Those who have purchased, or are thinking about purchasing a Kenmore stove might want to read this story. Glass oven doors suddenly shattering RI woman's Kenmore glass oven door exploded 22 Nov 2011 "Bonnie says her one-year-old Kenmore freestanding electric range from Sears was set at 350 degrees when the glass oven door suddenly exploded into thousands of tiny pieces. "My dog was right there and he was covered in glass shards but luckily the kids were not around." Consumer complaints about shattering doors Bonnie immediately contacted Sears and was stunned by their response. She says, "They almost placed the blame on me saying, 'Oh, are you sure you didn't bump into it?'" Eyewitness News found many similar complaints about Kenmore oven doors on consumer websites. Many like Bonnie expressed disappointment with the company's response. "They said it was my responsibility to pay for it because it was over the one year standard warranty," says Bonnie." A link that might be useful: www.foxprovidence.com/dpps/news/local_news/glass-oven-doors-suddenly-shattering_3995829

About the servicing, I live in a medium-sized city (my hometown) about 1 hour from the closest major city (Syracuse, NY). There are several small to medium sized local appliance stores in my immediate area which will order anything and service what they sell, as well as the major big box stores L...s, HD, BB, and also a smaller sears in a local shopping mall. So, I have always gotten my appliances serviced in this way (through the stores or local appliance repair shops) in the past w/ no problems. I will, however, be sure to ask specifically about servicing Bosch when I make the purchase. About the induction-I have heard of induction, read up on it a little to at least know how it works, read rave reviews (especially on GW) but do not know anyone personally that has one, and frankly have had my hands full researching all of the other modern features common on ranges today. I make a heck of a lot of cookies at the holidays and am told put on a terrific Thanksgiving spread, too! I am really looking forward to using all of the bells and whistles that come on the new ranges. I am not really a trailblazer, and I would be making a huge step up with the purchase of this Bosch range (or Cafe) as my current stove is a 27 year old Hardwick "Classic 100" electric coil top (one of the best in the day, never had a service call except a burnt out baking coil which we replaced ourselves in about 2 minutes for $40 about 3 years ago). It is still going strong otherwise but looks the worse for wear and does not have any of the newer modern features such as convection, smoothtop, probes, baking drawers, instant buttons, self cleaning, etc.,etc., so getting this Bosch model would be a big step for me, which I am really looking foward to. I actually am hesitant about even going with convection, but at least know people who have this, including relatives, and it seems tried and true and very helpful. Not to say that induction is not tried and true and would not be helpful--I am sure it is a wonderful advancement in cooking and probably will be the way of the average cooking world in the not so distant future. It makes sense and I sort of equate it to the new "microwave oven of the 2000's" in cooking advancement, but at this point I am not willing to take that leap just yet. (Actually the saleswoman at sears threw the idea past me, stating that it would be her next dream stove.) But for one thing, I am not willing to give up my old pots and pans which I know will work on the smoothtop just fine. I guess you could say I am just a good old home-cookin gal and I don't want to overwhelm myself with all of that at this point, especially at the price it comes at. I am not new to change as I was brought up with gas cooking with my mother (and grandmother) and would prefer gas, but gas was not available to us until about 10 years after we built our house, so had no choice then. I also have run into a sticking point with my husband on that issue as well. He is used to electric and fears fumes from the gas since we do not have the ability to vent to outside w/o a huge renovation project bigger than we are planning at this point, even though we do have other gas appliances, including a gas furnace, hw weater and dryer, and I realize that gas stoves today do not have pilot lights anymore (like Mom's did). It is just something he cannot get his head around, and since I am used to electric now and has done me well, I will continue down that road and not have to deal with his ultra-sensitive sense of smell! I actually do like the baking part of electric ovens better, and I am sure that the advancement in electric cooktops has been great compared to 25+ years ago, so I think I will be very satisfied with this. So there, I have now bared my soul on why I have chosen electric over gas or induction! All I ask is for a good quality stove with a good track record and some nice features to make my life a little easier. Hope you can understand my reasoning, but thank you for bringing it to my attention :)!! Oh, and also about the knobs, yes I agree, it is not a deal-breaker and I'm sure I could live with not having solid metal knobs, just don't want to have to keep replacing them, tho.

After having horrible experience with my Kenmore Elite washer (probably 8 years or so ago), I decided that Kenmore is no longer what it used to be and I wouldn't buy another Kenmore anything. I do admit that my Kenmore 1995 fridge still is excellent, but I think it must be before they were bought out by some other company or something. In any event, IMO something has changed in Kenmore quality. I also bought a GE flat top electric range in 1995. It is still amazing! Just last summer the element in the oven went out (that's a scary event!), but it was $70 for a new element, easy to replace, and all is well. Love my GE stove. Have a gold (circa 1970s??) GE electric in the basement - still going strong - never one issue. After these experiences, I replaced my Kenmore washer with a GE and am very happy :)

I went with a Kenmore slide in with convection, a 5th warming burner and a warming drawer. I am very happy with it so far, other than the burner layout, which annoys me a little. Both front burners are large and both back burners are small, I would much rather have had a large and a small in front, and the warmer in the middle if need be, rather than all 3 small burners in the back. I am happy with it but certainly don't fool myself that it has the power or look of a viking much less a wolf. If I had the money to do it I might, but lets face it, if you are looking for practicality, you have make a lot of food to justify the price of a 10,000.00 range as anything but a splurge. Sue