@mongey,

I'm sorry to hear you had trouble with your Cluny, and I will let other Lacanche owners comment on their experience. However, I will mention that even though the look of our ranges hasn't changed, many internal parts have been upgraded over the past 10 years, in particular the ignition modules and broiler elements you are referring to.

I wish you all the best for your new home, it sounds like a great project! If you haven't yet, I would encourage you to get in touch with Art Culinaire again (since you are in the US).

Patrick

mongey, Hi there. I owned a Cluny in inland SoCal for 9 years, 2005 — 2014. We had a couple of issues, both minor, and Art Culinaire quickly furnished parts and we followed their instructions or online videos and solved the problems readily. I would expect any repair person could do this, as A.C. has prepped so much material, given that the range was not main stream.

Re. the Ilve, I owned one for almost 10 years in our apartment in Italy, essentially the same time frame as our Cluny. It was a very cute pro-style 24" range (many people have 24" there, with smaller homes). I think their ranges are built on a modular system, with different facing styles, so I believe my experience bears on your range -- but please verify. The apartment was rented the last 3 years before we sold, but I never heard of any issues that required repair. A couple of points on the Ilve though: the controls were not particularly user-friendly and the manual took a lot of reading, but I managed to figure it out. That was in Italian; I doubt their translation would be an improvement. Mostly, their timer and clock were very peculiar; the different oven element options (multifunction ovens) were illustrated clearly on my version's knobs. The thing I really did not like was the cooktop construction. It had high quality brass burners like the Cluny, but the top had 3 modular strips of burners, unlike the Cluny's one seamless stainless top. So cleanup was a bear with all the joints and nooks and crannies on the top.

Good luck with your choices! BTW, I'm a native of Palo Alto. Don't know how far north you're going, but we loved visiting Mendocino and the beautiful coastline up there.

I don't know about the reliability and service, but I've seen BlueStar ranges (two, to be exact) used in vintage kitchens. They were colored, though there's plenty of stainless showing around the edges. They worked fine visually. I think any similar modern "pro-style" range would work similarly well. The main thing is no electronic readout. Unless you go for one of those Heartland ranges that's supposed to look like it burns wood, anything you put in is going to have a later look than your kitchen, so you might as well go for utility that isn't jarring, rather than a truly antique look.

Thanks for your replies.

@ THE FRENCH BARN: We have had to replace those cylindrical elecronic ignition pieces about 10-12 times. Has that issue been addressed by Lacanche?

@kitchengirl: Thanks for your detailed reply. As for the Cluny, the repair people always had the parts to fix the problem (most often it was to replace the cylindrical igniters), but the problem always resurfaced within a few months. Thanks for your input on the Ilve; i had not considered the cleaning issue.

@pillog: Thanks. I will take a look at the Bluestar. I really hate the look of the Heartland. It screams "fake old."

Not a disagreement! I have seen some of the complaints but haven't followed closely enough to know if there was an endemic issue. That's why I said I didn't know about the reliability. It's the visual style I was recommending.

Mongey, I cannot recommend reliability on any of these. It's been too long since I researched them thoroughly to give you a digest. My perception is that Lacanche owners are happy, but I don't know if that means they love their ranges so much they don't mind repairs, or if there's a great deal of variation, or what, so can't guess if you would be happier with a new one. Same as the BlueStar. I've seen complaints, and seen great enthusiasm, but trust Rococogurl that the complaints are a serious detriment. Others to look at are Capital (service issues and hit or miss on quality), Wolf (not the electric oven), and American Range (more pro than style). For the old world style, besides Lacanche and LaCornue, there are Diva de Provence, Molteni and a few less known makers. I don't know that any of them are any better than Lacanche, however, and the price goes way up. There's also, on the mass produced end, the AGA, but it's also by Rangemaster and similar to the CornueFe, I believe (though it's been awhile since I looked and I may be misremembering).

You might even want to look at the Thermador range. I know people who are very happy with them, and the style isn't anti-vintage.

Thanks all for your helpful comments. What about the Bertazzoni Heritage? What are your thoughts on the performance and reliability of that range? I would probably go for the 36" model. Thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide.

My overall perception is that Bertazzoni is a step down in quality, but we've had quite a number of posts from happy owners.

@pillog: I just saw the Bertazzoni today at a showroom, along with the Cornufe 90, Cornufe 110 and 1908.

You are correct about the overall quality and "feel" of the Bertazzoni. It feels light and somewhat flimsy and unstable compared to the Cornufes -- and the Cluny i have at home. (Incidentally, we have a small Bertazzoni in a downstairs apartment in our house, and have been very happy with it.)

One thing that surprised me: the Cornufes felt very much the same as the Cluny i have owned for the past 10 years: heavy oven doors, firm and stable knobs and nice heavy grates (although they divide up differently from the Cluny grates). Overall, the build quality of the Cornufes was better than i had expected, based on comments i had read on Gardenweb, and were actually very similar (in my perception) to the Lacanche Cluny. The main difference in the usability of these stoves is the orientation of the ovens. Whereas, the Cluny seems to indicate placement of pans front to back, the Cornufe seems to direct the user to place them side to side. The latter might be slightly preferable from a convenience perspective, especially when one is trying to lift out a very heavy and hot item from the oven.

Yes. I grew up with one of each style oven access, and kind of have that now with my main oven vs. combi-steam. Access is, indeed, better for big meats (roasts, roasters, braises) with the sidewise orientation. It never mattered to me for baking, and the lengthwise oven at my parents' was a better baking oven, so maybe I was just used to it. It had no window, though. If you're looking at models with windows, sideways gives you a better look in. But you're probably not looking at window ovens given the style you're after.

A CornuFe is not like a La Cornue. That doesn't make it a bad range. The French Barn guy got on my case for saying that it was competitive with Lacanche in another thread. Of course, it's not hand made and all of that, but from what I've gathered, in size, styling and function, it's in the same ballpark. I don't know about service issues and quality, but people who are in this market segment (not looking for dragon's breath ranges) have been pretty happy with CornuFes.

Oh, please think nothing of it! You weren't rude. It's okay for you to be nitpicky in describing your product. You've been very helpful and generous with your comments. I apologize for forgetting your name, Patrick.

FWIW, I did take your meaning, before. That's what I was referring to. There's handmade custom, and there's mass produced. But when you look just at the final product, at appearance and function, then you have a whole spectrum of possibilities in the same basic size and style. In other words, I do think we're in agreement. :)

We're all good then, pillog :) (no worries about forgetting my name either, I didn't expect you to remember it!)

I'll admit that I do have a special attachment to Lacanche besides just being the Canadian distributor, so I can get a bit "nitpicky" indeed. My great-grandfather, grand-father, dad and many of my family members have worked (and still do) in the Lacanche factory since the early 1900's, so I do have extra pride in representing (and "defending") our product. La Cornue has obviously chosen a different approach than Lacanche with the CornuFe line, so it still makes me cringe a little bit when both brands are being described as "comparable". (Did I just "get into that" again? Oops!)

@mongey, I would be sad to see you leave the Lacanche family, but like I said above, you have to choose what you feel is best for you at this time. Good luck!

Patrick

@THE FRENCH BARN:

Thanks, but i have not yet made a decision on which range to buy. It is still possible i will return and buy another Lacanche Cluny.

One thing I would add based on your thoughtful comments: I very much respect your affinity for and history with the brand, and i also greatly respect that Lacanche takes great pride, understandably, in the hand-made manufacturing approach and the honest materials it uses -- all of which you tout here. It may well be that these things cause me to buy from Lacanche again. But from a consumer's perspective: while those things matter a great deal, what matters even more are the results that flow from those manufacturing approaches in how the range actually performs and holds up over time. If we have reliability problems with a range that costs about $9,100-$10,000, it is a lot to ask of us to endure those problems, and the concomitant service calls, by reminding ourselves that the range is honestly made with good materials. The key for us is: does the way the range is made -- ie, the hand-made manufacturing and the solid rather than plated metals -- result in a range that performs well and holds up well. All of those things will be hard to remember if we can't get our burners to ignite or have to do without a broiler until someone comes to fix it.

When/if i am convinced that i won't have those problems with another Cluny, i will buy the range that works as well as it is made.

@mongey,

I certainly agree with you, if something on your range breaks down, it doesn't do you any good to know that it is hand-made, etc...

No brand is 100% immune to failure of a mechanical part, and like I said before, it is very unfortunate that you had to deal with so many repairs on your igniters. I will not say that these never fail now, but it is certainly not typical to have to replace them more than once over the lifespan of the range (15+ years), if at all.

I hope you'll have a chance to see / use a newer Lacanche before you make your decision!

All the best,

Patrick

mongey, I looked closely at the Cornufe, as I had been told by the distributor, Purcell-Murray (near you) that they were working on bringing the full induction cooktop unit to the U.S. (later it was made clear that it would not be within my timeframe). I actually grew to love the bling factor of the doors, and the ovens were slightly more spacious than my Cluny. I did a good bit of research on issues. In sum, people liked the gas burners and cooktop, and I thought they were well-made -- believe they were brass like Lacanche. A major negative for me, and that drove some owners mad, was the sealed burner set-up: cleaning around the burners was fussy and frustrating. The other issue was that the knobs are high quality cast metal, but they are attached with an internal plastic part that wears out within years, requiring replacement of the cast knob, even though only the plastic part wore out. HTH, a bit.

Mongey, your description of the number of service issues is giving me palpitations. We purchased a Lacanche Cluny at the beginning of last year, and we have been using it since June 2015. It is beautiful to look at but we have had a lot of issues in that short period of time.

We have the classique burner configuration with gas and electric ovens. The first time we used the gas oven, the linkage behind the control knob came apart and we could no longer control it; we reconnected the linkage using an allen key. Subsequently, after the gas oven was heated the knob was impossible to turn to make any adjustments, including turning it off, so we are now replacing a gas control valve. Most recently, the 3+1 spark module failed, causing 3 of the 5 burners to not ignite.

Customer service has been great - they were friendly and helpful, mailed us new parts, which we got the day after we requested them (free of charge, as the range is under warranty), and they offered to walk us through the repair...but we've been using this range for 6 months and have had more problems with it in that period than all our kitchen appliances combined that we have had for a decade or more.

My husband is very handy and has gamely researched these issues (and is replacing parts as I type this), but the prospect of having these kinds of problems for the foreseeable future is daunting to say the least. And presumably things will get worse as the range actually sees use.

Kateross7: I understand your concern. To put your mind at ease, let me report that things have generally gotten better over time -- not worse. We had many more problems in the first few years of using the Cluny than in the last few. The burner issue seems to have been solved; all have ignited relatively consistently over the past couple of years. We too got a dual fuel model, and our electric broiler has been out of commission for most of the time. Frankly, i haven't even made the effort to fix it since the last time it broke -- a year or so ago. We really haven't missed it too much, since the highest temperature setting in the electric oven seems to get the job done to some degree. I am actually still considering buying another Cluny for our 1884 second home on the rural Pacific coast; I guess that equates to an endorsement, since service calls up there will be hard to schedule.

Mongey, thanks for the reassurance, and good luck with your project. It says a lot that you would purchase another Cluny.

I did a lot of research before purchasing my CornueFe 110 for my new home four years ago. I considered the Lacanche Cluny, but ultimately chose the CornueFe. As far às for performance goes, it is a dream to cook with, and a tool that I use almost daily. The styling is beautiful and the overall construction can best be described as "solid" - especially compared to some of the other ranges mentioned in this discussion. I've had a couple of service issues, but all were handled quickly by PM. All of the ignition switches were not functional when it was installed. They had new switches flown in from France and reinstalled within two days. After about a year, the switches went out again. They sent a service repairman right away to replace them. He reinstalled the switches, only to have them fail upon testing. He took off the back panel and discovered a wire that wàs improperly routed over a rough metal piece, causing it to fray and arc. He was able to change the wire and run it through a protective sleeve. While I was disappointed that this was not caught by Quality Control at the factory, I can't say enough positive things about the service techs employed by PM. All in all, I can heartily recommend this as a quality range. The ovens are more than adequate and I love the side-swing configuration. The simmer burner is still a little too hot on the lowest setting, but that is easily overcome with a simmer plate or diffuser. I had 18 family members for Thanksgiving dinner and cooked the entire meal on it without a problem. The 20# Turkey came out perfectly browned and very moist in exactly 2 hours - no turning or basting! Good luck with your choice!