Do you have a price range or budget? That could really help narrow the choices and suggestions.

What is in your kitchen now, a range?

Also, you may want to do some research on cleaning stainless steel, seems like I've seen a ton of complaints about keeping that clean on cook tops and ranges.

Gary

I don't have a budget. So far any of the ranges that I have looked at - all have black porcelain under the grates. I have had stainless steel cooktops in the past and they clean up far better than black porcelain. The porcelain scratches and develops funky dull spots that a cleaner can't remove. Right now the only slide in dual fuel range with the stainless that I can find is the GE Cafe. Any comments on that brand?

Sure. Do a search. The GE Cafe stoves have a mostly positive following here,

I looked pretty hard at one last fall and wrote a long post comparing the Cafe DF and the NXR all-gas in response to a specific question, but that may not be the kind of discussion you are looking for. But there are plenty of other threads

If you have truble getting the search box at the bottom of the page to work, try going out to Google and start with "GE CAFE DF + Gardenweb" as your search string.

Here is a link that might be useful: A thread on Cafe stoves.

GE Cafe is actually a free-standing range not a slide-in. Are you limitied to a slide-in? Also, why are you limiting yourself to dual fuel - they're more expensive than gas ranges. You might have better luck if you broaden your search. I have a DCS all-gas range - the stainless steel on the cooktop cleans up easily. DCS also makes dual fuel ranges. fyi - pro-style ranges have their controls on the front like slide-ins, if that's an issue for you. Look at DCS, Wolf, Capital and Bluestar.

GE Café Dual Fuel 30" is ~$2,900

American Range Performer Series 30" is ~$3,300

The GE Café is ok but the ARPS is much much better.

Have you considered a bluestar. The burners are the best. And the top is black cast iron which is actually very easy to clean. It just gets a shiny patina over time, just like a cast iron pan.

Promo pricing on Blue Star 30" RCS is $3k through June. Blue Star does not offer any dual fuel models, so it is out of the running if daratwist's heart is set on a dual fuel.

So, daratwist, so you really need true slide-in or are you just looking for a stove without a thick vent/riser/backsplash at the back?

A "slide-in" has a range top that extends out the sides a bit (often about 3/4 inch) which provides a lip that covers the gap between the countertop and the sides of the stove.

As Weissman says, the Cafe DF is a freestanding stove with no vent-riser/backsplash. It will not cover the gap between counter and stove, if that is what you are looking for. You can buy a thin riser/vent add-on for the back, which makes it like the pro-style stoves others have been suggesting. The riser also helps keep stuff from rolling off the stovetop and going behind the stove. Many of the pro-style stoves come with a thin, short riser for that reason, although they can be converted to what is called "island trim" if you want to no riser.

For actual slide ins, I think Electrolux Wavetouch dual fuels slide-ins are the only ones that have stainless tops (though with black porcelain coated grates and burner caps). They run about $2700.

For pro-style stoves, none of them are slide-ins but most offer side trim piece add-ins as extra-cost options that allow you to make them function like a slide-in.

The suggested American Range Performer stove at $3300 is an all gas unit. For dual fuel, with stainless tops, you'll pay about $6900 for the dual fuel AR Performer and about $5000 for the dual fuel Medallion model.

DCS has a pro-style 30" DF for about $4500 which has a stainless top.

There are some Italian brands, like Bertazonni, Verona and Ilve which, I believe, come with stainless rather than porcelain tops and will run $2600 to $3500.

Oh, and by the way, some of those balck-top dual fuel models you've looked at? Not all of those are prorcelain enamel. Some of them apply a glass-ceramic coating. A few years back, this was called "gas on glass." Some people find those coatings even harder to deal with than the porcelain enamel coatings.

This post was edited by JWVideo on Sat, May 11, 13 at 16:04

I send you a big thank you for all of the input. You have given me several options to explore. I don't know why I was stuck on duel fuel......
Dara