At one point I looked endlessly for reviews of Ilve ranges- to no avail (they are quite beautiful). The only person I "know" who has one is the Enchanted Home blogger Tina. I don't actually know her- but she loves her Ilve and she seems like an avid cook. You may want to Google her blog and Ilve.

Hi Eve, I own a Lacanche Cluny 1400 in terra cotta. I've been using it for just about 2 years and I love it as much today as I did the day it was installed! The range is a solid workhorse and extremely unique and beautiful.

My family of six, which includes four teens use it multiple times per day. We have a gas oven, and electric oven and a warming oven along with seven burners ranging from 5,000BTU's to 15,000BTU's. I am 100% happy with this range and I would certainly buy it again. I'm hoping to buy a smaller one when we finish our basement. The Lacanche representatives are great to work with and very friendly and helpful.

I've answered several posts since I purchased this range on this site and I believe a search would reveal my posts as well other more recent reviews. Although, there certainly aren't as many people writing since this site changed from Garden Web.

If there is anything specific that you would like to know about the Lacanche, please let me know and I will certainly try to answer you questions! I would definitely recommend getting in touch with Art Culinaire if you are located in the US and try to see one in person.

We've had our Lacanche Volnay for 3 years and are happy customers. I looked at the Ilve briefly during our search ~4 years ago. The Lacanche seemed higher quality IMHO but I don't remember much else. Good luck. -C

Bonjour Eve S ! Ilve Ranges are of course so special - any kitchen would be lucky to have them :) Of course a Range choice will live in the heart of one's home for years to come, so finding the most perfect stove for you is the most important feature. Do say Bonjour if you ever have any Lacanche related questions, we are so happy to help. Happy Shopping !!

Blair | Lacanche US

Blair@Frenchranges.com

we have an ILVE 60" Majestic (AMAZING!!). I am more than happy to answer any specific questions as we took a leap of faith when we bought it due to lack of reviews. I posted on a different forum here on Houzz - lots of info shared.

let me know how I can help...

impressive-looking machine fred

Fredsfav, that is a beautiful Ilve. I am going back and forth between the Ilve 60" Majestic and the LaCanche Sully. Here are my questions about the Ilve: First and foremost, can you really fit a 20-23 lb turkey in it? Second, what kind of after market support is there for Ilves? LaCanche owners rave about Art Culinaire's support, but I haven't heard anything about Ilves. Is it hard to find someone willing to service an Ilve? Thanks for your help!

Wow! Thank you so much for your quick and detailed response -- very helpful. I was leaning toward an ILVE, but your response just tipped me right over the edge. I'll be ordering the 60" Majestic, sight unseen! And please tell your husband I would love to cook for you if I just lived a little closer. :)

fredsfave: My Ilve range (which I purchased in ~ 2006) for our apartment in northern Italy had pairs of burners screwed to a stainless cooktop. Is your cooktop completely integrated? Ie, is each burner actually a seamless part of the stainless cooktop? We sold that apartment in 2014. While the range was reliable, I did not like cleaning that cooktop, because of the modular assembly of the cooktop.

I also owned a Lacanche Cluny for 10 years, up until 12.2013, when we moved from SoCal to the Midwest. I particularly liked the Cluny's cooktop bc it was one large stainless top and very readily cleaned. While the burners did not have a true simmer (at least 10 years ago), I loved the cooktop quality, and the central burner at 17,500 btu was more than I ever needed. We had a fairly small kitchen, ~13' wide where the range was centered, so I went with the 40" Cluny with one electric and one gas oven of equal size. I really liked the two different types of ovens, but it takes more thought to have two smaller ovens than two 30" ovens, but there are many Lacanche models to choose from.

To put this in context: I have purchased a Wolf 36" induction cooktop, combi-steam oven + 30" M wall oven in my new kitchen that is under construction. When I chose Lacanche, I wanted to get back to basics and go with a very reliable, traditional range that did not have a lot of electronics. This time, I'm going the other direction, but even easier to clean than before... I love to cook, but I do not like cleaning up a mess after browning meat, etc. It was really hard for me to give up the look of a range and go to component appliances, but I was looking ahead to when I will appreciate not having under-counter ovens.

I hope something here has enlightened your decision-making, expat21.

How wonderful to finally have more feedback on Ilve!

expat21: NOT to rain on your plans, but do consider service ease, if you need repairs down the road. Lacanche is now much more established than when I purchased in 2004, but they had and have excellent service support and videos of many basic repairs to enable service by all appliance repair people, as well as handy homeowners.

kitchengirl: Thank you for the additional information -- I appreciate it!

I am not here to debate about which brand is better than another - every brand has pluses and minuses. Buying a range, any range, but especially a highly expensive one is a personal choice. I am only trying to answer questions and provide insight as there are very few ILVE reviews. Do we love it? Absolutely. Are there other ranges out there? Absolutely. Again, just trying to provide owner-knowledge.

Burners are NOT screwed down (that seems odd to me), the stove top is stainless steel and the grates are removable. When I do a normal cleaning I pick up the grates and wipe down the stainless under it. When I do a heavy duty cleaning I take all the pieces off (grate cover, flame cap, burner thing-y (yep, technical term) and clean all of that and then put it back together. Yes, there are quite a few pieces but it is pretty simple to figure it out. When cleaning the griddle, we follow the recommendation of first scraping the food off and then pouring water on the hot griddle and then scraping and cleaning until the water is clean. Pretty easy. Doing a heavy duty cleaning on the coup de feu is a little harder because the thing is heavy so use care picking it up.

We also have a wok ring that can move around to all the different burners.

BTUs:

7,000 - standard burner

10,500 - high power

15,500 - triple ring

15,500 - dual triple

10,500 - griddle

8,500 - coup de feu

More pictures coming. Bending down to use the oven really is a non-issue for us because we have a wall of ovens in addition to our 60" ILVE...plus we are pretty spry :-)

fredsfav and all: I am not for or against Lacanche or Ilve. I simply wanted to add my experience owning these brands and, given that neither is a mainstream American appliance, hope that potential owners sufficiently review the range of questions (beyond the beauty) before purchase to ensure a happy outcome.

I gave dates and locations of ownership bc a lot changes in 10 years!

some additional picture.

NO, I am NOT a photographer so these are far from publication worthy but show what a well-loved and well-used kitchen looks like!

Thanks for uploading more photos! Lovely kitchen.

fredsfav: Nice kitchen!

Can you tell me what cooker hood (brand and model) you have above the ILVE?

It looks impressive. What is your experience with it?

@kitchengirl you mention you liked the two different ovens on the lacanche. Can you tell more about the differences? I'm in doubt between getting two convection or one convention one gas.

Bonjour dear Shin !! The beauty of dual-fuel is the myriad of cooking options then afforded to you on your Range. Some clients prefer a gas oven for more roasting, meats and proteins, etc, while using their Electric / convection ovens for more baking, casseroles, tartes and the like. It is to note that our gas ovens do not come equipped with Broilers, but all electric do. Please feel free to pop onto your website at frenchranges.com if you have any questions about the US collection, or send me an email at Blair@frenchranges.com and I'll be happy to help. Happy cooking, et merci !

Thanks Blair, I'm not in the USA though but in Europe :)

Salut Shin ! www.lacanche.com should then have all the good details, and in fact a bit more offered in Europe than the US Collection. Have a beautiful week et merci!

Hi Shin, Sorry not to reply before. I did use my gas oven for roasting meats, generally. Of course it can be used for veggies and baking, but I thought it was particularly good for meat, as you can get very good browning and maintain moistness, as gas is a moist heat.

IF you foresee wanting to use the two ovens in parallel for double batches of one thing and have the same result (i.e., NOT try to get the two ovens to perform the same with different heat sources), I would go convection for both ovens.

I grew up with electric, then had a gas convection Viking, then had my Lacanche with electric and gas (I didn't go with convection at the time bc it was an "always on" option 13 years ago, and it reduced the oven size more than I was comfortable with on a Cluny). I have gas convection in a temporary home and will go to combi-steam and electric convection in the house we are building. If I were to choose one heat source, I'd go with electric convection.

It is a tough decision. For me, with a Cluny, I always roasted meat in gas and used my electric for baked goods and roasting veggies. I believe Lacanche now offers the ability to turn convection on and off as needed (useful to increase browning or speed things up if running late), which makes electric convection more attractive IF oven size is sufficient for you.

I tried to research the choice before my Lacanche purchase, but did not get very far in learning about the science of the two types of heat. You might ask on the Garden Web in a new post to all users, not just Lacanche users, about perceived differences.

If you have any other specific questions, please ask. Good luck with your decision!

@joanweakland Thank! In the meantime I've made my decision. It was a tough one, as you say there are times I will want to bake and have two ovens that produce the same results, but then I hear everybody rave about the gas option for meat. But I decided to go for the two convection ovens. Thanks for your input!

Enjoy your new Lacanche!

@toble r. I will try to find the paperwork on the hood. I know it was not a higher end brand but it works well. I liked the minimalist look of it. Also, one thing we did that I really like is the hood does not touch the cabinets next to it. Some touch but some don't, I like this look better. Also, something to keep in mind, because this is so high powerful we had to get a special permit from the county.

Fredsfav, I'm not sure if you still follow this forum, but thank you so much for your information about Ilve! I am leaning toward a 48 inch Ilve majestic, but I have read some concerns about fan noise. Does the sound bother you? Thank you!

How do Lachance and Llve compare to BlueStar? Are they in that price range or more like a LaCornue? Thanks! Trying to find my first heavy duty cooking/baking range, after years with builder grade basic.

I don’t know about Blue Star as I couldnt find any here in Europe, but I’ve seen all other three ranges up close. Lacanche more or less sits between Ilve and la cornue price wise if you compare comparable models (all three come in multiple choices of what you can have in/on your stove and the width) Personally I think Lacanche is the best value for money if you can afford this price range. The Ilve is a lot of parts screwed together. So eventually grease will build up between the parts and it will not be such a pretty sight long term. Shortly said, it’s a pain to clean. I’ve also seen La Cornues up close and for that amount of money (more expensive than a Lacanche) I think they look rather flimsy. It was in a Williams sanoma, so lots of people will have touched it, but it looked like it could fall apart any minute. So personally I chose for a Lacanche. I‘ve only had it since Easter, but I’m loving it. Ask anyone who knows me and I’m a fairly tidy person, but by no means spic and span clean. But I actually enjoy taking a wipe over my Lacanche after cooking because it cleans so easily. The power on this beauty is one I’ve never experienced on any cooker I’ve had before and I’ve moved around a lot, so have had extensive use on 8 different cookers, but this is by far the best. If I ever move again (I hope not) the first thing I would change is replace any cooker if it’s not already a Lacanche.

Thanks, Shin! How is the baking compared to other ranges you've had in the past?

@abouttogetdusty baking wise I have to say there is not much difference. Usually the recipe calls for a certain amount of heat and I haven't had any ovens that couldn't match that ;)

Thanks, Shin. My GE Profile has a mind of its own with regards to heat, so baking is a guessing game. :-( I saw the La Cornue 75K model in Williams Sonoma the other day...very pretty, but didn't seem worth the price. And, the oven doors were so heavy and low, like they were made for really strong but really short people. Tall folks would hurt their backs trying to use them!

I've must have been lucky then with my ovens so far. It's taken a bit of time to get used to each, but after that I've had quite consistent ovens. Same for Lacanche, very consistent, but it did need some getting used to. Initially temperatures were set too low, but maintenance came out and fixed that. Now I'd have to say it's a bit on the powerful side, but actually correct, but since I'm so used to setting the temperature a bit higher than the oven asked for with all my previous ovens, it feels like it has taken a bit longer to get used to the lacanche. Initially everything was a bit overdone, but now that I'm used to it, everything comes out perfectly.

My oven doors are not too heavy, but I would call them sturdy. I'm quite short, so I'm not sure how a tall person would feel about the fact that they are fairly low (since they are built into the stove). I don't know how they would compare with the Cornue. Best thing would be to try them out somewhere. Good luck deciding!

Bonjour Shin! There is a definitely a learning curve with any Range, and lacanche is no exception. Please let us know if there is anything we can help with in the meantime, and very happy cooking :)

Merci !

Lacanche US