Recommendations for a 36 inch range/oven?

4 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

4 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
4 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
4 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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Every cook is different in their needs and I would consider some of the following things so that you can pick a range that will compliment the way you cook. Open or sealed burners? There is much written on this and they will vary brand to brand. Will one be easier for you to clean than the other? There are videos on youtube so that you can see what it is to clean them. This is very subjective! How much heat or how low of heat do you need? Do you stir fry or need to heat big pots fast or do you need great control with very low heat? Burners all the same or sized differently-this might depend on the kind, size of cookware do you use The range you have listed is counter depth and many ranges of this type are deeper so that you can use deeper pans. they stick out a little. Do you have a preference about that? Is the temperature of the oven door an issue for you? What type of broiler do you want? Check out the width of the broiler. How fast does the oven preheat? How big is the oven? Do you need to use full sheets or would you prefer to heat less space? I don't think there is a consensus for the "best" range and even if the majority of gardenweb members pronounced a particular range the "Matchless Cooking Apparatus Par Excellence" it might not be the best for you. Once you narrow down the things you want in a range read what gardenweb people have written about those brands.
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kooopons: BlueStar made a bunch of design changes for the currently shipping ranges (RCS V2, RNB V2, and Platinum) that addressed the problems found on some earlier models. These changes include modifications (or completely new design) of: oven door, oven floor, oven walls, convection fan blade, burner mounting rails, igniters, and visible sheet metal parts. They also moved to a new factory in Blandon, PA about a year ago with a bunch of new employees. Notice the lack of BlueStar complaints on GardenWeb in the last year or so.
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Oh geeze, here is my anal retentiveness rearing its ugly head again but here we go again. Hang on... Probably due to the terrible review that Consumer Reports gave Bertazzoni years ago on an older model people are shying away from the new model. Does the new model make up for the sins of the last model? So how about this comparison, The Bertazzoni MAST366GASXT vs. the Fisher & Paykel OR36SCG4X1? Off the top, I can get an extra burner with the Bertazzoni. The Fisher & Paykel offers only 5 burners. The Bertazzoni has better btu numbers, going from 750 btu's to 19,000 btu's. Fisher & Paykel goes from 1,000 btu's to 18,000 btu's. One of Bertazzoni's burners goes down to 750 btu's but the rest of their burners have higher btu's. What if you want to simmer more than one sauce at a time? Fisher & Paykel's burners only go down to 1000 btu's but all of their burners go this low. I am not worried about the btu's at the high end but the low end I am worried about. Are Fisher & Paykel's 1000 btu's low enough for a gentle simmer? The Betazzoni doesn't have a storage drawer. The Fisher & Paykel does. The Betazzoni seems to have a thin rubber door seal which can wear out faster than Fisher & Paykel's more robust woven door seal. Also, on the Bertazzoni, I can easily see sauce spilling into those rear air vents at the back of the oven. Is there a way to clean these vents if this happens? The Fisher & Paykel doesn't have this problem. The Bertazzoni has a 11,000 btu infrared gas broiler. Is it similar to the ceramic infrared broiler in the BlueStar Pro range? Though infrared broilers are preferred, is Bertazzoni's 11,000 btu broiler better than Fisher & Paykel's conventional 13,000 btu gas broiler? I finally found a stat that is the same on both ranges. The baking/roasting power on both ranges have a maximum 17,000 btu's. The difference is that Bertazzoni's oven is always on and kept at a constant temperature. I've never cooked with a range like this before and I wonder how much of an advantage it really is over conventional oven that turn on and off to regulate the temperature. Finally, at least of this writing, Fisher & Paykel is offering an extended 5 year warranty on all of their products, unheard of in the industry. Bertazzoni's warranty is the conventional two years so you will have to purchase an additional warranty for peace of mind. There are other questions I have too but this is a start. The problem with appliance dealers, blogs, and reviews is that no one really seems to be a consumer advocate. Has anyone addressed the issues I brought up here? I think potential customers would like to have answers to these questions.
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It's not so much that you have to use a screwdriver to operate a Bluestar, as it is that a Bluestar is so easy to service that even a homeowner can do that -- often with nothing more than a screwdriver. All those things that you would typically initiate an expensive service call for, with Bluestar, you have the choice. Do what you do with all the other brands and call a service technician -- or fix it yourself, as that's often cheaper and faster. And it's not as if your Bluestar range should require unusual servicing. Things that will fail are igniters. But in particular the glowbar igniters are disposal items on all these ranges regardless of brand. They are designed to wear out after a couple of years. Other than that, all that is needed is occasional deep cleaning, and maybe a drop of lubricant on the oven door hinges once a year. What you should do though is insist on proper installation by a reputable installer. There are a couple of adjustments that might or might not have to be made at installation time. Some of them might only be needed, if you live at higher altitudes. But it doesn't hurt to have somebody check all the set points for minimum and maximum power, and for oven temperatures. These should be one-time adjustments. When we bought our range, Bluestar actually had a white-glove installation service that did these things and then gave you an extra year of warranty. But I don't think this offer exists any more though. So, take this up with your local appliance store.
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Jerry Jorgenson
4 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
4 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
4 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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Jerry Jorgenson

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