There hasn't been a discussion of kitchen ranges for about a year. Our 2007 smooth top range has just been recalled (apparently they sometimes turn on by themself) and it's failing in lots of ways so maybe it's time for a new stove.
We've been researching induction ranges and they're terrific in theory.
But their actual performance doesn't sound nearly as good. The actual "heated" areas (the magnets) for medium priced stoves seem to be quite small which would make the stove-top not so good for serious home cooking.
Here's one comment from the internet: "I just bought an LG LSIL6334F. Claimed element sizes are 11/8/6/6 inches, they're actually 6/4.5/4.5/3.5 inches, according to a browning test (thin layer of flour in a pan, see where it turns brown). That's pretty terrible and definitely affects my cooking."
So why not just splash out and buy a "Pro Style" range? For what it's worth, Consumer Reports comments that the best Pro Style Ranges are not better than the best consumer grade ranges.
And in Consumer Reports, the reviews for conventional smooth top ranges are pretty terrible which seems to be primarily due to reliability problems. All of the reviewed models score between "1/5" and at best "3/5" for customer satisfaction.
Has anyone bought a kitchen range recently and had good results?
We've been researching induction ranges and they're terrific in theory.
But their actual performance doesn't sound nearly as good. The actual "heated" areas (the magnets) for medium priced stoves seem to be quite small which would make the stove-top not so good for serious home cooking.
Here's one comment from the internet: "I just bought an LG LSIL6334F. Claimed element sizes are 11/8/6/6 inches, they're actually 6/4.5/4.5/3.5 inches, according to a browning test (thin layer of flour in a pan, see where it turns brown). That's pretty terrible and definitely affects my cooking."
So why not just splash out and buy a "Pro Style" range? For what it's worth, Consumer Reports comments that the best Pro Style Ranges are not better than the best consumer grade ranges.
And in Consumer Reports, the reviews for conventional smooth top ranges are pretty terrible which seems to be primarily due to reliability problems. All of the reviewed models score between "1/5" and at best "3/5" for customer satisfaction.
Has anyone bought a kitchen range recently and had good results?