Two Choices for Range and Hood Which Would You Pick

11 years ago

Because i am going into existing space and my range is at an angle I am restricted to depth on a new range and hood. My choices are Kitchen Aid Dual Fuel Architect II with convection and warming drawer, which I would pair with a Kobe RA-038 up to 720 cfm range hood OR a Thermador Pro Harmony all gas range with convection, which I would pair with an Imperial 900 cfm range hood.

These two ranges are 27 5/8" deep max which at least allows my adjacent drawers to open. The Thermador with the Imperial would be about $2200 more total. I'm so frustrated that I'm stuck on the decision. What would you do?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

mydreamhome
11 years ago
I would go KA based on price and the clicking sound the Thermador makes on the simmer setting as it cycles the igniting and extinguishing of the flame over and over and over....

Hope this helps!
deeageaux
11 years ago
The Thermador clicks on extralow simmer of 375 btu/100 degrees. KA only goes down to 650 btu on simmer. If you raise the Thermador simmer to 650 btu it no longer clicks.

KA had ovens with self clean problems in the recent past. Salesman say those problems are in the past but have not seen a good amount of positive reviews lately confirming those problems have been resolved.

The range,from low to high, and the eveness of heat produced make the Thermador burners a superior choice. If you can really afford the $2200 I would get the Thermador. If it is putting a severe strain on your finances I would skip the Thermador.
Related Discussions
The great debate: Which range would you pick if...
Q
Comments (31)
I can speak about an old 1950's O'Keefe and Merritt. We had one for 6 years and loved it so much that we moved it with us when we moved 2 years ago. They are very solid, so fun-looking, and really great to cook on. I honestly considered keeping it for our new construction house, but the things that held me back were the one tiny oven and it only had 4 burners. Tiny oven-- fine for everything I needed size-wise, but I needed more than one pretty often. Burner-wise, I wanted some more BTUs and at least one more burner. Still, the O & M is what sent me on my quest for a different than standard range. I so loved my O & M that I couldn't imagine not having an interesting looking stove, again. Mine also had a cover that you could flip down over the entire stove surface. It was so practical for keeping little fingers away, hiding less-than-perfectly clean burners, etc. It really is a great range.
...See More
which range hood do you like better
Q
Comments (11)
Just wanted to make sure you have also seen the Vent-a-hood "Excalibur" model, which is a almost the same as the Rangecraft Canterbury that you like. The Excalibur comes two ways: in an undercabinet style, but that one is only 9" high (#XRH9), and a wall-mount style that is 18" high (#XRH18). Unfortunately, the pics on the VAH website for the Excalibur are TERRIBLE. But note that you can change the black bands that come standard on the Excalibur for bands with rivets like the Canterbury's. The bands can be in a number of different finishes too. Of course, the bands with rivets are an upcharge, so I am not sure if that makes the Excalibur go out of your price range. You can also use the Excalibur with a duct cover (like your second pic) or as an undercabinet style. There's also a pic on the VAH website that's a little better. Under the "Range Hood Styles" tab, click on "Design Ideas", and look at the bottom row of pics for the Excalibur. It's still not the greatest photo, but you may be able to see how similar to the Rangecraft Canterbury it is. Here is a link that might be useful: VAH Excalibur Hood
...See More
Range Hood Help - in-line fantech but which hood?
Q
Comments (21)
In principle, any hood with an internal blower could be gutted of the blower and operated with an in-line or roof mounted blower. (GreenDesigns may have meant that using it while leaving the blower inside would be a poor plan.) I can imagine construction details that might cause non-optimal internal hood flow patterns, but I have no detailed knowledge of the internal construction of myriad hoods to know whether such are prevalent. There may be nanny jurisdictions that would claim that code approval of the hood was violated when it had its blower removed. Any hood available for order without a blower likely is fully compatible with an external blower. This, of course, can be confirmed with the manufacturer. The most important adaptation requirement is that the blower be continuously controllable, and that the hood control be a continuous motor control. A hood with just a few motor speed positions on a switch might require a compatibly-wired motor. While a multi-position hood control could in principle be replaced by a continuous control, par. 2 may apply. When I was doing my kitchen reno, I chose a compatible hood/roof blower combination (supplied by Wolf) because the entire scope of the project (gutting and reconstructing part of a house) made playing with the details of the blower circuit a side project of tertiary importance that I couldn't afford the time to deal with. As it happens, inside my Wolf (Independent) hood is a diac/triac motor control circuit, about the simplest design available that goes back to the '70s. The compatible Wolf (Broan) roof blower uses a typical induction motor that is easily controlled by this type of circuit. The cost versus time value trade-off needs to be considered when dealing with issues like this. kas
...See More
Which island vent hood would you pick?
Q
Comments (29)
merk, have you looked at Kobe? They are supposed to be a decent hood but at a price that is less than Zephyr. They are made in China, which is one reason for their lower cost but it seems that they are still a decent product. And I think they come with 8" venting but I'm not sure since it's been a long time since I researched them. I used to also wonder what the big deal about venting was. We didn't use our pop-up downdraft for our island cook top often because at low speeds, it really didn't remove smoke or cooking smells and at high speed, it sucked the gas flame out. Back then, cook tops didn't come with automatic re-ignition so I never knew this had happened until I smelled gas. Not good! Even on high, it still didn't remove all cooking odors and smoke. The newer pop-ups are supposed to be better - they also rise higher so that helps them fight physics (smoke rises) but even so, they aren't as good as hoods. I started to learn about the importance of proper ventilation from GW and from my friend, a CMKBD. So we bought a good hood this time and I'm so glad we did. It works so well that I've never needed to turn it above low speed. I can't smell what's cooking on my induction cook top unless I stick my nose over the pan. My hood is 600 CFM but I think I could have gotten away with 400 CFM and saved the cost of MUA. If I had stuck with gas, I'm pretty sure I would have needed 600 because gas adds combustion fumes to the mix. Oh, well. We'd already ordered our hood before we did the tear out but once I saw how much disgusting yellowed grease was on my kitchen valances, I was so happy that I had spent the money on ventilation.
...See More
chef_dupre
11 years ago
grrrr......
if i see one more "clicking" reference, i'm gonna go postal.
i own not one, but two thermador rangetop/ag ranges. on rangetop circa 2003, yes, it does click on xtra-low. on 2012 pro grand, this feature/annoyance has been corrected. the ignitors on all settings are no more obtrusive than any other burner system.
i also wonder how often most would utilize this feature..sure, it's nice to have if you want to hold a beurre blanc for a while...
ok..rant over..we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
friedajune
11 years ago
To me, this decision is all about the burners' shape - star vs circle. With ANY circle sealed burner, not just the KA, you get a cold spot in the middle; the heat is concentrated at the circumference of the pan/pot, rather than across the bottom. That's why true commercial restaurant ranges, like the Garland, have star burners. Of course the Thermador burners are sealed, not open, like a commercial range's would be. Nonetheless, the star shape is better.
friedajune
11 years ago
One more thing - the KA is a dual fuel. Do you already have the electrical wiring for a DF range? If not, you need to include in your decision the cost of the electrician wiring for the DF. I prefer an all gas range - typically less complicated than a DF range which means less to break. Don't think that an electric oven is superior for baking - that's holdover thinking from decades ago when ovens didn't have electronic ignitors or much insulation.
dancingqueengw
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you so much for the feedback. I have to make a final decision by next Friday so it is very helpful. For the Thermador they will have to come in and recut my granite and indicated they could not promise that there will not be a lot of scratches on the edges. As a result I am leaning towards the Kitchen Aid and I actually have to add the gas line as I currently have an electric drop in Jen Air Range. I had really hoped for the Thermador because of the star burners but am now leaning the other way due to the granite.

Two Choices for Range and Hood Which Would You Pick

Comments (6)

mydreamhome

deeageaux

Related Discussions

chef_dupre

friedajune

friedajune

dancingqueengw
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Two Choices for Range and Hood Which Would You Pick

Comments (6)

mydreamhome

deeageaux

Related Discussions

chef_dupre

friedajune

friedajune

dancingqueengwOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

dancingqueengw
Original Author