Please help me decide on range and hood!

12 years ago

I'm new to the forum -- I am so excited to find you all!

We are starting a kitchen renovation, which will give us a lot more working area & storage space within the same smallish footprint. Cabinets have been ordered, granite countertop nearing decision, general look & feel of the kitchen decided. I'm sure I will be coming back with other questions later.

We will be keeping current GE SS Profile fridge, and current Bosch SS dishwasher. I need a 30" range. No room really, to do separate double ovens and cooktop, nor a larger range. I will be making the switch to gas -- had cooked on gas stoves for years & definitely prefer to electric, though I've unfortunately been using electric for too many years recently. Considering dual fuel -- but some say it's great, and others not necessary, gas ovens will do fine. I want the look of a professional range -- but not the pricetag.

So, I don't want to spend an arm & leg -- would rather use the $$ for travel. Looking at somewhere around $2500 or less -- but could go up to $3500 if warranted. At this point, could do either freestanding or slide-in, since cabinets & countertops aren't in yet.

But on the other hand, I love to cook. Our family gatherings several times a year often have 12 of us gathered around the dining table. An example of my cooking: Christmas tradition in our family has become Beef Wellington, with dessert of Buche de Noel (Julia Child's recipes with my own unique twists). I keep trying to convince everyone there are lots of great other options out there that aren't so time-consuming, but DH & grown kids (& now their spouses) love these too much. In the past, I have taught French cooking. Now, work keeps me too busy to do too much of it, not to mention the waistline! But, I would still really appreciate good equipment in my kitchen.

I've been lurking here, and reading reviews on other sites, trying to decide on which gas or dual-fuel range. Several people have recommended the GE Cafe, and then I read some very negative reviews about it. Saw raves here on the Bertalozzi, but reports of small oven & fan running automatically. MIxed reviews of Electrolux. How is Bosch?

So: GE Cafe? Bosch? Electrolux? Bosch? Bertalozzi? Any and all suggestions welcomed.

Range Hood: I love the look of the Zephyr Savona chimney hood. The hood will be a focal point of the kitchen. Also looking at a similar-looking Kobe. I don't do a lot of stir fry or other frying. Any advice here also welcome.

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Comments (4)

ZacsDaddy
12 years ago
My 2 cents -- I love the convection in Bosch. After having the Bosch wall ovens for years, I went for the gas Bosch Evolution 700 range. So far, I love it. There are lots of good ranges around for under $2500 ... you just need to decide what features are the most important to you. For my decision it was easy to clean (I've had both a Wolf and a Viking and will never go that route again), at least one high BTU burner, self cleaning, and a good convection oven.

For a hood, we went for the Zephyr Typhoon after seeing one in action at the Zephyr showroom. They suction is amazing - and even at high speeds, very quiet. I don't think you can go wrong with either a Zephyr or Kobe hood.

Also, check out the Appliance forum -- lots of knowledgeable people who can help you find your way.
artemis78
12 years ago
We have the Kobe hood that looks like the Savona (and considered that too). The main deciding factor in the end was that the Kobe has baffle filters and the Savona has mesh filters; not sure how much difference that really makes, though. I think the Kobe also had more speeds, but not sure on that.
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If you really like to cook and bake, and really use your kitchen, I encourage you to do as Weissman advises and choose the range that suits your needs best. I do like how my kitchen looks, but love much more how it functions and how the features and performance of my appliances help me create successful meals or baked goods. I paid no attention to handle style, and have appliances of all different brands in my kitchen. Those are the things you may notice the first few days when you're picking things apart and wanting to be sure you made all the right choices, but after that those little detail issues fade out, and I bet no one who comes into your kitchen will notice at all. If you give up a feature or a better brand in exchange for style, I think that's what you'll regret in the long run. Get a great range and have fun cooking! :-)
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I would skip the cabinet. It would be small and awkward inside and why pay for that? Spend the money on a good hood of that is more than 20" on the depth. These are powerful enough and designed to be installed at the 30" height you are wanting. Type into the search engine here, vent hoods or range hoods, and you will find lots of possibilities. One of the ones that we saw that might work for you is a Thermador product that is pretty strong, is about 18" in depth but has a slideout that brings the total depth of the vent hood to be about 24". There are lots of powerful ones that are pretty quiet. We are strongly considering one from Futuro Futuro ourselves. Good Luck!
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You need a Kitchen Designer with the standard software that can show you the consequences of your decisions. Open shelving with large focal point objects isn’t really going to work well here. Your treasures don’t need to compete with a hood.
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cplover
12 years ago
@ZacsDaddy- Did you consider the Bosch Evolution 500 series? It seems so similar to the 700 series except $700 less. It also has 5 burners instead of 4, only real difference seems to be a warming drawer--which I have never had so I do not know if I would miss. Have you liked your self-clean feature?

Readhead47- I too am searching for the same thing. I have read scary crazy things about the GE Cafe, especially the self-clean feature. I am leaning towards a Bosch gas range and a Bosch DW. I was also considering the Berts--but no self-clean feature which does not seem like a good idea for me-- I do not love to clean and cleaning an oven does not sound like fun! :) I lot on GW love NXR but that range has limited bells & whistles including no self-clean.

Keep us posted in your search.
Redhead47
Original Author
12 years ago
newbieremodeler -- I think I should have your screen name! Definitely describes me, too.

I love my Bosch dishwasher, Evolution 800 series. It has tons of flexibility, with fold-down and height-adjustable racks, short/light cycles, etc. The "quiet" factor was also an issue for me, and Bosch dishwashers are great for quiet functioning. You can't even tell it's on when you're in the same room! Some GW members have complained about loading a Bosch -- but the model I chose had the max flexibility. It wasn't as "pretty" as some of the others, but a great appliance overall. Some models that look nice don't have the adjustable racks.

I also posted this on the appliance forum & got a good response, with lots to think about -- you might check it out, if you haven't already.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bosch dishwasher

Please help me decide on range and hood!

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ZacsDaddy

artemis78

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Please help me decide on range and hood!

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ZacsDaddy

artemis78

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