Lacornue Chateaux thoughts (vs Lacanche)?
John H
2 years ago
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Comments (11)
PROPatricia Colwell Consulting
2 years agolast modified: 2 years ago
PROTHE FRENCH BARN - Lacanche Canada
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Help us choose -- Lacanche (Sully) or Wolf Rangetop/Double Ovens
Comments (49)"What would you say is the biggest difference between the gas or electric for the main oven" There are some very specific differences. Most people like their food to be browned because it adds flavor to what you are cooking. In order for food to be brown, the Maillard reaction must take place. In order for this to happen, need to evaporate water. I would look at what happens in either oven. In a gas oven, there is moisture released in the combustion of gas but because there is much more ventilation in a gas oven, it and the moisture from what you are cooking are ventilated out so you have superficial drying of your food which promotes browning. This will also add more heat to your kitchen. An electric oven is more of a closed system so will hold on to the humidity more. You can increase the superficial evaporation in an electric oven by increasing the heat or using the fan. In reading some marketing materials, Wolf and Capital, come to mind, they will state that gas is "moist heat". In the past that was the belief. That would be true of the flame but does not take into consideration the oven as a whole and the effect it has on what you are cooking. They also seem to think that the external moisture from the "moist heat" produces moist meat when it would have nothing to do with it. It is a function of the internal temperature. There are certain irreversible physiological changes to meat as the temperature rises which dictate the amount of moisture in meat fibers. Some also attribute crispiness to the moistness but again is is drying that produces that. On on the other hand, an electric oven can hold on to moisture which can be a benefit in baking because it promotes starch gelatinization. It can affect the amount of rise, browning and crust formation. This is why bread bakers add moisture at the beginning of baking and/ or use a cloche in a gas oven. The cloche is then removed or moisture allowed to escape and the drier environment promotes browning....See MoreLa Cornue Range
Comments (63)I have a 1990 Cornue Grand Palais series range that I purchased used. I disassembled the unit completely for a thorough cleaning and I have some observations that may be of use to some of you. First the bad. The plating work on the trim (nickel in my case), is pretty bad. I took the pieces to a plating shop to be reworked, and the staff were not impressed. You can see that most of the pieces were finished with a belt sander. Because the base metal of the pieces is steel, over time, the backs of the pieces where they contact the stove enamel will begin to rust because of trapped moisture. This destroys the plating, and eventually works around to the front of the trim. The screws for the backs of the drawer slides were loose or missing, and the right side door slides had the back mounting holes drilled 1/2 inch too high, causing that door to be mis-aligned and to have a tendency to slide open. The body of the drawers is galvanized steel. One of mine had significant rust. There must be condensation issues. The gas piping was not deburred after being cut. Two pieces were cut too short, so the builder wasn't able to adequately tighten the joints. There were a few missing screws in the unit and one missing bolt. The right hand base was 1/8" too short, so they added shims between the base and the oven unit. Unfortunately the shims they added were only 1/16" high. An electrical connection on one of the main electric burner elements was never tightened correctly. There was obvious arcing at that point. There are no gaskets on the oven doors. This means that hot gasses will escape out the front and you will get deposits inside the upper door frame and front of the unit, where they will collect under the drip tray handles. There is no easy way to replace the chrome oven surrounds if they become damaged. You must COMPLETELY disassemble the unit, including removing/dismantling the controls (electric or gas) behind the control doors. This requires that the gas piping be disconnected, the top removed, the ovens separated, the sides removed, and then the inner sheet metal.. you get the idea. The knobs have plastic bushings to adapt to the small control stalks. One of mine distorted from the heat, so the knob doesn't stay square. Like many other "pro" ranges, there are many spots where panels meet in such a way that it is inevitable that fluids will seep in and cause problems. The chrome panels fronting the oven are typical, cleaning products just dribble straight down into an uncleanable gap. The cast aluminum door panels are very cool when perfectly buffed out, but inevitably, they will wither away with use. Sooner or later someone will use a cleaner incompatible with aluminum and wreck the finish. It has taken me several hours on a bench buffer to bring them back. The hinges in the door have a weak point: when you open the door all the way and put any pressure down, there is a small piece of metal in each hinge that is stressed. One of mine has a small crack that I will have to weld if I can't find a replacement. The venting in the back of the unit is poorly done. The vents terminate before the top of the backsplash, so cooking gases sort of spread out and coat the upper third of the unit. Not a major problem, but causes quite a bit of dirt buildup. The brass burner tops look great when polished, but that doesn't last long unless you are a fanatic about cleaning. I didn't even know they were brass until I saw it on a website. I polished mine on the buffer and hey look! brass! Unfortunately, they get pitted, so to really make them look great, you'd have to chuck them in a lathe and remove some metal. This would give them a limited lifetime. The racks are a bit flimsy. The chrome on mine had started to fail. The transformer for the spark ignitors was only grounded to the base of one unit. If you are having a problem with ignitors, make a pigtail to directly attach the ground wire from the transformer to one of the oven's base mounting screws. People are always saying that their high-end stoves are "built like tanks". No they aren't. Sure, with all that metal you need a stiff frame to bolt it all to, but individually, the ovens are pretty conventional. I've seen the same on Wolf commercial. You want heavy duty? Buy an 1895 wood burner. Ok, so now the good: The brass burner hardware is the neatest I have ever seen: a brass tube with a threaded adjuster sets the air flow, much nicer than the stamped metal shutters on Wolf commercial and others. The gas knobs are cast metal, plated. The have a nice heavy feel. The gas control hardware looks quality. All the wiring is sleeved with high temp silicone. Durable and looks nice. Mine was still in great shape. The porcelain held up very well with only a couple hardly visible dings. The electric controls are heavy duty euro style stuff. They must have stiffer regs over there. The electric switches are industrial quality. With some serious cleaning, I was able to take this 18+ year old range back to almost new condition. I paid $2k for the unit, and I am satisfied with it at that price. From what I can see looking at the new units at Williams-Sonoma, there is little visual difference with my unit, so I believe some of my comments would still apply. The bottom line here is, the cooking functions of the unit seem to be just fine, and have held up well over time. However, the range is not as easy to clean and maintain as a modern unit, and the build quality leaves much to be desired. The style fits perfectly with the kitchen of my Victorian, so I am willing to make some compromises in function. To any prospective buyers, I would say that just about any $1000 range from Sears will do a great job of cooking, operate reliably and be easy to clean and cheap (relatively) to service. Cornue makes their ranges "like they used to", but sometimes there's a good reason why they don't make them like that anymore. A purchase like this is about style. If you need a unit with two ovens, and (like mine), four burners, a flat cooktop and grill, the price of entry will probably be at least $5k. How you justify the extra $35k is all about style....See MoreFrench Ranges Lacanche vs LaCornue
Comments (14)jlangfo, We have a french blue Volnay (the one described by Patrick) and love it. The oven is smaller than conventional U.S. ovens but it has not limited our cooking ability at all. In fact, our prior range was a very old 1950s GE Stratliner that also had small ovens and I realized I much prefer them over conventional sized ovens. They hold the heat better, cook food faster and I personally haven't not found their size limiting - we cooked an 18lb turkey last fall just after we got it. The Volnay also holds half sheet pans comfortably. We have a second oven (a Gagg Combi-Steam oven) and that oven is smaller and the combination works great for us. I looked at the CornuFe and Chateau briefly, but quickly preferred the look, quality and feel of the Lacanche. We chose the 5 burner-gas top and an electric oven (5k burner; 15k burner, 18k burner and two 10k burners). We hardly ever use the 18k burner, just when canning or boiling a pot of water - it's a LOT of power. The warming cupboard is a nice bonus and gets used a lot in the fall/winter. Lacanche has a program if you don't live near a vendor where they can sometimes match you up with a current owner to visit their range in their home. We live in Seattle where Lacanche is based so didn't do this (I test cooked at their headquarters) but many buyers have found this very helpful. I'd do it all over again if I had the choice. My favorite pic (sorry for those who have seen it for the upteenth time!)...See MoreCornuefe
Comments (14)Jenna, I looked at both the Cornufe and personally saw the Lacanche Cluny which we are going to order. Let me tell you some of the differences we saw. The Cornufe is a beautiful oven and actually has a 3 year parts and labor warranty. The burner top seems very similar to the Lacanche. The ovens are both electric and both convection with the Cornufe. They are 3 inches shallower due to the convection which in my opinion makes it harder to fit pans in. With the Cluny, I saw the person fit regular cookie sheets in. With the Cornufe, you are buying new Sonoma specialty pans to fit. Not the end of the world, but something to consider. The Cornufe comes apart easily to clean, in fact you can take the side and bottom panels right off of the range and place them directly into the dishwasher which is a great feature. But in inspecting both ranges carefully, the Lacanche seems much more sturdy and better built. Maybe from being individually handmade instead of mass produced. The oven doors in the Cornufe were not as heavy and solid as the Lacanche. The storage drawers underneath the Lacanche were also much sturdier and rolled easier than the Cornufe drawers. The Cornufe has an enamel painted front to it, but the sides are stainless. The Lacanche is enamel painted both front and sides. Also, the Lacanche has a more expensive look, in my opinion when you compare them directly. With Lacanche you have an amazing support through Art Culinaire and the Lacanche buyer community that is not really available with Cornufe at this time. We also seriously considered the Bluestar and several other pro ranges. But there are a lot of complaints about service with the Bluestar and after emailing dozens of Lacanche owners, I have found people that are still so excited about their range and speak so highly of the support they have gotten from Art Culinaire even years later. There is really nothing that can go wrong with the Lacanche that a regular technician can't fix, so I would expect you would have the range to pass on, rather than replace someday. With the Lacanche you can also order it to come with a warming cupboard which is a feature many really rave about. Good luck in your decision. Both French ranges are beautiful and will lead to many years of great cooking!...See Moremegs1030
2 years agoJohn H
2 years agocheri127
2 years agoJohn H
2 years agomegs1030
2 years ago
Andrea C
2 years ago
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