First off I would like to thank all of the people who have posted on Garden Web as this site has been the most helpful in bringing information to those seeking it. Ive been researching the purchase of a mid price range, and would like to post some of my observations/research on ranges in this price level. I have also considered a professional style range and may post observations/questions in another thread. I apologize if this seems to recycle old material but this is a minor rant too.

Some background may be useful. WeÂve been living in our home for just over two years. It was built in the Mid 60Âs with a kitchen that was update at one time (probably late 70Âs or early 80Âs). We are not looking to remodel the kitchen anytime soon (I say 5 to 10 years, my wife says 10 to 15). However, weÂve had to replace the dishwasher and the refrigerator. We ended up going with Kitchenaid for both of those appliances and have been happy with those so far. In terms of color our old house had stainless appliance and when we moved here, my wife like the brightness of white appliances that were in the kitchen. So we replaced them with white. Our current range is an old GE coil top electric free standing 30 inch unit. Although a gas line has not been run to the stove area, we do have gas in the house and it will not be that difficult to get a gas line to the area. As you may have guessed weÂre looking at gas or dual fuel. We tend to do a fair amount of broiling and right now only a little baking but that is likely to change as our kids get older. In terms of stove top we donÂt do any significant amounts of wok cooking as we have a wok that was designed for a gas range and havenÂt had a chance to use it. We also do some searing and braising. I also like to experiment with new techniques. Also convection seems like a feature that would be nice to speed up the cooking process.

The main observation from reading various comments here and at other sites such as Consumer Reports is that it seems that no matter what the brand, modern ranges with electronics can break down. It does seem that the self cleaning cycle can be the main trigger for this failure.

This is the main reason I have almost completely ruled out the Kitchenaid KGRS807SWH all gas unit (dual fuel isnÂt available in white). I did like the layout of this range a lot and my wife thinks it will be a better match to our current appliances. I like the way that they spaced the four burners on the top surface, and the continuous grates were nice. My wife made the valid point that it may be a good range if we donÂt use the self cleaning feature. However, Consumer Reports rated this range as the lowest rated unit theyÂve tested. They did not like the low setting on the stove top and sited the reliability issue. IÂve been dealing with an appliance supplier that deals mostly with builders and those selecting appliances for new homes. (I used to go to the same gym as the owner and they have very competitive prices.) The sales person there has had very little negative feed back on these ranges.

In exploring units on the Web, it looked like Electrolux had a nice product. I liked the dual fuel EW30DF65GW. However, when I mentioned I was looking at the Electrolux product the sales person immediately stated Âyou will want the extended warranty on that! He was very reluctant to recommend the brand. Again this brand has good and bad feedback on the Web, but it was kind of surprising to hear a sales guy reluctant to sell a particular brand that they carry.

Although there are several brands with white stoves available IÂve narrowed down to either Frigidaire or GE. Both are double oven ranges. The GE is the dual fuel P2B918DEMWW. This has the five burner top and comes with a griddle for the 5th burner. What IÂm not sure on this range is how effective the drawer oven is. There is very little information on the lower oven. My supplier had an older version in their show room that had the warming drawer so IÂm a little unsure on the arrangement.

The Frigidaire unit is all gas FGGF304DLW and has the smaller oven above a larger lower oven. We had a chance to use an electric oven with this arrangement at a vacation rental and it seemed like a good arrangement. One other general comment on the Frigidaire is there dual fuel units are only available in the side in style. I did find many good comments on the dual fuel Frigidaire. Again there is not much feedback on this arrangement in the all gas oven. This may be a new model as it is slightly different than some that have been posted recently. My main hesitation is that a friend of ours had a Frigidaire gas range and mentioned that he had to replace a circuit board. He said it cost $500 to fix. That is almost half of the price of the range. It also makes me wonder if the Kitchenaid unit would be cheaper to fix. I did like that the central burner on the Frigidaire is a little stronger than the GE unit.

When I discuss the decision making process with my wife and question the reliability of any of these units. I also make mention of the non electronic professional style ranges which are one of the solutions touted here on Garden Web. However, only a few of these come with a white option. My wife has a hard time reasoning spending $4-5K to prevent the failure of a $1-2K range. I acknowledge that there are significant differences in the touted performance of some of these upper end ranges especially when open burner versions are considered. An additional factor is the fact that if and when we actually remodel the kitchen we would have the option of expanding the range to a 36" width (realizing the price would increase too). Also if we went with a pro style range we would/should replace our OTR microwave with a hood. The unit I like with the lowest profile and the highest CFM is on the order of $600. I wonÂt say that money is not an issue (we have two young kids and between daycare and college funds it goes quick), but to spend significantly more one needs to have some confidence in the decision that is made.

In the end my dilemma is this: in finding all the negatives on whichever brand range it brings the Kitchenaid back into the picture. Am I completely nuts for reconsidering the Kitchenaid? Sometimes knowing how something can fail is better than being surprised when a failure occurs. Has anyone figured out how to self clean on the KA without triggering the thermal fuse?