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CHOOSING A RANGE COOKER
KITCHEN RANGE REVIEWS
Range reviews on the best kitchen ranges from 36 inch to 48 ranges (ie from 90cm to 120cm) and tests on them have been carried out on some of the best selling Ranges and reported on in August 2007 by “WHICH” who are one of the most respected independent domestic appliance testing companies in the world a link to their site will follow. together with remarks from existing customers.
There are over 200 different Ranges and many manufacturers including Rangemaster, Belling, Stoves, La! Canche, Britannia, and Baumatic, our engineer has installed all these brands and is therefore in an excellent position to review them, and more importantly be in a position to observe the customers reaction after he has installed them and gone over the controls with them. He recommends that any one intending to buy a Range to draw up a short list of 5 requirements to pick one or two ranges then study the reviews.
COOKTOPS RANGES
We are not reviewing cook tops that are separate hobs (and ovens) that build into kitchen tops which are available from a 4 ring gas or electric hob to six ring hob with accessories such as BBQs , Deep Fat fryers, they will require separate enquiries, this article is only dealing with slide in Ranges.
LISTING REQUIREMENTS
Many customers find it very difficult to choose the Range because of the hundreds available on the Internet. Our research shows that following visits to New York and Washington DC. was were very few showrooms for Kitchen Ranges and those available are usually tied to one or two manufacturers whereas in the UK. customers can visit a showroom with all the manufacturers given in the first paragraph have ranges on display. Recently while in one of these showrooms our engineer was measuring the size of ovens in inches (unfortunately the size in the leaflets and on line are in Litres, more on this later) he entered into discussions with two customers one requiring a replacement gas range and one requiring a larger one with extra features the first one is replacing a Rangemaster she had been using for 12 years would take another Rangemaster but a different model she falls into the majority category with a wide choice in the price Range £1200 - £2400 for a good quality Range. The other customer was looking at the La!Canche and an AGA but stated that the ovens were small and she wanted a smooth Fry area on the top as she liked cooking, she fell into the minority type of customer who would pay between £2500 - £4000 the other group Under £1000 ranges are cheap light ranges usually single oven are not dealt with in detail in this article there fore the first thing on choosing a Range Cooker is the price range to look in. 1 -5 things to list are as follows,( bearing in mind one or two may not be critical to some customers eg. may be planning or have the room to consider two sizes)
1 PRICE, 2 SIZE 3 Fuel Type 4 Colour ( color) & 5 PERFORMANCE
Having decided on approx Price, next on the list is;
2 SIZE (WIDTH)
Over 90% of Ranges are manufactured in one of the following 4 widths and have adjustable feet at 90cm.(35-43inches)
90cm Wide ( = 35-43inches).sometimes called a 36inch range or 36 gas stove
100cm. Wide (= 39-37inches)
110cm. Wide (= 43-31inches)
120cm Wide (= 47-25inches) sometimes called 48 ranges or 48inch range.
3 FUEL TYPE
Again there are 4 choices
A All Electric ie top burners and 2 ovens are electric---
B All Natural Gas ie top burners and 2 ovens require natural gas
C All LPgas ie top burners and 2 ovens require LP gas
D Duel Fuel ie gas burners on the top with electric ovens sometimes called an electric gas stove There are slight variations eg induction range on top. Flame failure devices on top burners as well as those already fitted into gas ovens as required in some areas.
4 COLOUR (Color in USA) OR Stainless Steel,
There are many choices including S/Steel these can be obtained from the Manufacturers site or www.chef-rangecookers.com this is where personal choice comes in .
5 RANGE REVIEWES : PERFORMANCE and COMPARISON
Your requirements from 1 to 4 will have narrowed your choice to a few ranges and by looking at the exclusive review from the installer, tests carried out by Which, and details to suit your requirements should find a range for you. This is the most important part of choosing a Range cooker it will be very rewarding to study and make notes on each of the three underlined elements of this section.
review from the installer;
Having installed over 100 Range Cookers including gas ranges, propane ranges, and gas electric ranges in most cases a discussion was held the majority were very pleased and proud of their choice making the Range the focal point of the kitchen, however probably the only complaint was the size of the oven especially where the customer had not looked in a display model therefore following is information he has obtained which is not available anywhere on line on oven sizes. The installer (Malcolm Ramsey) has produced the following conversion table into cubic inches for use in conjunction with popular “double oven ranges” in nearly all cases manufacturers give size in Litres (Volume) which very few people understand and in many cases do not allow for shelf brackets etc. which reduces the actual size of the oven therefore as an added help he has measured some of the with the actual width and height in inches on some models which can be used as a guide for other ranges.
The author has made a list of ranges of different brands converting the manufacturers oven size in litres into cubic inches if the two ovens in a Range cooker are of different size the larger oven size is given, the list is intended to assist in choosing a Range for example an oven was measured at 15-5 inches high X 15-5 inches wide X 12-45 inches deep a manufacturer gave this oven size as 49 litres.
78 litres is equal to 4,759.85 cubic inches 48in. Chef Range cooker
Oven with door open 17-7in. Wide X 16inches High
55 litres is equal to 3,356.31 cubic inches Flaval Milano
49 litres is equal to 2,990.16 cubic inches Cannon Traditional
74 litres is equal to 4,515.76 cubic inches Rangemaster Toledo 110
Oven with door open 16-75in . Wide X 16inches High16
67 litres is equal to 4,088.59 cubic inches Falcon Continental D/F
70 litres is equal to 4,271.66 cubic inches Rangemaster Elan 110 D/F
Oven with door open16in. Wide X 16inches High
51 litres is equal to 3,112.21 cubic inches Hotpoint EG1000GX
As stated at the beginning of this article most of the above ranges were tested by “WHICH” their findings can be obtained at www.which.co.uk/rangecookers
CUSTOMERS REVEIWS
Following discussions with customers in the show room and while demonstrating
the controls and features on different ranges when installing 80% were very happy
and proud of their kitchen. The choice being in the price band and having features
they wanted. However a large number would have been prepared to pay more for a
Range with features to suit them which were available but on different ranges such
as a larger oven, a BBQ .a frying area to cook without a pan, or a deep fat fryer.
The Chef 48in Range Cooker @£3500 allows the customer to design the range
Themselves which is hand finished and carries a 5 year parts guarantee however
It does take 6 weeks for delivery, it can be seen at www.chef-rangecookers.com
CONCLUSION
The Ranges in this article cover 2 price bands £1000-£2400 & £2500-£4000
Many of the ranges in the higher price bracket had small ovens and short of
features the customer wanted and were in fact buying a name.
About the author ;Malcolm Ramsey is a gas engineer and a qualified electrician and
has handled 95%of available brands in the UK further information can be obtained
from him at Malcolm-choosingarange@chef-rangecookers.com
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