Between the two it is more likely to be a style issue I think. I don't know about the door issue, but that's not a problem for Lacanche (I have a Cluny 1400).

Oh, and the Cornufe is 43 inches wide whereas the Cluny is 40 inches wide. The price of the Cornufe is higher but includes a choice of trim and colors, whereas colors other than black and trim other than brass are an upcharge on Lacanche. So the prices of the two are probably pretty close if you want a color other than black. Both brands prominently feature photos of their ovens with a large turkey inside -- the turkey seems to be a very major dealbreaker for the North American market -- but in the Cluny it is stowed front to back and in the Cornufe it is side to side.

Please, anyone else have any other information?

This forum is overflowing with french range information. I would warn that there is what I think is a Lacanche bias on most threads. That would include me, as that's what we are waiting to be delivered in early August (a Cluny 1400).

I think that many of the issues were wonderfully discussed in a previous thread. It may not have come up in a search since the OP spelled CornuFe incorrectly (as CornueFe), but it's a great one. From the Lacanche camp, there is a great head to head comparison from pluckymama, and igloochic compares her Lacanche to her Aga (the two of them carry substantial responsibility for convincing me to buy a Lacanche sight unseen!).

Here's the thread: Cornuefe (sic) thread

The issues in the end come down to style, configuration (depending on what you want and how much space you have, Lacanche offers many more options), "exclusivity" (Lacanche comes from Burgundy, CornuFe comes from Williams Sonoma--that's a cheap shot :-), and support (that is NOT a cheap shot--Art Culinaire has been great to deal with and this forum is littered with references to their great longterm support, can't imagine W-S could compare).

Both great ranges, both cooler than a pro-style IMHO, but in the end you have to love the Lacanches!

LOL clinresga I'm so glad to have drug you into the groupie camp heh heh. And OP...I had to go look at my notes on ranges....I answered this wrong. The molteni we looked at was the one that we couldn't tell about heat output on the doors. the CornueFe was hooked up and that was the one i thought the doors got a bit hot on (I looked at cornuefe, la cornue, molteni, wolf and lacanche).

in the end, the lacanche was hard to beat because of all the options for configurations. in fact, as much as we love molteni (a fabulous range) I think even with more room...we'll probably go with a lacanche again in our larger home (we're house collectors I think) :oP

To be fair to cornuefe...I did not look at it at a williams sonoma. i saw it at a high end appliance store in portland. their service was abismal...did i spell that right...well sound it out :oP I'd much rather deal with WS that this terrible firm, who made an appointment with me to fly across the country, drive hundreds of miles, just to see their ranges....and then didn't even have pricing available for three of them!

Thanks so much for the links. I feel myself falling down the rabbit hole! Do I cook enough to deserve a LaCanche?

You will after you get one!

buildahouse:

We never considered a CornuFe. We did, briefly, consider the La Cornue, but the cost was just too prohibitive. We cook a lot, and very often make complicated dinners. We love our stove. I wrote a brief synopsis of our thoughts on the stove after using it for two years. It was originally in the lacanche part 37 thread. I copied it here for you to read.

Lacanche two-year report

We have had our burgundy Cluny, "Julia," for nearly two years now. This forum was a great help at the time, so I thought I would pass on what our experience has been.

First, how we cook and what kind of stove we were looking for. We dont bake a lot of cookies and such. When we do bake it is usually cake or pie. We do make bread and a lot of pizza. We like to feed our friends and on a scale of 1 to 10 on the "IÂm not a professional chef, but I play one at home" I would rate us an 8-9. We wanted a stove that had enough oomph to sear, not steam food. It should look great. We definitely did not want something in stainless. It needed to have two ovens. We also wanted something less prone to problems. We have friends with a Viking that seemed to give them a lot of trouble and the tech support seemed lacking. IÂm not saying this is true of all Viking stuff, just my friendÂs. We know there are more powerful, cheaper and equally reliable stoves on the market, but the Cluny was a perfect match for what we wanted.

We ordered, sight unseen. Art Culinaire was good to work with except the pause in contact that everyone seems to have after the initial sign of interest. I donÂt know what this is about, but perhaps by now they have that fixed.

Our stove arrived on ValentineÂs Day and was installed the same day. We hired some movers to drag it from the garage to the kitchen. I could have done this myself with the help of a friend, but it seemed prudent to get two guys with lifting equipment.

I installed the rest. Very straightforward and doable by most DIYers.

We cooked a great V. Day meal.

Okay. From the top to the bottom.

The stainless steel top is easy to clean. I use soap and water followed by some variety of stainless cleaner. Going with the grain is a bit of a pain, but I only clean it this hard once a month. The brass burner tops can be cleaned, if you care, with BartenderÂs Helper if you scrub hard. When you get your stove, photograph the brass tops. They will never look like that again. The bottom portion of the burners can be cleaned the same way. I have tried other methods such as the dishwasher and even oven cleaner, but you just have to use muscle power.

We have the French top. We use it a lot less than we thought we would. Even with the burner set to low, it eventually gets too hot for a low simmer. We do, however, use it to keep stuff warm when we are cooking large meals. It also makes a terrific landing spot. When we first had it, we were instructed to season it like a cast iron pan. I suspect the only reason for this is to keep rust at bay. If it gets wet, it rusts. Easy enough to clean off though.

The burners are perfect. We donÂt cook with a wok much, but when we do the center, 18k burner provides more than enough power. The small burner is great for simmering. The other big burner, 15k, on the right can keep water boiling as you ad pasta, something my old stove could never accomplish.

The only annoying thing about the grill is that you need to use these little pan trivets if you use a small pan. Seems like they could have designed this better.

Two of my burners needed to be adjusted to simmer lower. Art Culinaire provided instructions for doing so. It was very simple to adjust.

We bought the griddle and grill pans. They came as a "buy one, get the other one free" deal. The grill is still in the box. If someone wants to buy it let me know. We use the BBQ. The griddle is good once you get used to it. It is F**ing heavy and it takes a while to get the temperature where you want it. I would just get a lighter weight one from a kitchen store.

The Ovens:

We have one gas and one, non-convection electric oven with broiler.

Oven size:
The ovens will take a half sheet pan lengthwise. When we do bake cookies we use two sheet pans and rotate them halfway through the cooking time. If you make a lot of cookies, this just may not work for you. You will probably want convection and a larger oven. This oven works just dandy for us.

Cooking a 20 pound turkey:
(Okay, we never really roast birds that big, but we typically do a 13 pounder.)
We have an all-clad 16"x13"x3" roasting pan. You put a turkey in it and it fits, just like the picture on Art CulinaireÂs web site. BUT Â grabbing the rear handle of the roaster requires some dexterity. The oven shelf is pushed back to its farthest position for the roaster to fit. The shelf does not just glide out. What we do is pull the roaster out until it is just about to fall off the shelf, then carefully grab the rear handle. We cook a turkey about twice a year, so for us this is not an impediment. There is a similar experience when using our large La Creuset pan.

We bought two pizza stones from Willy-Sonoma. They are rectangular and thick. Do not buy those thin things from other places. They always crack. We find putting them on the second to lowest oven shelf provided the best results. We turn both ovens to max. (Just an FYI for pizza makers. Like most people, we put corn meal on the peel to slide the pizza in. It works but always leaves a huge mess. Recently, we used parchment paper instead. I pull it out from under the pizza about half way through. Very tidy!)

The broiler works great. We donÂt broil that often. We live in San Diego, so any broiling to be done is usually on the BBQ.

Oven Cleaning:
Take out all the stainless shelves and shelf guides. Spray with oven cleaner. Wait. Wipe. This is so not a big issue for us. We clean them every 4 months. I remember my previous, almost self-cleaning oven. It never did a very good job, and always left me uneasy with the heat it produced.

I donÂt miss having a window. You could never see through them any way (see note about almost self-cleaning above)

I DO miss an oven light. Of all the things I could imagine complaining about, this is weird to me, yet it is so. You canÂt see the top of the pizza.

In general, I would say the ovens are quite adequate, with the two exceptions of making large batches of cookies often and if you wish to cook a dinoturkeysouras. When we go to a friendÂs for dinner, it is interesting to see the huge amount of space around whatever they are cooking in their oven. I like the ClunyÂs efficiency in this regard. I get two useful ovens in less than 48" of stove width.

The drawers under the ovens work okay. I do a lot of woodwork, and the glides they use are not exactly top of the line but shouldnÂt break.

Ventilation:

We live in a home built in 1959. There is a hole in the ceiling over the stove that leads outside. We were planning a remodel, but our old stove died before we could do the remodel (in fact we are still waiting.) Rather than buy an interim stove we just bought the Cluny. The stove is next to our back door, which is usually open when we cook. Yesterday we had Thanksgiving (everyone was out of town for real Thanksgiving) We had both ovens on and used all burners. This puppy puts out a huge quantity of heat. I cannot imagine using it without ventilation. We will be using a 900cfm VAH when we do remodel.

In general, we are totally thrilled with our stove and the decision to purchase it. Julia is a thing of great beauty and elegant simplicity. She has fulfilled our expectation completely. WellÂexcept for that oven light.

joeboldt: what a great post. Thanks for taking the time. You should repost it in the Lacanche thread. A great resource for anyone considering a Lacanche.

FWIW, the Lacanche folks are raising prices pretty soon (at least according to all the emails they've sent to me). The dollar is just pitifully weak right now against the Euro. I think orders before the end of June are guaranteed the current pricing...

joeboldt:

Thank you so much for the wonderful information on "julia" your sweet burgundy cluny, (june 22, 08). I had to laugh when I read the part, "Art Culinaire was good to work with except the pause in contact that everyone seems to have after the initial sign of interest. I dont know what this is about, but perhaps by now they have that fixed". This is what's happening to me currently. Although to be fair to them, I just called yesterday. I told them I was ready to order a "cluny" but really wanted to see true color samples first, actually I should say "borrow" as they don't give them away. She said I would need to send them back to her when I'm done. Other than that, she did say she would be sending me an email right away after I talk to her but still haven't heard from her since. Although I have to say she was wonderful and very friendly and said she would send the samples out by priority and I should be seeing them by the end of this week. I'll cross my fingers in hopes she didn't forget about me! Actually I'm not worried. Anyway I laughed at your comment. I'm starting to panic just a little though. LOL Another price increase in the works August 1st and I have finally convinced my hubby that I need, want and gotta have a Cluny and would prefer getting it before the next price increase. LOL

By the way THANK YOU ALL! This is such a wonderful site. I really enjoy reading everyones information. I don't remember how I originally found these beautiful ovens in the first place but sure glad I did. I just wish I knew about them years ago like a lot of you. Take care all!

terry4sams:
stick with it! We tortured Chelsea with not one, not two, but three separate requests for color samples (which are actual 4'' square pieces of enameled steel). In each case she sent them priority, except the third time we were under the gun to make a final decision: she overnighted them and refused to take my credit card to pay for the expense!

Since then they have been very responsive. I have had a few questions which were answered quickly. We have a solid delivery window now (first week of August!!!) for our Cluny 1400. Plus I have the security of knowing that questions posted to the Lacanche thread here on the Appliance forum will be answered quickly and accurately by some of the most devoted folks out there. A neat community.

I have obsessively followed range posts for many months on GW. There are all kinds of ups and downs for most ranges--for example, Wolf and Bluestar are clearly favored here, but look at the number of "I have a problem with my BS/Wolf range" in contrast. With perhaps the only exception being the posts from folks considering the $32,000 LaCornue Chateau, I think there are the least complaints and most raves from Lacanche owners. Even samr, the avowed enemy of professional style ranges, admits that if he could he'd consider a Lacanche instead of his famous smoothtop electric.

Anyway, DW sold me, and sounds like you were just as successful. Great choice!

clinresga,

I'm so excited for you I can hardly stand it. LOL I wish I had room for the 1400 but at least I can get one in at all. I could go up to a 48" to bad they don't have that size, but doesn't matter. What color did you order? You will have to show a picture when done. That's one of the things I really enjoyed about this forum as well.

Still waiting to hear from Art Culinaire. After I read your Post I called them and got an answering machine so now I wonder if they close on Fridays. I'm really beginning to see that they don't respond right away. Thanks for the heads up and tips on that as well. If I get desperate I will fly over there and talk to someone in person! LOL

Thanks again for your post,

Take care now,

terry4sams:
I am surprised, I've always gotten someone on the phone first try. I've shot an email to Chelsea too just to look out for someone (presumably) named Terry who is dying to get a call from her. Also, her direct phone line is (425) 408-9411.

Ours is in Frangipane. We were in the same boat: had a 48'' range spec'd but we sacrificed some landing pad on either side to accomodate the 55''. Still, I don't think you can go wrong with a Cluny. I'm dying to post pix too and they'll be up as soon as I get the range.

terry4sams,
I also worked with Chelsea at Art Culinaire in learning about and eventually ordering my Cluny 1400. I'm really surprised you aren't hearing back from them as they were very prompt in returning any calls I made and believe me, I called a lot. It might be that some staff are on vacation and they are short staffed right now. I can tell you that Chelsea was super helpful and we are eagerly awaiting our Cluny 1400's delivery in September. It seems that most people go with the regular Cluny and they love them, so you will be in very good company. Everyone who has a Lacanche that I have talked to or corresponded with by email has been very positive and enthusiastic about their ranges. What colors are you looking at for your range? We went with black, but I saw the samples of the burgundy and terra cotta as well.

clinresga,
You are so sweet to look out for me and give Chelsea a heads up, I'm so appreciative, thank you. I think the person I first talked to was Kelsey but I didn't get her name down properly so now feel like an idiot. I'm so tempted to use chelsea's direct number hmmm but really feel funny since she didn't give it to me directly and I'm not sure I should have it? But then again who cares, I want, need and gotta have my future, Lucy, Danielle, hmmm gotta think of a name now. LOL And I don't even have it yet. LOL. Chelsea must be use to desperate owners of Lancanche's want to be's.

Frangipane was one of my color choices I'm thinking about. The woman on the phone said it was like a Kaki? Is that true? I'm also leaning toward, "Marron Glace". She said it was her favorite color. If it really looks like a light brown I will fall in love with it because it would match my granite perfectly like the Kaki color as well.

I just had to go to Lacanche's french web site and it's very nice. I put the link for it below. I see a different model in their line that's not here and wonder if that's the one that may be here soon? However I'm not going to wait since I've seen to many price increases I think its time to buy and wait no longer.

pluckymama,
I guess it's just luck of the draw who I ended up talking to on my first call. I will ask for Chelsea from now on. And you may be right on the vacations right now. Although they are, or rather Lacanche factory has extended favorable prices until aug 1st and I wonder if they are on overload for orders before than.

Colors I'm thinking of are Marron Glace or Frangipane. But to be honest with you I love them all! The color palette is truly beautiful I must say.

I'm not worried though I know Art Culinaire will come through for me. I will be calling often to get things moving. Projective delivery date if I order before Aug 1st is sometime in November. It would be nice to have it before Christmas. I hope it works out that way.

Take care and thank you clinresga and pluckymama,

Terry;-)

The Chagny is the new model they are waiting to introduce to the American market. It will also come with a warming cuphoard, if you want one, as the Cluny 1400 does. That one looks ideal, but Chelsea said it could be a long wait. The French apparently take their time and it may be as long as into 2009. Our kitchen is already gutted, so we couldn't wait that long. Plus, as you pointed out, the prices are going up and with the dollar so low against the euro, probably will happen again before the Chagny makes it debut. The Marron Glace and the Frangipane are beautiful colors. People who have actually been to the factory, say all of the colors are really exceptional. I would recommend you call Chelsea directly. She will not mind at all. She is great to work with and will give you all the assistance you need. She arranged for me to see a Cluny in the Boston area, as I had so much trouble making up my mind and I can tell you the pics do not do this range justice! Keep us posted after you talk to Chelsea.

pluckymama
Wow, fascinating. So the Chagny is the new model. It's a real nice design configuration. I like it. Although reading about it more now I think I would rather have two same size ovens. Hmmm I've noticed quite a few price increases this year, to many in my mind. I've never seen so many. I will call Chelsea, she sounds wonderful to work with I'm looking forward to talking with her, can't wait. There are supposed to be Lacanche owners in my area and that was another thing I was waiting for but haven't heard as of yet. So I do need to make contact with Chelsea this time, it would have worked great this weekend to do that since people are home. Thank goodness I have a little time left to finalize everything.
I bet you can hardly wait to get your stove. Sept is not to far away. I'm so excited for you. Will you be able to use it before the holidays?

Ok I have a question. How do you pronounce "Lacanche"? My french is awful and gone now. LOL I'll have to ask Chelsea. I've been curious for a long time. I know I must be getting it wrong. I'll let you know when I make contact with her.

Thanks sooo much for all the tips and wonderful help! I'm sincerely grateful!

Terry

Pronounced "La-conch"

Thank you pluckymama!

Please tell me (a non French major) how to pronounce "La Canche" phonetically. I admit it I am a Cluny wantabe but before I show up at the store I would at least like to know how to say the name of the company. Thanks, burlms

It's pronounced La Conch, I believe. Just ordered mine. Stainless Cluny, can't wait. Good Luck.

Does anyone have a Lacanche Chagny? I think I might like the three oven option with the broiler instead of the two with the Cluny. I have only just begun this process but think the Lacanche offers options that I want than the CornuFe.