Time to replace the stove any suggestion ?

[lokringbob]

A friend is replacing his BOL 30 inch range. Price is not a great concern, but the sky is not the limit.
Do any of the members here have suggestions on a great replacement stove.
I suggested that he should replace it with a Hybrid, Gas cooktop/Electric oven. Other than that, I was not able to offer much advice. Would any of you have recommendations on a realy good performing 30-inch range?
Also, any suggestions on what you would consider a poor performer i.e. "ones you would not buy". I have read the threads other people have posted here and it amazes me the great information people respond with on this web site.
Thanks for your help.
Bob

 

[qsd-dan]

Do any of the members here have suggestions on a great repla

New or vintage?

 

[cleanteamofny]

Usually I recomend GE since their stoves are built well and breakdown are little to none within a 12 year span.

Here's a pic of my range.

 

[whirlcool]

A few months ago we bought a Maytag MGRH865QDS 30 inch range. We absolutely love it. It is gas with convection, it has a lot of features. It also has a very large oven, and it keeps a very even temperature. And it has a price that won't break the bank.
A lot of range for the money.

 

[ttuee2006]

If you were going Electric...

I can honestly say AVOID THE GLASS COOKTOPS!!! God....this house has a Whirlpool made glass cooktop and I have never hated cooking on a stove so much in my entire life!!!! It takes forever to heat up, temperature regulation SUCKS, I can't use my cast-iron cookware (since it has a ring on the bottom), and cleanup is a PAIN! I mean I know that "easy cleanup" is supposed to be one of the selling points for a glass cooktop, but I find it's MUCH easier to clean the old style stoves with the exposed elements and burner bibs. Certainly quicker, and no "polish" required, no scraping or anything. Just spray with 409 and wipe up! I miss my old 1972 GE pushbutton stove from my apartment......REALLY MISS THAT STOVE!!!!

 

[toggleswitch2]

Funny I loveed my smooth-top electric, and that is from having had gas all my life.

Interesting how cast-iron cooklware is considered a "must" in the south where all is fried.

If you are going with gas, even the "White-Westinghouse" branded el-cheapo is decent; it's really a Frigidaire. Had one of those (Frigidaire) and it was great at a low price paid of $430 back when (1997). Standard 30" (75+/- cm) self-cleaning (pyrolytic), waist-high broiler with "HI" and "LO" settings, sealed top-burners and a storage drawer.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Remember a good chef/cook can do with ANY heat source.
My granny had the oldest 1920's gas Royal Rose brand stove with a tiny oven and no thermostat.
But the meals she could turn out! IMHO, It's all in the ingredients, spices and techiniques.
And, like in the Mexican movie "Like Water For Chocolate" you can taste and feel the love put into the task! Highly recommended for all!

 

[jaxsunst]

I'm happy with my 10 year old GE "drop-in". My only complaint is the oven light is a biotch to replace.

 

[polkanut]

Our Magic Chef gas range is 10yrs. old and no problems. It heats very evenly.

 

[petek]

I'll second that emotion on the glass cooktops being a royal pain. My other half even agrees with me and we never agree on anything. Slower, harder to clean, harder to keep looking clean. Look nice WHEN they're clean but that's all. I've never spent so much time scraping and scrubbing.

 

[rayjay]

Ceramic Glass Cooktops

I have had a GE for over ten years, at it was very easy to clean. Yes...at times with a big boil over, you had to use a scraper. I find that spraying on first "Ful-Sol" by Fuller Brush, (a cleaner degeraser), then going over with one of the non-scratching pads, really works, then finish with the polis/cleaner. I know how the Electrolux Wave touch electric smooth top and really like it. It heats up quick, and cools down pretty quick too. The stove was rated number 1 by Consumer Reports.

 

[petek]

Speaking of the Electrolux Wave top I saw one in Lowes a couple of weeks ago, a demo unit, and the digital display was already broken, some of the segments in the digits so you could tell if a an 8 was a 6 etc.

I was excited to see that Sears finally has a stand alone induction stove on sale and not just the cooktop.. $2500 though

 

[rayjay]

Hi petek. So far, I have not had any problems. The cooktop and oven work perfectly and are very accurate. I guess the demo stove gets a lot of people/kids abusing it. lol

Well...to be on the safe side, I got the 10 year contract through PC RIchards. I did have to call once on the refrigerator about the water filter being hard to pop open. A new part was shipped in 2 days, and a technician came and reaplaced it. So far... pretty good service from Electrolux.

The kitchen is finally done, except for the microwave/exhaust has to be hooked up to the pipe in the attic which is vented through the roof. I have to do the painting next. Will post pics soon.

 

[dogboy44]

Dual Fuel is the way

If it works out for them, it is a personal favorite of ours. Best of both worlds! Electric Oven and Gas Burners!

 

[gansky1]

Age old question girls; style or substance?

Rob, go back to the scratch and dent room at NFM. When I was there last week, they had lots of 30" ranges. Many of them were pretty nice, high-end models at great prices.

 

[danemodsandy]

Stick to the Basics:

A 30" slide-in electric range with a self-cleaning oven can be had for under $400 if you shop around. I second, third and fourth the advice to avoid ceramic tops; to that I would add cast-iron hobs and induction units. Standard coil cooktops heat like you expect them to; the other types of cooktop have a "personality," making you learn to cope with them. The care requirement for every kind of "special" cooktop is higher than that for standard coil units. Lovers may be entitled to personalities and to be high-maintenance, but stoves are not!

 

[gansky1]

You don't like induction? I have a 36" white GE induction from about '95 that is just amazing. True, there are restrictions on cookware, but certainly not insurmountable - an ferrous metal will do. Some of the best cookware for induction is the cheapest so a huge investment isn't necessary either. Cleanup is a breeze as well since the glass surface is not what is conducting the heat so foods don't burn on the glass as with radiant elements. If you're frying, (a cast-iron skillets work beautifully) you can cover the cooktop with newspaper and simply toss it when finished. I used mine a bunch when I was remodeling the kitchen and loved it. When I first got it, we gave my mother a demonstration - heating a saucepan of water in less than two minutes on a paper towel and she thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. The glass was barely warm when we removed the pan so no more burned pot-holders! I found it at the Habitat for Humanity store for $75 but the prices of new units are rather daunting.

 

[toggleswitch2]

OK time out I want to be a See-You-Next-Tuesday for (another) moment.

Looks like we bitches don't like anything inveted after we were born to about 20 y.o.

I'm just sayin'. *LOL*

 

[petek]

Age old question girls; style or substance?

Well I like to think I have both, outta style and full of shite.

 

[laundromat]

GE JBP84TM

When I lived on the mainland, I had a GE range that was fabulous!! It was the JBP84TMCC. It was a 30 inch Ceramic top model with a dual speed, self cleaning convection oven,a bridge between the left burners,2 position right front burner,warming burner in the center,warming drawer,triple porcelain oven racks,huge see through window door,and hidden bake element.I had no problems with it at all. In fact,the stains that came about from everyday use and some spill overs,after the cooktop was back to room temperature,were easily removed using Ajax cleanser and the Scrubby pads from 3M that are scratch resistant. When I moved,I sold that range to a friend for almost three times the price I paid and they love it!I had found it at Sears The Great indoors for $399!!!!!!!!!

 

[rayjay]

GE JBP84TM

Hi Chuck, I had the GE stove similiar to yours but without the bridge burners on the left. It was a really great stove. I had it for over 10 years, and it looked like new. I had the ceramic top replaced once while under the service contract, because there we a black dust that showed under one of the burners. It was replaced at no cost. The top cleaned up really nice. (I am a sloppy cook also). lol I sold the stove to a friend for $50.00. I replaced all the appliances with the stainless Electrolux ones. So far the stove works just as nice as the GE.

 

[danemodsandy]

Greg:

My prejudice against induction began when I taught cooking for a few years back in the '80s. So long as you have the proper cookware, it works fine, and I have no argument there. But a standard coil will work with anything from All-Clad to a piece of dollar-store Mirro to cast-iron to you-name-it, without anyone's having to think about it. All I ask of a stove is that it gets hot - after that, as another poster said, it's technique, not the stove.

 

[petek]

Induction is supposed to be the best for low temp simmering etc. Isn't it? Regardless I want one LOL

 

[toggleswitch2]

You can't have it all, after all where would you put it?

Here. Have a Miele CombiSet.
It can provide gas, various forms of electric cooking and accessories, too.

So say gas on the left induction or smooth-top in the middle and coils/hobs on the right.

What else could a girl ask for?

Personally knowing so many people on earth cook using dung, and with the current global financial upheaval, perhaps we should appreciate what we have and not be so picky. Just a thought.

http://www.miele.com/products/models.asp?nav=20&snav=110&tnav=140&oT=41&cat=3&subcat=12&menu_id=10

 

[toggleswitch2]

oh child!

........and a barbecue too!

http://www.miele.com/usa/cooking/co...=89&series=13&nav=20&snav=110&tnav=140&oT=195

 

[brisnat81]

I've got a Miele 3 Burner Ceramic Cooktop and hate it passionately.

We went from fat coils to this and whilst it simmers very well and is great for controlling low to moderate temp cookery, it is almost impossible to fry anything. It does melt chocolate and make a Bechamel sauce with ease. I'll second the comments that they are slow to heat up, and in our instance almost impossible to get hot enough. The constant cleaning does drive me batty. It looks good, but only after you've scraped, washed, applied the cleaner and then applied the sealant.

We've got quite expensive heavy copper bottomed cookware. Because all burners are thermostatically controlled rather than infinite, it seems to be that the cooktop registers the max temperature on the bottom of the pan too early and starts cycling the element. As such the bottom of the pan might stay hot, but anything you put in ends up stewing. I've found that cheap thin bottomed pans work better, but that just seems ridiculous. Now I preheat the fryingpan for 5-10 minutes before I put anything in and it copes barely. I just use the electric frypan instead.

Miele as usual arent interested, they promise to get back and never do. I would reccomend anything gas or radiant coils.

 

[toggleswitch2]

*WOW* who knew?

I found that my smooth-top ceramic cooktop to have higher highs and lower lows (jeez... just a bi-bolar person would) than gas does.

I can see how electric tubes/coils would be theoretically much hotter and PERHAPS faster...but isn't this why so many people burn things?

I just love how evenly the ceramic top heats the pot. Other than induction and solid metal hobs, can't get that elsewhere.

Here's three things I like about gas:

Can cook in a black-out.
Can singe the hairs off a chicken. (And you thought I was kidding when I said mother Toggles was a borderline clean-freak, didn't ya)!
Can pre-heat most pans(not glass) going into the oven to save time. Great with say potaotes or stuffed peppers to get a head-start.
Helps to make a gravy right in the pan as well.

 

[turboace]

A True Gas Range

I love my Bluestar. Made by hand in PA. It has real star burners, I just have the 30" but it has two 22,500 btu high seed burners, one 6000 btu simmer and one 18,000. The most important part about the burners is even on the high output, the flame is spread in a 6" diameter circle. This allows you to apply full heat to even the smallest of pans. Not like sealed burner gas stoves, those high output burners cranked up have the flame tips about 12" diameter circle and its impossible to cook on high.

The oven is convection and HUGE, the 30" accepts full sheet pans in place of the racks. The oven cooks the most evenly of any I have ever owned.

While it is kind of a small investment, if you enjoy cooking, and want to be able to do it just like on TV, this is your range.

Andy

http://www.selectappliance.com/exec/ce-product/bs_rnb30-4b

 

[nmaineman36]

We have a Bosch gas range. Other than replacing the oven burner igniter twice it has been a fairly decent stove. We have been looking at the induction top ranges and they are nice but I cant have one in the house since it will effect my pacemaker. Cant stand near one or even cook on one since I got the implant. Something to think about if you have a defibrilator/pacemaker like I have. I dont have a problem with the microwave running as they had problems in the past. Now with the new technology in cooking it hasnt kept up on pacemakers.

 

[vintagesearch]

ohh thank god you guys brought up stoves! my parents are doing the kitchen and my mom wants a new stove! the only 2 features she wants is 1. gas because thats whats ours is already and, 2. Stainless steel to match the fridge. so who these days makes a good one? our stove brand is a Magic chef they bought back in........94-96ish i think maybe more 95. Anyways opinions and recommendations all welcome!