'Large family' appliances - input needed

13 years ago

Hello!

We are embarking on our third (and hopefully final) kitchen remodel (though it is quite addictive)! We moved last year to our "dream property" and plan on staying put.

We have a large family (11) so we cook a lot on a daily basis. The kitchen is currently set up with a 30" electric cooktop in the island and a 27" wall oven; both are pretty inadequate.

Here are the options we're looking at:

1: Gas cooktop or rangetop with double ovens (We will be switching to LP - natural gas in not an option due to our rural location.)

2: Range plus single 30" wall oven

3: Nicer range, maintain current wall oven and switch out to nicer one down the road.

Additionally, I'm trying to decide 30"or 36" cooktop/rangetop/range. I was set on a 36" (we could certainly use the space), however they all seem to come with five burners. When using the middle burner, the other burners don't seem as usable. We use large pots and pans and I need to be able to use at least 2 at a time.

Wall ovens: we were looking at buying a Kenmore Elite wall oven. Sears' 50% off wall oven sale is coming up on the 10th (hence the need for quick input). I've read that double ovens are often less reliable than single wall ovens. That is what started me down the range/single wall oven path.

I've fallen for the Fratelli Onofri range. If we go the range route, that's what I would like. (Can it go in an island?)

One more thing, if you vent a downdraft to the outside, is it nearly as effective as a vent hood?

I hope this isn't too convoluted...

Thank you for your time!

Stacie

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Comments (9)

Fori
13 years ago
A downdraft won't be as effective, no matter how you vent it.

Two dishwashers maybe? Have you looked into the really big ranges? They might take care of your oven needs.

There are some big families on the kitchen forum if you haven't checked there.
weissman
13 years ago
You can certainly find 36" ranges or rangetops with 6 burners - maybe not cooktops. My 30" range has 5 burners and while I have used 4 at once, 5 would be difficult with large pots.
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Instead of focusing on two ice makers in your fridge, consider getting a stand alone ice maker. I don't use my in fridge ice maker much and now use a table top model with bottled water, though I'm single so you probably need something larger then myself. Why such a small cooktop for such a large family? How many burners do you currently use on average? In a few years when your kids have bigger appetites, you are going to need larger pans so skimping on your cooktop size doesn't make sense to me. Also, make sure you have one really larger burner for putting the hurt on an 8 or 12 quart stock pot for large batches of pasta, soups, and stews. Side-by-Side style fridges are nice until you want to bring frozen pizza's home. A bottom freezer or French Door model has a real advantages here. "Gallon" door fridges are going to be a really nice thing for you in a few years, again as the kids grow up. With vent hoods, you can never buy too big but you sure can buy too small. The cheap ones are really too weak and too noisy to be a good choice. It almost goes without saying to make sure it vents OUTSIDE, not in your attic or in your kitchen (indoors).
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I agree with Gary, don't bother indoor grilling if you have such mild weather. Ventilation becomes a much bigger issue, and even with a powerful hood, all that smoke... no thanks. Re: Wolf ovens, know that if you want the "new design" avoid the L series. They will be replaced with the M series late this year that will have the removable bottoms, but that will be quite the wait. I believe that the new generation of the E series which has already been released has the removable bottom though. Research all you want, but these ovens have not been on the market very long and nobody has owned them long enough to prove anything. Of course the salesman will say they've fixed the problem, but who trusts salesmen? Or he may just pull the classic Wolf salesman move of denying the problem ever existed, or saying it was fixed years ago. I think it might be more helpful to call Wolf and ask them about it. It seems that Wolf is more honest about their products than salesmen are. "You don't really need a flame thrower rangetop to cook steaks well. A good and well seasoned cast iron skillet on an average gas top will produce fine results" Well of course nobody NEEDS a flamethrower rangetop. But pretending that a 15K BTU sealed burner will do as good of a job as a 22K open is just ignoring the truth. Maybe the result won't be that different, but cooking on high performance burners is just a better experience. It's hard to explain to someone else in words, but most people will understand what I'm talking about once they've tried it. Of course, BTU's aren't the only thing that matter. Burner design matters more. I like open burners better and would take a 15K Bluestar burner over a sealed 18K burner any day. Different people have different needs but I'm convinced that for the majority of people at least, high BTU open burners are the best choice if they are in the budget. And you don't need to be a professional chef to benefit from them, I think any home cook can. Now, I personally prefer induction, but if you are looking in that price range and are getting gas, I don't see why you should spend as much as or more than the cost of an open burner range and get an inferior product.
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rhome410
13 years ago
Hi, we have a family of 10, and are home all day with homeschooling, so I can relate. Are your kiddos young, or, like ours, have most reached their full eating potential and bring their hungry friends? ;-)

We put in a 48" rangetop with 8 burners and a double oven. I was planning for not only our daily needs now and holiday dinners, etc., but our lives down the road when there are spouses and kids, and possibly dinners for approx 18 adults and 40 kids. :-)

We also have 2 dishwashers, and 2 Electrolux all-fridges (one for the cooking area and one with milk, sandwich and salad makings, fruit, condiments, etc. nearer our eating areas) and 1 all-freezer.

In a 36" rangetop you should be able to get six 12" burners. Sometimes I think a big center burner would be helpful when we do stirfry or use our 15 1/2" skillet or our 16-qt pot, which is 12" in diameter, plus handles.. As long as the other 4 burners would hold the bigger pots, which are usually 9 or 10 inches, you could be OK.

I didn't consider any rangetop or cooktop that had small burners. We just don't use smaller pans as often, and they do fine on the larger burners on the rangetop.
Nunyabiz1
13 years ago
I would get a 36" NXR gas range and have a single burner Induction Hob inset into your counter top either near the stove or on an Island.
Cooking wise I cant imagine you needing more than that, other than buying a 23X23 griddle to go over 4 of the 6 burners on the stove for when you need to cook breakfast for 11.

2 Dishwashers would be good also.
zartemis
13 years ago
We currently have a Thermador 5 burner 36" cooktop and do sometimes use all 5 burners. It can get tight with extra large skillets, but is not really a problem. Can you take your pots/skillets to a showroom and try them out?

What is a bit of annoyance and why we will be switching to a 36" rangetop/range is that with heavy cooking, the knobs on top get dirty fast and are a pain to keep clean. So we want the knobs on the front protected with a bit of overhang. Of course, knobs on top are less out of the way of little kid hands ...
lee676
13 years ago
Separate 30 to 36"w refrigerator

Separate freezer, which can match the fridge or be of a totally different design, like a wide chest.

Maybe a separate, undercounter clear ice machine.

Double 30" oven, or large range and a 30" oven with a GE Advantium 240 above it (which can be used as a third oven, a microwave, a high-speed oven, a warming drawer, a broiler, an oversize toaster, you name it). Or a double oven in one wall cabinet and a Advantium 240 above a warming drawer in another.

5 or 6 burners, and maybe a grill. Good overhead ventilation.

2 24"w dishwashers (30"w and 36"w dishwashers are available, but they are not adequately larger inside).

Oversize front-load washer and dryer - LG, Bosch, and Electrolux are good, but everyone seems to have their favorites. If you must have a top-load washer, get the top-of-the-line LG Waveforce, which is huge.
plllog
13 years ago
Check out Sabjimata's kitchen too. She has double ranges.
meggswife
Original Author
13 years ago
Thank you for your input everyone, I really appreciate it.

rhome410, yes we also homeschool and are home most of the time.I had to laugh at your "full eating potential" comment. : ) We have 7 boys and two girls ages 20, 18, 15, 13, 11, 9, 8, 3, 4 months. (The 20 yo and my husband are gone at work all day.) It can get pretty zaney around here when all the teens' friends are over.

We are also planning on the future (with hoards of grandchildren) as well. : )

We're fine with one "electric" dishwasher since we have so many "manual" dishwashers. We only run dishes, flatware, and glasses through (1x a day).

We have a full size fridge in the laundry room, and a full size freezer in the garage.

It sounds like we may need to go the rangetop route for space, which is a bummer because they're so much more expensive. We might as well buy a full range at that point.

Plllog, do you have the link to Sabjimata's kitchen? I tried to search for it, but was unable to find it. Two ranges would give us lots of space and two ovens. I'm not sure about running the gas and electrical lines though.
plllog
13 years ago
Sabjimata's Kitchen (besides being a GW kitchen) is on her blog at sabjimatablog.com. She also has a great custom soapstone trough of a sink.

Sabjimata managed to make an enviable kitchen, beautifully designed, welcoming and homey, to feed a very large household (and I think some catering), with many simple, less expensive choices.

Re dishwashers, you might want to do some research on them, and consider your dishwashing preferences. The new dishwashers use significantly less water than hand washing. They don't necessarily do a great job on drying (lots of variables there), but they are energy efficient.

'Large family' appliances - input needed

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