Here is another drawing of the proposed kitchen showing the oven and range wall...

That's such a personal choice that it's really hard to give advice without knowing more about your cooking style.

For me, I preferred the range because I always roast veggies for dinner, steaming first then transferring to a baking sheet and popping into the oven. I like them right together in the same zone for that reason, plus when roasting things like onion, brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower almost every night you quickly come to appreciate a range hood over your ovens. :)

However, I dont do much baking (unless you consider reheating pies and tortes from la rose Italian bakery to be actual baking ... I have passed it off as such but it really doesnt count :)).

If you do a lot of baking, especially with young children involved, then having separate ovens In a baking zone would be nice bonus to your kitchen flow. Also, do you value having ovens at hip level, which is easier to use if you do a lot of roasts of heavy meat items like turkeys or rack of lamb? My MIL has wall ovens and absolutely LOVES them, would not trade them for the world. But they wouldn't work so well for me just due to the way I cook.

I also think that separate wall ovens have an upscale cache that your normal ranges don't have. That would be negated by an upscale 48 range in your case though so perhaps that's a wash for you.

So I guess that was a long winded way of throwing the ball back in your court to think about what aspects of cooking are most important to you based on your lifestyle. Good luck to you!.

When I faced this decision, I went to a friend's house and looked at her range ovens. Decided I was used to having my oven above knee level. We settled on a 36" range and one wall oven. The wall oven is the 90% oven. The huge 36" thing near the floor is the holiday overflow oven. My range oven door, when open, is 8 and1/2 " from the floor and the middle rack is 17" from the floor. I'm tall. My back is fine, but I don't enjoy having my head between my knees to look in the oven.

I have a 48" double oven range and the thing I adore the most is the smaller of the two ovens. (Which also has an infra-red broiler, which I love!) I would say that I use the smaller oven maybe five or six times as often as the larger one, even though that one is a convection model. Although smaller in width, it is very deep so I can fit tons of stuff in it. (Some brands/models are different, so you should take some typicl pans and check.)

I agree with the poster above who mentions the convenience of having the ovens and the cooktop in the same appliance. I am always harping on the Forum about layouts with ovens and the cooktop separated by huge distances. Someone mentioned in reply to one of my many comments about this that they never moved food from one or the other - I can't imagine how you could cook without doing that for nearly every meal!

One other combination you might consider is having a single oven, 30-36" range and a separate single wall oven dedicated to baking (if that's your thing). It could be in a different place in the kitchen as rarely do baked items travel from cooktop-to-oven. Meat, fish and (and some vegs.) being roasted -or broiled - really do benefit from being under the range hood, but rarely is that the case with cakes or pies so the lack of a hood over a separated baking oven wouldn't be a drawback.

I would recommend my cooker, except that it is no longer made, so that won't help. If it died (don't expect that, ever) I would never replace it with anything less than a single baking oven paired with a 30/36" Range. The only drawback to a 48" machine is the size. It really dictates the arrangement in a kitchen.

HTH

L.

The plans look lovely, and whatever you choose, I hope you enjoy it. Here are three reasons to stick with the rangetop/ovens:

1.) Bakers have a preference for electric ovens. The heat they give out is more consistent than that of a gas oven. Your first configuration gives you the option of choosing dual electric ovens and a gas rangetop. If you want dual fuel in a 48" that rules out Capital altogether, and the DCS will cost you 8 - 10K, not 6 - 7K.

2.) Have you given any thought to your burner configuration? Will it be all burners, or do you want a griddle or grill? All burners looks fine on a 36" rangetop, and ridiculous on a 48" range unless your kitchen and family are enormous (and you have a cook).

3.) Finally, if you're going with a 48" range, whatever range hood you use will be enormous (more than 4'), and likely need make-up air, which often means 10" ducting and another huge bunch of cash. Depending on your BTUs, you may be able to avoid the hassle and expense with a 36" rangetop.

I have a DCS 48" gas double oven range and an electric wall oven (Thermador 3-unit stack w/micro,warming drawer & oven). I mostly use the medium sized electric wall oven. During holidays all 3 are in use, but I don't think I have used the 2 in the range in the last month. Previous owner with a large family designed the kitchen, but it is nice to have the extra capacity for the few times a year when you really need it.

It's such a personal decision, as has been pointed out already. My kitchen is too small for anything but a 30" range, but if I could, I would have separate ovens and rangetop. I am tired of bending, and having to peer down into the range's oven.

I have to disagree though on the point made above about electric ovens preferred over gas ovens for baking--it's not true nowadays. It used to be true in the years before today's gas ovens' electronic ignitors, electronic instant thermostats and added insulation. More important is the quality of the oven which may vary from brand to brand, whether gas or electric. Perhaps if you are a professional pastry chef you may detect a difference between gas and electric ovens. But, I have a friend who is a professional chef in NYC, studied in Switzerland, working at very high-end french restaurant. He purposely chose an all-gas range for his home kitchen.

I have a gas range (mine happens to be a 30 inch Blue Star) and a Miele Speed Oven + a Breville. So i have one very large gas oven, one medium-small electric/combination oven and one small thermal electric oven. I like the versatility of the different sizes and types of ovens and having the range plus the Miele installed under counter gave me the most counter space. I was afraid of a gas oven at first, never having had one, but I love it now.

I just want to add my support to baking in a gas oven. I've been baking since I was about 5 years old and it's hands down my favorite thing to do in the kitchen. It's fun and easy for me (plus, raw cookie dough!). I learned on an electric oven, but virtually my entire adult life have had a gas oven. I've never used convection. My current stove is a low-end, 9-yr-old Kenmore. My baking hasn't lost a step at all.

We just spent 9 months cooking on a 36" Viking gas range, and it was almost unbearable to use the stove top when anything was in the oven. A roast in the oven and steamed veggies on the cooktop was pure hell. I cooked on the front outside corner burners so that I could stand next to the oven instead of in front of it. That might have been just that model, though. The handle was too hot to touch with bare hands. 48" range top with grill and 2 wall ovens very close by are what we have now. It's great to be able to get things out of the ovens at waist/knee level.

I switched from a range to a rangetop and wall ovens and will never go back. I love having my pots and pans in the drawers underneath the rangetop, and not a hot oven at my legs and additionally warming the cooking area everytime it's opened.

I love seeing into the oven from almost anywhere in the room to keep an eye on things, and not stooping to the floor to get things out.

Also, we have kids that bake while I cook, or vice-versa, and it's good to have separate work paths and work areas.

We have a large family, so we have an 8-burner rangetop. Even with the 10 of us, I wonder sometimes if we actually needed so many burners. If you'll use a griddle or grill a lot, and will add that to your range (since I don't think DCS even offers an 8-burner configuration) that's another consideration.