Vintage Jenn-Air Range

[bellalaundry]

I sorta remember a neighbour growing up that had one of these...Were they good ranges?

What is the closed compartment in the oven area for?

The seller is giving it away for free!

Any opinions?

Guy

 

[wayupnorth]

I have a neighbor that still has one like this. That left side compartment holds the exhaust system that takes all the smoke down thru the middle grate. Each of those F & R burner units were interchangeable with the griddle or BBQ units or other different units

 

[mattl]

My brother has had a couple of these over the decades.  He said the older one, like in the picture,  was a bit more powerful.  He had every accessory made for the original but many did not work with the newer model. The area on the left also contained the grease trap for the grill unit that could be swapped out with the element cartridge.

 

If I  recall the range needs an 8" exhaust line run through the basement to an outside wall.  It may only be a 6" but it's been too long since we did  the install.

 

They have been happy with both but are now moving and  leaving it behind.  When we did the remodel they put the range in the middle of an island.  Nice thing is there was no need for an overhead hood creating nice unobstructed site lines.

 

[petek]

Those models were for kitchens that didn't have anywhere for outdoor exhausting so they had a filter. I remember seeing them when we bought our second house and was thinking of getting a Jenn air but with true exhaust to the outside. I figured those recirculating models wouldn't like work that well just recirculating the air back into the room with minor filtering

 

[rp2813]

The pictured range is of 1980s vintage if not older.  We installed the 1990 dual fuel version of this range (with blue LED digital clock/readout) and used it for almost 18 years before we sold the house.  We bought an extra module with two gas burners because we rarely used the grill.  Due to the fan's air movement, and even though the exhaust duct had a short run and we were able to use the duct connection insert to reduce the air flow, the gas flame for the grill was compromised, and we had an outdoor grill on the patio anyway.  The exhaust fan affected the regular burners' performance as well, but not as much as the grill's.

 

The best thing about this range was the electric convection oven.  It sold me with its ability to produce perfectly baked pies and overall faster results for roasting.  Ever since, we only owned ranges that offered a convection option.  The only real complaint we had was that the most powerful burner put out a measly 10K BTU, which took forever to boil a big pot of water, and the flimsy/noisy grates for the burners which had portions that would glow red when the fan was running.

 

[petek]

Ralph

Was your the model with outdoor exhausting or like the one in the picture a self contained unit that doesn't exhuast outside?

 

[combo52]

Self venting, downdraft Jennair electric range

Hi guy, this is a very unusual model. I've only ever seen about six of these in my life. It has an electrostatic filter underneath the oven. It was an accessory so the range didn't have to be vented outdoors.

We have this exact range installed in our museum kitchen One of the reasons I installed it because it would be very difficult to vent the range outdoors in a commercial building we have successfully used it at big Appliance events for grilling foods without an excessive amount of smoke so it does live up to its expectation.

Jennair downdraft cooktops and ranges needed either five or 6 inch ducting depending on the length and the number of elbows. You could also duct them through 3 1/4 x 10" rectangular pipe if you need to get it in wall spaces such as 2 by 4 stud walls.

Jen air ranges overall we're good performers had a lot of strong features. They also had some reliability issues wiring was bad in these ranges. The clocks were miserable otherwise it's a pretty neat range with a lot of versatility.

John L

 

[rp2813]

Pete, our range did exhaust to the outside through a modified foundation vent.  The house was built in 1957 and the kitchen didn't have an exhaust fan.  The JennAir's exhaust run was about 15' long.

 

 

 

[petek]

Were those electrostatic filters dishwasher safe? I've had a few electronic air cleaners and they can be a real pain to clean so probably even worse with greasy cooking schmutz on them.

 

[circlew]

My former (now deceased) neighbor Ann said she had two regrets when they built their new home in the mid 1980s. One was the Sub-Zero refrigerator, and the other the JennAir range. Both required numerous repairs. She said she wished she had bought GE appliances like the built in double oven and cooktop, and SxS refrigerator that they had at their old house. She said the GE ovens never required service between 1964 and 1984, and only one unit on the cooktop.

 

[combo52]

Vintage downdraft Jennair electric ranges

Reply number eight hi Pete, yes the electrostatic cartridge definitely was designed to go in the dishwasher and if you did a lot of grilling, it should be cleaned fairly often.

Reply number nine hi Tom, I never suggested that the Jennair was as reliableas a GE, I was kind in my remarks.

Of course your neighbors GE range didn't have a convection oven and she didn't have the ability to do indoor grilling, etc. Even today GE still built the best gas and electric ranges wall, ovens cooktop, etc.

Subzero refrigerators were notoriously unreliable in the 80s They've gotten much better but again you're talking about an entirely different beast than a GE side-by-side. You have a much better built-in look and better space utilization but a $10,000 refrigerator is not for everybody and if you're going to buy a luxury sports car or a subzero be prepared to spend some money on it occasionally.

John L

 

[normadesmond]

Mine came with the house, guesstimating 1990. She had some problems, control panel was rebuilt years ago. If & when we have to replace, the counter will need to be replaced.