Don't know if it matters but the GE cafe is a free standing gas range. On the first page of this appliance forum at the bottom did you type in the GE Cafe gas range?

I own the GE Cafe gas range and I simply love this unit. It is the best thing I ever purchased and I own Cafe microwave, dishwasher and refrigerator. If you love to bake it bakes to perfection. I find it so easy to care for. One thing are occasional heat stains which you can get out if you mix baking soda and water to make a paste and rub until it is removed than apply your stainless cleaner. You will not be disappointed in this magnificent gas range.

I do not own the GE Cafe gas range, but one of my good friends does. I have been considering the dual-fuel one so just last week I went over to her house to see hers and talk to her about it (the ones I've seen were not connected so I wanted to check out the flames, etc). She has had hers for almost a year and loves it. She cooks a lot and does basic baking (cookies, cakes, etc). She does have a piece of stainless steel behind hers but she had it there from her previous range. She's actually getting ready to do a kitchen redo this summer. She said you could purchase something that goes with the range from GE, but she also said that IKEA sells steel panels also. She hasn't quite figured out what she's going to put behind hers yet.

I can't remember if she has actually used the second smaller oven for cooking anything. She did pull it out and mentioned something about how she stores her pizza stones in there but I think she has at least used it to keep things warm.

I did specifically ask her if she would recommend it to me or if she had second thoughts about buying it, but she wholeheartedly recommended it to me. Made me feel better b/c I know it did get some negative reviews when I was looking online - issues mainly with the front right burner if I recall correctly.

Only negative she did mention is that the back burners are the ones designed for simmering but that usually simmering things needed to be stirred frequently so she wished that were different so she didn't have to reach to the back of the stove as much.

Oh, and the griddle gets frequent use for pancakes, quesadillas and sandwiches. She has never tried it for things like burgers or bacon. She did say that certain areas of the griddle did not get as hot so she had to cook pancakes in those areas a little longer than in the middle.

I purchased the GE Cafe gas range for my kitchen remodel and it was installed on 2/11/11. I am very happy with the way it functions, the convection bake, convection roast and the lower oven. The burners took a little while to get used to because they are much more powerful than my old range. Now that I am used to them I like them and the middle burner has been useful. The lower oven does take a long time to preheat for temps of 350 or above. My only complaint and it is a pretty big one, is the noise that the cooling fan for the main oven makes. The cooling fan comes on when baking or roasting above 325 degrees. I think it is quite loud. I had a GE repairman come out to look at it and he replaced the fan but it sounds just like the original one, LOUD. I am very disappointed and I don't know if I can get used to it. I don't know of another range that would have all these nice features and look as great as this one does. How do other owners feel about the noise from the cooling fan? I think it is about as loud as having a microwave running and it stays on for quite a while after oven is turned off. I would love to know what others think of the noise. It is certainly not something I ever expected.

I have narrowed it down to a 36 inch bertazzoni or the cafe (same price range). I believe that a lot of ranges now have a fan that runs all the time - I am also interested to see if other cafe owners are annoyed by it as well.
I am leaning toward the bertazzoni, because it seems sturdier. The cafe ranges that Ive seen in show rooms are pretty beat up - scratches, dents, missing knobs. Makes me wonder about quality down the road. The berta seems pretty solid, but I have concerns about servicing it - I only know of two repairmen in the area. At least it has a 2 yr warranty.

I just got mine today and i have cooks and baked with it.
love it its great.
I have ordered the GE profile range that has the same cook top and oven but different styling. GE could not delivery it, I got the GE cafe as a free upgrade.. even better.

To be completely honest and straight forward there is nothing wrong with the GE Cafe 30". It is great that you like the look of it and I sure do recommend it.

But in the long run you might be better off saving and getting a free standing range since they are a sure thing. The main reason why there are so many variations of reviews is simply because the quality of the range tends to vary.

Best stick with a free standing range, at the same time though if you really like the GE Cafe 30" then go for it =-D

Here is a link that might be useful: Gas Range Reviews

Bump! Anyone else care to post?

I've had the GE Cafe 30" for 2 years; chose it because of the extra oven (which it turns out I don't even use because of wiring issues!). The burners will usually go out on the simmer setting, and tend to be hard to adjust for flame size. The oven is large and bakes evenly, but will beep that it's ready 15 min. before it is, and the knobs get extremely hot when the oven's been on for a while. I think it's a good looking range, and not a bad choice in its category, but certainly not a great cooking machine.

Westtoeast, I posted earlier in this thread months ago when I was considering this range for myself. I have now owned and been using the GE Cafe range since late May. I have been very pleased with it.

I have not had any problems with the burners going out on the simmer setting, nor have my knobs gotten hot while the oven is in use. There were complaints when the range first came out about knobs melting, but the knobs were replaced on newer models. I've fortunately not experienced this problem with mine.

I have yet to use the lower oven so I can't attest to how that works. I will probably be testing it out at Thanksgiving - on second thought, I'll probably give it a test run before!

I have used the griddle quite a bit and love having that feature. I've only used it for things like pancakes, french toast and grilled cheese.

The only real complaint I have about the range is that the burners on the front both have higher BTUs. You can't simmer on either of them. I had a large pot of chili on the front burner and had it on the lowest setting and it still was boiling. I wish they had swapped out the burners so that they had one of the powerboil burners on back and simmer on front. When I'm making a pasta dish, I like to boil pasta on the back burner out of the way while preparing sauce on one of the front burners. Makes it less crowded. Plus, if I'm making something that needs to simmer, yet needs constant attention, like making a roux for homemade mac and cheese, I have to be very careful. The front burner is almost too hot at the lowest setting but the back burner is inconvenient - reaching to the back to regularly stir/whisk is a pain. That said, I would still buy this range if I were to make the decision again, but it would be nice if GE redesigned the burners.

Very easy to keep clean and maintain and looks appealing.

All in all, I've been very happy with this range so far.

I have this range for four years. In that time the front control panel has gone out twice! It costs over $600 to replace it. It just went out again & I am considering just getting a new stove. Don't buy this oven!!

Agreed! We have the dual oven GE Café. In five years the griddle has deteriorated, and igniters from both ovens have had to be replaced. Also the small upper oven does not distribute heat well-with the shallow depth items burn in the centre; it is under or cheaply engineered. The steel/aluminum casing is sub standard- it showed scratches within months. The burners ignition is inconsistent at best. All this from a "premium" $4,000 stove! will never buy a GE anything again....

I've had mine for about 5 years and have to say that we have loved it! Some of the burners now don't light reliably - I don't know if they are clogged or what. We sometimes use a barbecue lighter to light them, but that doesn't bother us. I've always considered that to be one of the benefits of gas. We use the middle grill/griddle a LOT -- pancakes on the griddle side, and then flip it over to grill meats and vegetables. We recently did hot dogs on it instead of roasting them outside in December weather (in the cold North!).

We LOVE the two ovens. The small upper oven is handy when we only want to cook something small. I've had cake in the upper oven and a full turkey in the bottom oven. The bottom oven has a rack that slides right out, to help load something heavy like a turkey. The convection is great.

Only complaint is that with 3 rows of burners ( 2 burners on the left, griddle burner in the middle, 2 burners on the right), it gets a bit crowded when using big pots and pans.

We renovated, now have a new big kitchen and were told to get a bigger range for the space. A 36" wide range would solve the crowding issue for us, but I have not found any that have 2 ovens. Cafe makes a 36" range that is meant to be like the professional ranges (Wolf, etc). The long middle burner has been replaced by 2 individual burners. We'd have to buy a separate cast iron griddle/grill to sit on top to do our pancakes or grill meats. But it only has one (1) oven. They say it can hold up to 3 caterers trays, but we'd have to cook everything at the same temperature, and there would be no separating savoury from sweet for holidays. We do have a separate Wolf CSO in the new kitchen, so we could have two ovens that way, but I really liked the idea of having 3 separate ovens for holidays (2 in the Cafe and 1 in the CSO).

I've had my GE Cafe series range for 10 years and it's performed beautifully. I do NOT (however) like the cheap quality of some of the parts--specifically the knob bezels. They are made of plastic and if you use the oven much, the heat causes them to MELT. I just installed my SECOND set (total of three including the original bezels that came with the range). I'm a Realtor and am in a lot of homes and when I see a GE Cafe, I always check the undersides of the bezels which are 100% of the time, melted and the fake stainless steel coating is bubbling and flaking off. On each occassion, when I ordered replacements, I commented to the GE employee that these parts should be made of metal to which they respond, "it's a safety issue because if they were metal, one they get hot they could potentially cause someone to get burned". Funny thing is, the actualy KNOBS are (at least they appear to be) METAL and have never melted, NOR have I ever burned myself when touching them while using the cooktop and/or baking. I have had the same problem with the microwave handle for the "ABOVE RANGE", GE Cafe Series microwave. That part has had to be replaced SEVERAL times since purchased in 2014. Hopefully, the newer models have sturdier knob bezels and door handles (the handles on the over/range as well as the refrigerator are (all) stainless steel). After 10 years, the next time the bezels become melted, I think I'm going to replace the entire range and it won't be with another GE product.