GE Cafe is technically not slide in, it is freestanding.

it's hard to give advice since you don't really give any criteria except "quality" which doesn't really help me in making recommendations. It is often repeated here that you should stay away from Viking, and they have very few positive reviews, but other than that I think the brands really are similar in quality. They work fine for most people, but there are some lemons and the people who get them tend to be the most vocal, making it sound like all the brands suck.

Would you be willing to consider freestanding ranges (which most Pro Style ranges are)? What is your budget? What features do you want? (self cleaning, convection, etc)

Until you answer those questions it's hard to give a specific recommendation, so for now I'll list the major slide in brands. Brands made by the same manufacturer are on the same line.

Whirlpool/KitchenAid/JennAir
GE (Profile)
Electrolux/Frigidaire/Kenmore
Bosch
Samsung
Dacor

I have an Electrolux induction slide in and love it. Your options will open a lot more if you are open to a freestanding.

Sorry for not being all that precise, first time poster! We have approximately $1500-2000 to spend and aren't too fussed on the features (never used self-clean with existing oven but convention would be nice but not required) and would prefer slide in. We would prefer to go with gas given the current electrical service we have but we are thinking about upgrading our service which means we would certainly look at induction.

OK that narrows your options down a bit more. GE Cafe is out of your budget but that's no big deal, there are plenty of nice gas slide ins you can get. If I were buying, I would probably stick with gas; induction is nice but IMO not worth upgrading the service if you already have gas. I would look at the following ranges:

Frigidaire FGGS3065PF
Bosch HGI8054UC
KitchenAid KGSS907SSS

The other brands I listed either deliver less value or are more difficult to get service and parts for than the above 3.

All of them have convection, and all meet your budget. Of the three I would lean towards the Frigidaire for 2 main reasons:

-It's the best value, and this really goes for all their cooking and front load laundry products. They tend to have the same or more features than the competition for less money without sacrificing quality.

-It has true European convection; this means it has an electric heating element around the fan for more even baking. This is very common in electric and dual fuel ranges, but not nearly as common in gas ranges. And in this case you aren't paying a premium for it. Since there's only one element and it's smaller, there shouldn't be any problem running it off the 120V circuit the range is plugged into.

Oops I just double checked and the KA has the convection element also. Still I would probably get the Frigidaire because of the value.

We got the GE Profile double oven gas range model PGS950SEFSS this spring and we love it! I use the smaller upper oven most of the time. I love the clean look of it.

The double oven GE is a nice stove but, like the Cafe models, it is priced well above TheStump's $1500 to $2000 budget

As hvtech says, the Frigidaire has an electrical third oven element for convection. This is sometimes called "true" or "European" convection. For multi-rack baking of things like cookies, that is a nice bonus though I cannot say how well it works in either stove. Apparently the KA also has this now, as well. I suggest downloading and checking the owner's manuals for both stoves.

Both the Bosch and Kitchenaid have warming drawers. Very much a YMMV thing as some people find them useful while others could care less.

The membership surveys published on Consumer Reports indicate that Kitchenaid gas ranges are among the most trouble prone, with a 14% trouble rate in the first five years. Frigidiare and GE are the most reliable with a 7% trouble rate in the first five years. Apparently, not enough Bosch gas ranges were purchased by CR members to generate a statistically significant sample in the most recent survey.

CR's product lab testing rates the Frigidiare as so-so. Very good for high cooktop heat, average for simmering abilities, average for baking (though this would be without using the convection which might make a big difference), fair for broiling (typical for major brand gas ranges), average for oven capacity and fair for oven self-cleaning. There were no user reviews of this range at CR yet.

CR has not tested the Bosch slide-in. A chef couple I know have had a Bosch dual fuel slide in for about five years without problems, and have been very pleased with their stove. I have no idea how well that generalizes, however.

CR tested the KA 807 model rather than the 907 suggested by hvtech. It was rated below the Frigidaire -- average for high cooktop heat abilities, poor for simmering, very good for baking and broiling, and small for oven size, and average for self-cleaning. "Poor at simmering" meant that either that a small burner at low could not hold chocolate without scorching or else the largest burner was unable to simmer tomato sauce and hold it below a boil. Some 49 user reviews at CR mainly focused on unreliability.

I stopped paying attention to Consumer Reports cooking appliance reviews ever since they claimed you could not melt chocolate on a Bluestar.

Oh yeah, and they complain that BS doesn't have electronics and a timer despite that being a big reason people are attracted to it. They could not simmer tomato sauce either. Reports from owners say otherwise.

And how they rate one Electrolux range "good" at baking and another "excellent" despite them having the exact same oven design. I could go on and on. Don't even get me started on their HVAC "buying guide" if you can even call it that. There are other countless examples of them having completely different opinions about products that are exactly the same.

How they base their performance tests of non HE Speed Queen top loaders on washing heavily stained loads like you would in an HE machine despite proper laundry procedures being very different between the 2 types of machines.

I think that sometimes they can be a useful resource, for stuff like washer gentleness, dishwasher cycle time, noise, etc. that is very easy to test. But for everything else... sometimes I agree with their findings, sometimes I don't. And if you think about it, that really is no better than if I disagreed with them 100% of the time. If you don't have any experience when should you know whether they're right or wrong? They just aren't reliable.

CR has its uses. Also, it helps to recognize that the CR reliability survey data is completely separate from CR's product ratings from lab comparisons.

Both can be useful when shopping. But it is information, not gospel.

The brand reliability data is membership survey data from actual owners not from the lab testing. Whatever you think about CR's biases in lab tests, the survey data comes from actual owners of the products. It is about the only widely available, broadly based survey information available on the subject that actually covers long term ownership and tells you something about trends.

In considering brands of stoves, I think it is helpful to know that 1 in 7 KitchenAid gas stoves will have a problem whereas it is only 1 in 15 with Frigidaire ranges. That tells me that Frigidaire may be a better bet for reliability and longevity than the KA model.

On the other hand, when it comes to lab testing of products, CR clearly has its biases and preferences and many of the ratings are rather opaque.

Some people hate CR with a passion. Some simply distrust them because the organization has viewpoints they disagree with. Others have previously taken lab tests as gospel only to find themselves feeling betrayed by a product that tested well but failed to hold up to normal use or for which the maker turned out to have crummy warranty service.

Me? While I see that CR has a point of view, and see their reports as useful information if you take the time to understand their viewpoints and do other research. Sometimes their reports reveal inconsistencies. If one electrolux range's oven tests well and another does not despite being essentially the same model (as was the case with some Kenmore stoves sourced from Electrolux). that may tell you that CR doesn't really know what it is doing or it may tell you that product quality can be uneven. It can be useful when you can't find user reviews to supplement the CR tests, and helps give perspective on user reviews when they are available.

So, if you think the CR crowd are a bunch of arrogant, lying sacks of $#!+, feel free to disregard what I said about the testing on the suggested stoves. If not, continue with your research and take their views into account to the extent they help you.

This post was edited by JWVideo on Wed, Aug 27, 14 at 23:15

Meanwhile back at a point TheStump raised a few posts back about the present electrical service and looking at induction ranges. I'll offer a couple of budgetary and style points for consideration.

First, for induction ranges within your budget, you are looking at freestanding ranges with backsplash controls. The induction slide-ins are mostly priced above $3k. That and the cost of upgrading the electrical service would take the costs a long ways beyond the planned budget. Maybe that makes a gas range look more attractive, particularly if you want a slide-in style of range

Second, if you would be okay with a freestanding style of induction range, what is the problem with present electrical service? Is this an older house with only a 100 Amp panel? Is it that your kitchen only has 120 volt outlets? Or, maybe your kitchen has a standard 40 amp 208/220/240v line you and think you might need 50 amps for an induction range? If the later, some of the slide-ins do spec a 50 Amp service but, AFAIK, all of the sub $2k induction ranges only require 40 amp service.

This post was edited by JWVideo on Thu, Aug 28, 14 at 16:41

Check with Home Depot, they have their own version of the GE (still GE just only available at HD) that is very similar to the Cafe but much less $$

We only have a 100 amp panel and are building a suite in the basement so are trying to go gas where possible.

Have been looking at the frigidaires and they look pretty nice. On sale right now in the US of A for $1250 and in Canada at $2k. That is a little tough to swallow so considering making a cross border shopping excursion as the stove is CSA certified that is being sold in the US.

$2k in Canada? Ouch! And that is before taxes, too? Sheesh, that's almost a 60% jump over the US price. Going to the US seems far less expensive even with paying for fuel and meals and even if you wind up paying local US sales taxes and the Canadian sales taxes (I kinda of recall initials like PST, GST and HST for those.)

The Frigidaire is made in the US which I think probably has some sort of minimal duty or duty free importation under NAFTA. Do you know if you have to stay in the US overnight or for some minimum amount of time before bringing the stove back duty free?

Have you checked on getting warranty service in Canada? Should be good on a self-imported range but it still is worth checking with Frigidaire/Electrolux to be sure.

This post was edited by JWVideo on Thu, Aug 28, 14 at 16:44

Are those prices for the model I posted with convection or the lower end one without?

BTW

FGGS3065PF is made in the US

FGGS3065KF is the previous generation made in Canada. You may be able to find it for less. It is the same as the current version looks and features wise. Frigidaire still has it on their website so I assume there are some left. The factory in L'Assomption, Quebec closed about a month ago.

This post was edited by hvtech42 on Thu, Aug 28, 14 at 17:20

Re: Consumer Reports, I was just trying to make the point that thestump shouldn't be turned off of the Frigidaire because of the scores. The reliability ratings can be interesting, but I still don't trust them because they disagree almost COMPLETELY with an appliance store near me that does similar studies on their own warranty calls. Probably not any fault of CR's, but it just shows that again, just like the tests, it's hard to reliably get that data.

It is the FGGS3065PF model but it is CSA approved. I will check on the warranty just to make sure but it would pay for a trip down there and they have Bosch dishwashers as well right now for half the cost of what they are in Canada so might get one of those as well.

Just wanted to say thanks for all of the great input, lots of great advice on this forum.

How about a Samsung?

Model: NX58H9500WS SKU: 6062115

http://www.samsung.com/us/appliances/oven-ranges/NX58H9950WS/AA

It is on sale now for $1800 at Home Depot. Suggested retail appears to be $2799.

I did a month long research for a gas range for myself. I went with an American Range Model Arrob 430, paid $3000, not including tax and shipping.