Going In Circles for New Build Range Options: Lacanche, Wolf, Monogram
Sarcgo11
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
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2 years agolast modified: 2 years agomoosemac
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Lacanche, Cornufé or Berta range w/ Bosch or DCS wall oven?
Comments (81)Dear Gardenwebbers, I haven't posted in a while but have been following every single word you have all typed-I've turning into a stove stalker ROFLOL! Of all the threads I've read over the past year regarding stoves, this is the only one whose posters have actually taken the time to break down the decision-making into the critical components. Not just reviews or opinion, but usage, wear, cost, BTUs, options,even the way the stove sticks out from the walls and integrates into the space. Well done!!You have no idea how helpful you've been! I still haven't made a decision, but I'm inching closer. Like a few of you, I took a step back and asked what I really needed/had to have. One of you rightly pointed out that deciding whether one is a stove top or oven cooker could help out. My ovens are super important to me, and have been the big sticking point in my choices (more on that in a minute) but I do most of my cooking on the stovetop.I REALLY want a coup de feu.If I pick the two burner one coup combination offered by Molteni or Gullo, I'll have to really up my cooking game and plan a bit more ahead (you have to allow the plaque to come to temperature to really use it effectively. So I was concerned I wouldn't have enough "regular" burners.But then, like you all advised, I took a step back and paid attention to what I was really doing "most" days-turns out I'm usually only turning on two burners anyway. When i move to more burners, that's when I could use a million more, so the coup definitely could work out then. I'm still kind of intimidated by it-the Molteni and the others I'm considering are very powerful, but I think that's just lack of self confidence. Burner strength/BTU's were very important to me as well. I currently have an old Wolf Gourmet line-they were better made than the current offering, heavier and more powerful.The max burner is 18K, but it loses power when the other ones are turned on, and then I can't get that nice carmelized sear on the food. I love the oven though. It's gas with a broiler and a (very noisy) convection fan, and sticky racks. Don't love the noise and the stick, but the size is pretty good, and it works well. All the units I'm considering are more powerful, but some more than others.Like everyone has noted, the ovens seem to be what pose the most dilemmas. I worry about cleanability. My current stove is a PITA to clean.The Rorgue has a neat water bath under the burners to rinse out spills-cool!It's also the least expensive of my three choices (So far. Am waiting on the cost of the UL listing fee, plus I have to add in taxes and VAT) but I can have every little gadget I had lusted for(of course, I'm now really rethinking everything). But it's the least pretty/french range looking of the batch. It does come in colors though. I'm nervous that if i select a range with two ovens that I won't be able to use them for what I occasionally need-larger sheets and pans, so I'm really leaning towards one gas oven in the range, and a Miele Masterchef 30" in the wall, which is 6" bigger than my current oven (I have a few pans that I really have to grease up the sides of the oven to squeeze in). I'm going to a Gaggenau cooking demo at Purcell-Murray this weekend and check out their ovens too. Anybody have some feedback on those? I'm also considering getting a smaller range and adding in two induction burners into the counter for quickie cooking for the kids (I have five). I could have had them built into a bespoke range, but the electric components have to be kept far away from a high heat source, which screwed up the size of the unit massively Our quotes from the contractors are coming-scary! I just wanted to thank everyone for all the input-every single comment has been so helpful. Oh, on a side note, there's a ROCKIN' Morice stove for sale that I found on the internet. It's not the right color for em (it's blue and silver) but maybe it would work out for you. It's got 3/4 burners (one is a single grate but with two burners under it-is that one or two?LOL) and a coup de feu. The oven is electric. I've (hopefully!) included the link. Parts are still available for the Morices. If it had been a different color, I would have jumped on it-great price. well, I'll be continuing to follow everybody's stove progress, and hope to have a stove too. Soon... Here is a link that might be useful: Sea Sales Morice cooker...See Morewolf, bluestar, ge monogram rangetop help suggest
Comments (13)We have a 48" Bluestar rangetop with 4 burners and a 24" char broiler. We love it. The char broiler is fine, but the burners are great! The even heat distribution from the star burner is evident when you season a wok. I started using a new wok on our temp stove (15K ring burner). The sides seasoned nicely, but the center of the wok remained unseasoned for 2 years. After a 2 weeks of stir fry on the Bluestar the entire wok is a lovely black. You can see the same effect when boiling water. With a ring burner you see a ring of bubbles, with a star burner the entire bottom of the pot is bubbling. If you care about such things is a personal descision. Yes, the 22k burners, on high, will burn things. However, properly setup you have a wide range of heat available. When you add the ease of removing or elevating the grates I have not had any problems with the burners being too hot, or not hot enough. I have 3 22k burners and one simmer burner that really is a small pot burner. This is the perfect setup for the way we cook....See MoreLaCanche range vs La Cornufe range
Comments (13)In 2005, we undertook a huge to-the-studs kitchen remodel of a 400 sq ft kitchen. I had been a member of the Southern Living message boards and heard about garden web through a member on that site. My husband and I had already purchased a Dacor 36" cooktop as I'd had one previously and I found the Lacanche. Fell in love from the good people here. Got some amazing information here, especially from momto4kids. Purchased sight unseen, as I said previously. I had the Sully which I loved more than anything I'd ever owned. My dh let me have it and we sold the Dacor. We ended up moving to another house and I was faced with another purchase for MY personal cooking style. I had constraints on time and on space. My Sully wouldn't fit here, even if I could have brought it. And I did hours of research on the two ranges. This range is NOT a piece of junk as alluded to previously. I only gave my experience to the OP since I have owned both ranges within the last 7 years after I joined this site. My Sully was great but the right door was completely warped and never closed correctly. Couldn't be fixed. We had numerous ignition problems and had to have repairs. I haven't complained once on this site. Art Culinaire answered my questions without fail and in no way am I complaining. The Cornufe has been great as well, certainly equally as good in my eyes as my Sully. Just a different look and color, solid as a rock. I give thanks to all who posted here helping me previously, and I won't be back. This is why I'm always hesitant to post here. I've seen many a post by so many Lacanche owners here, including chef marty, marcolo, clinresga, joeboldt, momto4kids, claire de luna, pirula, and many others. I read the posts all day and night. I don't regret that purchase and I don't regret my Cornufe. Thanks for a great time and lots of great information....See MoreDecision time for Range as one is 6months!!! Lacanche or Blue Star
Comments (59)The difficult to clean bit was promoted by Wolf — according to our local Wolf sales folks. Background: The least expensive manufacturing situation is to make the exact same thing over and over and over. E.G., all sealed or all open for instance. It's more expensive to try to build both as it requires additional design work, more parts to be stocked, increased manufacturing time and machines, double the QA effort, increased effort writing user and technician manuals, more training for CS folks, more marketing effort, etc. Over time Wolf chose to focus on pro-look aesthetics over functionality. They chose to go after the consumers for whom looks was more important than functionality. From a sales revenue standpoint this was a very good choice as the 'Wolf Look' was/is very popular and the number of people who wanted the look is greater than those who want actual functionality to cook on. Offering sealed burners rather than open provided valuable marketing blurbs - 'easier to clean' and 'as easy to clean'. This was pumped out to sales folks all over. What they didn't want is DCS or Thermador telling the people that their ranges were easier to clean than Wolf. In reality, for people who want a spic-and-span-always-looks-brand-new-never-been-used kitchen then sealed burners are better. They are a bit easier to keep new looking. But only a bit, not the huge FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) difference that's been promoted. It's similar to FUD spread by Ford about electric cars and how awful they are or the FUD spread by Monster Cable about how much better stuff sounded over their cables. FUD is an extremely powerful marketing tool. Wolf still makes good stuff but as has been discussed, their sealed burners are not a cooks best friend. They waste a lot of heat/gas, they are hotter for the cook to cook on vs an open burner due to much of the heat going around the pan rather than under, often do not heat as evenly, etc. What's interesting is that Blue Star are supposedly going after more serious cooks but then have an inferior (vs Wolf) thermostatic griddle (flat top) on the RNB, only offer their higher BTU burners paired with an even more inferior burner-top griddle, have rack ladders that are too narrow for many pro pans, etc. They got the burner shape right but then miss on so much else and for no good reason. Interestingly, they also missed on their hood offering by putting out the exact same thing with the same problems as is available from every other consumer pro-look option rather than offering a hood with actual better functionality. Their product marketing decisions seem amazingly bad. There's a gob of people who want a really good range, a really good range hood and are willing to pay but BS doesn't want to take advantage but instead wants to try to partially compete with Wolf....See Moreopaone
2 years agoSarcgo11
2 years agotangerinedoor
2 years agoopaone
2 years agoM
2 years agoopaone
2 years agoGary Franceschini
2 years agojenniferbkelling
2 years agoPatricia Colwell Consulting
2 years agoHeatherInOR
2 years ago
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