First home - Pro Style Range

6 years ago

I am new to Houzz but understand that I can get great advise here. We are building our first home and the kitchen is the most important room for me. I have never bought a pro-style range but cooking is my passion. I am interested to know what would be the top 5 things to look for when purchasing a range.

Featured Answer

opaone

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

Agree w/ @wekick. While I personally prefer open burner gas, I also think induction can be a great option and I've had some wonderful meals prepared by good pro chef's on induction. Personally I'd stay away from sealed burner gas and any electric other than induction.

A griddle is important to us because we use it as a griddle, flat-top, plancha, place to put pans, etc. It's great for a wide variety of things and we'll give up burners for it so our preference is 4 burners and a 24" thermostatic griddle.

Traditionally a gas oven is best for breads and other things that like a moist environment while electric ovens are best for things that like a dryer environment. Some electric ovens now include some steaming capability that is as good or better than gas. In our case we'll have two gas ovens (large & small) in our 48" range, an electric Miele Masterchef, electric Miele combi steam, and GE Advantium fast bake. They'll all get a fair bit of use.

And, since we don't like the lingering smell of cookings past (or the loudness of consumer hoods), we'll have a good CaptiveAire hood and Make Up Air system.

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Comments (7)

sonni1
6 years ago
When I was shopping for my kitchen appliances I came across Yale Appliances online. They had great articles and reviews of all types of appliances. I think quality would be the most important, with cost and style being big factors also. Many cooks like gas, but gas has to be available and I've opted for induction because the gas range puts out too much heat. Then there is size and configuration of the elements, whether you want a grill and much more. Good luck with the house - and congratulations!
wekick
6 years ago
There isn't really a top 5 things to look for because different things are important to different people.

First I would ask if you have a budget. What cooking appliances do you have now? Are you looking for gas or electric?

What type of cooking do you do? High heat? Is simmer important? What type of cookware do you like to use. Do you envision using a grill or griddle?

How do you use your oven? Broiler? Have you used convection? Have you considered something like a combi oven?

Would you consider a rangetop plus wall ovens? You can pick the best for cooking rangetop and the best oven(s). I would read the pros and cons on induction on this forum and on the Chowhound cookware forum

https://www.chowhound.com/search/?q=induction&c=allsite&o=&after=&before=&bd=&un=&n=20&start=0

Yale has some good info but they are way off on some of it.
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PRO
Trevor Lawson (Eurostoves Inc)
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
To be clear your looking for a range, your building a new home and cooking is your passion, so budget for a prostyle range might not be as important to you as it is others. Which means your range can be from NXR - Viking.

To answer what will be i am sure an initial question with many to follow.

--------------

Form the calls I get about ranges the most asked questions in order are as follows.

1) Surface Burners.

2) Warranty / Servcie in my area.

3) A consistent oven

4) What options are available ie grills or griddles

5) Fit and finish / looks.

I think this is an interesting question I forward to the answer you get. To see if there is a general consensusof what people look for when buying a pro style range.
Jacqueline Gartin
Original Author
6 years ago
Thank you for your responses! I am totally open to what size for a family of 4 and lots of entertaining. I have natural gas available. Right now i have nothing to write home about. I love to bake with the kids but we love trying all styles of cooking. Price is not an issue because the range is the most important part of the kitchen for me.
wekick
6 years ago
We are diverse here and there are so many choices. People have very strong opinions about some of these things. Even if you could form a consensus which would mean unity about something about cooking appliances and I can't even think what that would be, there would still be that outlier with unique needs.

If you go by just what a majority likes, that would be like going to your health care practitioner with a stomach ache and they tell you I'll just give you this medicine that works for most of my patients.

There is so much written in this forum about the features and weaknesses of different burners, fuels, ovens, steam ovens, combi ovens, broilers, grills, griddles, configuration of ovens, rangetops and sizes and placement. You may also go look at the kitchen forum. I would just go down the line and start reading the ones about ranges. A lot of people like BlueStar but some don't like an open burner tray. If you entertain, you might want a oven that hold full commercial sheets or at least two half sheets side by side. One of my biggest regrets was buying a range and wall oven. Should have bought a rangetop and 2 wall ovens

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/kitchen-discussions-dsbr0-bd~t_28581

If cooking is your passion, then you want to get this right so take a little time to figure out what things people talk about that will have real utility for you. Some of these appliance types are newer.

Read about induction so you can narrow down to gas vs electric for sure. Induction requires its own type of cookware.
kaseki
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Unfortunately for peoples' initial budgets, adequate ventilation of the cooking effluent generated from cooking on ranges can add significant costs to kitchens. Beyond the varied costs for the hood, ducting, and blower, there can varied costs for the make-up air system that may be needed to supply it. To fully appreciate the scope of this you are welcome to review the many threads on these subjects here extending back more than a decade.

Here are some candidate maxims for embracing "pro-style" cooking:
- Pro-style cooking requires pro-style ventilation.
- Success in ventilation system design requires a time investment in reviewing the relevant material, or a funding investment in a competent professional advisor, if available.
- The cost of the ventilation system will be commensurate with that of the range.
- You can have two out of three among performance, affordability, and aesthetics.
- Planning the ventilation system integration into the house can be an effort commensurate with planning the layout of the kitchen.
- Every detail should be established before construction starts, and integrated as necessary into the architectural drawings.
- Ventilation silence is golden, but you have to provide the gold.
Is your architect aware of your pro-style ambitions?

First home - Pro Style Range

opaone

Comments (7)

sonni1

wekick

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Trevor Lawson (Eurostoves Inc)

Jacqueline Gartin
Original Author

wekick

kaseki

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First home - Pro Style Range

opaone

Comments (7)

sonni1

wekick

Related Discussions

Trevor Lawson (Eurostoves Inc)

Jacqueline GartinOriginal Author

wekick

kaseki

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BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

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Jacqueline Gartin
Original Author