No first-hand experience here, although we've had more than 12 years of trouble-free use of our old Profile all gas range that's on the way out (still no problems, but I'm finally allowed an upgrade). My only suggestion is that you look at CR's reliability ratings. The magazine takes a lot of hits on this board -- some criticisms well founded, it seems to me, and some ranging from just plain wrong to incoherent. I don't believe for a second that they cook their reliability data, however, and they do seem pretty good about starting with a large total sample, but still qualifying results to maintain statistical validity, which they do in lay terms (so, if the variance suggests that differences of less than 4 points are not robust, they'll say so; and if they have too small of a sub-n for a given brand in a given type, they'll say that too). I don't recall the 2010 numbers, but I reckon that they were able to get a large number of reports regarding GE ranges. If it turns out that the dual fuel is substantially less reliable than the gas (I'm guessing here -- they might be comparable or the order might even be reversed), and the difference appears significant, then that would be a real factor for me.

Just a word on using this stove with convection--the Cafe automatically adjusts the oven temp 25 degrees lower than you set when using convection baking--so in theory, if you plan to bake your pumpkin bread at 400 degrees as per the recipe, you would set the convection bake at 400 and the oven would automatically adjust the temp to 375. In doing this, in theory, the cooking time should be similar to the original recipe but if you were using more than one shelf, all items should bake evenly. I did some investigating Convection baking on-line and what is recommended is that, if something normally cooks less than 15 minutes, it is best to convection cook at 25 degrees lower than the recipe. If something cooks longer than 15 minutes, it is best to cook at the recipe temperature and expect a faster rate of cooking. My original GE All Gas Cafe never worked on the Convection because for some reason, the elements would not come back on after reaching the set temperature, causing the oven to gradually cool and the food to dehydrate rather than bake. My new GE All Gas Cafe is still not installed (still waiting for GE to install replacement parts for defective parts, and range is still in box going on 3 weeks now!) but when it is installed I will have to play with the convection more myself. Just watch your oven when using the convection mode and make sure that the elements are coming on and off during baking--in other words, they should be on constantly until the oven heats up to the set temp, and then they will go off until the oven cools a bit, then come back on--just like with regular baking. The convection fan will run constantly and just pause to change direction. Hope this info helps a little. If you want to read more about using convection, you can check out this website: http://www.cadco-ltd.com/convectioncook.html It had some good suggestions and information.

NEWS from CPSC U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Office of Information and Public Affairs Washington, DC 20207 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 8, 2009 Release #09-189 Firm's Recall Hotline: (888) 352-9764 CPSC Recall Hotline: (800) 638-2772 CPSC Media Contact: (301) 504-7908 GE Media Contact: (888) 240-2749 GE Recalls Ranges Due to Fire and Burn Hazards WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. Name of Product: GE Profile(tm) Freestanding Dual Fuel Ranges Units: About 28,000 Manufacturer: GE Consumer & Industrial, of Louisville, Ky. Hazard: The wiring in the rear of the range can overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers. Incidents/Injuries: GE is aware of 47 reports of overheated wiring, including 33 reports of wiring that caught fire. Of these, one fire caused structural damage to the home and there have been 14 reports of minor property damage. No injuries have been reported. Description: This recall involves GE Profile 30" Freestanding Duel Fuel ranges. The ranges were sold in white, black, bisque and stainless steel. The following model and serial numbers can be found on the left inside corner of the bottom drawer. Brand / Model Number Begins With / Serial Number Begins With GE Profile / J2B900 / LD, MD, RD, SD, TD, VD, ZD, AF, DF, FF, GF, HF, LF, MF GE Profile / J2B915 / MF, RF, SF, TF, VF, ZF, AG, DG, FG, GG, HG, LG, MG, RG, SG, TG, VG, ZG Sold at: Department and appliance stores nationwide from June 2002 through December 2005 for between $1,300 and $2,000. Manufactured in: Mexico Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the oven and contact GE for a free repair. Consumers can continue to use the cooktop burners. Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact GE toll-free at (888) 352-9764 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday ET, or visit the firm's Web site at www.geappliances.com To see this recall on CPSC's web site, including pictures of the recalled products, please go to: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09189.html Here is a link that might be useful: CPSC Website

"Commercial bakeries use nothing but gas ovens." This is not true. If you are talking about bulk bakeries, they are more inclined to because it is often cheaper but they also have steam injectors to add humidity when needed. I know several specialty bakeries that use electric ovens. Many deck ovens in commercial kitchens are electric. I knew of a bakery that was called "the Electric Bakery". It really depends a lot on what they are baking. I know a baker that has specialty ovens for pies. This really has nothing to do with home ovens because they are a different breed anyway as they are expected to do many different things. "Dual fuel is excessively expensive, and overly complex for no benefit in performance ." Performance is different things to different people. They have different needs so there is no one size fits all. If I were selling appliances, the first thing would be to assess that person's needs and make individualized recommendations based on those needs. I most likely would never recommend ranges to begin with unless there was a compelling reason like space or cost issues or even a preference for "looks" over cooks. Pick out each component because it meets individual needs in the best way possible. As far as cost, you can buy electric ovens with features that have high utility for less than some gas ovens with limited features. Electric ovens can be complex, but so are our home computers and cars these days. This is not necessarily a bad thing. These ovens can have features that many consider helpful in how they use their ovens. It takes a computer board to coordinate fans, heating elements and tight temperature control. I love being able to control the direction of heat and fan speed in my oven. I can have air movement slow or fast to facilitate browning or not if I am baking a cake. It has a lot greater range of temperature, with or without the fan than many ovens gas or electric that cost a lot more. There is a learning curve with these features especially with the many choices something like Gaggenau or Miele give you. The combi oven is the king of control of the cooking environment but not in a range yet. The other side of the coin is some ovens have this figured out and others, not so much, so you have to read as many reviews as you can. To minimize risk if you want these features, buy the longest service agreement that you can. They can be difficult to evaluate and compare because a feature named the same name in two different brands can mean two different things. Even the term "dual fuel", in most ovens it means gas burners and an electric oven but 5 Star when they say dual fuel means a gas oven and electric oven together in the same range. You have to decide what is a benefit and what is a burden? No one answer. "could you please explain why all gas is fine" "All gas is fine." I might agree with that statement depending on how you use your oven but that in no way means they are the same and it in many cases gas is not the best choice. Gas and electric ovens are constructed differently. Because you have combustion for your heat source, another difference, gas ovens are vented more to remove products of combustion including water, so those products of combustion and humidity from food move out of the oven and into the kitchen. That may be good or bad depending on where you live, but how is that significant to cooking? It is much more difficult to keep added steam in a gas oven if you are doing that for bread or adding a pan of water for cheesecake. Because there is more of an air current, in a gas oven, this removes more moisture from the surface of what you are cooking. This inhibits starch gelatinization during the first part of baking so inhibits rise and changes the appearance of what you are baking. On the other hand, because it evaporates moisture from the surface and allows it to heat more quickly, the Maillard and other browning chemical reactions take place more quickly. This is why meat, vegetables and even baked goods brown more quickly. Will you notice? A lot of people say they don't. I have baked in gas and electric ovens for over 50 years and I used to attribute differences in outcomes to different ovens rather than a difference in fuel but with the many books and websites that have come out on food science, you can see the rationale for the differences in outcome that cooks report in cooking/baking forums. It was kind of a "aha" moment to put these comments with the science. All of the information coming out challenges what used to be conventional wisdom and yet it might be hard to see if you are not baking the exact same recipe side by side. You do see the same observations cooks make repeatedly in terms of cooking on cooking and baking forums and people seem to notice the difference more coming from electric to gas but you do see the occasional comment about excess moisture in some electric ovens when they are coming from gas. Most advertising literature and websites about ovens actually say a gas oven provides moist heat and electric dry but they are only looking at the heat source and not the oven as a whole and the process of cooking which provides a lot of moisture to the oven chamber. Another difference is that there are more and more features being loaded into ovens now as noted above, mostly electric but sometimes gas too. Some electric ovens have added steam. Combi ovens are very useful in their ability to control humidity and really make the case for buying ovens separate from the range top instead of having to pick the priority of the burners or the oven. I am not a fan of the current trend of hiding the bake element in electric ovens. Sometimes with pies, you need that bottom element exposed. It used to be you could put a tray under the element to catch spills. If you put it on the bottom now, it will melt. Some other things to consider. gas broilers are of two types. There is the traditional gas broiler, but they are not very good. Many prostyle gas ovens have an infrared broiler. They are very hot and even, but can be small. They are great for a couple of steaks but not so much trays of appetizers or broiling larger amounts. How big is the oven? Do you want a quick preheat or need room for full commercial sheets? Look at the rack size for usable space and size top to bottom. What is the temperature range, lowest and highest? What are the increments that you can set your temperature? 25F or 5F? Ovens are not an easy choice these days but I think it helps at least some people to realize the differences so you can at least make a somewhat informed decision.