Buying guide for Best high-end ranges
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If you envy the skills of professional gourmet chefs, take heart. You, too, can achieve similar results at home with a high-end, pro-style range. These come with advanced features, such as high BTU (British thermal unit) output burners and convection settings, to get all your culinary creations just right.
Basic standard ranges were fine choices until the 1980s when homeowners began outfitting their homes with elaborate kitchen appliances that made professional chefs jealous. Chef-inspired ranges continue to meet the needs of homeowners who love the look of a big expert-ready appliance. They also appeal to serious home cooks who use these convenient features to enhance their cooking skills.
However, before you buy, there’s a lot to consider. You can find high-end ranges with fabulous features such as double ovens, warming drawers, or even WiFi connectivity, so you can get dinner started while you’re away from home. To learn more, keep reading. If you’re ready to buy, consider one of our top picks.
Key considerations
Gas, electric, and dual fuel ranges
It’s easy to replace a gas appliance with another gas appliance or an electric appliance with an electric one. However, if you want to convert from an electric range to a gas range, you certainly can. Gas stoves typically require electricity, too, for the pilotless igniter on each burner. Electric ranges need a 240-volt outlet, while gas ranges require only 120 volts.
A dual fuel range is when the cooktop is gas and the oven is electric. Many cooks prefer this style because they like the constant temperature control of an electric oven compared to the temperature fluctuations that occur in gas ovens.
Expert tip
Always wipe down your range top regularly, even if you’re not using it much. Drips and dust can create funny smells and permanent marks if not cleaned off frequently.
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Oven capacity
You want to have an oven with enough capacity to handle your holiday turkey, right? The oven capacity, or cubic feet of usable space, is one way to determine the oven’s size. A standard single-oven range is roughly between 4.3 and 5 cubic feet, which can fit an average turkey of 24 to 26 pounds. The best way to figure out what can fit in your oven is to measure the dimensions to see if your roasting pan will fit.
Size
When replacing an appliance, you’ll need to know if a new range will fit into your existing space (or through your doorway). Ranges come in standard sizes, such as 24, 27, and 30 inches wide, 25 inches deep, and 36 inches high, so they’re flush with the counter. A compact apartment-size range may measure 24 inches wide (some are 20 inches wide), while a pro-style six-burner range may measure 36 inches wide.
Freestanding, slide-in, or front control
This is one of the most important and overlooked issues when it comes to selecting a range. Here are the differences:
- Freestanding: A freestanding range has a backguard that houses the oven and burner controls. Finished sides allow you to place it anywhere in your kitchen. They are generally lower in cost than a slide-in range.
- Slide-in: A slide-in range has its oven and burner controls on the top front of the appliance, allowing your entire backsplash to remain exposed. They may be slightly wider at the top and sides resulting in overlapping at the countertop and surrounding cabinets to achieve a built-in appearance. Slide-ins are pricier because of their features and styling.
- Front control: A front-control range is a blend of freestanding and slide-in. They’re also called slide-ins, but the difference is that the control knobs are located on the front edge. The placement of controls also allows your backsplash to be exposed. Front-control ranges have finished sides for flexible placement. They look stylish and are often used to replace freestanding ovens because there’s no need to modify cabinetry.
Features
Convection technology
Most luxury ranges will have convection-oven settings to let you cook fast and evenly. It’s a feature that sets a high-end range apart from lower-end stoves.
Cooktop extras
Spacious high-end ranges tend to have five burners or elements on the cooktop. You can also opt for a griddle or continuous cast-iron grates instead.
Double ovens
Often found on luxury ranges, a double oven is just that — two ovens in one. Instead of a lower warming drawer, high-end ranges use that space for an extra, but smaller capacity, oven. Both ovens can be used at the same time, offering greater flexibility when cooking large meals or for saving energy when cooking smaller meals. Some top-of-the-line ranges have two oven cavities the same exact size.
Finishes
Modern finishes include stainless steel, black stainless steel, designer whites, and copper stainless steel.
Expert tip
Once a year, remove the range knobs and give them a thorough cleaning. They’re right in the line of fire for splattering food on the cooktop, and your hands touch them more often than anything else.
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Gas burner type
If you’re looking at gas burners, you should know the primary differences and their pros and cons:
- Pros of sealed burners: Sealed burners have caps over the flame; open burners don’t. This means they’re easier to clean than open burners because spills stay out, and the burner is still efficient even through the cap. Sealed burners are somewhat safer in a residential kitchen.
- Cons of sealed burners: They’re more expensive, they could crack or break if something heavy hits the caps, and sometimes heat is uneven.
- Pros of open burners: They provides direct heat, the oxygen flow gives off a better burn, and they’re more efficient and faster than sealed burners.
- Cons of open burners: They are more difficult to clean than sealed burners, especially when boil-overs happen, and they need to be taken apart and cleaned frequently.
Self-cleaning
A luxury oven will have either a high-temperature or steam self-cleaning method. Some top-end models offer both methods. The high-temperature self-cleaning method takes much longer than the steam-cleaning method. Some high-end models can self-clean with steam in as little as 10 to 20 minutes.
Warming drawer
Advanced warming drawers offer a range of settings to keep various types of food warm. You can even slow cook some food in a warming drawer with settings that allow you to cook different dishes at once.
WiFi connectivity
If you love to cook, but you’re out of the house much of the time, a high-end range with WiFi connectivity will come in handy. It allows you to control your oven remotely, so you’re actively preparing dinner before you even step foot in the door.
"Double ovens eliminate the handy storage drawer. Remember, if you opt for a double oven with a lower cavity, you’ll need to bend far down to lift items from that lower oven."
STAFF
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High-end range prices
Lower high end
In the $1,300 to $2,900 price range, you’ll find better-styled five-burner gas and electric stovetops. (You’ll also find the occasional model with five burners in the budget-wise $600 to $1,000 price range.) You’ll find convection-oven settings here along with a handful of brand-proprietary features, such as easy-clean technology. A rare double-oven model can also be found in the higher end of this price range.
Mid-range high end
For $2,900 to $6,000, you’ll begin to find the pricey double-oven and dual fuel models. On all models you’ll see an impressive selection of additional features, such as ultra-hot BTU burners, sealed gas burners, warming drawers, and convection settings. Some brands offer fashionable colors, such as ruby red, emerald green, or navy blue appliances.
Top of the line
For $6,000 to $23,000 and up, you can have the crème de la crème of serious pro-style and château-style ranges. With heavier grates and unbreakable doors, these upper-end ranges are in a class of their own because they’re handcrafted, hand-polished, and perfectly calibrated to cook evenly. They may also combine individual ovens and elements, such as a traditional, convection, and steam oven, all into one package.
Did you know?
High-end ranges often have a Sabbath mode, which allows Shabbat-observant Jews to keep food warm with automatic timers but without interacting with their appliances per religious constraints.
STAFF
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Tips
- If you’re hoping to replace a freestanding or front-control range with a slide-in model, you may need to do some modifications to accommodate the switch, such as replace some tiles or even an entire backsplash.
- You’ll likely see high-end ranges stating the total BTUs of burner output. Read the fine print to see the BTUs of individual burners. For example, an average burner outputs 7,000 BTUs each, but pro-style burners may double that number per burner. An ultra-low 200 to 300 BTU burner is ideal for simmering.
- Baking a cake may be an iffy undertaking in a convection oven. Though your cake may bake 25% faster than if you baked it in a traditional oven, the convection method may cook the outside of the cake faster than the inside.
FAQ
Q. What are the benefits of having a range with WiFi connectivity?
A. WiFi connectivity on both an electric or gas model makes it possible for you to remotely monitor and control your oven. Preheat your oven before leaving work so you can pop in dinner as soon as you get home. Or change your oven’s temperature from afar for recipes that call for varied cooking temperatures. Some ovens can even be diagnosed and handled over an app to minimize service calls.
Expert tip
If your food bubbles over the pan and onto the oven surface, clean it right away. If you forget and leave it, the next time you cook, the spilled food may burn and create an unpleasant smell right before your dinner party.
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Q. What is a convection oven and how is it different from a regular oven?
A. It helps to know the simplest definition of the word convection: the circulation or movement of warm and cool air. Convection ovens use fans to evenly circulate heat so food cooks faster and more uniformly. A traditional oven’s heat remains relatively still inside the oven cavity, creating pockets of air, which may result in unevenly cooked food.
Q. What’s the difference between steam and traditional self-cleaning ovens?
A. A steam clean is a quick fix for minor food spills. Just spray or pour water into the bottom of a cool oven and select the steam setting. Traditional self-cleaning takes longer — from two to four hours on average. This setting heats the oven between 800ºF and 900ºF (depending on the brand and model) to burn off tough, baked-on spills without the use of chemicals.
