Hey Linia, I was where you were about a year ago, so here's a couple of things I found. We ended up with a pair of 30" ovens and a separate cook-top. My first piece of advice may be counter-intuitve, but don't loose too much sleep comparing the price differences between the appliances too hard. While the double ovens and cook top are often significantly cheaper than a 48" 'pro-sumer' range (especially a viking or wolf dual-fuel, but even Blue Star and Capital), and as noted below the hood savings can bee significant, keep in mind that the ovens will require a separate cabinet, and the cook-top will require a cabinet as well. As you know or will find out, those are two rather expensive pieces of furniture (although you will gain a bit of storage space with them). The separates get you ergonomic benefits, as you don't have to bend down to get access to the ovens. You also have flexibility in selecting different brands of ovens and cooktop, so you can get induction or special wok rings or whatever you like (I think only Viking makes a 42" induction range), or if you cook on the stove a lot more than use ovens, you can splurge on that element or vice versa. It also allows some more possibilities with traffic in the kitchen. As my fellow Chicagoan noted above, you can use a smaller hood. Finally 2 30" ovens, or even 2 27" ovens will give you more oven capacity than a 48" (where you typically end up with a 30" oven and a 16" oven). Safety factors if you have youngsters (or plan to get them)also tend to separates. The plus's for the range is the fact that you have an instant centerpiece for the kitchen, because its a big honkin piece of (in my opinion) good looking metal (if you don't like the look-then go with the double ovens). It puts all your cooking activities in a single location. While you may need a bigger hood (and some of the things associated with it, look up the phrase "make up air" or MUA around here, make the hood prices in and of themselves look cheap), the hood also ducts any smoke or fumes from the ovens, so if you tend to create smoke or fumes when using your oven, that's a plus. Good luck and have fun choosing.

It depends on what options and how powerful burners you get that will determine how many CFM you need. Any pro-style range with grill will require at least 1200cfm. I have a 36" Capital Culinarian with 6 burners and I have a 1400cfm blower. And I don't think it is overkill. Either 36" range plus speed oven or 48" range with double ovens will serve your needs. Most people find they use their smaller oven much more than their big oven. But you don't want to spend major bucks and not have the capacity to host parties/holiday events. I got a 24" wall oven in addition to my 36" range oven. I would be damned to spend so much on kitchen reno and appliances only to have a $79 toaster oven from Costco be my main oven. For me the layout and size of the room would largely determine which option I would choose. Does the 36" look a bit small or does the 48" overpower the room?

Sorry hvtech I did not see this post but will answer now. I don't think that there is any disagreement about how the oven works but rather if this is going to impact the way you use your oven. "without actually owning and using the oven, I don't think you can draw the conclusion that you have" Capital is very specific about how it works. I merely point out what they have written. What specific conclusion do you disagree with? "I also think there is confusion about what preheat mode on any oven actually is. You said in an earlier post that most ovens will go into a preheat mode after a small drop in temperature (25 degrees or so). This is not the case. On most ovens, preheat mode comes on exactly when you'd think - only when the oven is preheating. Not when it is just trying to maintain temperature." The point is not what you are calling the heating cycle, but the fact that it exists, and is responsive to the thermostat which keeps the temperature tightly controlled. Some people use the word loosely to mean whenever the elements come on. For a long time the preheat was the bake element coming on and this was indicated by a little red light. The same red light came on when the bake element came back on to maintain the temperature. Now you have the possibility with some ovens of more elements coming on during preheat and a little light that says "preheating" during that time and the little light may or may not come back on after that. To be more specific, you can call it "preheat" when the elements in the oven are on until it reaches temperature and call it "recovery" when the elements come back on to maintain the temperature. For either, it is the heat coming on when the oven temperature is more than 25F (or whatever defines the thermostat's parameter) from the set temperature to allow a rapid return to the set temp. Every oven I have ever had, probably 15 or so have operated this way- controlled by the thermostat -except one. In some ovens, like Capital electric ovens, the heating is done in a totally different way. The preheat comes on and heats the oven to temp and then a computer program takes over and turns the element on and off rapidly according to "logic" mentioned by Trevor above. It does not know if the oven door is open or a large amount of cold food has entered the oven cavity. It just keeps oscillating blissfully at the same rate unaware of the new burden it has received. The thermostat does not come into play for a long time because it is set so that there has to be a 150F differential, according to the manual, quoted above and confirmed by the notes from the factory. " Preheat mode on ANY oven (not just Capital's) is intensive and has the potential to burn food, so it only comes on when there is not supposed to be any food in the oven." I would not say "ANY" oven. They are all very different, especially electric ovens. The preheat can potentially cause anything from almost nothing to browning to burning depending on how the oven is designed and the food you putting in it. There are some ovens that allow you to put food in the oven and then set a time for it to start cooking. This is very common actually and there are some ovens that advertise no need to preheat. I would not bake a cake in them but you can bake something like a casserole. The preheat is not as intense in those ovens. Ovens that might be more intense would be those that use convection or a combination of elements to rapidly preheat but even this varies widely. " From the user guide and factory info, the only thing that it looks like Capital does differently is engage preheat after a severe drop in temperature (which shouldn't happen in normal oven use, as Trevor's testing indicates)." ----->Please define "normal use"<----- " I can't find any evidence that just because the CC engages preheat after a large drop in temperature, it will also have issues maintaining the set temperature without preheat mode." Capital spells it out for you. "No quick recovery. Oven will cycle normally despite large temperature drops due to the door being left open, or the oven set temperature being reset to a much higher temperature. The recovery time can be very long for large differentials between oven temp and set temp." In real cooking, you loose heat under certain circumstances. Open the door a few times and you are baking 100F below the set temp with no ability to recover. Another major point. It will not allow the temperature to be reset higher in a timely way unless you open the oven and induce the 150F degree differential and then you would have to take the food out while the temp goes up. "My Electrolux and KitchenAid ovens NEVER engage preheat mode once the oven is heated up and neither have any issues maintaining temperature." The little light that says "preheat" may not be on but my Elux is still rotating through the same elements as when it preheats . they cycle on and off according to need. The only difference is that the convection fan does not come on in bake mode or run high speed in the bake convection mode. Mine has a little picture showing which element is on and when. Whatever name tag you give this ability, this same mechanism does not exist in Capital Electric ovens according to their literature. Make of it what you will. "I know that you had a Dacor oven with issues maintaining temperature, but I don't think you can assume that just because the CC oven sounds like that oven, it will actually work like that oven." HaHa, that oven was what made me study ovens. I am not going by my oven at all, but again what Capital has written themselves. This is why it pays to read use and care manuals.

There are a number of induction threads if you do a search for the word, they should pop up. I traded my electric for a Samsung Chef induction double oven with warming drawer. The drawer is really low and since it's just DH and me, we don't turn it on and use it for storage. I think it bakes unevenly, although it has two baking "modes" and although we use the small top oven, which fits a smaller roasting pan, we rarely need both ovens. It is convertible to one oven. But I would never go back to an electric top over an induction. Never. As I said in another thread, I've actually been using a Tovala counter top combi-steam oven because I love the way it cooks but it is a one or two person appliance.