It's unfortunate that you had to find out "the hard way". Is the new range a Jenn-Air as well (that might help others looking for that kind of information)?

Some gas / dual-fuel ranges still allow you to lit the burners by hand, but not all.

It is a KitchenAid dual fuel with dual ovens. I've been through the website and the user instructions looking for a reference to the interlock. There is nothing about it. The user instructions clearly say that the burners can be lit with a match in the event of a power outage. They are fairly generic instructions with the usual disclaimer about features that are in the instructions may not be on your model stove. There is no disclaimer that your stove may have features that aren't in the instructions.

I just hope my experience will help someone avoid this happening to them. If being able to use the burners when the power is out, ask and document the answer.

All the Whirlpool built double oven ranges do this. It has already been discussed here in the past. Sorry you got stuck with it.

The presence of the instructions for lighting during a power out is a mistake. They shouldn't be there. You might be able to get Whirlpool to buy the range back after you point out this error.

If you look towards the end of your manual you will see this warning: "NOTE: The cooktop burners will not function during the self-clean cycle." It is something about the double oven design that requires this, since none of their other ranges do this. How it works is there's a solenoid valve that controls all gas flow to the cooktop, which I found on the wiring diagram for model KFDD500ESS00. It will stay open whenever power is supplied to it. The oven controller is programmed to supply power to it continuously, UNLESS a self clean cycle is being run. The side effect to this is that if there is no power being supplied to the range, the valve won't get any power either and thus will close. I wonder whether the other double oven gas ranges from other manufacturers do this... you've got me curious now. I'll have to go and download all the wiring diagrams.

This is a dual fuel range so the oven is electric. I'm not sure if this makes a difference. There are warnings about only being able to clean one oven at a time. There is a warning that the cooktop burners won't work during a cleaning cycle. The range does require that a button on the control panel be pushed before gas will flow to the burners after the power comes back on. This isn't mentioned in the user instructions.

Whether the oven is gas or electric has nothing to do with it. This applies to all Whirlpool, Maytag, and KitchenAid double oven ranges that have a gas top.

I would be cautious with any range whose manual references disabling the gas burners in any context. Some ranges will cut off the cooktop during self clean, others will do it when the controls are locked, others have a "Cooktop Lockout" button. Those are models I would suggest shoppers avoid if operation in power outs is important, because they all have solenoid valves which could close without power.

Thanks for the help everyone. It looks like I have to decide whether dual ovens or dual fuel is more important.

Just wondering what models would you suggest for shoppers who would like a dual fuel range that can operate during power outage?

Hi! Other than not being able to use your range during power outages, I would LOVE to hear any more details on how you like the Kitchenaid KFDD500ESS! If it worked without electricity, would you go with this option again if given the option? Thanks!

Just as a quick update... I have one of these dual-fuel KitchenAid double ovens. I opened the back panel and found the afflicting solenoid that shuts off the gas. It should be easy to bypass with a magnet, or removed entirely.

Before I do that (barring any warranty issues), is there any reason why a self-cleaning cycle should REQUIRE that gas supply be shut off? Is there a risk of spontaneous gas combustion?

Yes. Just learned this past 3 days without.

I had come across this with short power outages before, however the recent storm (URI) with the cold and extended power outages I was really upset that this did not work. Only the gift of my neighbor running an extension cord across the street so I can plug this in kept us from freezing to death by plugging in the electric power and running the gas burners.

This is very irresponsible for Whirlpool (or any company) to inject this type of lockout without having a way to manually bypass during emergencies such as I recently experienced.

in a power outage could one plug in a Portable Power Station Explorer 240, 240Wh Backup Lithium Battery, 110V/200W Pure Sine Wave AC Outlet ?