Viking Range beware poor quality
shappy
15 years ago
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loves2cook4six
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoya_think
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Considering Viking electric range or cooktop and double oven
Comments (15)Yep, it is not the induction. I wanted induction, but my budget won't support it at the moment. Had it been induction, both would have been mine, budget be damned ;-). deb52899, keep in touch with the dealer, and other dealers in your area. I got a quote for the same unit I bought from a local dealer and they quoted $6400 with tax, delivery and installation for a "retail" version. Mine was identical, just overstock. They probably would have picked up the new in box overstock and kept the extra $3k. Look for showroom models, OTC and other options. You can save a lot going that direction. I just returned from the distributor and picked up a range hood that was in the OTC area. I picked up a VWH3048SS with a VINV600 blower installed. Retail was about $1600 for the pair, $350 was my price. If you can work with separate cooktop and ovens, they had several induction cooktops there. Not big discounts on them though.. This post was edited by paarlberg on Fri, May 24, 13 at 16:30...See More36 inch gas range WOLF or Viking?
Comments (14)I'm not sure what you mean by "will all gas make cooking difficult". Is that something one of the sales people told you? There are things that bake better in an electric oven and things that bake better in a gas oven. Mostly meats and roasts do better in a gas oven due to higher moisture while pastry and such are easier with electric. Frankly, it's all personal preference. My wife does the baking in our house and she hated our last oven mainly because it was electric. She had always used gas until then and was more comfortable with it. She still baked some wonderful stuff but she was just frustrated by having to adjust her baking style to the oven. IMHO, given the quality of most gas ovens today, you will probably not have issues of temperature control and excessive cycling with either gas or electric. The main reason sales people tend to push dual fuel is that there is a premium in price and there has been lots of marketing around the "advantages" of dual fuel. I would suggest that you don't discount all gas unless you are dead set on getting an electric oven. Some brands, other than Wolf and Viking, to look at are Capital and Bluestar. Both offer a fully open burner range that will perform better than either Wolf or Viking IMHO. If you really want an electric oven, you should consider a range top with open burners and a separate wall oven. Now if you're really set on Wolf or Viking, I personally prefer Wolf over Viking after cooking on both. Finally, if you do look into other brands, do a search on "Culinarian" which is the new Capital open burner range. For Bluestar, just search "bluestar" and you'll get more threads then you know what to do with. For Bluestar, there have been complaints about the oven door sticking so read up on that and make up your own decision on whether their "V1" range has it fixed. Good Luck....See MoreAnyone bought a Bluestar or Viking range in past year?
Comments (10)We bought our Bluestar RNB less than a year ago and have had it installed since Feb'12. Ours is the 36" with 4 burners and griddle. So far, my experience has been mostly positive. To address some of the issues you've mentioned: I have never seemed to need more than 1 simmer burner at a time, so that has never been an issue. Aside from major holiday cooking, I seem to use that burner most often (almost daily) for cooking rice and reheating... Love being able to walk away and not worry about things boiling over or burning. I suppose number of simmer burners will come down to cooking style and preferences. I LOVE the ease of clean-up with my Bluestar! The cast iron is a cinch to clean... a little scrub while still slightly warm and it's done. Often, I will let a few days pass before cleaning and I suppose part of the reason i can do that is because, even when dirty, it doesn't look that bad! Clean-up was a huge factor for me. My last oven had black porcelain top and I was NEVER able to keep it clean or smudge-free, especially with as much heavy use as I put my ranges thru. I also love the size of the oven AND the full extension rack. It has made baking, basting, roasting, etc so much more efficient! Now, to address the oven heat issue... I, too, did a lot of research prior to buying our Bluestar. I believe the door locking problems due to high heat has been resolved. We have not had this problem and I use our oven several times each week, some weeks being daily. That said, the door does get pretty hot during use. While the oven door handle always stays completely cool, the oven door, oven window, and oftentimes, the knobs and front portion of the range (in front of the burners, where you stand right up against) do get pretty hot. It's never hot to the point of burning where it would be dangerous to touch, but it definitely is uncomfortable and even I avoid touching or leaning against it during those times. It appears door insulation is pretty much nil. I would like to point out, however, that I do have 2 small children (20mos and 3yo) who are often in the vicinity when I'm cooking. They know they are not supposed to come near the range while I am cooking and definitely not to touch the oven door when it is on. On plenty of occasions, their curiosity would cause them to wander close and touch it, despite our warnings. Never once have they screamed or gotten hurt. Usually, they touch it, draw their hands back and walk away. I am not in any way trying to defend Bluestar's heat issues, nor am I suggesting you let your kids touch things that are potentially hazardous, just telling it like it is in our experience. Does the heat bother me? Yes, sometimes it really does and makes me wish BS would address this issue and fix it for residential use. If I could get the same exact range/oven without the heat problems, would I? Without hesitation. Does it make me regret my decision? Not yet! Lastly, I do appreciate that the Bluestar has no bells & whistles. Little to no electronic means less break-down in my book at least. I've met 2 people who have Wolf ranges and both have had problems with the electric portions of their units, requiring lengthy service calls and repair/replacement. Though, since time keeping is important to me, I have had to put a clock in my kitchen when I used to rely on the digital ones on the range. Also, no electronics mean no built-in timers, which hasn't been a problem b/c I have one within reach. Also, despite having a manual oven control knob, the temperature settings have been pretty accurate, confirmed by my oven thermometer. One final comment about my Bluestar experience... I've been waiting for years to cook with a wok and now that I have the range (and, more importantly, the vent hood), it has been a dream! I absolutely appreciate being able to remove the grate and just fit my wok into the bowl-like space above the burner. The quality of certain dishes have definitely improved just due to the availability of high heat alone. For someone who loves cooking and experimenting, this has added to the fun in my new kitchen. Hope this helps!...See MoreThermador, American Range or Viking Oven
Comments (4)Are you sure you can fit a 30" oven ??? With an 18" interior it sounds as if you have a 24" wide oven. It's a big jump for a cabinet to be able to fit an xtra 6" of appliance in it from the get go. More so considering 30" ovens weren't readily available 20 years ago. The Thermador of today is not the same quality of that unit you currently have. Their current oven experience more issues than I think warrants their sales pitch. They sure are pretty though, and the sub 10 minute preheat will appeal to thousands of Americans in a hurry to get back to their iDevice and the internet. Of course a shop that no longer carries a brand you ask about wants to sell you something else. You have to ask yourself : why do they no longer carry that brand ? Company is leaving the marketplace? Company revoked the dealer agreement because of poor sales or representation? Maybe the dealer dropped the brand because it created too many headaches, service calls or didn't get the advertising support promised ? re: Viking - it's too much of a crap shoot to seriously consider now. Quality was starting to get questionable especially at the prices commanded - and that was before the buyout. As with any large scale takeover, the end product usually suffers in the short term. Workers become apprehensive about their jobs, or they are eliminated which fuels the anxiety which in turn affects their work. The new suits will immediately look to start cut expenses on everything which ,again, affects morale and often the product itself. Of course there are success stories, but the overall wisdom is to stay away til the dust settles. If you want knobs on your oven the choices get slim. In addition to the three on your list the other choices are Bosch, GE Monogram, DCS , Capital , Smeg, Bertazonni, Gaggenau, and Fisher Paykel. Of the lot the Gaggenau is the best of the bunch, with prices to match....See Moreanner55
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