After decades of cooking on so-so to good stoves, I was ready for a major upgrade. I’d been dreaming of owning a race car-ish stove with big burners and lots of gleaming stainless steel. After all, the stove is my culinary conspirator, my lab assistant, my friend.
I told myself: You can choose any stove you want! You deserve a fabulous stove! You saved for a badass stove! My husband agreed that the stove would be the kitchen renovation splurge.
I spent countless hours reviewing options, emailing with friends, and shopping. In the end, I didn’t have to spend a ton of money to get what I wanted. I recently gifted the trusty 30-inch LG to a member of the construction crew to make space for a new 30-inch GE Cafe stove, which I love.
Many things factored into how I selected that particular stove. The universe smiled last year when I got to test drive the stove at Food and Wine headquarters when I filmed video there last year. You may not have that situation, so below are questions and issues that I considered and obsessed over. Feel free to add your ideas in comments!
What and how do you cook?
I cook for a living and my kitchen functions as my office and laboratory. It’s also where we do much of our living. I’m not a restaurant chef, but rather a professional home cook and teacher. Being a cookbook author isn’t glamorous. A few people have assistants but most of us labor alone, prepping and cleaning up after ourselves. (I’m lucky to enjoy my career.)
To do my job well, my stove needs to function like a stove that many other home cooks may have. That translates to having some burners be average size (around 9,000 BTU), one for simmering, and one or two that are biggish (around 12,000 BTUs) . BUT, in my dreams, my stove would also have super big burner with about 20,000 BTUs for wok cooking. In essence, my stove should be modestly humble but also possess potential super power.
The nature of my work (mostly Asian dishes) translates into the stovetop being more important than the oven. Oven cooking isn’t part of traditional Asian cooking and I’ve been in many modern Asian homes where there’s no oven. That’s why I started shopping by looking at the burners.
Burner Issues: How many burners and the griddle in the middle
The last two stoves I had in the house featured five (5) burners -- one of which was the griddle in the middle. I don’t make pancakes often and found the 10,000 BTU oval burner to be useless. There were continuous grates over the burners so I basically could slide my pots and pans over the griddle in the middle and not think about it. One time I asked an LG appliance rep why they didn’t get rid of that center burner and the person didn't have an answer. I still adored the stove (above, on its kitchen renovation wheels as it got ready to go to a new home).
Not until I spied the GE Cafe did I see my dream come true; it’s been out for a bit but it’s still newish to many consumers. My new Cafe stove sports six burners, the two center burners are 9,500 BTUs which means I can develop and test recipes on an average home stove burner. Someone read my mind as there is NO griddle in the middle! If a griddle is needed, you replace the grates with the GE Cafe’s heavy cast iron griddle. I don’t know how often I’ll do it because I grill more than I griddle.
If you cook a la plancha or love grilled cheese sandwiches for a crowd or even tacos for parties, the hefty handsome griddle may be your dream!
With the other burners, there are simmer (5,000 BTU), big (12,000 BTU), booster (17,000 BTU), and big boy (21,000 BTU) options. Note that burners with more than 15,000 BTUs are considered a pro-style gas stovetop. Since half of the burners on my new stove were under that, it’s not technically a pro-range. However, it had the potential to be one -- which means I hit my sweet spot that make. I checked in friends and review sites to make sure GE Cafe had good reliability and performance ratings.
Slide-in or Freestanding Range, Color?
For my adult life, I’ve lived with cooktops or freestanding ranges with control panels in the back against the backsplash. Within just a few days after the stove was installed, I realized that the slide-in design meant more room to maneuver pots around the stove.
Constructed to be positioned between cabinets, slide-in ranges are pricier than freestanding stoves. I used to think the slide-in design was more form than function because my ranges always went between cabinets, but nope, I was wrong. I’m happy to be wrong!
Some stoves come in fancy colors but you pay for it. Check to see what happens if there's a scratch. What color do you see underneath? I saved money by going with stainless steel.
Stove Size Matters
I’ve cooked in home kitchens equipped with ranges of varying widths, from tiny (24 inches) and standard (30 inches) to luxe (36 and 48 inches). I’m also familiar with commercial ranges in restaurants and hotels. And, I’ve made dishes using an electric hot plate in a college dorm situation.
The smallest stove was what my husband (then boyfriend) had in his rental apartment. His kitchen was more like an alcove, but I brewed stock, roasted chicken and cooked up lots of good food. The stove was wimpy but romantic since we were starting our relationship back then. The range fit the kitchen space.
For my kitchen renovation, I initially thought I wanted to go big with a six-burner, 36-inch-wide bruiser but that would have meant going with a bigger hood (get a hood wider than your stove to efficiently suck things up). Moreover, my modest kitchen measures 9 by 13 feet, and the stove would have eclipsed the area and taken away counter and cabinet space. Since I’d found a 30-inch range with six burners that fit my needs, I dumped the idea of a wider stove. It looks impressive but frankly, would have looked overwhelming in our home.
Going with the smaller stove meant saving money too! So, think about what’s appropriate for the size of your kitchen, in addition to how you cook.
Firepower and Grates
Do you need a bunch of big burners? Not really. Wolf ranges, for example, are modestly big, around 16,000 BTUs. A 36-inch version of my GE Cafe range offers six 18,000 BTU burners. If I had gone that wider route, I would have foregone the average cook’s 9,500 BTU burners -- something I need for my work.
Aside from firepower, check out the grates: What are they made of and how are they designed? How well will they transmit power? How far above the flames will your cookware sit?
Heavy cast iron grates that are more flat than round on top have served me well. For example, when cooking on burners of roughly the same BTU as my old stove, the new stove heats up cookware faster and more evenly. I noted that the new stove’s grates have more flat surface area on top where they come in contact with the pan. That may be why my cooking seems more stable on the new stove.
As for grates designed for woks, check on much contact the wok would actually have with the flames. I’ve seen plenty of “wok” grates that weren’t effectively designed to deliver big heat. Sure, a round bottom wok pan sat steadily on top but the heat contact was moderate. If you find yourself in that situation, use my wok hack as a workaround.
On the new stove, my flat bottom wok got nice big heat on the 21,000 BTU burner. I didn't have to use the hack! The cooking sound was divine as I made a double batch of Thai stir-fried chicken and basil. Here's a little video towards the end of cooking. That's good wokking.
Good grates on a range with moderate BTU burners may suit your budget and needs.
Gas, Electric, or Dual Fuel
Many new homes nowadays are built for electric ranges. They’re efficient, especially induction ranges, and you don’t have to deal with a gas line.
I like to cook with a gas to easily and visually monitor the heat on the cooktop. Gas is great for wok cooking too. I’m also old-fashioned. (Bob Vila’s site has a good comparison between gas and electric stoves.)
When emailing with award-winning cookbook author Molly Stevens about her stove choice, she revealed that she has a gas range and two electric wall ovens. Molly wrote classic books on roasting and braising and she said the electric wall ovens were terrific for steady heat. By the way, her latest, All About Dinner, is a splendid book.
Wanting steady electric oven heat and a gas cooktop, I bought a “dual-fuel” model of the GE Cafe. For the stove's maiden voyage, I roasted a batch of easy Chinese barbecued ribs (below) in the oven. It performed just great, especially with the convection bake and roast settings which more evenly browned the ribs all over than . (In the photo below, you're looking at a rack of St. Louis style ribs instead of baby backs for the Chinese ribs; the cook time is the same.)
These cool new stoves have regular and convection modes, in addition to a dough proofing mode. You can really play. The smart appliance stuff is not my thing because I don’t need to use my phone to preheat the oven. But it’s part of the package so what can you do?
Dual-fuel means added cost but after looking around, I purchased the GE Cafe range through Costco Seriously. It was a good deal.
Oven Capacity, Self-Cleaning, and Knobs
When shopping at a fancy appliance store, the expensive ranges surprised me with their smallish ovens. For example, a 30-inch Thermador has a 4.6 cubic feet oven. It wasn’t very tall and my first question was this: How would I be able to roast my Peking duck?
If oven height is not an issue for you, you may be good with a split double oven situation. I have to admit that the old freestanding LG stove had a very large (5.8 cubic feet) oven capacity. My new GE Cafe is smaller (5.6 cubic feet) but I have the six burners I want. LG has a slide-in range that hits 6.3 cubic feet; if you want double ovens with no warming or storage drawer at the bottom, the oven capacity will technically be more, but that space is not necessarily usable space.
Additionally, some high-end ranges do not have self-cleaning mode. I’m not super tidy with my oven but I do occasionally self-clean it.
Two final things -- consider the knobs and operating panel. The old LG had these cheesy plastic coated knobs that got wrinkly and ugly once exposed to the oven heat. They were $50 each to replace so I never bothered. When I shopped for my new stove, I made sure the knobs were not poorly made. At the higher end of things, the knobs are all metal.
Regarding any operating panel, what is it made of? I once pushed the “add 1 minute” button so many times while writing Asian Dumplings that the panel failed before the stove did. I didn’t wear out the LG touch screen operating panel for my last three books, so my fingers are crossed for the GE Cafe.
Stoves heat food and there are many options for modern ones these days. There’s a right one for every cook.
If you have stove shopping stories or wisdom, do share them. We want to learn from you!
Ginette Bisaillon says
I would consider myself super lucky to just be able to cook with gas!
Andrea Nguyen says
It's a bummer in many cases. Maybe you'll get to some day!
Joey says
While I very much appreciate your thoughtful approach. As a licensed gas tech I have to find fault in the "I would have foregone the average cook’s 9,500 BTU burners -- something I need for my work. " is wholly misleading. The point of using 6 universal sized burners such as 6 18k btu on the 36" size is that each burner covers the full range. So an 18k btu burners can be turned down low enough to produce 9500btu so you do not "lose" anything. You can never turn a 9500 btu burner up to 18k btu. That GE cafe is a great range and will work perfect for many. Let's just not confuse what it can and can't do. 1 burner can go up to 21k btu (on natural only it's lower in propane config) so 1 burner of those 6 on the 30" is more powerful that that of the 36". All of the 36" burners can go to a true 500 btu simmer or fully up to a power 18k btu. So the other 5 burners on the 36" are technically more useful as they can go the whole range.
There is a reason pro ranges only generally offer 1 size burner, because they make that 1 burner versatile enough to handle the entire range like the 36" top. Also keep in mind that the 1 universal size burner is generally larger components. Folks like to see the # of burners to in order to fit 5 or 6 on 30" they shrink some to fit the internals inside the smaller footprint. The 36" can have 6 same size larger units as there is more real estate inside for components.
Thank you
Andrea Nguyen says
Joey -- this is great information! Thank you for correcting me. I'd spoken to many salespeople but should have sought guidance from a gas tech person! The salespeople want to sell. I do my best and also think about easily replicating the average stove experience, too. Most people don't have well calibrated knowledge like yours.
So here's a question for you -- on a 18K btu burner, how would you know that you were at or around 9.5K btu? Would that be at medium heat? If that's the case, if I set a large skillet on an 18K btu burner at medium, I'd be cooking as if I were on a 9K (or there abouts) burner?
I greatly appreciate your insights!
Deb says
Joey
Great information! I currently have an LG (4715ST) with 5 burners with the strongest being 18500 BTUs. It does not regulate like you described. In fact we can only simmer on the smallest burner. Is that because they cost cut the regulator so it can't make these adjustments? How do I know the one I purchase can do this without cooking on it?
Andrea Nguyen says
Boy, I hope Joey will answer. That's a great question, Deb!
Kay Trammell says
Thank thank thank. Wow I can't believe that someone else out there felt like me when it came to buying a stove, I'm just an ordinary person that loves to cook, but needed the right stove. I didn't need a griddle either, for the same reason as you, I didn't cook pancakes. I love that stove I wanted gas burners. Will be buying the same stove. Once again Thank You for doing all the work. 😊
Phil Ordway says
Thank you for this. I appreciate your sharing your thought processes when selecting a new stove. My wife is an interior designer and we are both serious home cooks. When we remodel our kitchen I'll use this post. We'll probably go with wall ovens because they will be easier for us to load and unload. Natural gas is not available here - Oregon North Coast- so we use propane. Induction is interesting, but our pots are anodized aluminum and we like them. I'm glad to find out that there is a stove with high BTU burners available.
Thanks again for posting your thought process.
Andrea Nguyen says
That's very true about wall ovens being easier on the back. A bit pricey but this Bosche wall oven has a swing door:
https://www.costco.com/caf%c3%a9-30-inch.-5.6-cu.-ft.-slide-in-single-oven-dual-fuel-range-with-warming-drawer-and-wifi-connect.product.100481512.html
Naz says
Dear Andrea
Your detailed information in this article is godsent for many. I will certainly buy my next cooking range in the wisdom of this article. Waiting for more insight from you.
Thanks
Naz
Andrea Nguyen says
Glad to be helpful in some small way.
Dave Mackmiller says
How timely! I’m in the market for a new stove as well. I tried to find the model you have and I can’t find it on the Costco site or even the GE site. Maybe it would be easier to look up if you could provide the model number, please? Thanks!
Andrea Nguyen says
I linked to it early in the post, but here it is:
https://www.cafeappliances.com/appliances/c2s900p4mw2/overview
It's a little hard to find on the Costco site so here's the page:
https://www.costco.com/caf%c3%a9-30-inch.-5.6-cu.-ft.-slide-in-single-oven-dual-fuel-range-with-warming-drawer-and-wifi-connect.product.100481512.html
dezi corn says
Hi Andrea! Your post was timely to me and so I really enjoyed it. I needed the information you noted. After I use my stove top, it becomes messy. I splash and spill everywhere. Then, I have to clean it with a scrubber pad. What do you plan on using to clean your new, polished stainless steel stove top? What have you used to get the burnt on splashes and spills off? When I am ready to clean, after cooking, my spills are dried and sometimes burnt on. How can this beautiful stainless steel top be cleaned without scratching the polished surface?
Andrea Nguyen says
I had to clean it from day 1 because that's just what it is. I read the owner's manual, which suggested a stainless steel cleaner and polisher. I went with Method brand because it's plant-based and non-toxic. You don't need much. Spray it on, wipe clean and then buff ALONG the grain of the stainless steel. Looks like new. It's the price of beauty...
Mary H says
Thank you for your thoughtful explanation. I am about to embark on a kitchen remodel and the stove issue has really stumped me. I may just follow in your path! Thank you!
Andrea Nguyen says
I'm so glad this was helpful to you. I had some hilarious experiences like talking to a salesman who thought I'd be impressed with a powerful stove with open burners. It blasted out power but when I asked what happens to stuff that drops down the open burner, he said you have to regularly clean under the burners by pulling out a catch tray and washing it. Man, it's enough of a chore for me to clean one with sealed burners. I rolled my eyes and passed on that stove. He agreed with me!
Rachael Patten says
Thank you for this! I am probably years away from designing a kitchen upgrade, but this is so helpful! I know what to look for when I do. I love the look of your new stove and especially that it doesn’t have the panel in the back. It seems timeless.
Andrea Nguyen says
My pleasure, Rachael! I was all ready to spend a bundle but didn't have to! I waited along time to save up money and the nerve to do this remodel. I'm sure by the time you do yours there will be even better ones to consider!
Anonymous says
Didn’t see any mention of an exhaust fan in your remodel. Have a Vent-a-hood and still get food odors whiffing through the house—to knock down i.e., bacon smell & woking, I’m spraying 7th Generation disinfectant through the house.
Andrea Nguyen says
Whoa -- a Vent-a-Hood is super premium! I got a 36-inch Zline and it's noisy beyond the Quiet mode. It also has a loud beep to signal power on and off. However, it does the job. The ribs I roasted left no smell in the house. It cost about $800.
One thing I've learned to do is to turn on the hood before I start cooking. That gets the air circulating to pull it up. If you're already doing that, then maybe get VaH to check it out. They're top-of-the-line.
Cynthia Baldwin says
Thanks for the excellent article!
How does the stainless finish on the Zline compare to that of the range? I'm considering a similar combination and both are not in the store to compare finishes.
Thanks!
Andrea Nguyen says
The Zline finish on the hood is the same as that of the stove. I don't see the need to get a Cafe hood to match the stove unless you like the hood's functionality.
The stove wasn't installed yet in the photo below but you can sense the hood's color with the grey cabinets:
https://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2020/09/ways-to-keep-a-kitchen-clean.html
Erin Ribar says
LOVE it! GAS all the way! love the look of a slide in - I went with that even though lost a little space with the convection oven.
Andrea Nguyen says
Slide-in for the win, in my case too!
Pye says
Just as an aside, the "self-cleaning" feature on modern ovens is a GREAT way to significantly shorten the life of your appliance. The heat generated is extremely hard on modern electronics. Decades ago I had one of the first "self-cleaning" ovens and it was great - but that stove had no electronic components, only mechanical and electrical (70s era).
Now you'd be hard pressed to find a stove without significant electronic components, regardless of whether it is electric or gas. The extreme heat and the extended period that is on from the self-cleaning cycle is hell on electronics. If they would remove the control panel (and thus the vast majority of heat-sensitive electronic components) and mount it away from the stove, like we do with ceramics kilns, things would be different.
But as it is - I never ever use the self-cleaning feature because I want my stove to outlive me. Not that that's an outstanding achievement at this point in my life, but at least I won't have to replace it in my lifetime, LOL!
Andrea Nguyen says
I love that tip, Pye! There's a little steam cleaning mode on this range so that may help. I have to admit that I rarely used the self cleaning mode because it did heat things up so much.
The electronic components have many bells and whistles when all we want is reliable heat. Thank you so much for contributing your insights.
Robert Cadloff says
I bought the same stove last year, and have it hooked up to propane. I love it. Almost all my cooking isdonebin a cast iron wok, and this stove definitely gets it screaming hot. My only beef is that the little fan at the back right that kicks in as the oven preheats, has crapped out twice now. Even the technician who replaced it the first time admitted that it's of poor quality and seizes up often.
Other than that, it was a fantastic choice.
Andrea Nguyen says
Oh no! That's terrible to know about the Cafe range. Hopefully, it won't poop out now. Yikes and thanks for the kitchen field report!
keith neri says
my fan craped out right out of the box.took a month to get a new stove working.
this stove is made like cheap crap.
why does it pump out so much heat from the oven?
Andrea Nguyen says
I'm sorry to hear that about your stove. They heat up a lot to work well. Professional ovens take hours to heat up.
Hope your range is working well for you now!
Jim says
Her have an old Viking 36” range that’s showing it’s age. Parts are hard to find. It’s going to need to be replaced and I don’t love the costs of these pro ranges. Not all the space they take up.
Question. We make pizzas every Week, two at a time, side by side, in 12” pizza pans. Can two pizzas in 12” round pans (plus a small rim) be cooked in this oven simultaneously?
Andrea Nguyen says
I think so. What I'd do for sure is bring your pans to the store and stick it in the oven to see. That would ensure that your pizza pans work. I bake my pizza one at a time on heated stones so I unfortunately don't know.
Ryan says
I am always searching the internet for ideas that can assist me and this is one of them! Tnx!
Ray M says
That was a great review thank you. I ordered my stove back in June and I finally have it installed. I had searched for several months prior and went from an American Range 30' to the stainless cafe duel fuel. I chose this model as I did not like the bulky larger stoves (I looked at Bosch and Kitchen Aid as well).
I have a few questions - Have you found any quirks with the stove at this point? any mechanical or use issues?
We do a lot of wok cooking (flat bottom) do you think we should consider the terra cotta hack? (I am going to try your Shaken Beef recipe which looks great)
I also wondered if you used the Warming Drawer? if so how or for what?
Finally (sorry for such a long note) anything else you would add to your review as an update?
I thought your review was great, Thank you
Andrea Nguyen says
Hi Ray,
Thanks for asking. I've been using the stove daily, of course, and overall, it's fabulous. To answer your excellent questions:
Quirks -- The digital panel is very sensitive. I hang dishtowels on the oven handle and when I go to dry my hands and the oven or time is on, I sometimes inadvertently touch/swipe the panel and the oven (or timer) goes off. So I had to train myself to not touch.
The stainless steel scratches as predicted. It's sad -- like a new car getting scratched! You see the little dings because of the SS. On a weekly basis, I do a little polishing with a SS cleaner. For little stains under the gas cap, I use Bar Keeper's Friend along with the SS cleaner/polisher and let it sit for a few minutes. After a couple of months, I learned to live with them as a sign that I use the stove!
The proof function for dough is somewhat on the cool side. I don't think you can tweak that.
I moved one of the oven racks to the lowest rungs because seems like I use 2 more than 3. The lowest rung rack is great for a steam tray.
The steam clean function is okay for wiping up messy project, though I don't do super messy roasting.
The warming drawer is not something I use. It's very roomy so I stash my over flow baking sheet and stovetop grill down there. I also put my heavy bread stones there too.
Wok cooking is a DREAM on the big boy burner. With a flat-bottom wok, you'll have no trouble. No need for the terracotta feet any more. Hooray! With my round-bottom wok, I just put my cast iron ring on the grate.
Oh, I figured out a hack to deal with the gap between the stove and the counter. If you have that issue, see this post:
https://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2020/09/ways-to-keep-a-kitchen-clean.html
For the gap in the back of the stove, I used a rubber gasket for a spell but it kept slipping. Then I went to Home Depot and found an inexpensive, plastic Schulter type of product (head to the tile dept.). A hack saw was all I needed to the plastic into the 30" length and slide it in the back. No more fears about creepy clean ups or those gaps.
I think that's it! I'm so happy this post helped you and other folks out! This is an investment appliance!
Happy holidays.
Sandy says
I am glad I found your detail reviews! I had a Dacor 36in, 6 burners range top in my last house and now in the market again because we are building a house. I have done some research and not sure I want to spend that much on “professional stove” this time. I found the Cafe stove seems fit what I like to do(high btu for stir-frying/wok) at a reasonable price. I will loose some “power” due to propane but I like the fact that it has two fire rings which will heat the wok more even. Thank you for sharing
Andrea Nguyen says
Dacor is a great brand. I strangely got one of its outdoor gas grills years ago on a steep sale. It's still working great. Hope you get a range that performs well for your needs!
Philip says
I am looking at ranges at this time. Considered a dual fuel, but I'm thinking gas range with electric wall oven. Have a KitchenAid now but the oven is getting hard to ignite and get up to temperature. Like the LG 6.3CUFT ovens since I can't get a large pizza pan in my current one and close the door-- the connection fan stickers out too far. Could go cooktop I suppose with 2 wall ovens. Kitchen changes are done, just need cabinets. The search continues.
Andrea Nguyen says
The LG has a very large capacity oven so that may be the ticket. Wall ovens tend to not be as large in capacity though. I hope you find what you need and start cooking up a storm!
Nin Hoffman says
Thank you for your insight! I am in love with the Cafe series and this is such great information to have for choosing new range, it confirms and justifies my desire to go with GE Cafe appliances.
Andrea Nguyen says
I also bought the Cafe under-counter fridge! Months later, I appreciate it even more! Here's more info:
https://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2020/08/refrigerator-buying-tips.html
Kathy says
Thank you very much for your very informative and helpful article. I am looking to purchase a new range and have been eyeing the GE Cafe 30” Double Oven Dual Range. My reasoning behind this”wishful’ thinking is that it is only my husband and me now at home. Seems to me that the smaller oven would be used more with just the two of us. The larger one used more for family gatherings. Does this seem reasonable to you. Was there a reason you did not choose this model? Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts.
Kathy
Andrea Nguyen says
Hi Kathy! Thanks for your question. I opted for the single oven because the extra height allows me to cook things like a duck or chicken standing up. I have a Peking duck recipe that would not work in a dual-oven situation. I also like the storage space underneath the oven that comes with the single oven. I have cooling racks and other things in that oven drawer.
So it all depends on what you cook most and if you need the space of a tall oven. I hope my response is helpful to you!
Andrea