I just got my GE Cafe Dual-Fuel yesterday. Its actually a freestanding but looks like a slide in...It comes in electric, has convection, is 30" and has a bottom slide out second oven drawer that can be used as an oven or warming drawer. Also, the controls are in front. I have three friends who have it and love it. Can't give you any cons since its not installed yet.

Most people who end up with a double oven range use the small oven 90% of the time. They only use the larger oven 10% of the time. Ruling it out for that 10% isn't logical, unless you really hated it stylewise. Ask in the Appliances Forum for people who actuall own this and use it. You'll change how you cook most things most of the time.

As far as a french door, the biggest advantage is that you have the entire width of the cavity for both refrigerated and frozen items. I don't know what type of cake you are buying that will fit into a side by side that won't fit into a french door. Usually it's the other way around. A side by side has two narrow little compartments that are difficult to fit larger sized items into. That's why french doors became popular.

As far as the stainless being "smudgy", well it won't be as smudgy if you use Pledge in the yellow/brown can. That puts down a layer of protective wax between your oily hands and the stainless. Stainless cleaners that are oil based end up smudgier looking. Or, choose white appliances. Or black. Nothing says you "have" to have stainless. But, if you do go stainless, beware the "fingerprintless" look alikes that don't match real stainless. Some are better than others in the matching department and some look obviously fake.

Can't help with the stove as I haven't made that decision yet. Few days ago we bought the CD Samsung s x s in stainless but it won't be delivered until April. It's 23 or 24 cu. ft. model. DH picked it out. He liked the way it looked-twin cooling system, LED lighting, ice/water on the freezer door so you don't lose so much freezer space. Originally we were thinking CD FD and those do look really nice but it wasn't practical for us. Also I didn't like having to rummage around in the bottom freezer door for stuff. There's just the 2 of us and no need to put pizza boxes, etc. in the freezer. Only once or twice a year a lg. turkey may go in there and it fits. We currently have a Kenmore 25.4 cu. ft. s x s with the ice/water in the freezer door and love it-it's white and doesn't go with kitchen redo so we're buying all stainless appliances. If you go with true stainless, there will be some fingerprints but not like you see in the stores. Or you could look at the ones that look like stainless but aren't. Good luck.

I have the old version of the counter-depth KA (bought 8 years ago), and it has been fine on both storage of 25+ lb. turkeys in the freezer and on fingerprints. I never tried an ice cream cake, but we do store 14" round cake tins in the freezer all the time and it works fine. As for fingerprints, I sprayed one of those stainless cleaners on it once a week and that kept it fine (even with a toddler-growing-into-utterly-messy-boy in the house. Plus a husband who has no clue about why anyone would care about smudges). I am now living in a rental with a SubZero with the bottom freezer and I really hate it -- its freezer capacity feels like perhaps a quarter the SxS's and far, far less functional. The drawers inside are stiff and divided awkwardly; nothing fits, and I find it backbreaking to get down into the stuff at the back of the bottom drawer. Plus I really miss the water/ice in the door, especially my beloved crushed ice.

HOWEVER: the Kitchen Aid did have some pretty major issues with keeping a consistent fridge temperature. Stuff on the bottom shelf frequently froze if I kept the temp at a point where milk didn't go bad too quickly. Not sure if that was just our particular one, or a model problem, and maybe they've addressed that in the past 8 years of upgrades. The SubZero has kept food in the fridge much fresher for much longer.

I'd suggest taking some time standing in front of a bottom freezer and pretending to reach down in to pull out those frozen peas hiding at the back. Better yet (perhaps OTT, your call) bring a typical freezer's worth of stuff to the store and try to fit it in/take it out. I know it made up my mind in thinking of options for our new kitchen. We ended up with separate fridge and freezer columns to get FD-like fridge capacity & access with SxS-like freezer access.

You said the GE flunked because of how low the lower oven door was but isn't that just a reflection of how high you mount the ovens in the wall? I'd think that you could have them at whatever height you find easy to work with.

I'm curious why you think a SxS fridge will be more practical than an FD. We have found exactly the opposite with ours. The bottom freezer is a drawer (with a smaller internal drawer) so it's easy to see everything once you pull it out. I'm 6' tall so if it was a problem to get stuff out I would notice. ;) Now some of the freezers just have a regular swing door which could be a pain as you'd have to crouch on the floor to see and get stuff out.

I think some clarification is needed here...

The refrigerator the OP said couldn't fit the ice cream cake box, etc. is the KA SxS.

The oven the OP said had the lower oven door too low is in a range, it's not a wall oven, so the height is not adjustable.

The GE Cafe electric range CawfeeGirl is talking about (GE Cafe� Free Standing Radiant Range) does have the controls in front and looks like a slide-in (no raised backsplash), but the small oven is on the bottom...practically on the floor. I have to agree that's much too low for practical use.

About the "smudges"...there are dozens of people touching these appliances daily and who knows how often they're cleaned...there will naturally be many, many more smudges on any appliance in a store than in a home... Plus, as Live_Wire_Oak mentioned, Pledge in the brown can (or even the Weiman SS Polish/Cleaner in silver can) will not only clean SS quickly and easily, but also repel future fingerprints/smudges.

I also have to agree with Olga_d...a FD/bottom freezer refrigerator is much more practical for the majority of people than a SxS. SxS's are very limited in width. While I do not have one, my SIL does and my mother used to. My SIL hates hers and says she would never buy another SxS...and she has one of the wider SxSs. My mother replaced her SxS w/a FD/BF and says she would never go back to either a SxS or top freezer. I used to have a top freezer but things got lost in it very easily...even w/a shelf. My current refrigerator has a single drawer w/2 additional pull outs inside for 3 different storage locations for easy access to anything.

Just doing a quick look at ranges, I did not see one that had a double-oven with the smaller oven in the top + slide-in + controls in front (I searched GE & GE Profile, Kenmore (regular/Elite/Pro), KA, and LG). As a matter of fact, the only ones I found w/the small oven on top were GE freestanding (not slide-in) w/controls in the back.

GE Profile⢠30" Free-Standing Double Oven Range - PB978SPSS

GE Profile⢠30" Free-Standing Double Oven Range - PB975SPSS

OK, first, thanks for all the helpful info. After reading the above posts, you've given me cause to reconsider my original choices, or at least the oven choice. However, to further explain, I currently have a sxs refrigerator, so I'm used to that and like the shelving options in the freezer. The KA I thought I'd like is also a sxs, it just seemed like it had a narrower freezer compartment then the refrigerator I currently own (problem prone Whirlpool). In playing with the FD, I wasn't keen on the fact you'd have to open both doors to get at the meat drawer. My concerns were also having to potentially open both doors to put in and remove large items. If you don't mind me asking, what brand/model FD do you have Olga and do you know what brand/model your mom has, Buehl and are they both happy with them besides the fact that they are a FD model?

Regarding the SS issue, you are all right, that should be a non-issue and I made more of an issue out of that than warranted.

The GE "double oven" slide in was a nice unit and I haven't really found much in the way of negatives from actual users, and in reality, I suppose the fact that that lower door opens nearly to the floor isn't so much as an inconvenience since one doesn't readily stand right in front of an open oven any closer from a conventional oven and as LiveWire notes, I"m not likely to use the lower oven all that often (especially since I'm not the most prolific cook in the world). So maybe I should stop stressing out about this and not second guess myself and move on to more pressing decisions like what flooring to get :-)

Now you know why I picked my user name!

We were intrigued by the GE double oven range a few years ago, but soon realized that it meant having a free-standing vs. a slide-in because there is not space for the controls on the front.
Since then we have heard that the smaller oven is not great for general baking because the food is too close to the heating element. FWIW

I have the GE Profile FD with ice/water dispenser (SS). I love it! It replaced a sxs that was in the house when we moved in (I could hardly wait for that thing to die!). I've never had a problem with smudges -- but I'm not sure I'd notice them that much anyway. I am excited to have the cabinet built around it in the remodeled kitchen -- it just barely fit into the space it's in now, and the over-fridge cabinets can't open because of the fridge door hinges.

Mine is the Amana FD fridge. I do need to open both doors for the deli drawer but not really for anything else. Ours is the depth fridge so even for things like a 9x13 pan I only need to open one door because it slides in fully. Of course sometimes I need 2 things out of the fridge and they're on different sides, but that's just my lack of organization. ;)

I have the GE double oven that you mentioned and recommend it with reservations. I use the top oven about 90% of the time, and would not use it if it were on the bottom. It takes less time to heat than the larger oven and I'm sure I'm saving energy. In terms of the space, it is wider then the other brands with dual ovens in a range. Open the door and look at the width of the smaller oven - some are very narrow.

It is true that the coils seem fairly close to the food, but we haven't had a problem cooking in it yet and can fit a lot of things in that oven. We use it all the time, and can fit two pizzas in it if we position them on the racks well. I've cooked all kinds of things in it and haven't had a problem.

If I am baking, however, I always use the bottom oven. It has a convection fan and I just feel better about the heat quality. Having said that, I have to mention that the convection fan can sometimes be loud when it starts (a small plane starting) but gets soft quickly. As mentioned it is very low (almost on the floor), but for me I'm not too bothered by it.

Finally, we have the white glass top which I love the clean look of. However, it does stain easily and takes a bit of effort to clean (but you can get it clean - the stains come off). Also, as others have heard me say elsewhere - after about six months of owning the oven a jar of basil fell out of my cabinets and broke a chip off the edge. The chip split the entire top when the element nearby heated up. This is an expensive spice mistake. I don't think I'll do a glasstop ever again (in any brand).

As for the controls, they are large and behind the unit - but you can see that. They do stay clean thanks to the glass front.

Overall I've found it to be a good oven, but I'm on the fence over whether or not I would get it again. I'll rate it a 7.

There are so many pros/cons to S x S and FD. What helped us was to go to the appliance store and look at both kinds. Salesman pulled the FD next to the S x S so we could really compare them. We are a family of 2 seniors-most family members scattered all over. Don't know your family make up but only you will know what works best for you. Do you have kids at home/entertain a lot? Those are things to consider. The FD wins in the looks category and part of me will always yearn for it but for us, the S x S was the best choice. With the extra $$ saved (FD was more expensive) am going to be able to put in the Juno recessed lighting I wanted. Also don't know how long you've been looking. It took us several months and several trips to appliance stores before we made our purchase. Kitchen decisions have been the hardest to make. I'm always second guessing myself. Good luck appliance hunting!