into its 4th year one of the little segments in the digital display went out making 8's look like 6's which was annoying (to me) but otherwise it worked great. We left it in the house when we moved back here. I found the exact same stove here at the Habitat Restore but with the smoothtop for around $200.. no display problems (yet) but to be honest I preferred the coil top. I don't get how everyone says a smoothtop is easier to clean, it isn't.. you have to clean it constantly if you want it to look good.. obviously I don't anymore and put up with the "rings" around the burner etc..Cleaning splatters around a coil top is way easier. There's another KA at restore right now and the ticket on it says that the display is dim.. so digital displays can be troublesome, trouble is,, many new stoves have em. And you can imagine how much they're gonna charge to fix/replace it. Who says you can't use cast iron on a smoothtop? I like on the KA how to enter time and temp is like a keypad.. just punch in the numbers and enter.. on some digital displays you have to hold down and up/down button. Something to think about.

Next stove for me is going to be an induction model. Samsung has one (seen at FutureShop) that has 3 induction burners and one regular burner which is good if you want to use a glass or aluminum pan. There's probably others but I haven't really been looking that close. I've seen the Kenmore induction stove on sale a few times for around $1800,, still pricey. Not sure who anymore has an oven with a probe in it that's reasonably priced..I like the probe feature a lot. It works really well in the KitchenAid. Set it and forget it...

As well, check out the Sears Outlet on a reg basis, sometimes deals to be had in there esp when they have a sale and then give even extra if you put on your Sears card

 

[mattl]

I money is not a stopper, I'd opt for an induction range.  Speed of electric and control of gas, plus it's smooth top, and you need to use cast iron or stainless steel cookware, as it needs to be magnetic.  They are pricey, but from people I know that have them, they love them.  Easy clean up since the top does not get hot, I've seen ads with people cooking messy stuff on newspaper - tat might be a stretch, but other than the price they would seem to be the best of both worlds.

 

My new electrolux oven has a probe, and use it often.  To be honest I have not seen any recent vintage ovens with a rotisserie.

 

[polkanut]

Here in the US a range hood doesn't need to be vented outside in order to have a gas range.  Our house, parents and grandparents all have/had non-outside vented hoods.  Our house had a 1st generation Frigidaire smooth top when we bought it, and it was the first thing we replaced because the top was one huge stain.  We have a near TOL Magic Chef gas range, and it has performed flawlessly over the last 13+ years. 

 

[norgeway]

Smoothtop..

To me it is much easier to clean, but im very careful about boiling stuff over, and I never fry anything without covering it with a spatter shield..all I do is use windex on it every time I cook, and clean it with the cream about once a week.

 

[pdub]

If I had to choose...

and it was going to be a new range (instead of vintage) this would be my choice.

It is a newer model Frigidaire all electric with convection oven. I just really like the looks of it.

How handy to have two ovens to bake at different temperatures. It also comes in white or all black.

Loading…

www.frigidaire.com

 

[pdub]

This is my setup

It is a Frigidaire Gallery slide in all electric glasstop range with convection oven and lower warming drawer. I also have the matching OTR hood microwave combo.

I have to say after having an open coil Whirlpool range for 15 years that was a bitch to keep clean that this is much easier to maintain. You just use glass cleaner between uses and occasionally use the liquid glass/ceramic stove top cleaner if something gets burned on and it looks brand new.

I'm not an everyday cook like some of you but I really do appreciate this stove. The convection oven bakes flawlessly as well.

 

[vacbear58]

Double ovens

We have also been duscussing this in the thread "moffat cooker". Although the double oven seems like a good idea, the bottom oven is very low so that you have to almost bend double or get on your hands and knees to see inside. We are quite used to it here but for Americans and Canadians used to an oven placed directly below the hob it is going to be a real culture shock. Personally I will not entertain such an arrangement - my knees are just not up to it!

When i visted Canada a while back I saw ranges with induction tops - and that would be my recommendation too - all the controlabality of gas but in an electric range. OK, you MAY (but not necessarily) have to get new pans but they are widely available and at modest cost so that may not be such a big deal. When I got my induction I only had to buy two pans - a two tier steamer and a fry pan - all my existing cast iron cookware was and is (six years later) just fine.

Al

 

[rll70sman]

Be careful!

I junked a three-year-old Kenmore (Frigidaire) coil burner stove after the bake element welded itself to the oven floor and melted through the porcelain finish. Thankfully, the thing didn't burn the house down! Sears refused to do anything about it since it was outside the warranty. As as result, that was my last Kenmore purchase.

I'd recommend something vintage. Used appliance stores often carry really nice '70s and early '80s kitchen and laundry equipment. Furthermore, appliances from that time period were made when the appliance companies still put product quality and customer satisfaction ahead of the shareholders.

Keep us posted on what you find!

Rob

 

[qualin]

Well, the idea of buying a Hybrid glasstop is making me salivate a bit. My wife loves to cook with glass pots because they're bird safe. (Heated teflon gives off fumes which can harm or kill birds.)

Considering the small volume of cooking that we do, a hybrid (Both radiant and inductive) burners seems like an interesting bit of technology.

The double oven idea looks interesting but since we don't really cook all that much, I can't see us using it.

I've seen the newer Electrolux stoves and they look really neat, but I like having physical knobs to turn, rather than touch sensitive buttons to push.

Pdub's stove looks neat, but our kitchen is built for a standard range with a console since there isn't any backsplash behind the stove.

My mothers Inglis stove lasted her about 15 years of very heavy use. The clock was the first to go on it, then the elements started failing. I suspect our old Roper will hang in there for quite a while yet due to its light use.

I'm surprised nobody had commented on the Elmira Northstar ranges..

 

[arbilab]

You're right about birds and teflon, qualin. I had a dear bird for 12 years, twice their average captive lifetime. (Their wild lifetime is half THAT so captivity is actually good for them. Mine was not 'prison' captive though, it was always free to fly.)

I wouldn't use coated cookware in any application where it exceeded 400F. Teflon/polytetrafluoroethylene cookware is scheduled to be outlawed from production by ~2015 and nontoxic substitutes are already coming on line. Teflon burner pans were outlawed years ago.

I used a ceramic/smooth cooktop only once. Keeping it clean was a HUGE chore. Slow to heat and slower to cool. I would NEVER consider buying one.

Stoves have probably suffered less in terms of cost reduction than any major appliance. But as above, skip the electronic controls if you can. All appliance electronic controls are less reliable than a $20 transistor radio from 1965 and they cost 10 times that to replace.

 

[combo52]

ELECTRIC RANGES WITH SHORTED BAKE ELEMENTS

Any electric range can suffer a shorted bake element. This is a little more likely if your homes voltage is on the high side of normal and if you have the range over fused. I never put a standard single oven range on more than 40 amp circuit protection.

 

Rob on your KM range all you needed was a new bake element, this failure could not have burned your house down. We see this type of failure all the time, sometimes we have to grind the weld marks off the floor of the oven, but this doesn't hurt the range in any functional way.