Jenn Air, KA, Others? WWYD?

9 years ago

I need to make an appliance order decision quickly before my contractors come in in Sept.... I currently have 6 year old stainless Jenn Air Pro fridge and a 3 year old KitchenAid Architect II series dishwasher. I am looking to replace my white 20 year old Jenn Air 30" single oven, with built in microwave above it and my 30" cooktop and hood.
I love the Jenn Air pro look and was thinking about going all Jenn Air (except hood which is too deep under my cabinet which I am not willing to lose), since they offer the free dishwasher deal. While I can afford that, I am a budget conscious person and was having a hard time justifying getting rid of the dishwasher that is only 3 years old (and some concerns about going with a look that goes with an aging refrigerator and also might be too modern for my older cabinets which are just getting an update with some grey paint) so I looked at the KA Architect oven and micro and loved the look and features and was going to go KA and take advantage of rebates, but I read a lot of reviews on KA ovens that the preheat is soo slow, 15+ mins. that I think that is a deal breaker for me.

Any thoughts on the two lines if you had to pick one? Or can anyone recommend oven and microwave (both with convection) that stylistically will be as attractive and modern as either of those and look ok with my KA Architect dishwasher-- reliable, better preheat function? In oven I mostly do baked good, pizzas, and Thanksgiving. That's about it. We use the microwave daily.
I'm not so worried about cooktop-- in fact, if I could find a stylish mid level oven and microwave that looked good with everything else I have going on, I might go for the Thermador 5 burner 30" cooktop. I do want to make sure I can put a big pan on there and simmer sauce without it popping.

As you can tell I am very confused at this point. Advice?

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Comments (6)

hvtech42
9 years ago
Welcome to the forum.

The first advice anyone here will give you is to forget about matching. Keep your fridge and dishwasher if you like them. Get the best in class appliances for each category. Function over form. And anyway I personally like the look of different appliances better than matched ones.

Ovens: Electrolux and Bosch get the most consistent positive reviews here and they both offer microwave stacks. I haven't seen many reviews of KA or JA. I have no experience with it but was impressed by the JA wall oven when I looked at it in the store and I definitely think it is worth consideration. I would axe KA because it does not allow you to turn off the convection fan. I have an older model KA which does let me control the convection fan and I love it but I wouldn't consider the new ones. JA does, even though they are both made by Whirlpool. Odd.

Cooktop: Bluestar would be the best for performance because of the high BTU open burners. Thermador would be second best because of the star burners. As for the others I consider them all to be pretty much the same. There isn't much to go wrong with these so your primary concerns should be burner design and burner layout.

Hood: Whatever you like the looks of and can afford. Try to maximize capture area by going one size up from your cooktop and considering depth.

This post was edited by hvtech42 on Thu, Aug 14, 14 at 20:43
hvtech42
9 years ago
"the preheat is soo slow, 15+ mins. that I think that is a deal breaker for me"

Remember: higher end modern ovens have hidden bake elements which increase preheat time considerably for all brands. Also, just because the oven beeps it does not necessarily mean the oven is ready for you to put food in. It is a good practice to wait several minutes after the beep to ensure all parts of the oven have gotten up to temp, not just the air around the sensor.
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touring
9 years ago
JLP05: You indicated that you have a " white 20 year old Jenn Air 30" single oven".

I have "inherited" a similar one but cannot locate the model number on the oven. However, above the door the control pad is on the right and the oven light-switch on the left.
If yours is similar, please tell me the model number. I would like to obtain the user manual but that is difficult without the model number.

I do have an image of the oven but having difficulty up-loading it.
hvtech42
9 years ago
Jenn-Air made many different white wall ovens, the probability that the OP has the same one as you is very small. What is it you're trying to figure out that you need the manual for? Have you checked for a sticker on the left of the oven cavity while the door is open?

What are you having trouble with about uploading the picture? Just click "choose file" and locate it on your computer. I have some older Jenn-Air catalogs so I should be able to ID your oven with a picture.
touring
9 years ago
I have attached the picture of my Oven.

I just want to know how to utilise its functions and also to ensure I am using it correctly. I have access to a JenAir JJW8627 manual but its control pad is not the same....
hvtech42
9 years ago
I was not able to find that model, however it looks pretty simple to operate. What exactly are you trying to figure out how to do? Just punch bake, type in the temp you want and it should fire right up. Same for clock, timer, cook time, start time. Broil will either allow you to pick a temperature or switch between high and low broil. Self clean, just be sure to remove everything from the oven including the racks, open your windows, and run ventilation if possible.

Is the serial label faded or something?

Jenn Air, KA, Others? WWYD?

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