What size range do you have and what does the burner/grill configuration look like?

Oldalgebra -

It's a 30" range with removable griddle (not grill). I'm attaching a link with a picture of the burner configuration. The following is from the manual:

"The smallest burner in the right rear position is the simmer burner. The medium (left rear) and the large (left front) are the primary burners for most cooking. The large (left front) also has a special power boil setting. The dual flame extra large burner (right front) is the maximum output burner. It has a special power boil setting. The center oval burner is the largest in size and is for large oval pots/pans or to be used with the griddle."

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1485216}}

happytobehome-
Thanks so much for that report!!! My husband and I were just discussing this over dinner and we'd pretty much decided to go with the GE Cafe even though we'd read so many bad things. We were saying that any appliance that sells a lot of units -like GE and Jenn Air must both- is bound to have a fair share of vocal unhappy customers. Whereas other ranges we considered (Bertazzoni, American, NXR) have a much smaller market share and theredore presumably less complaints.

I'm glad to hear you like your range. Are you cooking on NG or Propane? I'll be on propane so I know I will lose some BTUs, but I've also been cooking on ceramic-top electric for the psat 10 years -except for my admittedly wimpy propane stove on my sailboat- so I'm really looking forward to cooking on an adjustable flame.

Thanks again, I appreciate it.

Stacey

Stacey -

Natural Gas. We had it brought in from the street 3 years ago when we renovated the basement after a flood. We had it piped up to the kitchen in anticipation of a future kitchen reno. It's been 20 years since I've cooked with gas and I'm lovin' it!

I think a lot of the bad stuff you've heard about GE Cafes is based on the first year's production. It takes time to get the kinks worked out of a new model.

I have a friend who is an engineer and researches everything very thoroughly before she buys, and she has decided on a GE Cafe too.

Thank you, Happy2BHome.
Thirty inch is what I'm looking for, as I don't have much space at all.
And I MEANT "griddle" even though I typed "grill." I do that all the time.
Is the griddle you're using an accessory sold by GE or did you buy it separately? I do a lot of pancakes and grilled sandwiches.
Thanks again.

Was there a reason you decided on a free standing range instead of a slide-in?

oldalgebra -

the griddle is included with the range -- no need to purchase separately. No reason for free standing -- just really liked the looks of the GE Cafe.

happytobehome,

I also have the GE Cafe range and I like it--especially the second oven when I need it. My only complaint is cleaning the top of the range around the burners. We fry quite a bit and I can't seem to get the grease spots off the top. What do you use to clean the top?

Thanks!

I have the GE Cafe AG range and am very happy with it.
oldalgebra - The griddle doesn't get super hot; it does make pancakes nicely, but they take a a little bit longer to cook. Also it's not that big so you can't make big batches. Grilled cheese should be no problem.

Jayjay - I haven't had any problem with cleaning. I just fried ribeye steaks tonight (lots of grease splatter), waited for the stove to cool, loaded the grates into the dishwasher, then washed the stainless top with a dishrag dunked in hot soapy water and wrung out a bit. I followed up with a dry dishtowel to prevent streaks. It's even easier to wipe the stovetop if you remove the burner caps and heads first. I use Weiman Stainless Steel Wipes on the outside part of the range, but the manual says don't use stainless cleaner on the stovetop.

I have the Cafe range too, fueled with propane, and thought I'd throw in my two cents. Mine is a slide-in and the sides are black. Is there also a free-standing model?

Happytobehome posted a quote from the manual about the function of the different burners, but mine doesn't work that way. The only burner with the power boil setting is the right front. It cooks significantly faster than the left front, which is actually a slightly larger burner. And it's a better burner for simmering, too -- the flame turns down to a cooler setting, which surprised me because it's a much bigger burner than the tiny, supposed simmer burner on the right rear. (I'm guessing that on a true professional range, all burners would be like this one.)

As for the center oval burner, I haven't used it b/c I don't like to use non-stick cookware. (The griddle that comes with it is non-stick. You remove the center grate to use it. It is designed to fit into place on the range top without the grate.) One of these days I'm going to see if a cast iron griddle would fit there. The flame on this burner is VERY low -- now that I write this I'm wondering if it would be a good simmer burner. I'll try this tomorrow. It doesn't seem like it'd be a big enough flame to work for anything else.

Maybe they've changed the features since we bought ours a year ago. I just wanted to give you some feedback from someone else who uses propane. On the whole, I'm happy with it. (My old stove was an ancient electric coil, so it is a big improvement.) I have gotten greedy and wished that all four burners were like the right front. But that would make it a much more expensive stove, I guess. I don't know why -- the burners don't seem like they should be that expensive.

egganddart49 - I didn't think the GE Cafe came in a slide-in model. Mine also has black sides, but is definitely a free-standing range. I searched and found another thread about free-standing versus slide-in, and this is what it said:

"Slide-in range = Cooktop portion OVERLAPS your countertop by about 3/4 " on three sides. (cooktop lays on top of counter.)
Free Standing Range = just that, fits inside the hole proper, perhaps leaving slight gaps between counter edges and stove sides."

I know my old range was a slide-in -- it overlapped the counter, and rested on wooden supports (like 2x4's) attached to the sides of the cabinets about 3/4 of the way down to the floor. The Cafe does not overlap, and rests on it's own feet on the floor.

As you said, they must have changed the features because I do have two power boil burners. I bought mine from Sears in January 08 because it was on sale, but did not take delivery until November, and did not install until December, so I most likely received a newer model. I had also heard complaints about plastic knobs, but my knobs are not plastic.

Thanks for the reviews. I've got a Cafe dual & frig sitting in the garage waiting to go in (hopefully just a couple more weeks). The one thing I noticed is that some of the knobs feel kinda loose/sloppy on the range. I wonder if that's normal or something that needs to be fixed?

Thanks again

Thanks folks. I'm still really torn. Went in to look at the ranges again today (GE Cafe and Jenn Air Premier Line Pro Style)... both units feel somewhat flimsy to me for their high price! And I am scared the electronic modules will fail. We never buy extended warranties, but definitely will if we purchase one of these. We had the "brain" fail on previous electric Maytag stove and hubby fears the combination of sensitive electronics and high-powered burners doesn't bode well.

Really we want a real "pro style". I found a great deal on an AMerican 30" for about $400-450 more than the GE Cafe, but that's $450 I have to remove from the rest of the kitchen budget, so I'm hesitant (we're on a $16k budget!)

My gut feeling is to suck it up and ge tthe American, but I really shouldn't. Second thought is to buy a cheapie since the top-end mid-range ones we're talking about don't wow us, but we just can't stomach the looks of the cheaper units!!

It's a real dilemma. I do think I would love having the second oven or warming drawer, though...

Egads, I was wrong!! I do have two power boil burners!! But, unless I'm imagining things, the front left doesn't boil as fast. I'll have to do a controlled test tomorrow.

Stacey, I don't remember what brand of cooktop Trailrunner has, but I seem to remember her saying it was professional quality at a lower price than the brands you usually hear of. I couldn't find a mention of it on here or her fkb spot tho. Maybe you can "call" her on this forum, or email her.

I know exactly what you're saying about the ranges, I went through the same thought process. It depends on how you cook. The Cafe has a better gas top than the "cheapies". But if you're someone who cooks a lot of things at once, and/or would make use of high BTU burners, I'd say a true pro range is probably going to make you happier. The way your range functions is a lot more important, IMO, than differences you'll have between frig or sink models, for example. Can you cut a few hundred dollars from somewhere else, maybe somehting that can be upgraded later? From my experience with propane, I know you lose a lot of BTUs in the conversion (tho this varies too, from model to model), so starting with high BTUs is important. But another important factor is the burner design -- how low the burner will go, whether there's a double flame or a star shaped flame.... I wish you could come over and try out my Cafe, that's the only way to know for sure if you like it. I'm a little far tho, in NY!

Stacey -- I too am so perplexed and undecided on what gas range to buy. We are doing a complete renovation and have a G.E. SS slide-in that is 25 years old and was never a bit of trouble other than having to replace the plastic knobs. Have you researched the Bosch and reach any conclusions?

stacey, do you use a meat thermometer a lot. I ask because I used the probe feature on my GE cafe for the second time last night. One end of the probe is inserted in the meat and the other is plugged into the interior of the oven. You set the temp that you want your meat to be done on the control panel. While it bakes you can watch the temp of the meat rise on the control panel. The oven turns off when it reaches your set temp. Really nice feature.

Hi all and thanks for the input.

I'm leaning towards a real pro AG.... I found a Capital Performance (now discontinued) floor model for a couple hundred less than the GE CAfe. It has 4x 15k burners on LPG. Second choice is an American Range for about $300 more than the GE Cafe. It doesn't come LP-ready, though, so the quality of the conversion kit installation would affect our LP performance.

I do use a meat thermometer (we cook a lot of grass-fed meats that CAN'T be overcooked!) so that meat probe would be nifty, but I do alrady have a similar thing (probe on a wire that snakes out the oven door to the small ipod-size monitor) so I don't NEED that. And frankly it's one of the "bells and whistles" that makes me nervous. All those sensitive electronics and high-temp burners, something seems likely to fail.

eggandart- I didn't think the Cafe had stacked burners, does it? Do you get a dual ring of flame on some burners? The pros I am looking at don't have that: the burners are all single ring, I believe.

mbarstow- yes, we did look at Bosch. I had to cross it off the list because I could not stand the look of the burnmer grates sitting up so high off the surrounding cooktop and counters. It is a really odd look. I much prefer a well (catch spills) and burners that don't stick up more than an inch. I think it has good performance and reputation, though.

Stacey, I don't know if the right front burner is called a dual ring burner, but there are two rows of holes for the flame to come out of. The main ring, on top, has slits, and this is where the bigger flames are. About 1/4" below this is another ring, of small holes. Flames come out of this ring at the same time, but they never get big. In fact they remain so low (maybe 1/4" or less tall) it's hard to believe they add much. Maybe on NG they're bigger? But this is a hotter, faster burner than the others, so maybe it does more than it appears to.

BTW, I read your other post about Capital and American ranges. I don't know anything about them. But if it's the appearance of a pro range that's most important to you and you don't NEED more than one high/low BTU burner, you probably WOULD be happy with the Cafe. OTOH, if you can get one of the others for less $$ (remember no one actually pays the $2999 MSRP of the Cafe) it would probably be a better range. But two caveats: The higher BTU range might need a more powerful (expensive) range hood, and do they have gas ovens? Some people like them, some don't.

Good luck with your decision, and may it be one of the last ones you have to make!

eggandart49,
thanks for the kind words. I had no idea how difficult these decisions would be!! in our last house, it was ll about budget, so things were a lot simpler. Ikea cabinets, basic appliances, and we used our creative DIY ingenuity for some awesome -but low-cost- details that made the kitchen pretty "wow" on a slim budget. This house is an investment for us, a 3-year project. A nice house is a VERY nice neighborhood that needs major updating. The market won't allow Ikea cabinets and budget appliances here. Which is, on the one hand, fun.... but also problematic. I have expensive tastes, and so the fact that I have bigger budget makes me want to go all out on my perfect kitchen.... but resale is key here so I can't be too avante garde. I'd be very sleek, green, and practical in my perfect kitchen... but here we need to stay "upscale cottage" (cherry shaker cabs, granite). Still, it's nice to be able to look at the nicer things. I just checked with a local real estate guru and she thinks "pro-style" is the way to go (even an "unknown" name). given that I'd prefer to cook on one for the next 3 years, I think I will go for it. So now it's down to the Capital or the American! Capital has 4x 15k btu. I think the American has one that's 17k.

On an completely different topic, i'm shocked at how chintzy the interior of our expensive (well, expensive to ME) fridge is. We're getting the Jenn Air counter depth french door model and the produce drawers and stuff are as bad as the el-cheapo fridge in here now!! you'd think for $2500 you would get a little better drawer slides and stuff. Still, I love the way it looks, and presmably it'll keep stuff cold!!! And, I found a floor model on sale for $1800!

Anyway- thanks so much for your comments... they really help!!

Stacey

Funny, we just bought a cabinet-depth KA frig, and I was thinking the same thing. All plasticky and cheap inside. The produce drawers and freezer slide-out shelf don't work as nicely as on our previous, clunky, $800 Amana. FOr the first time, today I was thinking maybe we should have paid thousands extra for a really nice, sleek built-in. But it goes against my grain to pay that much when a basic refrigerator is really all we need.

About your range, I think you made the right decision if you're in an expensive neighborhood and are thinking of resale.