Repairing a Viking range for a friend of mine. After endless searching on the web, Viking is junk and their support is crap. All I can say is this 48" gas range is about 6 years old. The only reason is has lasted this long is due to to the fact the person that previously owned the house and installed the appliances did not really cook. So they were rarely used. There is a file with about 4 service visit. The igniter for the burners has 1 bad leg and the igniter continues to run. Kind of normal, igniter order to replace this. When using the oven there is a constant gas smell and the other day they were using it the CO detector in the kitchen went off. I tore into the oven yesterday. Baking burners have holes from the oven glow ignitors running all the time. Then I found the entire bottom of the oven a disaster. The flame guard/baffle fell off the bottom floor of the oven and was resting on top of the baking burner tubes!! It appears that this flame guard/baffle caused the screws to back out over time when it expands and contracts?? Screws are in the bottom of the oven below where they would have been installed. This only happened on one side. Then when the screws fell out of one side of the flame guard/baffle, the spot welds on the "Z" bracket on the other side broke off. There were 2 spot welds that were too close to the edge of the "Z" bracket and they were less than 1/2 strength. I did better spot welding in my middle school shop class!! What total idiots. I will see how many years their warranty covers mechanical parts and welds, as far as I am concerned welds should be lifetime. So new bake burners have been ordered. Not sure how to repair the bottom of the oven as the floor is porcelainized and welding or drilling will cause the porcelain to crack, but probably will make a repair and see how it goes. These stupid ranges are a serious safety hazard and everyone needs to report their problems to the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission). They will not do anything for your specific problem, however, if enough complains show up, then they investigate and may issue recall notices? Oh, this is just the range problem, will not even go into the refrigerator door hinge problem. These have been recalled, however, the appliance repair people they sent out have changed the hinges 3 times and the doors still do not work correctly. Not sure is the problem is parts, training or just plain sloppiness on the appliance people?? Anyone who tells you Viking appliances are good quality either do not use them or they have staff that cooks and they have no idea about the poor quality of these appliances. If you use these appliances daily, you will see. Oh, then just wait if you expect support from Vikings indignant customer un-service staff. They feel like you are personally attacking their company. Well they deserve it, how disconnected can you be regarding crap products you turn out and sell for $1000-$5000 more than a standard Sears or GE product that actually works!

Thanks for the feedback ryanhughes. I hadn't considered that they had to buy the coil too. But, they assembled the two pieces outside the home before putting it in the attic, so getting it in probably wasn't the issue. Is there any qualitative difference between the MBE1200 and AEPF1830? My limited research indicates that the AEPF is "premium"...but I don't know what that really means. What's the real difference between the two? Thanks!

If you look at the warranty inforamtion on the manufacturer websites you will see the difference in how Zodiac treats the issue of resin pooling in contrast to Cambria. Zodiac states no spot will be more than the size of a quarter, I believe, and all spots must be confined to no more than a quarter of the slab for the slab to be considered first quality. Cambria's warranty states "color blotches are intended and designed into many colors to enhance the natural beauty...product will not be replaced due to these variations." Silestone does not address blotches at all in its warranty but does say color variances are not covered. I don't know if they would consider the splotches a color variance but I really have not heard of problems with this type of thing with Silestone, either. I think Cambria just decided they didn't want to deal with trying to solve the problem and so just "designed it in". Zodiac went the other way, and is trying to limit the problem, but can't guarantee there won't be any at all. So, if you like the blotches, go with Cambria, if you don't either be sure to view the slab first or don't go with Cambria, and make sure to check the warranty for this issue with whatever company you go with. I hope my Zodiac installation goes well on Monday. Sue

We have a Reinhard, fireclay, farmhouse, sink with a garbage disposal. We've had it for just over 5 months, but so far no issues. I also keep a metal grate in the bottom to prevent scratching. I had a Shaw farmhouse sink in the past, and I can't tell any difference between the two. I'm pleased that I went with the less expensive one.