There is no need to keep referencing Wolf ranges apologetically. They are not the end all be all of ranges.

The Frigidaire Pro is a good solid value. The thing I HATE about it is having a 30" oven in a 36" range.If this is a range for 5 years or less with plans to buy a much nicer range then it is palatable.

If you buy a $3k range will you really want to upgrade in the future? That would be more of a permanent range?

I would at least look at Craigslist in your area to see if there is a gently used premium range that is not very old.

If you must have new,must have 36",and have hard limit of $3k you may want to look at NXR. I am not a big fan of NXR but they do have their following here on GW.It might be the a range that fits your wants and requirements in your budget. You can get six burner or 4 burners plus griddle for $3K and it has a big 5.2 cu ft oven.

Here is a link that might be useful: LINK

I take it the Fratelli must not be the way to go since you are referencing the NXR instead. I read that the look fo the SS is slightly off from what the rest of the stainless will look like and that there are issues with the oven enamel flaking off with the NXR. Is this a widespread issue or just a few cases? I do like the btus & burners on the NXR and the price! If we did up the budget to $4000 what other options would that include?

Given that we do not bake that much besides cookies and dinners for 4-6 people, the 30" oven on the Frigidaire Pro 36" is not a huge concern - however,is twice the price worth the it to go up to $3000-4000.

It's just a 30" range with fillers that you pay extra for. It's not a true 36" range. And, it's a Frigidaire. If you're thinking of going that route, then you might as well install 2 3" fillers in your cabinetry and put in a standard 30" range. It will be a ton cheaper and you will still reserve the 36" space needed to upgrade later.

However, I'd examine your kitchen layout and see if you have the ability to split your functions here. A cooktop and wall oven will allow you to go induction for the cooktop and however fancy high tech you want for the ovens or even just very basic. Induction will give you the control of gas and some incredibly searing highs, but with much easier cleanup. Or, if you'd have to have the electric run and already have gas, you can do a cooktop or rangetop and separate wall ovens.

You are probably referencing some of my old post about the SS and flaking enamel.:)

I saw two confirmed cases of the first generation NXR interior enamel flaking off.The owners provided pictures of the enamel coming off. I think we are in the third generation and have not read of more problems.

There are two NXR dealers near me and they have a first generation range on the floor. It looks like the cheaper 430 SS. The thickness of SS panels is more like a standard range than an American pro-range. NXR swears it is now using 304 SS like Capital,Wolf,and Bluestar. I can't confirm.

The Italian ranges are assembled in Italy using a lot of Chinese/East European parts. The NXR is assembled in China using a lot of parts made in Western countries that are used by many American companies making pro-style ranges. Or at least that is what NXR/Duro Corp claim.

If I was raising my budget to $4k I would get the American Ranger Performer Series 36" range with free delivery for $4.2K. Powerful and even open burners. Their propriety dual convection "innovection" system with big 5.2 cu ft oven.

American Range is raising their prices $200 very soon. AJ Madison already is selling at new price. The last problem I heard with AR was people that purchased about 5 years ago. Two people with improperly drilled gas orifaces. Have not heard of problems since.

All range companies have problems. Wolf had a recall of gas ranges about 3 years ago. They said the ovens "could" blow!

BTW I think home made filler panels would look horrible. If you paid a highly skilled metal fabricator to custom build you fillers then the cost would be equal or greater than just getting the Frigidaire Pro.

BTW II Of course you can make due with a 30" oven. I made due with a 1 cu ft MW and hot plate for about a year after college.:) Any range will turn raw food into cooked food. But once you are paying for a kitchen reno you want maximum functionality.Otherwise why not get an $800 30" range?

Here is a link that might be useful: AR Performer Series

Ok for our budget model it is down to the 36" Frigidaire Professional at $1670. Then it sounds like researching the NXR more for $3000 pricepoint. If we up it to $4000 pricepoint, I think we would be deciding between the American you mentioned and Capital. Any feedback on American vs. Capital. Also, has anyone owned an NXR that can compare it to the American and Capital (actual experience with each)? Thanks! Great forum you all have here!

Readers Digest version.

There used to be a very active Amercian Range(AR) owner community here on GW. The VP of marketing for AR used to post here quite a bit. They had the above mentioned problems, VP stopped posting,members stopped buying.

A lot of us where intrigued when AR announced an open burner residential range last year at a much lower price point than Capital or Bluestar. No one wanted to be the first to buy it. A few months ago a poster said he ordered one and would come back to review it. He has not done so. I don't know of anyone who has owned two of the three AR,Capital,and NXR. And I live in LA where there are lots of high end appliance dealers with live ranges but none have live NXR range so can't compare from actually testing it out.

Capital is the safest choice but also the most expensive. It has a good reputation for quality and has excellent performance. There are lots of happy owners on GW including myself.When problems have arisen they have been resolved to the customer's satisfation.

In a few instances the dissatisfation was not clear factory problem under warranty. And after some noise on GW and people expressing their doubts about buying a Capital product the factory relented and resolved problem to customer's satisfation. Maybe their was an instance when some Capital owner is still mad but I don't recall it.

A POS Frigidaire with silly fillers on the side is wasting your money. Either buy something real and downgrade the budget elsewhere or buy the cheapest Craigslist special you can find in a 30" and use the Revashelf filler pullouts on either side of it until you can afford to put in something real. It will be a motivating factor to actually DO the changeout rather than getting comfortable and settling in with such a subpar choice.

It is very difficult to find anyone who has owned or cooked consistently on two of these ranges, let alone three of them. There is a poster here that has a NXR and loves it. It has the same burners as the semi sealed burners Wolf had on their AG ranges. If you search NXR you will find his posts and pictures.

I would differ that Capital is the safest choice. It is a good thing this forum is here or many of the people that have them would continue to be ignored when they need service. There are plenty of threads about problems with service.

Ultimately I would make sure the dealer you buy from will stand behind it. They have leverage often where you do not. I also would never buy any appliance without putting it on a credit card in case you have problems at the beginning you can protest the charges.

We live in N. MI so there are not a lot of stores with high end ranges around so most likely the purchase will be made online.

Hollyspring - you call the Frigidaire a POS yet I cannot find bad reviews of this range! The burners seem to be very close to the Electrolux Icon (which is was the reason I found the Frig Pro in the first place). Granted the oven is smaller and really a standard 30" oven. The Icon has one burner with higher btu and its over is twice the btus of the Frig Pro but the Frig Pro has more burners with higher btus in the mid range (see comparison link below). The Capital and NXR all have the same btus for their burners which is nice for using a grill pan or griddle on them. The Capital has oven with almost twice the Frig Pro but the NXR is the same as the Frig Pro but it does have convection. The Electrolux and Capital are 3x the price of the Frig Pro and since the cooktop is the part we will use most by a long shot I do not know if I can justify three times the cost. NXR reputation and parts availability make me somewhat uncomfortable but it does have solid specs (outside oven btus). The Capital looks to be a great choice and I would prefer its burner performance over the Icon for the same price. But is the Frig Pro really a POS given that it is similar to 30" ranges in its price range yet allows us to have the extra space on top which is why we want a 36" range anyway? Again, I cannot find bad reviews on this range only good.

Here is a link that might be useful: Captial, NXR, Electrolux Icon, Frigidaire Pro

It's difficult to wade through appliances, and that's why GW wide range of posters are valuable. Sometimes I think we forget that staying in budget is a priority for most and how hard it is to do so. I've been reading this thread and wanted to share an online site which has Viking 30" dual fuel on special. The jump in a 36" dual fuel in price makes my head spin so I've been looking at 30" with 5 burners. Here is the link: http://www.eliteappliance.com/Viking/RDSCD2305B.php
Viking oven's have had there problems, yet as I understand it the company has worked hard to redeem itself. Perhaps others will weigh in if this is true. (I have no affiliation with Viking.)

Viking D3 Series RDSCD2305B

"30" Dual Fuel Self-Cleaning Range with 4.7 Cu. Ft. Oven Capacity, 5 Sealed Burners Including 18,000 BTU Dual Stacked Front Left Burner, SureSparkT� Ignition System, TruConvec� Convection Cook, and Patented Vari-Speed Dual Flow� Convection System"

One internet site I came upon while reviewing appliances it the one I link below. I thought of you with this customer Frigidaire complaint. Chris Polk, of Electrolux, who posts his contact on GW also reached out to this customer.

Obviously there is a market for Frigidaire products or they wouldn't be made. One recurrent complaint I have heard is that the oven fan is overly loud and stays on the entire time the oven is on and then while it cools down afterwards. You might try checking on this while in the store.

Hope this helps in some way.

Here is a link that might be useful: link:

If you get Capital you definetly want Culinarian not Precision. The burner performance is far superior.
It puts flame across the bottom of the pan not simply an outside ring.

Alas, I just ran the Viking range through the same consumer report link and this manufacturer didn't stand up well to complaints for performance or help either. And the oven fan was posted as noisy. Sorry. Perhaps the comments by real consumers will still help though.

It's a jungle in the low to mid range appliance world when it comes to performance and service.

Ask anyone who actually sells appliances or works on them about build quality and the quality of the components. Frigidaire is known for being lightweight builder grade and I don't know anyone who does sell appliances or works on them who would own one.

Thank you for clarifying Hollyspring; however, I would also say that appliance salesmen just like every other industry fall in love with stats and image of products. Many times the preferred line of products has very small real world advantages compared the the next tier down - that up-sell is why us salesmen get paid. We must deliver a value proposition to convince buyers that the premium product is worth the premium price. Again, our goal is to find a great value for all of our appliances - with reliability being the #1 factor while also fitting our budget. I am not trying to take anything away from the top end products and admit if money were not an option we would be looking at Wolf or Capitals top end products; however, money is a huge factor. As I mentioned, I stumbled upon the Frig Pro after looking at the Electrolux Icon line and I cannot find a negative review on the 36" version of this range (non-convection). I honestly do not know how big of a deal convection is since we have never had it and I do not know if the difference in BTUs for the Frig Pro oven vs American/Capital/Icon will make any real world difference for the cooking we do. I am definitely open to feedback on this point however.

Also, if spending more than $1700 on a range should I be looking at open burners instead of sealed burners? If so I really wish there were some member reviews on the American Performer line since those would fit our price range (30" fits current budget - 36" would be a stretch). I have included the link of the comparison models of Capital vs American. American looks to be a great value... I just want to make sure it would not be a money pit if the reliability is not there.

Here is a link that might be useful: American vs Capital - Open Burners

Frigidaire is builder grade.

Home builders buy it because it is a good value.There are cheaper generic Chinese products but most builders/ apartment building owners tend to go Frigidaire for value including durability, repairs, and overall life cycle cost. Home builders don't want to get a reputation of using products that fall apart shortly after they hand you the keys.

It is not that Frigidaire uses cheaper components than Whirlpool or GE but they have brutally efficient factories that press the profit margins of the appliance industry.

If you are buying a top end product you should definelty go open burners. Like I said before,part of the problem with AR is that no one wants to go first on GW.

All ranges can be used to turn raw food into cooked food. Like many products for better performance marginal cost get higher. The difference between a $5k range and a $3k ranges is not as great as the difference between an $800 range and a $3k range. As you go up the performance latter marginal cost increases greater than the increase in performance.

If you saute,wok,or sear you will notice the differnce in peformance. You will also notice the difference in boil times when making pasta. What is the value to you in being a able to make steak house quality steak on your range vs a gray meat home quality type finished steak?

There are those that will disagree vehemently with above. I have cooked on a basic Kenmore gas range for 20 years or so and now cook on a Capital Culinarian. I can tell you there is an absolute difference. It is important to me to get it just right and not simply "good enough" because eating is as much for pleasure as it is for sustenance.

You can drive to work in a Toyota Yaris or a Porsche 911. Both will get you where you're going via an internal combustion engine, maybe even with an MP3 player, and possibly even on board navigation.

But the difference in driving the two can NOT be understood by someone who doesn't enjoy the nuances of driving. Regular folks who think buying a Porsche is a silly extravagance will never ever "get" it. They don't know what they don't know about the differences between the two, so they are perfectly satisfied with a boring econobox.

Frigidaire is the boring tinny 1970's econobox of the appliance world with a few racing stripes to give itself airs. And the people reviewing it, well, not to sound elitist here, but they don't have experience with a higher standard to compare it to. They don't know what they don't know about the nuances of cooking. Anyone can "steam fry" a meal. Very few can do an actual stir fry.

If you don't have the budget to make a purchase of a pro style range at this point, that's fine. Very few of us are able to get what we 100% want as if money is no object. But, you really have to look at the ultimate goal here and keep your eyes on the prize. Spending $1700 on something that doesn't function any better than something that costs $500 is wasting that money that you do spend.

I'd suggest really analyzing your goals here. A 36" IS a step up in "space" but a true 36" pro style range has a pretty large oven that takes a long time to come to temp and is overkill for most situations unless you need to fit in a full sheet pan. 6 burners are usually overkill for most for 90% of the time that they use the range. Thus the popularityh of the 48" range, as it has a smaller oven that gets used more often. And you can do a griddle surface on it as well. If pro style cooking is your ultimate goal, then think about doing a 48" rather than a 36".

Or consider doing a pro style cooktop like one Bluestar has now, and buying a second hand wall oven from Habitat for Humanity or Craig's List. That will give you an immediate return for your investment that won't need to be repeated. As long as you are also budgeting for the high CFM hood that goes hand in hand with having a high BTU cooking machine in your home. If you size the oven cabinet for a 30" oven and buy an extra filler or two, you can replace the oven at any point down the road with a more capable model but you will have enjoyed the FIRE of the cook surface until that happens.

deeageaux - Thank you for your input. Our old house had Frigidaire and they never had any issues. In this house, we had brand new GE, LG, and Maytag appliances. All of them have had to be replaced or fixed an they are only 5 years old. To me that is unacceptable.

Now your steak example is compelling to me :) I will look very closely at the open burners from American and Capital. Can't wait to hear some real world feedback from the member who recently purchased the American Performer.

Back to Frigidaire - we were also looking at their Professional series All Refrigerator and All Freezer to create a very large refrigerator (counter depth) for the new kitchen. Again, I cannot find back reviews on either of these; however, I still need to sell my wife on not having water in the door.

Consider something that is cheap and functional until we get pro-style inductions like they sell in EU. I know there is Viking, but that's too much cash. Restaurants seem to be migrating to induction now.

live wire- thank you for your feedback. A 48" is out of our range but maybe we should reconsider the 30" American or Capital - although there ovens are not much smaller than the 36"

Pazul, sorry to be giving my opinion late to the party, but I hope you went with the Frigidaire Professional range. The reason being, budget, budget, budget. You came up with a well thought out compromise to remain within your budget and that's not being taken into account. From what I understand, Electrolux (who owns Frigidaire) has pumped alot of money into this series and while it may not be a Capital, a Capital is not your "dream range" either. If you go with the Electrolux (or even a less expensive 36'' range) you are that much closer to buying your dream Viking, or better yet, one that comes out that's even better between now and then. It sounded as if your "ultimate goal here" was to get your dream range in a few years and make an easy transition into it for your kitchen dimensions, not to buy something that's better than adequate and stretch your budget.

To borrow Live_Wire_Oak's metaphor, if you ultimately want a porsche, but only have the budget for a Yaris, do you want to end up buying a Mazda Miatta and losing sleep over going out of your Yaris budget? Especially if you could've of afforded the porsche in 5 years time? Being "in the know" is lovely, but peace of mind is invaluable.