What range are you presently using?
Why 36" preference?
If you buy at Sears you are likely going to be tied to their service organization.
Have you or people you know in your area had any recent experience using it? Ask around first before you buy.
If you get your present appliances worked on by people in that business you can trust, ask their advice.
30" range selections provide a much wider choice.
If you buy a range with electronics and oven self clean, don't use the self clean or line the oven bottom with aluminum foil trying to keep it clean.

There is a Verona 36" dual fuel range. Not a lot of reviews out there. It is around $2200.

There is also an all gas Bertazzoni for $3000 and there is a promotion for a free hood right now.

I am trying to decide between those two brands. Good luck!

Can't speak to the Kenmore Elire range, but I had a 36" Kenmore Elite cooktop that I replaced with a Wolf 36" range, and the Kenmore Elite cooktop was at least as good if not better than the Wolf cooking surface.

The design was sleek, the controls were easy see and easy to use, the burners came in a great range of sizes for different pots and pans (plus the 3-ring burner), it was easy to clean and totally reliable (although I only used it for 2-3 years before we remodeled).

I don't have first-hand knowledge of either range, but I found reviews of the Frigidaire, and they are mostly good (linked below).

As a side note, one of the negative reviews has to do with the stainless steel showing rust. This is almost always the result of someone using steel wool to clean stainless steel. The steel wool leaves microscopic particles that rust, and people mistake that for the stainless steel rusting. So whether it's your SS sink or your SS stove top, never use steel wool to clean stainless steel.

Here is a link that might be useful: 36-inch Frigidaire gas range reviews

I have to say after a prior bad experience that left me 20 years saying "no" to Kenmore, the Elite Gas Range (Slide-in, Convection) has changed my mind! It is a fabulous range! And, performance-wise compares very favorably with my sister's 36" Wolf cooktop and electric wall oven. It is only 30 Inches but has 5 burners plus a bridge burner that turns the whole left side into one continuous 21K btu burner that can be also used separately as a 7K/14K set. We especially love that tri-burner -- it forms an oval and comes with an integrated grill/griddle we use every day for short-order breakfasts. And, almost every night we find a way to use it with a large oval pasta pot and saute pans. (Only company making these large oval pans is "Rachel Ray" -- not sure why more manufacturers don't offer them b/c it's an especially effective use of tri-burners.) Using the tri-burner with an oval pan not only gives us a large surface to brown meat or boil a big pot of noodles or stew, it reserves three other burners to make sauces and side dishes simultaneously. It's just a winner on so many levels.

hiigl1:

I ran across one of these two years ago when I had to go stove shopping and can confirm that Hollysprings is correct in saying that the Kenmore Elite and the Frigidaire are the same stove. (If you find the full model number of the Kenmore, the first three digits tell you that Sears had the stove made by Frigidaire/Electrolux.)

I am curious why you want a 36" wide range. Are you maybe replacing an older (vintage) stove that was 36" (or maybe 40") wide? If so, this stove's tiny oven (3.7 cu. ft.) won't be unfamiliar to you and is likely to work significantly better. Maybe you want a slightly wider cooktop than you get with a standard 30" stove, can't fit a separate oven and cooktop, and don't care that the oven is so small?

If you were hoping for a pro-style stove, you will be disappointed. Except for the stainless cladding, these are not pro-style stoves.

There are other 36" ranges in the sub $2k price range but the makers, Summit and Premier, have a not-so-good reputations here. The word that comes to mind is cheap, in every sense of the term. If you really need a 36" range and don't care about the tiny oven, and aren't looking for multiple high-power burners, either Frigidaire and Kenmore would be okay.

If you were looking for a "pro-style" stove, though, the small oven could be a serious drawback and you can get similar (and better) burners and a bigger and better oven in a standard 30" range such as the one that sssiwek describes.

Oh, and one other thing. If you can work with a dual fuel range, Costco.com has been carrying 36" "Ancona" brand range since last fall for about $1800 delivered. It seems to be a counter-depth Euro-Style model (akin to Bertazonnis and Veronas and Ikea used to rebrand).

Here is a link that might be useful: Ancona 36

This post was edited by JWVideo on Sat, May 31, 14 at 14:43

I would strongly recommend against buying Kenmore appliances of any kind. Kenmore doesn't actually make appliances. Sears just buys appliances in bulk from other manufacturers with the Kenmore logo slapped on them and no warranty. Then, Sears sells them with their own warranty. Which means you're tied to Sears to all warranty service. Sears does not have a reputation for the best techs. Further, out-of-warranty can be difficult for 3rd party companies because Sears does not make technical information available to service techs other than their own. There is no publicly available cross reference between Kenmore model numbers and those of the original manufacturer.

All of this raises the question of what the advantages are of buying Kenmore. There aren't any for the customer, but there sure are for Sears!

We share our honest, disappointing experiences of having purchased five Frigidaire major appliances (cooktop, oven, refrigerator, dishwasher and microwave) when we recently remodeled our kitchen. Of the five: the refrigerator, microwave and cooktop have had major failures, needing either replacement or major repairs. Most importantly, the FPEC3085KSA cooktop shockingly created a fire and smoke hazard when it had been turned off and not in use. Our perspectives of poor quality of these appliances, based on these product failures, is a huge disappointment and is the result from a lot of frustration, loss of reasonable use and increased costs to us beyond the purchase and installation prices. Most specifically, the fire/smoke damage issue is the worst of our experiences and has been surprisingly ignored by Electrolux/Frigidaire (as their prior Customer Service processes were reasonable). They present as only interested in how warranty coverage is involved, not how their products may create a dangerous or life-threatening situation to their customers. From the sum of our experiences, we now very strongly recommend against Electrolux/Frigidaire products and identify the need for caution in the use of their products. This may not answer your range question exactly, but I would avoid overall for their line of products.

I have a Kenmore elite 36 inch gas range - purchased 7 years ago and now I have to replace it. The hinges for the oven door are not strong enough and I have had to replace them many times (lasts about a few months). We ended up using a stick to keep the oven door closed but during this last holiday season the door just finally fell off and instead of spending another $300 to replace the hinges again we are purchasing a new oven. I would never have expected a $2500 oven to be engineered so poorly. I should have purchased a 30 inch gas ranch the selection, quality and and costs are significantly better.

Update: 40 months later: So, over three years in and not ONE complaint about my 30" slide-in Kenmore elite 5-Burner Gas European Convection Range. It has performed fabulously and continues to do so. The steel knobs are perfect, the baked enamel cooktop pan cleans up easily and the burners are still working perfectly. (This one has the 21 K tri-burner, the 18K dual ring, the 9K standard burner and the 5K simmer burner.) I'd buy it again -- it has proven to be an exemplary performer. BTW, I have a 30" Summit Valore Hood (3 speeds / up to 600 CFM) that also has been a top performer. And, a bargain at under $300 at Co$tco. One other suggestion -- always check your local Habitat Restore when looking for a "new stove." Last week there was a GE Monagram Pro 48" 6 burner with integrated griddle/grill and two self-cleaning convection ovens for $2,800. That's a $8,000 machine. And, it appeared to be virtually brand new -- like it came out of a builder's model house. (Our Restore gets a lot of builder appliances when they upgrade / update the model homes.)

4 years later and zero relevance to the posted ranges being discussed. SMH.