Gas Ranges

[Mavinwow]

Hey gang,

Since I am always surprised about what people are experts on, I figured I would take a shot. I am looking at buying a new gas range. I'd like something nice, stainless, under 1,500. Normally when I buy something, I read lots of reviews and do my due diligence. It seems to be very difficult to do with these ranges :)

Does anyone know much about these? Good manufactures, who to avoid, etc?

I liked the look/features/value of this one:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_296253-46-GFG464LVS_0_?productId=1205439&Ntt=whirlpool%20gas%20range&Ntk=i_products&pl=1&currentURL=/pl__0__s?newSearch=true$Ntt=whirlpool%20gas%20range$y=0$x=0

Convection oven, 5 burners, rapid boil burner, elongated "fish" center burner. A lot of features for a reasonable price. Don't know much about the manufacturer.

Any advice would be great!

[quadman]

Surprisingly, a name that I would have never guessed even remotely related to quality was Frigidare. I always equated them with budget stuff for some reason. However, I was somewhere recently and had a few extra minutes to kill (dang if I can remember where it was ) and I was "looking" at the appliances. I really liked this range. I believe this was the model they had on the floor.... All of the specs and price seem right IIRC and it looks like the one I was looking at.

http://www.number1direct.com/product.jhtm?id=56653&trackcode=GA_CM&gclid=COvEgsK2_qACFQzxDAodP0pAwg

Not sure anymore who to "avoid" since manufacturers have all been bought and sold a lot over the last several years it seems. At least the consumer grade stuff. Now, if you're interested in Pro gear, then by all means Viking or Wolf Range are two top names. But, your budget doesn't allow them.

[Mavinwow]

Thanks for the replies guys :)

Q: I saw that one in the store, but was kind of turned off by the "chicken nugget button"...seriously?

Im being tempted by this baby:

http://www.selectappliance.com/exec/ce-product/nr_drgb3001

It is more than I wanted to spend, but you get that profession/Viking look with powerful burners and a convection oven...

[tesseract]

LOL!!!

Ok, I am laughing my ass off here. Chicken Nugget button. I looked and sure 'nuff....

[shabda]

I do appliance repair. Can't speak to your question model by model - just too many out there and I'm not involved in the sales end. Can add my 2 cents about what brands I like working on in general, and those I don't. Of the major brands, Whirlpool is generally preferred. Descent company to deal with (do warranty work for them, as well as GE). Fair prices for replacement parts, descent customer service, like their designs more than others. Model by model there are always a range in every brand, but overall, best impressions of Whirlpools compared to the other manufacturers. Whirlpool also sell under other labels like Estate, Kitchenaid, Roper and many of the department store brands like Kenmore, Kirkland, etc. Don't recommend GE (or Hotpoint - also a GE). Don't generally recommend Frigidaire or their other brands (Gibson, Westinghouse and others).

As you may know, there are three major appliance manufacturers in the US now. GE (Hotpoint), Whirlpool (Kitchenaid, Roper, Estate - also recently acquired Maytag which includes JennAir, Amana, Admiral, and others), and Electrolux (which includes Frigidaire, Gibson, Westinghouse, Kelvinator and others). Over 90% of appliances sold in the US now are made by one of these three companies.

Maytag went downhill long before Whirlpool bought them. Maytag and JennAir have some descent stuff, but some with those labels are now Amanas and Admirals - don't know what your getting, so that sucks. GE is average but over priced for what you get and replacement parts can be way overpriced. Avoid. And I personally won't get a Frigidaire (Electrolux) warranty service contract (to do warranty repairs for them like I do for GE and Whirlpool) because I don't like their products as much, don't like dealing with their company (don't like GE much either, but one of the local merchants asked me to provide service for their product line, which included GE), and they also are cheap - lowest rates paid to servicers for warranty repairs (again, Whirlpool is best there as well).

Depending on where you live, getting service for a brand can be an issue. I live in rural area and some brands are under-represented (Bosch, LP, etc.) so harder to find folks to do warranty work on them in this county, and many servicer don't even want to bother becoming familiar with them since you may only see one once a year or so.

Sears brand, Kenmore, is any one of 30+ brand they buy from, including GE, Whirlpool, etc. So you don't know what your buying. Also Sears service has bad rep (at least around here) and is over-price. There basic service call is about twice what I charge. That ain't cheap. Again, don't recommend.

Whirlpool and related brands offer wide range of products, generally good track record with quality and service, descent pay to servicers, descent customer service. On washers and dryers in particular, I recommend Whirlpool. But also with other types of appliances as well. I have never heard of the NXR brand - you may want to check to make sure there is a warranty servicer in your area for ease of service. May be harder to get parts for as well.

For a range, among the Whirlpool brands (which are so many now) I would stick with those that actually say either Whirlpool or Kitchenaid on them.

Maybe this is more info than you wanted, or not specific enough about models, but I suspect some folks here will find this useful. So there's a bit of perspective.

[django1]

LOL!!!

Ok, I am laughing my ass off here. Chicken Nugget button. I looked and sure 'nuff....

It's pretty frightening that the people making the stoves actually came to the conclusion that a chicken nugget button and a frozen pizza button would be desirable features. In the manual it says that after heating for 20 minutes the oven will automatically go to keep warm mode and keep those little nuggets warm for 3 hours! Mmmmmm...

[koa]

I can't help with picking a particular stove, but...

If you have a Sears Distribution Center that handles the return, scratch and dent, and closeouts, they have pretty good deals. Also Sears is having their usual Friends and Family Sale the beginning of May and their appliances are usually 20% off plus another 10% off if you use a Sears charge card.

If you have Reward Points with AmEx card, you can get Lands End gift cards (5000 pts equal $50.) and use them at Sears.

Right now Sears is having a 30% off sale on energy star appliances.

Then there is the federal appliance rebate for energy star appliance that's started or is about to start state by state. Just search state appliance rebate program to see info about your state.

Some kitchen showrooms/distributors give pretty good discounts on discontinued/damaged stuff also.

[Kevin_Wadsworth]

I would love to replace my electric range with gas, so I've done some researhc on the subject. But since the electric works jsut as well as the day we bought it, it's hard to justify the cost to replace, so I haven't.

There is a meta-review website (consumersearch.com) that I found useful. The Kenmore Elite 's are about your price range in SS and seeme to be well-reviewed. You just have to wait for a time when the deal is right at Sears.

I'm a big gan of the Electrolux EW30DF65G (dual fuel) and EW30GF65G (gas) ranges, although I'm not sure if they are worth the price premium.