Mid-priced ovens?

OK, before I've had a chance to take all the good advice on Miele vacuum cleaners, I now find I need a new oven. And fairly quickly. (The door froze shut last night with dinner inside.) My current one is irreparable as they no longer make the oven or it's component parts.

Not a good summer so far.

I'm reeling from the financial implications but it looks like you can get something mid-range for $1000-2000. (My 20 year old Dacor came with our appt. and I'm really going to miss it.)

Anyone have any experience/strong recs (pro or con) in that range? Or recs about dealers to run to (or away from)? I'm looking at Home Depot, Sears, Abt.

Oy vey iss mir. I have such a headache.

I don't have any recommendations for new ovens, not having been in the market for several years, but I do have a resource for parts and repair advice for your old one. Automatic Applince Parts Corp. has a huge stock of parts for just about any stove you can imagine.

About 6 months ago, I struck out trying to find a replacement burner for my MIL's ancient Amana electric stove. Even the factory didn't have a clue ( they stopped making this particular model decades ago). I gave Autotmatic a try and they not only had the part in stock, but the guy behind the counter know enough to ask exactly which of the back burners I was looking for because even though they looked alike, there was a wiring difference without even having to look up the info on his computer. I've gotten stove parts from them for my much more modern Kenmore stove as well. Give them a shot. You may be able to salvage Old Bessie if that is what you would like to do.

Automatic Appliance Parts Corp
7757 W. Lawrence
Norridge, IL
708-453-8254
800-323-0270

I'm very pleased with my GE Profile range. I didn't think I'd use the convection oven much, but in fact it's wonderful for all kinds of roasts, especially chicken. It's enough faster to make roast chicken a reasonable weekday dinner--something that was not possible before. The oven is also bigger than many, which is also important to me.

I'm also pleased with the high capacity burner. There's a built-in probe thermometer that I don't think is very accurate, so I'm not using that, but I do sometimes use the timed cooking feature.

Mine has a glass cooktop, which I like but don't see on the current models. Mine does not include the oval center grate, though the other grates are conveniently continuous.

I ended up buying mine at Sears, since I wanted a Kenmore fridge and dishwasher anyway, and had a very helpful salesperson there (after I ditched an un-helpful one). But Abt is the largest appliance store in the universe for good reasons, and we've often purchased from them.

I don't have personal experience based on everyday use (my much hated range just won't die), but I've looked at and read specs and seen demos of a lot of stoves.

I take it you are looking for an oven only? Not a range? And you don't say whether gas or electric, but if it's an oven only, then electric self cleaning with a high-BTU broiler is the way to go.

The GE Trivection is really intriguing, and lived up to its hype in the demos I've seen. http://www.geappliances.com/trivection I especially like the fact that you program with times from a traditional recipe and it does the adaptation to its new technology.

This isn't the case with GE's Advantium, although I'd love to own one of those, too. http://www.geappliances.com/advantium/home.htm

Alas, the kitchen remodel that would be required is not even in the remote future.

Hi,

Sources for purchasing your stove or oven is through Sears Appliance Outlet store or Plass Appliances has an outlet on Army Trail Road just west of 53. Especially with Plass, you can often buy a high end appliance at substantially lower prices. These are either dinged or display items.

I bought my GE gas cooktop for half price because there was no box though it came with a full warranty. No big deal, it fit nicely in my trunk.

Regards,

Mr. B, again I think you're getting good advice and you can find many fine products in the price range you gave. I spent big on the ovens I currently have and (mildly) regret it. Unless you get into serious baking, all the products listed above will do just fine (I recently used a GE at a friend's house, which started my regret over my own choice). If you do intend to get serious about baking, and are willing to sell a kidney to get one, there's always the Gaggenau EB388. Warning, don't try the "sell a kidney" strategy if you decide to get two Gaggenaus.

I purchased a new range last August and have been so happy with it. It's a Kenmore Ultra Bake----Triple Task. I really love it. It's the best of both worlds since it has both a gas and electric oven. There are two power burners for very high heat and a true simmer burner for when you need that as well. The electric oven can also be used as a warming oven, so there's another great feature. Bonus- it looks great, I got the stainless model, so it was a bit more money. It cost around $1200, but they had a sale at the time--I don't remember the exact amount. I really did a lot of research and comparison shopping and am so pleased with this product. I cook and bake a lot and have not found a thing I didn't like about this range in the year that I've had it. It may be worth a look for you.

Thanks to all for terrific, on-target info.

For the record: It's an electric oven without a range. (The cooktop is gas and separate.)

It's good to hear about the Profile and the Kenmores being worthy. I did go to the GE site and was looking at those. Trivection sounds a Star Treky for me, but I'm a Luddite.

C2 -- Do these outlets to installation? I'm not sure I'm ready to install a whole oven, or dispose of an old one. Nor do I have a car, though I suppose I could rent a van if the deal was that great.

C2 -- Do these outlets to installation? I'm not sure I'm ready to install a whole oven, or dispose of an old one. Nor do I have a car, though I suppose I could rent a van if the deal was that great.

Yes, they do delivery at both places.

My most recent kitchen appliance was my KitchenAid dishwasher at Plass. My Dad had a meeting nearby, so I asked him to stop over. My Dad was on the cellphone, I am on my computer checking out the model he's looking at and sight unseen, I bought the dishwasher. The salesman kept commenting he'd never seen anything like our performance before. The next day they delivered, installed and took away the old dishwasher.

From Sears Outlet, I bought an oven for a rental apartment. They delivered, installed and took away the beast.

I realize this may not be appropriate for you, though it may be for someone else. Many teardowns in my area have very well equipped kitchens. If you are patient, persistent and have a feel for what price is right, then you can find all the cabinetry and major appliances at very good prices.

My KitchenAid oven I bought via the want-ads. It was a bachelor who had never used the double-oven. It still had stickers on the interior as well as the broiling pan. He now wanted an all-white kitchen, so my black oven was redundant. I paid $200 for a $1,500+ oven. It was summer, I wasn't baking much and had the luxury of time to wait out the good deal.

Good luck!

Regards,

Hi,

My oven is asking for retirement. This summer the self-cleaning stopped working. Recently during regular baking cycles it will now unexpectedly blow a fuse to rest while cooking. I run downstairs and reset it, then it continues working. While some of this flakiness is due to a several hundred dollar part, we don't feel very inclined to repair it.

I am looking at a convection oven, which also has a microwave for speed cooking. Is the microwave speed cooking a nice gimmick, which after the purchase is rarely used? While I am happy to finally get a convection oven, I am wondering about the microwave part. Does anyone out there have any experience with this microwave-convection combination?

Regards,

We've been browsing the major appliance vendors and websites, and I don't think I've seen many ovens with micro and convec in a conventional oven. More often, you see an electric oven with convection on the bottom, and a microwave in the same whole wall unit on the top.

Many years ago, Sue and I received a standalone Micro/Convec oven as a wedding gift, which we hauled through several moves. It was about four times the volume of a typical microwave, heavy as a Buick. It did a nice job with dishes that would come out as mush, such as a breaded chicken, but it always seemed like a gimmick. The convec part eventually kicked the bucket, and it was just a too-heavy micro.

LAZ wrote:The GE Trivection is really intriguing, and lived up to its hype in the demos I've seen. http://www.geappliances.com/trivection I especially like the fact that you program with times from a traditional recipe and it does the adaptation to its new technology.

This isn't the case with GE's Advantium, although I'd love to own one of those, too. http://www.geappliances.com/advantium/home.htm

I haven't used either of these, but the demonstrations I've seen are really intriguing. Perhaps the demo recipes were specially selected, but the food seemed just like conventionally prepared dishes, but cooked at dramatically faster speeds.

I imagine, like regular microwaves, there's a learning curve as you get used to what the oven can do and how long it takes.

In my line of work, we've bought several hundred stoves over the last couple of years. The vast majority have been GE Profile, and we've had very few problems with them. GE has also been very good about fixing any of the few problems that have arisen.

Abt's has been an outstanding supplier. One I'd be willing to pay a slight premium for. Just recently, through no fault but my own, I ordered an incorrect warming drawer for a client. Within a week Abt was on site to swap out the wrong for the right, not even batting an eye that the contractor had thrown out the packaging.

-ramon

HI,

Thanks for the feedback so far. The oven I am looking at is a Thermador which has its microwave-convection referred to as "speed cooking." Has anyone seen demonstrations of it?

I made a pie and cake this afternoon, I had to reset the fuse 3X. While I have been kicking tires about this oven it seems to be reaching critical mass.

Regards,

My one experience with the microwave/convection system in my GE microwave/range hood was the one that burnt the sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving. Not saying it may not work, somehow, on some unit, but my one experience didn't exactly make me want to try again.

Hi,

I decided to forgo the bells and whistles of a combo oven featuring conventional-convection-microwave cooking. I decided since I work at home, I didn't need the speed boost feature. I ended up acquiring a KitchenAid double convection oven, which surprised me with a Sabbath mode. I may not use this feature but a subsequent owner of this house might.

Regards,

Miracles happen! I've finally convinced Mrs. F that for economy of space, installation costs and features, we're better off with electric than gas ovens.

We're settling on a GE Profile double oven, in part due to its better interior space than any but the most expensive. In far too many of the ovens, the broiler element sticks far down, the convection fan box sticks far in from the back, and the least acceptable feature is a visible heating element on the bottom of the oven without a floor above it.

GE has several very similar models. The one we picked wasn't on the floor at Abt, but for an extra $300, you get glass-touch controls (big whip-e-do) and a proofing mode, which was the clincher for her.

I'm delighted you finally got your oven, Cathy. I've been using my convection more and more. The latest was pumpkin seeds, which I "convection roasted" at 250 for a couple of hours. It worked very well. I'm also increasingly confident using the convection bake feature, most recently for biscuits and corn bread. So far so good.

Cathy2 wrote:I ended up acquiring a KitchenAid double convection oven, which surprised me with a Sabbath mode. I may not use this feature but a subsequent owner of this house might.

I was reading the instructions for some other feature, when I finally read what happens under Sabbath mode:

The Sabbath Mode sets the oven to remain on in a bake setting until turned off.

When the Sabbath Mode is set, only the Bake cycle will operate. All other cooking and cleaning cycles are disabled. No tones will sound, and the displays will not indicate temperature changes. When the oven door is opened or closed, the oven light will not turn on or off and the heating elements will not turn on or off
immediately.

Cathy2 wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:I ended up acquiring a KitchenAid double convection oven, which surprised me with a Sabbath mode. I may not use this feature but a subsequent owner of this house might.

I was reading the instructions for some other feature, when I finally read what happens under Sabbath mode:

The Sabbath Mode sets the oven to remain on in a bake setting until turned off.

How is this different than turning on the oven before sunset on Friday and turning it off before you go to bed on Saturday?

stevez wrote:How is this different than turning on the oven before sunset on Friday and turning it off before you go to bed on Saturday?

Many ovens will shut off automatically after 8 hours.

HI,

Plus for the observant, it is important the lights not work and the timer does not go off.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

Plus for the observant, it is important the lights not work and the timer does not go off.

Regards,

OK. Well I guess it's easier than unscrewing the light bulb and not setting the timer.

My oven has a similar feature, I didn't realize it was the Sabbath thing.

You set how long you want it to cook, at what temp, and when it should stop. I guess it counts backwards from that when setting when to turn itself on. So you could set it before the Sabbath, and just open the door and pop your roast in before you know it's going to start.

leek wrote:My oven has a similar feature, I didn't realize it was the Sabbath thing.

You set how long you want it to cook, at what temp, and when it should stop. I guess it counts backwards from that when setting when to turn itself on. So you could set it before the Sabbath, and just open the door and pop your roast in before you know it's going to start.

The Sabbath setting is primarily for warming. Foods consumed on Sabbath need to be substantially cooked and ready to eat before Sabbath because the prohibition is for cooking on the Sabbath. So a roast can be cooked to edible standards before Sabbath and "finish" in the oven for Friday night dinner but foods otherwise consumed on Sabbath need to be fully cooked and only heated in the oven or on the cooktop.

Cholent, the Eastern European Sabbath/holiday mainstay, is an invention of necessity, essentially cooked before Sabbath and kept at a low simmer until lunch on Saturday. It's a dish best reserved for Sabbath because once consumed, you're rendered immobile for hours.