Recommendations for a 36 inch range/oven?

5 years ago

Building a new home. Researching ranges. Consumer reports doesn't really recommend the "pro ranges" because they don't perform any better than many of the 30 inch ranges. However, I think based on my needs, I might like to go a little bigger. I'm wondering if people like and can recommend their 36 inch ranges?

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Jerry Jorgenson

5 years ago

Consumer Reports is problematical at best for a couple of reasons. One is price is heavily weighted. If they rated grocery stores, Walmart would come out on top. The other is that they do a standard test based around the lowest common denominator. This type of testing tends to favour the LCD item. The result is that most of the time, the mediocre (not too good, not to bad) wins.

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Comments (6)

K R
5 years ago
Love my Jenn-Air 36” gas range with griddle. Came from a 30”. Not only did the size of the burners increase but the inside of the oven holds so much more. Great for holidays! And pizzas lol
wekick
5 years ago
Consumer Reports can be a little misleading. There might be several reasons someone would like a prostyle range and some are performance related. -For one thing there is a lot more room front to back. I use big pans so appreciate that.

-You have the option of 36 and 48" ranges. There are a few inexpensive 36" ranges for $900 but the burners are like the simmer burners (9K BTUs) on the prostyle ranges. For 60", some people use two 30" ranges together but those are available too.

-You have many choices in burner. You could have star shaped, triple ring, dual stacked, uncapped. Some of these features provide better heat distribution for cookware that is not all that great in that way. If a burner is uncapped, the heat can go straight up. There are a few inexpensive ranges that do not have caps too. You could have 25K BTUs with an uncapped burner and more heat goes straight up. Some capped burners go up to 21K or so but they start getting a lot more flare so not as good for a wok or smaller pan.

--You might have an "open" burner tray, which some people like because it breaks down for cleaning. Others don't want to have to do that.

-The broilers on an all gas prostyle range are usually infrared which is a lot better than a regular gas broiler.

-You can have an option of a thermostatically controlled griddle if you want it built in and grill.

I would also consider getting a rangetop and a wall oven or two vs the range. You can pick the best burners, oven or a combi oven. A 36" oven is a lot more to heat up and may not be much bigger than your 30" range you have now. You have to look at the rack size vs the capacity listed in square feet. A lot can depend on rack placement and placement of the convection fan. Look at the height above the rack. Some 36" gas ovens in a range hold a full commercial baking tray or two half trays side by side. Some 30" gas ovens do too but it is tight. One electric oven does, BlueStar that I know of.
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We have both gas (in the range) and electric (combination steam oven) ovens. I find that for the vast majority of dishes, the fuel source doesn't matter at all. Is there a strong reason why you are focused on dual fuel? Many of the dual fuel ranges these days have trouble with the coating on oven liners failing over time, and you end up with little bits of glass in your food. That's probably the majority of bad reviews you have been reading. Gas ovens anecdotally don't seem to suffer from this issue, and neither do ovens with stainless steel oven cavities (e.g. combination steam wall ovens). The only food where fuel source does make somewhat of a difference is artisanal bread. It prefers higher moisture during the initial oven spring, and gas ovens tend to be dryer than electric ovens that don't require the same type of vent. The solution is easy, I either bake in my steam oven or I use a cast iron Dutch oven when baking in the gas range. Then I can just keep the lid on for the first half of baking. I really enjoy cooking and baking with our Bluestar RNB range; wouldn't recommend buying the Platinum if baking is important to you. Our oven is very even and predictable, as long as you preheat it properly. And that can take between 20min and 40min. If you need faster preheat times, get a small 24" wall oven. They preheat in a few minutes and honestly do fill most of the cooking needs that we have. These days, I only use the Bluestar oven for its amazing broiler or when cooking very large meals.
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Judging from reports on this forum, none of those 3 you listed is reliable. And as mentioned above, when something goes wrong, there is no customer service. Whatever brand you buy, always check if there is someone locally who can service it. Do any of the appliance repair places near you service any of those brands? If your budget is constrained, please explain why you want a 36” range. Note that the oven will take longer to heat up and use more gas to do so. If you are set on the 36” width, the Bosch is a better bet. Also check GE or GE Cafe. I am sorry, but something has to give - either your budget needs to be bigger or you need to go to 30”. You will need a hood that is 36” wide over the 36” range, but preferably 42” wide. And the correctly sized ductwork to go with the 36-42” wide hood. Do you have that in your budget also? If you do not, it might be best to go with a 30” range.
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Jerry Jorgenson
5 years ago
We have the Bluestar electric wall oven. It's been great, so convenient to not have to bend over to insert and remove trays. I use it in combination with an induction cooktop. I'd never go back to a range or gas anything.
AboutToGetDusty
5 years ago
For a good but not too fancy range, we loved our GE Cafe dual-fuel with a warming drawer. The middle oval burner was never used (not sure what it was for - had no power), but I loved the rest of it. This time around, I have the space and will be creating our long-term kitchen...I'm deciding between the BlueStar or Thermador double convection electric oven and the Wolf or BlueStar gas rangetop with six real burners.
malabacat
5 years ago
I have a 36" BS RCS. It's a fantastic range. It doesn't get that much love here on GW b/c it's not as powerful as the other BS range options, but it has plenty of power imo. Searing, sautéing and simmering are all easy to do. The oven is huge, heats evenly and roasts and broils perfectly. I had a 30" range before and the extra 6" are great to have if you like to cook. Even if you think you'll never use more than 3 or 4 burners, you'll like having the extra space to set a pan from the oven down, or being able to have space when using a large pot or pan. My large pots and pans would crowd out nearby burners on my 30" range.

Recommendations for a 36 inch range/oven?

Jerry Jorgenson

Comments (6)

K R

wekick

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