I need a new oven - any ideas?

[1234]

We moved into this house about five years ago and have replaced all the appliances except the the electric range and overhead microwave. It is needed now but I’ve actually never had to purchase one. The only other home we owned never needed replacing.

So, what should I be looking at? The other appliances are all stainless steel but not matching brands (Bosch dishwasher, GE fridge - so don’t care about matching). 

I’m semi interested in the double ovens but wonder if they’re actually worth it. Some even now have air fryers?!? Any brands or features I should rule out or are must haves?? Help!!

Edited December 19, 2020 by Joker2

[Carol in Cal.]

I have never bought an oven either but have heard two things that would influence my choices.

1.  Electric ovens hold temperatures more evenly than gas ovens.

2.  Fancy Viking stove ovens take a very long time to preheat, like almost an hour rather than about 10 minutes.

Another consideration once pointed out to me at an appliance store—an oven as part of a stove means that you always have to lean way down to get your Big Roast in and out.  That might be less tolerable with age, and a wall oven might be preferable.

[Laura Corin]

We have a double electric oven similar to this. I can broil in the top while something cooks more slowly below,  or use one to heat plates.  Really like the combination. As the pp said, it's more convenient to have them at this height. Having a fan in one of the ovens makes the heat more even.

https://ao.com/product/mha133br0b-bosch-serie-2-electric-double-oven-stainless-steel-73648-48.aspx

Our hob has big drawers below it that contain pans and lids - also very convenient. 

Edited December 19, 2020 by Laura Corin

[Pippen]

Do you have plenty of storage for cookie sheets, cooling racks, etc?  I replaced my range this year and decided against the double oven because I need the pull out drawer. I literally have no other place to store those items.

Sturdy racks and pull out drawer were must haves for me. I've been cooking on a 1973 range for the last 28 years and when I started searching the first thing I noticed was many of the new ones were flimsy in comparison.

 

[Carol in Cal.]

5 hours ago, Pippen said:

Do you have plenty of storage for cookie sheets, cooling racks, etc?  I replaced my range this year and decided against the double oven because I need the pull out drawer. I literally have no other place to store those items.

Sturdy racks and pull out drawer were must haves for me. I've been cooking on a 1973 range for the last 28 years and when I started searching the first thing I noticed was many of the new ones were flimsy in comparison.

 

I have a cabinet over the wall oven that has vertical dividers.  I store things like cookie sheets, cooling racks, and platters in it, on their sides.  The nice thing about this is that they are not stacked so I can access them individually, like books on a bookshelf.  I would not have thought of this but it’s extremely convenient.

[klmama]

Whatever you decide to look at, be sure you go to the manufacturer's website and to other sites for reviews, and take any repeated negative comments seriously.  We replaced our old Whirlpool with a new one, and while it cooks well and has some nice features, there are a few annoyances we didn't have before - the timer on the stove is fairly quiet and only rings once, it takes forever to heat the oven, and the sides of the drawer are only a few inches high and are made of too-thin metal to hold the pots I used to store there.   All those details were in the reviews, but I didn't realize how much they would affect our usage.  

[Carol in Cal.]

Pro tip:  When you’re looking at the top of a range, bring along your favorite/biggest pots and see whether you can use those burners independently or not.  I found that the stove I almost bought (#dodgedabullet) had the burners set much closer together than my old workhorse stove, and so I couldn’t use them all at once anymore.  

Also, if you ever use one of those griddles that straddles two burners, or put a big roasting pan across two burners to deglaze it and make gravy, it’s going to end up cooking unevenly if you have two sizes of burners front and back.  This can be worked around if you think about it like one of those French burners with several heat ‘layers’ on it and move the food around appropriately, but for things like making a big brunch amount of bacon it can be darned inconvenient.

[Amethyst]

I love the look of stainless steel appliances. I’m waiting for our fridge to break so I can make that stainless steel and then we’ll be all stainless steel. 
 

I prefer gas range (much easier to control temp), but if you must go with electric, go with full glass top. Smooth and easy to clean. 

[athena1277]

Mine is an all in one stove and double oven.  The double oven has saved us from a lot of fussing and hassle when more than one person is trying to cook something for lunch at the same time at different temperatures.  I do miss the drawer for storing pans, but the 2 ovens are worth it.

[KungFuPanda]

18 hours ago, Joker2 said:

We moved into this house about five years ago and have replaced all the appliances except the the electric range and overhead microwave. It is needed now but I’ve actually never had to purchase one. The only other home we owned never needed replacing.

So, what should I be looking at? The other appliances are all stainless steel but not matching brands (Bosch dishwasher, GE fridge - so don’t care about matching). 

I’m semi interested in the double ovens but wonder if they’re actually worth it. Some even now have air fryers?!? Any brands or features I should rule out or are must haves?? Help!!

I LOVE my double oven. I don’t know what brands are out there (I have an electric Maytag Gemini) but mine is a half oven over a full oven. I’ve used both more than I ever guessed I would. That little half oven is so so handy. Of COURSE double wall ovens would be ideal, but I didn't have the budget for a kitchen renovation and it was nice to get two ovens for the price of a free-standing stove.

Air frying is just a branding term for “convection broiling.” Seriously, it’s just a heating element and a fan. My oven HAS this feature and I didn’t realize it was the same thing until very recently. Now I can’t stop making chicken wings. 🤣 

If the plug for your stove is on the  floor you’ll want to move it to the wall. Apparently those drawers in the bottom left room for a ground plug, but a double oven doesn’t. Mine has been sticking out 4-5 inches for YEARS because I’ve yet to make moving that outlet a priority. 
 

I hope I never have to go back to a single oven. Even with just three of us at home I use both a lot. Sometimes I just use the top oven as a warming drawer. 

ETA:  I edited to add a photo of one similar to mine.  On the left side of mine it has a bridge between the front and back burner so that you can use the front, the back, or turn the bridge on for a larger burner, or use all three for a griddle.

 

Edited December 20, 2020 by KungFuPanda
Edited to add photo of “air fry” setting

[prairiewindmomma]

I love that my oven can either cook via convection or do a traditional bake. I also love that one of my gas burners is 17,000 BTU for a rapid boil. 

[Halftime Hope]

I have a new electric LG oven under a separate gas cooktop, and if you can't get a double oven for whatever reason, I've been *very* pleased with the LG.   I wish I had the double oven feature, but it would have meant a kitchen remodel, and I wasn't willing to do that in this house. 

Edited December 19, 2020 by Halftime Hope

[gardenmom5]

If you get a range - dual fuel.  Gas cooktop/electric oven.  pay attention to BTUs, and make sure your fan exhausts outside.

gas cooks very differently on a stove top.   likewise, electric ovens bake better than gas.

 

I have seen an oven that can be either half the oven, or a whole oven - which seems very interesting, not sure how it bakes.

[melmichigan]

I'm looking to replace my refrigerator and oven.  I've determined that they will have to wait.  There are people that ordered five months ago that are still waiting for their appliances.  Almost nothing is available in my area unless you want to go with Samsung or LG.  If you go with those make sure that you've contacted some repair places in your area, as here they are basically replacement purchases, no one works on them because they can't get parts, luckily my BIL is a contractor and already warned me about it.  Good luck!

[1234]

I didn’t realize the double oven ranges didn’t have the drawer on the bottom!?! I’ve become so used to it so I’ll have to think about it. 

My biggest complaint about our current smooth top is how easy it seems to stain. It drives me crazy! So, I’m pretty much discounting any with reviews of easy staining.  Thanks to you guys I’m also looking out for those that have reviews about it taking a long time to preheat because that would bug me as well. 

Inventory here doesn’t look so bad at the moment but hearing it could become an issue has me wanting to make a decision soon.

Also, most seem to have five burners (never had that) so I’m trying to figure out what configuration would work best for me. 

[matrips]

A lot of the staining may come from the hot burners burning the liquid or food that spills.  So maybe you want the kind of burners that stay cool to the touch- induction.

I thought I wanted a double oven, but the bottom one was just too low to comfortably access; the handle hit the floor.  And the top one seemed too small.  I made sure to get one with an extra large burner for our 12” skillets; it has dual elements in case of a smaller pan. My only pet peeve is with the oven timer- the clock and temp are the same screen, so I can only see one or the other, not both, and it’s not easy to toggle back and forth.  
 

we got rid of a double wall oven and I like the regular stove/oven combo much better.  

[catz]

The double ovens are usually quite small, so make sure you really want that as an option.  Like large roasting pans may be tight, etc  I opted for a larger interior oven with  a warming drawer and 3 shelves.  Especially if you want to use multiple shelves, convection bake is nice.  I also really like the meat thermometer that came with my stove even though I end up using it only a few times a year.  I'm much less stressed cooking a big hunk of meat with that option.   We actually converted back to gas from eclectic to install that stove and were very happy with that choice.   So I can't help you with the flat top options anyway.  We have a power boil high BTU burner and that thing is amazing.  That is our go to burner.  

I've had the same GE profile stove for about 16 years.  It's actually our longest lasting appliance at our house.  

[KungFuPanda]

17 hours ago, Joker2 said:

I didn’t realize the double oven ranges didn’t have the drawer on the bottom!?! I’ve become so used to it so I’ll have to think about it. 

My biggest complaint about our current smooth top is how easy it seems to stain. It drives me crazy! So, I’m pretty much discounting any with reviews of easy staining.  Thanks to you guys I’m also looking out for those that have reviews about it taking a long time to preheat because that would bug me as well. 

Inventory here doesn’t look so bad at the moment but hearing it could become an issue has me wanting to make a decision soon.

Also, most seem to have five burners (never had that) so I’m trying to figure out what configuration would work best for me. 

On my stovetop, the 5th burner is just a ‘Keep warm’ burner and not one you can really cook on. 

25 minutes ago, FuzzyCatz said:

The double ovens are usually quite small, so make sure you really want that as an option.  Like large roasting pans may be tight, etc  I opted for a larger interior oven with  a warming drawer and 3 shelves.  Especially if you want to use multiple shelves, convection bake is nice.  I also really like the meat thermometer that came with my stove even though I end up using it only a few times a year.  I'm much less stressed cooking a big hunk of meat with that option.   We actually converted back to gas from eclectic to install that stove and were very happy with that choice.   So I can't help you with the flat top options anyway.  We have a power boil high BTU burner and that thing is amazing.  That is our go to burner.  

I've had the same GE profile stove for about 16 years.  It's actually our longest lasting appliance at our house.  

My double oven has one regular full-sized oven and one half-sized, single-rack oven. You do lose the drawer at the bottom to gain all that oven space. I have seen them with two ovens that looked 3/4 size, but I needed to keep a full-sized oven in my life that would hold the half sheet and giant lasagna pans. 

[Pippen]

21 hours ago, Joker2 said:

I didn’t realize the double oven ranges didn’t have the drawer on the bottom!?! I’ve become so used to it so I’ll have to think about it. 

My biggest complaint about our current smooth top is how easy it seems to stain. It drives me crazy! So, I’m pretty much discounting any with reviews of easy staining.  Thanks to you guys I’m also looking out for those that have reviews about it taking a long time to preheat because that would bug me as well. 

Inventory here doesn’t look so bad at the moment but hearing it could become an issue has me wanting to make a decision soon.

Also, most seem to have five burners (never had that) so I’m trying to figure out what configuration would work best for me. 

I just bought a new GE range and cleaning the smooth stovetop is frustrating me! Any little bit of liquid that spills over or drips off a lid onto a hot burner takes major work to clean off, even with the cleaner. I love the even heating, but my old Tappan coil electric range was so much easier to keep clean. Everything wiped off so easily. 

Edited December 21, 2020 by Pippen

[1234]

So, I didn’t realize dual fuel ranges were a thing and now I really want one. We have gas for heat but no line behind the stove, so I think I’m going to try to find out how complicated and expensive that would be.