Whats the best (and worst) stove you've ever used or owned?

[cycluxe]

Worst...

My mom had a very touchy GE smooth-top from '96. I don't care for smooth-tops as a rule.

In college I got a very bad shock from an early-'70s BOL Whirlpool. Burner socket needed replacing.

Had an apartment with a 20-inch Sunray electric. Top elements were okay, but oven ran 75 degrees too hot. Cremated several casseroles before I found out the problem.

 

[dustin92]

Worst- The OLD Garland commercial beast at one of the camps I work at- ovens are very uneven and unpredictable, sometimes running 100+ degrees cold or hot depending on the day, top burners that light with small explosions (I've singed the hair off the back of my hands more times than I can count) and the flame goes up around the sides of the pots and pans, catching anything nearby on fire, and blackening all the pans. Awful fumes from the top burners, and a griddle that isn't thermostatically controlled. I've made several meals that I'm less than proud of, thanks to that horrid hunk of junk!

Best- our 1961 Frigidaire Deluxe... Electric. Absolutely love that stove; it heats evenly and quickly, cooks and bakes great. In fact it's the best baking oven I've ever used. Plus it looks nice! Took a little getting used to but now someone would have to pry it from my cold, dead hands.

I've used quite a few stoves over the years and the stood out as the extremes, some are better than others, some are barely passable. Never used one that wouldn't do the job with some effort. I won't willingly own a gas stove though, nor a smoothtop electric.

 

[norgeway]

The worst oven

Was in the most beautiful old stove I ever found, a early 50s Crosley. it was absolutely new. everything worked perfectly. the oven held a steady temperature...in the very center..lol. no matter what you baked the edges would be almost burned while the center was very light, usually a small pan of biscuits or cake layers were the worst. I never could figure out why. and I really hated to give it up. but to the Habitat it went!

 

[henene4]

Over here, fan ovens have been around for several decades, thus our household had them since it existed.

Our first one was an AEG. Had mass-style cookers, which were slow but decent. The oven only worked on fan mode since I was born and had that typical uneven browning front to back. That got worse with age, and we finally decided to exchange in 2010.

Then, we got a Siemens with induction cooktop. That cooktop was great. Had 17 heat levels plus booster on any zone. Quick reaction time, even heating. Pretty damn perfect. The oven suffered from the same uneven heating and browning on fan mode, but on upper/lower heat, you got perfect even result. My grandma has a simmilar oven with ceramic cooktop made under the Bosch name, with simmilar results. That broke after 2 1/2 years with a loud puff.

Now we have an IKEA Whirlpool/Electrolux combo. The cooktop is Whirlpool induction. 9 power levels plus booster on the 2 bigger zones. Really decent for 349€, I'm just missing the half power levels whoch were perfect for keeping something boiling. The oven is ok. It is pretty small (56l, I think) and because the fan is not centered but on the left side, the uneveness is even worse. The grill however is miracolus. It broke twice basicly under warranty (main board and fan heating element which is the weak point of these due to some bad air flow design). But so far so good.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Electric Smooth-Top by Blomberg:

Think this is, while no Best or Worst, the closest to a counter-top cook-top as I'll ever use through an entire cooking-process; made some eggs on it, once:

 

 

-- Dave

 

[vacerator]

Blomberg

must be a brand Whitbeck appliance carries Dave.
Mike.

 

[jamiel]

Actually they have it at Hawthorne/ABC

 

[norgeway]

I like both

Gas AND electric, So...I put my 1952 Frigidaire Thrifty Thirty back in the kitchen, and put a 15 inch cabinet beside it and I found a 30 inch mid 60s Dixie gas range I put on the other side of the cabinet, I haven't had time to plumb it up, but this may be the best set up I ever thought up!The Westinghouse 40 inch I had was OK,but I still despise a thermostatic burner...It DID work, but to me is much trouble for no benefit, and the oven, while self cleaning, was a bit narrow for certain baking pans, the small oven was too narrow for about anything, so it went to the storage building.I would rather have the extra inch or two in oven width than the self clean, Cleaning a oven is like defrosting a fridge, no big deal.

 

[mikael3]

Hans, can you post a picture of your new setup? It sounds fantastic, and I am jealous. I really want both gas and electric. Each has its own strengths.

 

[tolivac]

I can use either gas or electric-the cooktop I have now-GE open burner--HATE the thing very hard to keep clean.A smoothtop is so much easier to clean even though it may not be as "responsive".My Mom had a smoothtop-actually liked cooking with it.Heated eggs and soup on it.And the rough finish control panel on my cooktop is IMPOSSIBLE to keep clean.Been hankering to replace this with a smoothtop as soon as I can find one I like.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Re: Blomberg Cook-Top:

Well, this was actually my brother-in-law's range in Israel...  That's where there was my first exposure to that brand, so imagine my surprise if I were to go to any of those appliance stores you'd mentioned & seen anything like that here (but 'Why?', when we've got plenty of decent, more well-established American brands here...) as another brother-in-law, has a bottom-freezer refrigerator I'd seen at some apartment that I was unaware of him having until last year when we went to it; it was a second home...

 

As for topic-wise, it was hard to get used to cooking on, w/ the counter in front of me, vs. a more-self-contained unit--not that there was any notable difference in height, but I sensed something that will probably always make me stick with free-standing...

 

 

-- Dave

 

[vacerator]

Oh wow Dave,

how lucky for you to go to Israel!
I've done some google map street view touring. I saw Chevrolet Equinox's, Travers's and Cruze's on their roads.
Happy Yom Kipurr!
Mike.

 

[stan]

This is really all I know..

I have nothing to compaire..
Maybe ignorance is bliss?

 

[vacerator]

It's beautiful!

I bet it cooks well too. The oven(s) are a bit small, but if it's all you need, great.
I miss spelled Yom Kippur.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

That's OK, Vacerator...  

 

Another German brand of appliances that I've long-seen (though more along ago, than recently) that I'd just thought of is Gagganu...

 

 

-- Dave

 

[davey7]

I love my O'Keefe & Merritt DeVille - the oven holds temperature better than anything else I've cooked on, Kenmore's and a Brown mostly.

In college I shared on off-campus apartment with some gawd-awful avocado range which needed to be lit with "ponts" (essentially a very thin candle) the thing was so filthy and gross.