kellysuds--

I live in Saskatoon, SK and purchased my Lacanche through Art Culinaire having seen only pictures. It has been delivered but not installed. While I can't yet comment on performance (but ask me in a month, installation should be happening soon!!!), the range (a French Blue Cluny) is as beautiful and solid-feeling as I'd hoped. I have also been very happy with my dealings with Art Culinaire so far, and delivery to Canada was not a problem (as I recall there was an up-charge though). As for service, AC assured me that if I have a problem, they will locate a servicer here. As many others have commented in the forums, the range is mechanically very basic and straightforward (no proprietary computer board to break, etc.), and any servicer with experience with gas ranges should be able to work on it. There is of course a Canadian duty charge to add on; AC calculated it in advance, and I prepaid it through them. Good luck with your decision!

Thanks for the info North40mom! I would LOVE to hear more from you after your range is installed --I'm also looking at the Cluny, but have been a bit concerned about the small oven size. There were two other models on the Lacanche web-site that appealed to me as well(Chagny and Savigny), but it doesn't look like these models are available in North America yet. I was on our Canada Customs web-site today trying to figure out approximately how much duty I'd have to pay for a Cluny, but it was impossible. Do you recall how much extra you paid for duty and for shipping?

Thanks for your assistance and I hope you'll be cooking on your range soon!!

Kelly

Kelly, You'll find that the people at Art Culinaire are WONDERFUL to work with. While I'm not in Canada, I had some concerns because of my location as well (Alaksa). The service issue isn't an "issue" because it is a basic gas range. Anyone who is trained to work with gas ranges (Wolf, Viking, etc) is able to work on a Lacanche.

If I were you, I'd call and talk to Ryan about the costs. He was very kind to provide us with exact quotes within a few mins of our first contact. I saw lots of dots on their little map (of where they have ranges installed) in Canada :) He will also have the customs figures available for you so you'll know exactly what to budget.

I have a Cluny 1400 and couldn't be more excited about a silly appliance! I did fly down to look at it before purchase, but I think I'm the rare bird there. I've talked to so many folks who only saw it on the web sites before purchase, but they all still love theirs (I have never heard of anyone who doesn't).

You might visit some of the older Lacanche threads here (Do a search on Lacanche) and while they're quite long (we all like to brag about our babies) you will see several discussions about the oven sizes and many questions answered about that in the threads (Like how big of a roaster can you get in etc).

I believe that the Savigny is the same as the Volnay (I liked below to the site with a volnay) and the oven is bigger. The sully and the fontenay also have the larger ovens as well (I'm not sure how much space you have).

Personally I'd kill for a Sully 2200 :o) But then again, I'd have to kill....my neighbors, so I could bust through the walls of my condo into their kitchen to make room for it LOL

Ryan is the sales guy at Lacanche US by the way. Do pop out an email to him or call and let him help you with those cost isses :) He's wonderful to work with and won't pressure you to purchase or anything silly like that (They just don't do that at AC!) And best of luck finding the range of your dream. I personally can tell you that even though we haven't finished our remodel, through good and bad, the one thing we've enjoyed is petting that silly range as we walk by it heh heh It's gorgeous!

Here is a link that might be useful: Volnay

Kelly,

GST and duty was US$926, not sure what the shipping up-charge was (but Igloochic is right, Ryan was able to calculate all and get back to me very quickly.)

Kelly-
I'm going on 3 years with my Sully 2200. LOVE IT! I think when you search the old threads, you'll see that most of us bought them sight unseen. Yes, it's a HUGE leap of faith. But AC is great and the ranges are great!

The Sully ovens are the larger ones, so I can't speak about the Clunys from experience...but I can add that in my years of hanging out on the Lacanche threads, I don't recall anyone ever being disappointed in the Cluny oven size. Yes, people have questioned it before purchasing...but once they use it, they say there are no problems.

Here's a link to an old Lacanche blog where you could find a lot of the old threads. Sadly, it isn't updated, so there will be a gap from there to what you find still on GW.

Good luck...and if you have questions, feel free to post them in the running Lacanche thread. Some owners only visit that thread, so you'll probably get more answers...or get them sooner!

Here is a link that might be useful: Lacanche blog

Thanks everyone for all the great info and feedback on your experiences. I have heard nothing but positive comments about these ranges. I'll give Ryan a call as you suggested.