Why are gas wall ovens disappearing?

[mavei511]

I don't have one,but I have noticed that gas wall ovens have been slowly disappearing from the market,with fewer and fewer models available on the market each year. How come?

I have seen a number of people decline to replace built-ins and replace them with a freestanding range. I think it's because of the hight costs of replacing built-ins. They did this in the house next door to us. It had 1960 GE built-ins that were replaced by a black ceramic top Kenmore electric range.
To do this the carpenter removed the cooktop and cut out the section of cabinet so a freestanding range would slide in and fit.Hope they closed up the remaining open ends of the cabinbet.they removed the oven and put up shelves in the remaining cavity. I have also seen the oven cavity turned into a cupboard.

I take it that many people with gas wall ovens will be taking take the above approach instead of replacng the gas oven? Or are people calling an electrician and switching to electric?

My late aunt was lucky. When her 1967 Caloric gas wall oven needed replacing,she was able to replace it with a Maytag double electric oven because it was prewired for electric when the kitchen was originally remodeled back then. She had declined GE electric built-ins in favor of opting for Caloric gas models.

 

[passatdoc]

Built-ins, as you mentioned, are expensive. In addition, some advanced features, such as convection, are available in gas ranges but not generally in gas wall ovens. Convection is also available in electric built in ovens or ranges, but if you want to cook with gas, the options are either a gas convection range (many makes and models now, though ten years ago only a few companies made them) or a dual-fuel range with gas cooktop and electric oven (and this of course means either a range or slide-in, not built-ins).

Some friends of mine recently renovated her parents' mid-century home. I think the cabinets were in good shape, because it had been built as a custom home, rather than a tract, and they left the original appliance configuration the same, while upgrading countertops, appliances, and floors. There were very few choices to upgrade their gas wall oven, none with advanced features. They could choose between GE, Frigidaire, and a few other makes.

I have some other friends who do have a convection gas wall oven, some Australian make ("Commodore"?) which they had to order custom when they redid their kitchen while keeping a gas wall oven configuration in their 1960s home. I also remember seeing a Los Angeles higher end retailer with an Italian brand of gas wall oven that had convection, but haven't seen it recently on their website.

The market for ELECTRIC wall built in ovens is still strong, but not for gas wall ovens.

PS checking out the website of Universal Kitchen Appliance in the LA area (the retailer mentioned above), Blue Star does make a 24" (and larger) gas wall oven with convection, but look at the price tag: $2142. That would buy a pretty nice Jenn Air or Kitchen Aid 30" range. At that price point, you're close to the cost of a Dacor or other upscale range. The 30" model goes for $3300, at which point you are nearing the cost of a commercial steel range like DCS or Viking or Wolf or Thermador.

DeLonghi offers a 24" steel oven for $1200 but the webpage does not specify if convection is offered:

http://www.universal-akb.com/debig24ss.html

DeLonghi also offers a double oven, upper is electric/convection and lower is gas, for $2000. This would require a 240V line AND a gas line at the same location---ok if you are doing a total remodel, but not so easy to install if you are upgrading but not tearing out cabinets. A few years ago Universal Kitchen used to offer a different Italian brand that offered convection in a gas wall oven for a price under $1000, but I don't remember the brand, it wasn't as well known as DeLonghi.

Electric built-ins with convection aren't super cheap, but you can for example get 30" double Frigidaire electric built ins for roughly $1500 a pair if you shop around:

http://www.universal-akb.com/fget3045kw.html[this post was last edited: 5/5/2010-02:44]

http://www.universal-akb.com/bl24sigaswao.html

 

[rapunzel]

Same in Australia

Gas wall ovens are still available, but the choice is very small now. We are still using our original 22 year old Westinghouse gas convection wall oven with separate gas broiler compartment. It's starting to show its age, but still works great. The newer gas ovens only offer electric broilers now, which is a bit strange. We would go all gas again if we could, but it seems that this will not be possible anymore.

We phoned around trying to find someone willing to service and restore our current oven, without success. Someone did come out once to have a look and left saying that he would have to source and price the parts, but we never heard from him again. A big shame really.

 

[toggleswitch]

Gas wall-ovens are 24 inches wide. In a pyrolytic self-cleaner the oven cavity is small.

Electric wall-ovens are 24, 27 or 30 inches wide. One can also get a double-oven model. Gas double-oven models are rarer, if they exist (currently) at all.

Electric cooking is faster, safer, cleaner and cooler. Electric ovens are known for even heating and desirable reuslts, especially for those who bake a lot.

Gas ovens have a moist heat (as burning natural gas and/or propane gives off water vapor, as well as numerous poisonous gases and pollutants). This moist heat is said to be good for roasting meats.

So a one-piece range/stove/cooker offers a bigger oven and porbably costs the same or less as a separate cooktop alone; at least in this country.

Probably an ideal solution to replacing two electric pieces (a wall-oven and a cooktop) is to leave the wall oven intact and replace the cooktop with a one-piece freestanding gas range.

I'm not fond of the necessary oven vent coming into the kithcen of a gas wall-oven. It brings in heat, pollutants grease and a filmy substance that eventually coats everything in the room.

Interestingly, Frididaire brand has (had?) a way to vent these ovens out of the house, according to their website! And yes Fridigaire's website has one or two gas wall ovens and many many, many more electric ones. [this post was last edited: 5/5/2010-06:46]

 

[bajaespuma]

Oy, I got gas!

In 1960, GE was not producing any gas cooking appliances or gas dryers. Gas ovens have been available in the same configurations as almost all electric ovens for years; it's the old rule of supply and demand. If you go to an appliance store in New York City, for example, you will still see a wide variety of gas wall ovens because apartment buildings are not going to switch over to electric just because some new tenant wants it. As usual, the American manufacturers of very fine gas built-ins have been bought out by larger corporations and they all buy their gas ovens from one source. They produce a couple of models designed to replace the old classics as poorly as possible for as high profit as possible. Also, a lot of these products are poorly designed and engineered; a lot of customers who switch to gas cooking via propane, discover that the burners in these ovens and on stove tops have reduced BTU output thanks to the cheap conversion kits that these companies supply which, for some reason(because it doesn't have to happen), restricts the amount of gas/second to the orifice. One friend of mine found that his new Maytag gas stove couldn't bring a pot of water for pasta to a boil. When I checked his stove's specs with him, we found out that when converted to propane, his most powerful burner went from 11K BTU to only 9K. Bringing good things to life. And y'all wonder why I'm such a commie.

European manufacturers, such as Gaggenau and Miele still produce and sell a good variety of Gas built-in ovens with pyrolitic self-clean(which, oddly enough, is becoming less and less important to me as time goes on) and rotisseries, probes, Sabbath modes and such.

Gas ovens generally do need to be vented and some cannot be installed undercounter like most electric ovens. I don't understand why, because gas ranges can and are.

 

[hydralique]

Built-ins are much less common than back in their heyday in the '50s-70s. A built in oven steals 27"-38" of countertop space (unless mounted under the cooktop), and homeowners are now more interested in countertop space than the convenience of an eye-level oven. In addition, Viking changed the industry starting in the '80s when they were formed to market high-end commercial type ranges for residential use. Remember that these aren't really commercial ranges, but very nicely made high output ranges with lots of features for home use. All of a sudden, having one of these became much more stylish for a luxury home than built-ins. As usual there has been a trickle down over the years that has lead to mass-market manufacturers like GE offering stainless ranges with big, clunky knobs. It's cheaper for builders to install these than built-ins, plus of course that extra counter space is nice in a normal size kitchen.

Manufacturers of wall ovens have reacted to their diminished market in a predictble fashion: they've ruthlessly pared their models down, and I suspect it's cheaper to make electric ovens with features like convection and self-cleaning, plus of course timers are simpler. Most people seem to prefer gas cooktops, but most don't care about an oven, so the diminished choice probably has very little affect on sales. The fact that most new gas wall ovens are 24" wide shows that this is primarily a replacement market for people who don't have a suitable electric outlet already in place behind their oven. BTW, gas wall ovens are still available in a 36" width, so there is a small high-end market as well.

 

[mavei511]

Gas ovens can be vented but nobody wants to bother

In 1970,my parents had Kenmore brushed chrome-plate (we call it SS now)gas built-ins installed(my dad worked for Sears).He told the workmen he wanted the oven vented to the outside.Indeed,I saw the knockout on top of the oven and reminded them what he wanted. They refused and installed the oven anyway,saying it wasn't necessary or practical.

BTW,for all of her 61 years,my late mother never cooked on electric.She refused to use an electric stove.

 

[tomturbomatic]

If any of you remember expensive Tradewinds vent hoods, you often saw them installed in a set up with a vent in the cabinet above the oven to carry off fumes, vapors and occasionally, smoke.

Today homes are built with sufficient electrical service capacity to allow an electric oven, regardless of the choice of cooktop. It is much cheaper to run the wire for the oven than to plumb gas for it. Also, unless the oven has a separate special high intensity burner for broiling, you get far more infrared heat from a glowing electrical element for better broiling.

Actually there is a big difference between chrome and stainelss steel; chrome being a plated surface and stainless steel a uniform alloy all the way through.

 

[classiccaprice]

slightly off topic...

My house went from built ins to a standard range. It was done by the people who flipped my house. I imagine it was a cost cutting measure, however they didn't close in the hole in the cabinets where the wall oven was. It's very frustrating and looks bad. I would have rather have had the built ins, but with the original cabinet gone, the chances of getting it to look right are slim to none.

 

[sudsmaster]

I wonder if it's for safety/insurance/code reasons.

When I went looking for a gas drop-in range to replace the electric one in my patio kitchen, I discovered that one cannot (at least in my area) buy a new gas drop-in range. But I found an older gas model (Modern Maid) on Craigslist anyway. The alternative is to cut the cabinetry to the floor and use a slide-in range instead.

But one can still buy new electric drop-in ranges.

I'm thinking it's the oven that is the issue, but I'm not quite sure.

Personally I prefer stand-alone ranges, but this house was remodeled in the 70's and the free standing range was replaced by a cooktop and wall oven - both electric. I replaced the electric cooktop with a gas model, but I sort of like the electric wall oven (24" GE P*7). Most of my cooking of meats is outside on a covered patio in the covered gas rotisserie grill, but the self-cleaning feature of the electric wall oven can't be beat.

 

[norgeway]

Im wierd BUT!!!

I like a gas oven much better,to me the heat is much more even,but I am not crazy about gas top burners..just the opposite of what most people like,the old style gas oven,with a pilot lite and modulating thermostat maintains a much more even temperature,when baking delicate things like layer or pound cakes,I would much rather have a gas oven!

 

[appnut]

You're right, not much of an option any more. Before Amana was sold off to Maytag from Raytheon and such, I remember they had a double gas oven that was self-cleaning. But I think it was only 24", I don't think anyone egver made a wider gas wall oven.

 

[markk290]

Gas Wall Oven in Ohio

Caught this after work tonight. It's in Youngstown, Ohio. If anyone is interested let me know we can work something out as far as me picking it up and holding it till you can get it. Mark
P.S. Not sure how to post directly to the add on craigslist. It is from 5-5-2010. this is the add to look at Kenmore gas wall oven - $75 (Youngstown, Ohio) pic.

http://[email protected]

 

[tomturbomatic]

When I bought my house in 92, there was a new Kenmore slide in gas self-cleaner. I promptly put an ad in the paper to sell it. When we were removing it, we took off a narrow strip of metal that went from the back of the stove to the backsplash. What a tale of woe that strip of metal hid. The vent for the oven was centered at the back of the cooktop. There must have been some excitement when they tried the self-clean cycle because there was all of this charred countertop near the oven vent. It seems like there should have been an insulated shroud for the vent. I believe this is the answer to why gas ovens cannot be installed under the counter. They vent far more heated air into the room to begin with to provide a draft for the burner, but the amount of hot gases it would expell during a self-clean cycle would probably severely damage the counter above it, possibly to the point where the fire department would be rushing into your kitchen.

 

[passatdoc]

Whereas a self-clean free-standing gas range with an overhead vented hood is less problematic. When self-clean is run, you just turn on the hood fan and leave it on for the duration of the cleaning cycle.

 

[sudsmaster]

Fortunately the wall directly behind the drop in range in the patio kitchen here is lined with a nice patterned stainless. Also the oven I'm to be putting in (if I ever get around to extending the gas line to that location) will not have self-cleaning ability. In fact I'll probably never use the oven there, just the top burners.

On a related note, yesterday I spied at Costco a very neat and tidy combination camping stove/oven. The oven cavity was about 2 cu ft, enough for a small pizza or a dozen or so muffins. Two propane burners on top, about 5,500 BTU each, and self-igniting. Brass burners, too. Not too cheap, though at $150. I don't go camping enough to need such a contraption, but I imagine those who like to car or truck camp might find it useful.