Westtoeast, I posted earlier in this thread months ago when I was considering this range for myself. I have now owned and been using the GE Cafe range since late May. I have been very pleased with it. I have not had any problems with the burners going out on the simmer setting, nor have my knobs gotten hot while the oven is in use. There were complaints when the range first came out about knobs melting, but the knobs were replaced on newer models. I've fortunately not experienced this problem with mine. I have yet to use the lower oven so I can't attest to how that works. I will probably be testing it out at Thanksgiving - on second thought, I'll probably give it a test run before! I have used the griddle quite a bit and love having that feature. I've only used it for things like pancakes, french toast and grilled cheese. The only real complaint I have about the range is that the burners on the front both have higher BTUs. You can't simmer on either of them. I had a large pot of chili on the front burner and had it on the lowest setting and it still was boiling. I wish they had swapped out the burners so that they had one of the powerboil burners on back and simmer on front. When I'm making a pasta dish, I like to boil pasta on the back burner out of the way while preparing sauce on one of the front burners. Makes it less crowded. Plus, if I'm making something that needs to simmer, yet needs constant attention, like making a roux for homemade mac and cheese, I have to be very careful. The front burner is almost too hot at the lowest setting but the back burner is inconvenient - reaching to the back to regularly stir/whisk is a pain. That said, I would still buy this range if I were to make the decision again, but it would be nice if GE redesigned the burners. Very easy to keep clean and maintain and looks appealing. All in all, I've been very happy with this range so far.

Hi Sparking- I am no expert but will try to answer your questions. I haven't done the oven temp test but find it to be very consistent and even. Pre-heat time seems a bit long to me but the convenction cooks everything so much faster than my old gas oven that it makes up for that extra time. It is definitely very even heat. I make chicken wings in the oven using both racks very frequently and both racks brown up nicely and evenly. Cookies have been consistent too without having to move around pans from front to back halfway like i used to do with my old oven. I really don't understand this noise factor that I hear about when in convection mode. I honestly don't hear anything other than a very slight hum when the fans go on. Any noise would cover it up, it's that slight. I really love that both ovens have a very smooth rolling rack. Awesome for basting turkey! I hope that helps!

Given then information they provide on their website I'd guess these are decorative more than functional. More: https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5161173/hood-faq What kinds of cooking and baking do you do? What do you want to do in the future? How often? For how many people? Do you entertain? How often? For how many people? How important is indoor air quality and your families health? What kind of budget? Is functional or pretty/wow more important? What is your weather climate? What range will this be used with?

My sister has the Unique fridge and the gas stove. The fridge is only 9cf but it holds enough for her. She loves the appliances. The stove is convection, but not European convection.