48' vs 36' range

15 years ago

I am considering a 48" range with dual floor ovens against a 36" range with a single floor oven and a wall-mounted speed oven. I am very tempted to choose the 36" with the speed oven, but don't know anyone that has a speed oven. Any recommendations?

Featured Answer

plllog

15 years ago

A lot of us have speed ovens. Check the Appliances forum for discussion of those.

The oven in a 36" range is very big. Which is useful if you have a lot of things to heat up at once on medium heat, and a problem if you just want to bake one little casserole. The speed oven might fix that problem, as an alternative cooking space. I'm not a range person, but if I were to have occasion to get one, I'd get at least 48"--I'm accustomed to the large surface and multiple ovens.

The truism around here is that few people use more than 3 burners at once very often, so unless you're making a lot of sauces, Indian food, or some similar burner heavy task, you should be fine with the cooking surface of either.

In other words, both plans have merit. The speed cooking feature, and ability to have both the smaller oven and microwave be the same unit (if you won't want both at once) gives extra function to the 36" plan. I'm not fond of the speed function for a lot of dishes, being a confirmed slow cook, but when one needs fast it does the job a treat. A lot of working moms depend on a speed oven to get dinner out fast and are thrilled with the results.

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Comments (6)

liriodendron
15 years ago
No opinion about the speed oven, but if it were my decision I'd go for the 36 with an extra wall oven of some kind, even though I think it's more expensive to do that.

I have a 48" range that I've owned since 1993, so my choices are already set. It's more burner real estate than I need, but I really like the little oven. If my range died tomorrow (which it won't since it's a Jade/Dynasty and they are endlessly reapair-able) I would get a 36" range and smaller-sized wall oven to pair with the larger oven on the range.

The other reason I got the 48" range was to have a char-grill, which in all this time I doubt I ever used. Eventually, I had the burners disconnected and the space "paved over" with a slab of granite. It's really nice having a mini-counter in the middle of my cooking surface, but my solution was an expensive way to get it!

I'm doing a reno that's moving my kitchen into a better-placed room and working around and with such a large range means I have to consider compromises I'm not happy with. I often wish it was only 36".

OTOH, despite the "floor oven" aspect (which doesn't bother me a bit) to having ovens in your range, I really like that my ovens are under my range hood. Occasionally I bake or broil something smelly, smokey, or both, and I love it that the exhaust fan above the range corrects the problem. It certainly wouldn't do that as well if the ovens were across the room on a wall.

L
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andrea345
15 years ago
My range is a compromise. No speed oven,but the brand does have convection. I didn't want to lose my 2nd oven in my little kitchen, however that was a 1985 Sears Kenmore microwave convection oven that could roast a turkey - as in 15 lb turkey.

I went with the 40" Lacanche and I love it. The scale is perfect for my 9' back wall.
kaismom
15 years ago
I have a 30 inch pro style gas range with convection plus undercounter Miele Speed oven. The reason I went with Miele was because it was the only one I can mount undercounter and I did not want to lose the counter space.

I do not use the speed function often. I predominantly use the MW and baking functions. What I really wanted was a second oven that doubled as MW and save space in my not-very-large kitchen.

I use the second oven alot more than I thought I would. I love having both gas and electric ovens. They cook differently. The small oven is used for small jobs and baking cookies and deserts. The cookies bake slightly more evenly in my small Speed oven than the larger gas oven, so I bake cookies in the speed oven. The speed oven is also smarter so I don't have to adjust the temperature for convection baking... It seems to do that automatically.

I bake two trays at once in the speed oven, so similar capacity.

I use the gas oven for roasting meats, baking pizza and bread. I really like having a gas oven for pizzas and bread! The heat recovery is pretty fast with the larger burners in the oven.

This is probably not the norm here but I am not a fan of dual fuel range. I prefer gas ranges.

If I had a bigger budget and bigger kitchen, I would have liked to have had 36 gas range plus wall oven stack that has a steam oven and a speed oven and maybe another electric oven. But I digress...
sayde
15 years ago
30 inch range (Blue Star) and Miele Chef Speed oven. We are empty nesters and rarely entertaini more than 6 or 8 people so this is ample for us. Besides kitchen is only about 12 by 14.
bostonpam
15 years ago
It comes down on how you cook. I have a 48" range. I need 6 burners and worried that wasn't enough (I could always use the grill to simmer). I love my small oven - that's what I use most of the time and occassionally (once a week or every 2 weeks) I use the big oven. The big oven also has a convection fan.