Good To Know: My Range
There’s a lot to consider when purchasing any appliance for your home, and that couldn’t be more true than for the range. For people in the market for a luxury range, there are a lot of factors to consider at a wide variety of price points. Today for Good to Know, we’re talking all about what to consider when picking a range, as well as full review of the range that I chose for my kitchen!
First off, let’s talk about factors to consider when you’re looking for a range for your space. Especially for high-end ranges, there’s so much more to decide on than just size and whether it’s electric or gas. A lot of people get caught up in BTU’s, or the British Thermal Units that a burner can reach. However, it’s very rare that you’ll need the maximum BTU’s that a stove has anyways (it’s like flooring the gas pedal of a car), so don’t let that be the thing that clinches your decision. Every one of the ranges that you’re considering will be able to make a great cake, roast vegetables, and boil water.
More important than BTU’s is the overall quality of the range. There are a few ways to gauge the quality of the ranges that you’re considering, such as gauging the quality of the range’s materials. One great way to measure quality is to inspect the grate above the burner. A heavy steel or iron grate to support pans will be more resilient than grates that are made of flimsier materials. In addition to looking at the grate, it’s a good idea to keep tabs on the weight of the various ranges that you’re considering. While this isn’t an end all to the quality of a range, a heavier range almost always indicates that it has been made with thicker metal, and is therefore sturdier. Trying to determine the quality of materials is important, because poorly made steel can rust, bend, and deteriorate faster than well made steel. While shopping, you can do what’s called the “$1 trick,” which is were you take a refrigerator magnet and put it against the stove. If it sticks, the steel does not have much nickel in its composition, which means that it is low quality. It the magnet falls off, you’re good to go.
One other factor to consider when purchasing a high-end range is the versatility that’s available. There is so much more available than just one oven and some burners. Depending on the model that you’re looking at, you can customize the burner selection, and even get things like a teppan griddle, which is what they cook on at places like Benihana. For the ovens, you can combine gas ovens and electric ovens, or even have a different oven made for each type of food, including breads, meats, and vegetables.
If you’d like to read more on what to look for in a high-end range, click here for an article that I loved!
Before we get to my stove review, I just wanted to mention a few other ranges that I love, but did not end up sourcing for my home.
ILVE MAJESTIC 48” DUAL FUEL RANGE
The Ilve Majestic is a really pretty range, and we especially love the black with bronze accents. If you’re looking for a European range, the Ilve is one of the best, and it has comparable features to the Aga, which is what I ended up going with. This range has a ton of features and customizability, click the link above to read all of the details. Please note that any repairs for this range might take a little longer, as their manufacturing is based in Italy.
The Wolf is a very well loved range, both in terms of performance and quality. As far as looks go, it’s not quite as pretty as the Ilve or the Aga, but if function outweighs form, we definitely recommend the Wolf.
AGA ELISE 48” DUAL FUEL OVEN - MATTE BLACK
And now for my thoughts on the range that I chose for my kitchen! I ended up going with the Aga Elise 48” Dual Fuel Oven in Matte Black. First things first, click here for all of the specs on my range. I purchased my range through Mountainland Design, which is a local appliance store here in Salt Lake City.
In my last home I had a Wolf 48” range. I don’t know if my oven was defective or if this is standard with Wolf ovens but it took forever to warm up my oven. Like 30 minutes just to get it warm. But I LOVED my burners and I had the grill feature on my range and it was my favorite thing about the Wolf. No one has a grill like Wolf - no need to go outside in the cold winter to grill chicken. And the burners got really hot and when you turned them all the way down they just kept the food warm without continuing to cook it. The range of temperatures on their cooktops is truly impressive. But half of the range, the ovens, I didn’t like, so I wasn’t motivated to buy it again. I also wanted a European-looking range. They are just so pretty! And identifying much more with being a designer than a cook, the look of the range outweighed the function.
Being that I was spoiled by my Wolf range burners and capability, and that I use the burners way more than I use the oven, I was picky about those features. The Elise has one 17,000 BTU burner, 3 12,000 BTU burners, and 1 6,000 BTU burner. The Wolf cooktop has as their standard 15,000 BTU burners. Lacanche offers a 18,000 BTU burner, 15,000 BTU burners and 11,000 BTU burners, as well as the grill option and it’s very pretty. If it was in my budget, I would have done the Lacanche. But as I said, I’m not a fancy cook. More of a re-heater of takeout, a frozen pizza baker, spaghetti maker, basics like eggs and macaroni and cheese type of cook. And I don’t bake at all. Like, I’ve made one cake in my entire life, never even made chocolate chip cookies from scratch. However, since we’ve been staying at home during the COVID outbreak, I have purchased cookie dough and baked cookies in my Elise oven, we’ve made frozen rolls and they have done great. I’ve also baked frozen pizza, and cooked chicken kabobs that I purchased. So it’s getting a lot of use and I love it. It’s cooked everything evenly. Both ovens have a convection setting, and the main oven has a fan option for baking that has worked really well. The Elise has a pull-out Broiler that I think is intended for steaks, but I used it to make a bunch of chicken nuggets at one time and it worked like a champ. So fast too. I also did an open-face melt sandwich on it and it melted the cheese without burning the bread. I’ve used the burners a ton and have been really happy with them. My only complaint is lighting the gas burners isn’t as easy as my Wolf. When I turn the knob it clicks and then lights and then I turn the knob to the setting and the burn goes out. The only way to keep it burning is to keep the knob on the gas-lighting setting for a couple of seconds to make sure it has properly caught and then turn it to your desired setting. Besides that, I’m really happy with everything.
And quick note for those of you who have an oven with a window and are afraid to switch to a European range with no oven window - I don’t miss the window at all. I know opening the oven door to check on the food lets some heat out and if I was an expert chef cooking things that were so temperature sensitive that this would be a problem, then okay. But for the everyday cook or baker, I actually think it’s not a big deal at all. In fact, I prefer it. I can see how my rolls or cookies are doing much better by just opening the door rather than looking through a greasy window. And from what I can tell, it hasn’t compromised the integrity of my rolls or cookies when I have opened the door to check. They still turn out really good. I may not know how to cook sophisticated food, but I do have a sophisticated pallet and I can tell you everything has come out just great even with opening the oven door to check. If you are a big baker or really foresee not having a window in your oven door being a problem, but love the look of the European Ranges, I would suggest maybe purchasing a separate wall oven to place in your kitchen (or if you happen to have the space for a butler’s pantry) put it in there! Best of both worlds!
On the topic of oven size, I cannot fit a standard 18x13” baking sheet in my oven. I can fit a quarter sheet pan (9x13”) and I can fit a Papa Murphy’s pizza (just barely). I worried this would annoy me or be a problem, and it hasn’t been. I can put my rolls on two sheets instead of one and bake them at the same time. I don’t have a huge family - we are a family of 5 and even though I love to entertain, I feel like the reduction in pan size would only affect someone who has lots of kids. Even then, I really don’t see it as a problem. Both ovens heat up so quickly and have the convection setting so why not just use both ovens at the same time? And they both are large ovens. Unlike the Wolf or other American range ovens, you aren’t getting an almost too big oven coupled with a smaller, much less usable oven. You are getting two regular sized ovens, and for me that trade-off is almost better.
And let’s not forget the best thing about my oven - the price! It was thousands less than the Wolf, Lacanche, LaCornue, and Ilve range - all the ranges I was considering. So how disappointed can I be when I feel like I got a great value in my oven. The only thing I can’t speak to is how this range is going to hold up over time, and how hard it will be to fix it. Although one of the reasons I decided to buy it is that AGA was purchased by by an American company who also manufactures Viking Ranges so getting the parts and repairing my AGA range is going to be easier than French-owned Lacanche. That was definitely a selling point for me.
To see our video review of the AGA range click here: