Looking for new oven - Retired want2be cook

[dAvidov]

Hi, I', not a pro and have been using several very intro level stoves all my life. I am thinking about upgrading ....

I tend to cook "family dinners" for anywhere between 12-20 people. I am looking for something with a large oven and 5 burners self-cleaning - dual oven not required.

living on a "fixed income" limits by reality from my imagination... therefore I am thinking about GE profile series or Maytag ... something between $1300-1800 ... which a big step over the 450 I payed for my last oven (Whirlpool AccuBake it has served me well... but...)

Any advice ...
I did a search but when I looked most of teh oven that wewre discussed they went way over my budget...

[MikeLM]

Not clear here- are you looking for a stove/oven or just a wall oven?

Do you have gas, or are you limited to electric?

I suggest you avoid the ceramic electric cooktop: we have the GE Profile cooktop and find it impossible to figure out what heat we're getting at any setting. Also you can't reduce the heat under a pan in any meaningful time. You have to move the pot off the hot burner and try to bring another burner up to a lower heat.

Also, you have to spend most of your time cleaning spills or splatter off the cooktop. If you don't, the splatter will vulcanize itself to the surface the next time it's heated up.

Mike

[dAvidov]

Looking for a a 30" stove/oven/range (5 burners/big oven, self-cleaning) gas unit.

[Mezzaluna]

I like my GE dual fuel range. It has four gas burners plus one long gas one in the center for a griddle. The oven is electric, self-cleaning with convection. It also has a lower oven (looks like a storage drawer) that heats up to 450 degrees F (as I recall) and can hold two 13X9" pans or one half-sheet pan. It was about $1900, but if you cook large "family" meals, I think this would be a good choice for you.

We bought it about six months ago and I love it.

[boar_d_laze]

If you've got the room, get two, decent, self-cleaning, single-oven dual fuels. The performance differences between the up-market stoves and ordinary consumer jobs are actually fairly slight. Most consumer stoves go hot enough for a good sear/saute, and will hold a low enough flame for a bare simmer.

The major performance features lost would be a super-duper infra red performance broiler and a continuous grate on top. Nice, but nothing to cry about. Mostly though, you lose a pro, stainless, "look."

If you're serious about cooking for 12 to 20 on a regular basis, you really want two ovens and at least 6 burners, preferably 8. 20 covers at once in a professional kitchen would take at least 8 burners. With two stoves you get 8 burners. That means you can use 4 x 12" pans at the same time, barely enough. You can use a two-burner cast iron skillet/grill without losing half your surface. You can broil and bake at the same time. You can bake at two different temperatures. You can roast and hold -- and that's important let me tell ya. Plus, if you buy one inexpensive, 24" low-feature stove, you can probably climb the features ladder high enough on the other to get the things you're currently drooling over -- including a convection oven, which is actually meaningful -- and you won't have to worry about that fifth burner. As a final bonus, mid-priced stoves tend to hold up better and are cheaper to repair when they break than the high-priced wonders.

Enjoy the cooking,
BDL

[dAvidov]

A point of clarification ... we usually have all the holidays and Sunday dinners for 12-20 people ... the rest oft eh time is is just the two of us....

Not enough room for 2 30" units ...

Also not sure I want the expense of upgrading the house service to accommodate an electric oven .... don't they require 220v service?

Since I wrote I have been reading about the GE profile series (gas) and have been a bit concerned with the reliability of the units as some in this forum have commented on.

looking at
GE Profile™ 30" Free-Standing Self Clean Convection Gas Range with Warming Drawer
Model#: PGB916SEMSS

or

GE Profile™ 30" Free-Standing Double Oven Range
Model#: PGB975SEMSS

and BTW are those small second oven really useful ...
We do a lot of casserole, lasagna, roasted chicken/turkey/beef ... I dabble in homemade breads. some baking...

Also anybody have comments on the Maytag Gemini Series?

Again thanks for the groups patience and experience...

[ChrisW4357]

I have the PGB916SEMSS and really like it. I have only been using it for a few weeks but it works great. One of the best features I like is the probe you can plug into meat. Just insert it into a roast, set your convection roast temp and set you temp for the probe and the oven cooks the roast until it reaches the temp you set for the probe and then turns off and beeps to let you know it's done. I have done a beef and a prok roast in the last 2 weeks using this and they both turned out better than any other roast I have cooked in the past.

Chris