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

[ilovewindex]

Discussing with my mom about replacing her 27" drop in range (GE Only size and she's probably gonna need some adjustments to her cabinets to make a normal stove fit, as she has room) because it randomly turns on and off (theres a short some where in the wiring and no one can find it)

When i was born mom and dad (with the help of there parents) bought a house and put all new early 80s White Westinghouse MOL appliances.. My mom swears this was the best stove she ever used.. She reminds me of it constantly...

Growing up, I had either MOL WHirlpool Coil stoves (which where very MEHH, an 86 and a 92 I think) or a 99 Kenmore Glass top made by Amana (which was quite a decent performer)

As an Adult, I have had 72 Hotpoint Drop in, 99 GE Drop In, 05 Hotpoint Coil Stove, BOL ADA Complient Whirlpool Coil Stove, 07 GE Profile, 10 Samsung Smoothtop, 10 Whirlpool BOL Gas Range, Old Tappan Gas, 05 TOL Whirlpool Gold, 12 Frigidaire MOL Gas, 98 Frigidaire Gallery Slide in and now my high MOL GE750....

The best have been either my 07 Ge Profile or my current GE... Even baking, even cooktop performance, fast boiling, very quick and easy clean up... They made life quite a joy...

The worst? The Ada complient whirlpool or Tappan Gas range... Either one could hardly bake, could barly boil water and forget trying to fry anything... Both where very generic, cheap stoves... Looked even the same except one had gas and the other electric... The 2012 Frigidaire gas stove wasn't much better, but it was able to be used and delt with.. I kept my finicky electric Whirlpool in the garage for big tasks....

The quirkiest was my first stove... 500 degrees in the oven was actually like 350, and yet 350 was like 3500... I found spare parts and fixed it up, and the landlord got mad... YEah...

 

[lordkenmore]

Interesting question, and given the people here, it'll be interesting seeing the answers...

Most of my life, I've used electric stoves. They ranged from Thermador cooktop in childhood home (probably original to the 1950 house) to electric stoves made in the 1990s. Frankly, all worked just fine. The only issues I ever really recall were ones connected to something breaking.

Not that I question that stoves may vary... I seem to recall liking a 1960s Hotpoint oven, but it wasn't hugely better for what I was doing then than the more modern stoves I'd used. It's worth noting: my baking was at that point pretty much limited to breads of various sorts. I wasn't doing temperamental cakes where everything had to be just right, or else it would be a total failure.

Gas, however, has been a different story. One of my grandmothers had a gas stove. When I tried any cooking in her house, I didn't mind the stove itself. It worked, and I do think the flames are sort of neat. The one thing I didn't like was the risk of the burner blowing out. I never felt confident with that stove with doing a really low simmer. It might have been just that stove, or just my paranoia. Of course, there are other ways of doing low, slow cooking--oven for a stew, or use a slow cooker or other counter top appliance.

But I despised the oven for baking. Too many things got burned/too dark on the bottom. I recall my mother and I doing some cookie baking--I think it was to provide Grandma with Christmas cookies--and the experience was horrible... It worked OK with care, and using 2 cookie sheets, one stacked on the other.

Although...one issue with that oven: I was used to OUR oven, which was a Farberware Convection (tabletop). We got that ca. 1980 because our Thermador wall oven broke, and--the repairman said--couldn't be fixed. She quickly became a convert to convection ovens, even though the Thermador had--she said--been the best she'd used by that point. (Very even heat control, IIRC.)

The Farberware by the point I was baking was getting along in years, and my mother thought wasn't working to peak performance... But it worked well enough, even for cakes or soufflés--I was a lot more ambitious in the kitchen then!--and there was little drama. Something might get a little too dark in a spot on top, but nothing ever burned.

 

[goatfarmer]

We "had" a Litton 30", the one that was an oven and a microwave in one. Only had it a few months.

 

[iheartmaytag]

Ranking in order

Best

1.  Commercial gas, I think it was a Capital.  Six burners up top, and an oven that would bake (evenly I might add) 12 pies at a time.  (1978).  At the restaurant I worked at all our pies were homemade.  We baked close to 30 a day.  It wasn't self cleaning, but it was very easy to clean oven wise.  

 

2.  Commercial convection, electric (197-)  Double swing out doors.  Sweet oven

 

3.  GE P-7 electric (1979).  By far the best home range we have had.  Our first self-cleaner, gave it to cousin when we moved, it was avocado--should have had it painted.  

 

4.  Maytag Slide in Convection electric (1997). My first home convection range. No where as dependable as the GE.  In 16 years it went through about eight bake elements.  Not to mention the electronics.  Which is why I got rid of it. 

 

5.  GE smooth top convection w/hidden element, electric (2013).  My current range.  I was afraid of the hidden element at first.  Still don't think it browns as well.  Otherwise happy with the results. 

 

Worst

6.  Tappan BOL builder grade gas.  (1987)  It would burn the bottom, and one side, the top and other side would be raw.  Could not regulate.  Wouldn't brown for nothing.  

 

Before my time my Mom had a Westinghouse she claimed was the best ever.  Double oven 40", griddle in the middle with deep well on back right.  She lost that range to hubby #1 and his whore.  

 

[cornutt]

In college I lived in a university-owned apartment (with two other guys), and it had an late-1960s BOL Roper gas range. It was nearly impossible to put anything in the oven and not have it come out burned on the bottom. It burned TV dinners. And the burners pretty much had two settings: full blast and off. It was very hard to set the valve to anything in between and have it stay there.

 

[wayupnorth]

I had them all

Electric or gas. My old Whirlpool double oven electric was the best baking and terrible top cooking, but any gas cooktop is fine with me. My niece has a Jenn Air 5 gas burner top with 2 electric ovens. one is convection. That stove rocks and wish it was mine. Gas ovens just dont seem to bake right in my opinion any more. Pizza in my neighbors GE electric is so much better than mine in my gas Whirlpool.

 

[maytagbear]

Worst?

was the 1980something coil-top Tappan electric that was here when I moved in. Oven was good, but cooktop was awful. Dead spots in the elements. Cooking was nearly impossible, and forget trying to stirfry. Manual clean oven.

Second worst was a 1960s something GE in my second apartment. Oven was good, if very small, HATED, just hated those pushbuttons for the cooktop. Also bad cooktop elements. Another manual clean electric.

I've never owned a bad gas range. Any baking failures have been entirely my own error.

I love my 2011 gas Whirlpool. This one has Whirlpool'a "Accu-Bake" system, and I have had great success. The only burning has been due to operator error, that is, I slept through the timer. Like waist high smokeless broiling! Cooktop is wonderful. I love the power burner and the simmer burner. Power burner is 13,000 BTU, simmer burner about 1,800. Other two are 9,000. Self cleaning oven! I'd buy it again.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[norgeway]

Ive used everything...

I like the 72 Westinghouse I have now, the 55 Norge was the most even baking oven ever,tried 4 or 5 GEs but am not impressed, a Frigidaire is a all around good stove, gas is too slow for boiling, but to me a gas oven is best for very delicate baking,overall though, the Norge had the all around best oven.

 

[vacerator]

My 1988

TOL Magic Chef gas self clean range. Small uniburners must have only been 500 btu's.
No large burner, all small. The oven did work well, for what little baking and roasting I did. One Thanksgiving turkey turned out nice I recall.
I suppose once one learns how to cook properly, they can cook on just about any stove.
One local appliance store TV commercial used to say "Teach a man to fish, he eats for a day. Sell him a stove, he eats for life."
Another featured the owner wearing an Imperial margarine style crown and red velvet kossack saying; I'll give you 5 pounds of coffee if I can't beat your best deal.

 

[panthera]

Best and worst both early '50s

Best oven, hands down: 1953 Westinghouse Rainbow.

Worst everything: Same year Monarch.

 

[toploader55]

Most of all Domestic Ranges I've used have been electric.

My favorites are (Vintage) Frigidaire, GE, and Westinghouse. I have a 2004 Kenmore that also cooks and bakes quite well. The Kenmore is next up from BOL and I have no issues with it when in place.

The WORST ever is my Dad's Bosch from around 2006. Smooth Glass top and detest the way it Cook and Bakes. The Wall oven is used to store Chips and Crackers as it has been serviced 6-7 times and the Techs claim there is nothing wrong with it. I always love to cook where ever I go but will always pass up a chance to make anything on that stove.

Commercially, Gas of course.

South Bend is my favorite. Vulcan and Garland used to be but quality like most things have gone down.

Ovens... Blodgett. They always have been the best.

 

[panthera]

B/S/H stove update?

I ended up buying the then top of the line Siemens integrated hob/oven with self-cleaning and microwave (rare in Germany in the 1980s) when an upstairs water leak destroyed my kitchen.

The oven worked great.

So well, I bought a MOL Siemens for my last condo in Germany, knowing I'd be leaving for the 'States soon.

It was awful. Oven horribly unreliable.

A few years later, I read in Stiftung Warentest (CR, but a bit better written) that B/S/H had released an update to several units in that series to fix just those problems.

You might want to check with the manufacturer back in Germany. Their North American division has its ups and downs when it comes to recalls and updates. Might well be that you have the same problem I did.

 

 

[ilovewindex]

Kenmore Elite by Frigidaire..EWWW

Used my friends 2007 Vintage Kenmore Elite with push buttons and every option known to man

The rf power burner is so slow, i think a turtle can cross the US faster
the lf bunner is about as bad and right as you get done, then right as you get done cooking, they go full blast and you will burn stiff.. Oh and the coating is peeling off the cooktop glass, which i've never seen

The over does rock... Very well, even on convection

 

[ea56]

The best range I've ever used was a 1939 40" Westinghouse Commander that was in a duplex we rented in the early 80's. It was purchased new by the previous tenant and I still have the cookbook/owners manual and cardboard tag that was on the range when it was sold. The lady that bought it was 93 yrs old when she moved out, so she was probably in her 50's when she bought it. I used to have the pan for the deepwell cooker too, but many yrs ago I gave this to a coworker that needed a large pot. The oven was so even and baked perfectly and all the burners worked well too. When the oven stopped working I called the landlord. I thought he would have it repaired, but since he thought we were such good tenants he bought a new Magic Chef range and had it installed while we were at work. It was OK, but there was no comparison to the Westinghouse. Our current BOL GE electric range that we purchased in 12-2014 is just about as good as the 1939 Westinhouse as far as baking, even temp and burners, it just doesn't have the charm of the Westinghouse.

Now the worst range I ever had was a mol Maytag coil top purchased new in 1995. I had to replace the themostat 3 times on the right front burner. It would all the sudden go out of control while on a lower temp setting and switch to high, very dangerous. And the enameled sheet metal under the right front burner completely disintergrated due to the heat of the burner, not from boilovers or failing to clean. Within 5 yrs. I needed to replace that stove. It was poorly made junk.
Eddie

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

I would say my mom's 'Designer Series (Montgomery Ward) by Tappan'--she had that for a lesser-period of time than the Tappan (which she'd dismissed that Monkey Wards range as being a "TRUE Tappan", but I could tell from the owner's guide lay-out that it WASN'T--just a cheap store brand, of which we would NEVER buy, other than being Bradford people when dad worked at Grant's, to a photo of a Kenmore push-button range peeking out of a kitchen door in one of our family photos of me in my high chair, in a scrap book)...

I liked the analog clock/timer set up--it reminded me of Grandma's Kelvinator though without the 4-hour capability and meat thermometer her's had... But to me it was just plain, cheap and bland... Just one cut over the range without a storage drawer, no oven window, only ONE eight-inch burner, and probably just came in white...

Any way the reason it had been gotten rid of was that thermostat in the oven was going off kilter; just like this other range you're gonna read about...
<p> 

It should be MOM, really, who didn't like it...

 

Next-to-worst: The Tappan with the microwave, mostly because the oven thermostat went wonky, and that was after the microwave over the cooktop quit...  We resigned ourselves to a counter-top microwave, on the basement bar, then on our unused dishwasher (the worst dishwasher we'd ever owned: Granny's portable Kenmore)... 

Did I mention the florescent light that had the vertical lines going through the tube? That range was the retailer's (Highland Appliance) floor sample/display model, so most-likely the surface light must have always been on when it was in the store causing it to be on its way to burning out...  The oven light was on when the range was delivered...  

Mom HATED that surface light being on--and didn't EVER want it on (why I don't know--but she equally hates me ever getting water from the refrigerator's water dispenser, although the ice she can tolerate, until a monster-jam resulted in her just going to the ice tray; she was that way about her fridge & during the couple years she had left after we'd moved here, even MINE!)...  

It did NOT HELP that an attempted repair to change that light bulb, me buying the replacement florescent tube, that only fit that fixture, and all--resulted in a < < POP! > > and a small shower of sparks, after I re-installed the metal housing, under the microwave, over the range-top, that I partially removed from the underside, overhead, as the glass area over-looking the range from the rear, didn't look like out was designed to be removed--unless I was supposed to do the "operation" from the back of the stove--but know what? The owner's manual gave NO INFO how to change that florescent bulb! --So, thereafter, the light did not work, at all... And hopefully the new tube could easily just be returned to the store...

In other words, I couldn't get inside to replace that surface light bulb and completely gave up!

Then furthermore, some of our cats sat on the burners, and I turned 'em on to shoo 'em off...  And really, the ire of them sitting there, was out of the smell of burning urine that emitted from the heating elements overtime the stove was turned on--resulting in the cats giving out a highly-guilty look, then running as if a pit bull was chasing them!

Yes, it seems as though the cats were spraying their piss on top of the stove, in these fancy, round cat urinals--much like other areas of the house, kitties were going to the bathroom in, on, or around, part of the many an on-going battle, during the litter-box wars...

-- Dave[this post was last edited: 5/31/2016-13:46]

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Both of these ranges were Electric: (just an FYI)

So far, WORST:

 

I would say my mom's 'Designer Series (Montgomery Ward) by Tappan'--she had that for a lesser-period of time than the Tappan before it, that boasted a microwave over the cook-top, in a high-low design... (And which she'd dismissed that Monkey Wards range as being a "TRUE Tappan", but I could tell from the owner's guide lay-out that it WASN'T--just a cheap store brand, of which we would NEVER buy, other than being Bradford people when dad worked at Grant's, to a photo of a Kenmore push-button range peeking out of a kitchen door in one of our family photos of me in my high chair, in a scrap book)...

 

I liked the analog clock/timer set up--it reminded me of Grandma's Kelvinator though without the 4-hour capability and meat thermometer her's had...

 

But to me it was just plain, cheap and bland... Just one cut over the range without a storage drawer, no oven window, only ONE eight-inch burner, and probably just came in white... Any way the reason it had been gotten rid of was that thermostat in the oven was going off kilter; just like this other range you're gonna read about...

 

It should be MOM, really, who didn't like it...

 

Next-to-worst: The Tappan with the microwave, mostly because the oven thermostat went wonky, and that was after the microwave over the cooktop quit...  We resigned ourselves to a counter-top microwave, on the basement bar, then on our unused dishwasher (the worst dishwasher we'd ever owned: Granny's portable Kenmore)... 

 

Did I mention the florescent light that had the vertical lines going through the tube? That range was the retailer's (Highland Appliance) floor sample/display model, so most-likely the surface light must have always been on when it was in the store causing it to be on its way to burning out...  The oven light was on when the range was delivered...  

 

Mom HATED that surface light being on--and didn't EVER want it on (why I don't know--but she equally hates me ever getting water from the refrigerator's water dispenser, although the ice she can tolerate, until her one day being a bit too impatient for the ice to finally tumble down straight into her cup or glass, resulted in her just going to the ice tray; she was that way about her fridge & during the couple years she had left after we'd moved here, even MINE!)...  

 

It did NOT HELP that an attempted repair to change that light bulb, me buying the replacement florescent tube, that only fit that fixture, and all--resulted in a < < POP! > > and a small shower of sparks, after I re-installed the metal housing, under the microwave, over the range-top, that I partially removed from the underside, overhead, as the glass area over-looking the range from the rear, didn't look like out was designed to be removed--unless I was supposed to do the "operation" from the back of the stove...

 

--Oh, but you know what? The owner's manual gave NO INFO how to change that florescent bulb! --So, thereafter, the light did not work, at all... And hopefully the new tube could easily just be returned to the store... In other words, I couldn't get inside to replace that surface light bulb and completely gave up!

 

Then furthermore, some of our cats sat on the burners, and I turned 'em on to shoo 'em off...  And really, the ire of them sitting there, was out of the smell of burning urine that emitted from the heating elements overtime the stove was turned on--resulting in the cats giving out a highly-guilty look, then running as if a pit bull was chasing them!

 

Yes, it seems as though the cats were spraying their piss on top of the stove, in these fancy, round, cat urinals--much like other areas of the house, kitties were going to the bathroom in, on, or around, part of the many an on-going battle, during the litter-box wars...

 

 

 

-- Dave

[this post was last edited: 5/31/2016-17:36]

 

[ea56]

Dave

I loved your story about the cats pissing on your stove! Forty yrs. ago one evening I was stir frying some vegetables on my electric stove when I smelled a very bad odor. I thought at first, maybe its a bad onion, then it quickly became clear that no onion smelled like that. I lifted the cast iron frying pan of the burner and I could see cat urine boiling in the drip pan. My big orange male Tabby had a habit of "spite pissing" on things when he was mad at me, but this was a first. The next week I had just finished cooking dinner when Nookie, my cat jumped up on the stove. He backed his ass up to the still very hot burner and burnt himself! That was the last time he ever got on that stove. I never laughed so hard!
BTW, the stove was a Whirlpool, probably about a 1972 model. One thing that I really liked about this stove was the continuous cleaning oven. The finish on the oven interior was kind of rough and the temp from baking would continuously keep anything from baking on the surface. It was better than self cleaning as there was no smoke or excessive heat running a cleaning cycle. I wish they still offered this type of oven interior.
Eddie

 

[polkanut]

The two best stoves I ever had the pleasure of using were my Mom & Grandma's Monarch gas ranges.  Mom's was a white 30" free-standing range from the early to mid 50's that was in the house when they bought it in 1967 and was replaced in 1984 with a MOL GE gas range.  Grandma's was a 30" 1964 drop-in range in shaded brown that she got new when she had her kitchen remodeled.  Both had standing pilot lights for the burners and oven.  Those ovens were the best for proofing yeast doughs.  Grandma replaced her range in the mid 1990's with something cheap just before she moved into assisted living.

 

[turquoisedude]

The worst ranges I ever had were both electric - the early 70s Roy (possibly a re-badged Gibson) and a 1976 Admiral.  The Roy was in my second apartment and in Dorval and had the worst heating oven I ever dealt with - totally uneven and uncontrollable.  Added bonus, if I tried to use any three surface units, I blew out the lights in the apartment above me!   The Admiral was the stove that came with the second house we bought in Mountain Lakes.  It was so-so for baking but there was little to no insulation and the stove top got dangerously hot when using the oven and surface elements. 

 

Possibly the best range I ever had was what replaced the nasty Admiral - a 1962 McClary that was also my first turquoise range.  It was very well insulated - possibly the only vintage oven that was true to all temperature settings without some jiggery-pokery.