36 inch Ranges Versus 48 inch Ranges

13 years ago

I'm getting ready to order a Bluestar range. I saw a 48" in person and it looks wonderful. I would be getting it with all burners(I do a lot of canning and scratch cooking). The biggest draw, aside from the looks of it, is the second small oven. I don't have any convenient wall space to put another oven in if I buy a single oven range. However, it's not every single day that I need two ovens...it's just that sometimes it would be nice.

How many of you would buy a 48 inch range over again? Have you truly found the second oven useful enough to justify the extra few thousand that it costs over a 36 inch range?

Sandy

Featured Answer

sayde

13 years ago

The 48 is gorgeous. I did consider it but wound up with a 30. Reasons -- extra counter space, money saved was put toward a Miele Speed Oven which is my second oven, did not need more than 4 burners. I do have my old gas cooktop hooked up in the basement though so if I ever needed more than four (it has never happened in 30 years) it is available.

But if you need all the burners there is no denying that the 48 is beautiful.

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Comments (10)

gfiliberto
13 years ago
I love my 48" Wolf range. I mostly use the small oven when cooking for my immediate family. It heats up quickly! I use the bigger oven for cookie sheets and when cooking for a crowd. I love the flexibility of 2 ovens and would not give that up. I love the way a 48" range looks, too.
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bostonpam
13 years ago
I love my 48" BS. We use the small oven most of the time. Like artteacher said - it heats up more quickly. I love the 2 sizes of ovens. If I need to cook things at 2 temperatures I can.
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Hey Linia, I was where you were about a year ago, so here's a couple of things I found. We ended up with a pair of 30" ovens and a separate cook-top. My first piece of advice may be counter-intuitve, but don't loose too much sleep comparing the price differences between the appliances too hard. While the double ovens and cook top are often significantly cheaper than a 48" 'pro-sumer' range (especially a viking or wolf dual-fuel, but even Blue Star and Capital), and as noted below the hood savings can bee significant, keep in mind that the ovens will require a separate cabinet, and the cook-top will require a cabinet as well. As you know or will find out, those are two rather expensive pieces of furniture (although you will gain a bit of storage space with them). The separates get you ergonomic benefits, as you don't have to bend down to get access to the ovens. You also have flexibility in selecting different brands of ovens and cooktop, so you can get induction or special wok rings or whatever you like (I think only Viking makes a 42" induction range), or if you cook on the stove a lot more than use ovens, you can splurge on that element or vice versa. It also allows some more possibilities with traffic in the kitchen. As my fellow Chicagoan noted above, you can use a smaller hood. Finally 2 30" ovens, or even 2 27" ovens will give you more oven capacity than a 48" (where you typically end up with a 30" oven and a 16" oven). Safety factors if you have youngsters (or plan to get them)also tend to separates. The plus's for the range is the fact that you have an instant centerpiece for the kitchen, because its a big honkin piece of (in my opinion) good looking metal (if you don't like the look-then go with the double ovens). It puts all your cooking activities in a single location. While you may need a bigger hood (and some of the things associated with it, look up the phrase "make up air" or MUA around here, make the hood prices in and of themselves look cheap), the hood also ducts any smoke or fumes from the ovens, so if you tend to create smoke or fumes when using your oven, that's a plus. Good luck and have fun choosing.
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It's not too big for any kitchen if it's what you want. If you'll use it all, often, and cook your hearts out, it's worth it. If you have no other use for 12" of cabinet space and wouldn't otherwise have a second oven, it might be worth it too. There was a picture floating around here about four years ago of a tiny kitchen, smaller than many closets, in an NYC apartment. It was basically a fridge, a sink, and a massive range. I think it was a 36" professional range, so deeper than normal. There was also a picture of an NYC apartment where the kitchen was basically a wet bar with an induction hot plate built into a drawer. It just depends on how much room you think you need for the actual business of cooking.
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I wanted to contribute my experience- we got the capital culinarian all gas 48" w/ the griddle (so we have 6 burners) within the past year and I have been using it for a few months. I LOVE LOVE LOVE our decision!! I too did a lot of research and did not read many negative reviews about it- and they are very well built, pretty, and simple design-wise (my husband is a contractor and thought they were most similar to the commercial ranges he has worked on, i.e. if something breaks it would be easy to fix). I probably wouldn't need 6 burners just for cooking- but it is nice to have. I also do a lot of canning/preserving, and do use 6 burners at the same time (simmer for warming lids, canning pot, pot for extra hot water, pot w/ stuff to be canned, pot w/ syrup for the stuff to be canned, one pot w/ dinner cooking). My husband loves the griddle- very easy to make breakfasts, hot sandwiches, etc. You could always do 4 burners and a grill/griddle as an option if you don't can/need 6 burners. Also, I really enjoy the big oven on the 48" (not sure how this compares in size to the 36" since the 48" has a large and small oven and the 36" one large oven). It can fit 9x13" pans side by side, and cookie sheets. The roll out racks aren't as smooth as some of the other brands we looked at (we liked the thermador racks the best- very smooth) but they work pretty well. Also, I haven't had any problems w/ the baking heat/evenness, and our oven is gas (which I think is typically worse than electric ovens?). I haven't baked bread yet- but have done a lot of other foods (cookies, casseroles, etc.). So if it were me I would definitely do the 36" over the 30" :-) It sounds like you would use it w/ all the cooking that you do. If you have any questions about mine please let me know :-)
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I would start with what you're accustomed to cooking on/with now: Have you been cooking on a 30 and always wished you had a larger cooking surface? Have you been using a 36 all these years and find you actually don't use one or two burners (or whatever the differential between 30 and 36 is)? If you've been using a 36, is it a good tradeoff to lose a burner for the sake of gaining countertop space and the spice rack? Good advice. I cook every day. Ambitious recipes, large quantities, lots of baking, the whole 9 yards, but it's quite rare that I say to myself, "I wish I had a larger cooking space and/or a second oven". It's just not something that I really need or want. However, I own more kitchen goods than a Williams Sonoma store, so that bit of extra storage space would be more than welcome. I wouldn't go with a spice pull-out though. You don't want to store spices by the heat of the stove, and those things are fairly expensive for the small storage they provide -- I vote for a slightly wider upper instead.
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zelmar
13 years ago
I love our 48" Viking. There is plenty of room when dh and I are cooking at the same time and the extra space also comes in handy when I'm cooking alone. I love having unused burners to slide hot pots onto for cooling off or as landing space for hot items from the oven. It contains all the hot items to one space instead having them scattered across the counter on trivets. And there are times when all of our burners are used at once (we have 6 + a griddle.)

I use the small oven most of the time for our family of 4. The large oven is handy when I cook mulitiple items at the same temp or when I use large cookie sheets. Having 2 ovens comes in handy for different oven temps and for when one oven is tied up by something baking for an hour that shouldn't be disturbed.

Take your favorite baking dishes to the showroom to make sure they fit into the small oven. The dishes I brought were a 9" Pyrex pie pan and a 9x13 pan. They fit fine in our Viking but didn't in some other brands. The brand I was leaning toward got eliminated because the oven rack brackets decreased the usable space so much that I couldn't fit either of the 2 dishes I brought. Just reading the oven specs wouldn't have been good enough since it seemed the oven was plenty big. Dh was happy we ended up with his top choice by default.

I would definitely buy another 48" range if I had to do over again. Getting a range with 2 ovens and plenty of burner/elbow space was a splurge that made a lot of sense to us.
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nini804
13 years ago
I have a 36" KA because I wanted more counterspace on either side...BUT if I could have had as much counter space with the 48", I would have loved that! The 48 inchers are so beautiful, and having a small oven and a large one would be a real bonus. The one oven in my 36" takes quite a while to heat up. But, I am glad I have the 36 because it is probably the right choice for me and my kitchen. I wanted 4 burners and a griddle, and I wanted that beefy "pro-look"...but I am not much of a cook and a 48" range would have definitely been over-kill. Sigh...they sure look good, though!
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sandy808
Original Author
13 years ago
O.K. you all convinced me to get the 48 inch:)My husband wants me to get the 48 because I will really appreciate what it can do for me. He also said that he knows I really want the 48 inch and if we don't get it he'll hear about it the rest of his life. Hmmm....smart man after 28 years of marriage. (I'm smiling as I write this).

I agree the 48 inch is beautiful and they have somewhat of a vintage look to me, which fits in with our home. I would also use the smaller oven for many of the meals for just the two of us.

I've been undecided between the red or a white one. Red is my favorite color...white is clean and soft looking. The dealer I'm working with wants me to take the weekend to think it over since the order wouldn't actually go into Bluestar until Monday or Tuesday anyway.

Sandy
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bostonpam
13 years ago
The BS comes in many shades of red (maybe 10+?). I have a red one. I love it.
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Daniel01
13 years ago
Hello,

I would like to say, AR36-4B, Heavy-Duty 36 inch Wide Commercial Restaurant Range with 26 1/2 inch Wide Oven and four Open burners. Forty eight inch Viking name has been synonymous with quality kitchen appliances. The company was originally found to bring commercial-grade cookware into the home kitchen,

Thanks
Daniel Smith
__________
www.appliancedirect2You.com
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friedajune
13 years ago
Sandy808 - keep in mind that you will also need a hood that is 48" or 54" wide over the 48" range. So not only do you forego lower cabinets, but upper as well. And a hood in that size will cost significantly more than a 36-42" hood. Also make sure your exhaust ductwork is adequate (diameter of 8" or 10").
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sandy808
Original Author
13 years ago
We're planning on a 54 inch wide hood with a 27 inch depth. They're big, that's for sure! We're building this house ourselves so no problem with whatever ducting we want to put in. My husband (engineer) has it designed already.

I've never splurged on such nice range so this is a real treat for me. I'll put it to good use since I cook from scratch and can and freeze. If I didn't I couldn't justify the expense. I gave up on some other things during the build that weren't as important to me to help offset the cost. There's so many little ways to save money. Like getting nice chrome faucets instead of the same style in oil rubbed bronze that was marked up $200 more. I'm also helping with some of the finishing work to cut labor costs down.

I ordered the Bluestar RAL color swatches and it'll be here Tuesday. Can't wait to see all the reds.
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36 inch Ranges Versus 48 inch Ranges

sayde

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36 inch Ranges Versus 48 inch Ranges

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