The cooking range is the single most important purchase for the kitchen. While some opt for separate cooktops and ovens, others prefer a single appliance or have a kitchen better suited for a cooking range.
Gone are the days of the simple four-burner range and single oven with an exposed element. Today’s high-end cooking ranges are based on the cooking appliances you find in your favorite restaurant.
They are powerful; they are durable; they are bold.
Furthermore, they are versatile, and the options are seemingly endless.
Health-conscious consumers and daring home chefs want to be able to create restaurant-style food in their homes, and high end appliance manufacturers have responded to that desire.
They understand that home chefs have a wide variety of specialties and seek versatility in their appliances. For some a wok ring is a daily necessity; for others an indoor grill may be the platform for most dinners.
Size Matters
A 30” gas range may be ideal for a smaller kitchen. Most 30” ranges offer four burners and one oven, but as ranges increase in size, their capabilities and versatility grows vastly.
Those with a more expansive kitchen may opt for a 36-inch, 48-inch or 60-inch range. The larger 48-inch and 60-inch ranges offer double ovens and are especially useful for those who like to entertain.
On the Cooktop
High-end gas ranges offer a full range of precise heating options from a high 23,000 BTUs that can boil water quickly or sear stakes to perfection and down to a low simmer ideal for soups and sauces.
High end ranges are available with a wide variety of cooking platforms. On a 48” range, you have the choice of eight gas burners, or either four or six gas burners along with a griddle and/or a grill.
A few manufacturers, such as Viking and ILVE, offer French tops on their gas ranges. The French top is a unique cooking surface that is completely smooth with a burner underneath the surface. The surface gets hotter toward the middle, and when you need to simmer on a low heat, you simple slide the pan toward the edges.
Common Cooktop Variations for a 48” Range:
- 8 burners
- 6 burners and a grill
- 6 burners and a griddle
- 4 burners, a grill, and a griddle
In the Oven
As versatile as their cooktop counterparts, the ovens on luxury ranges offer a wide range of cooking capabilities. From high-power broiling to delicate baking, these ovens can handle everything from stakes to pastries. Convection is pretty much standard on these high-end appliances, although it may be available in only one of the two oven cavities on a larger cooking range.
Many ovens now also offer the convenience of “no-preheat” settings for certain types of baking and defrosting. Powerful fans circulate the heat throughout the oven cavity so quickly that preheating is not always required.
Whether you have a passion for cooking or you have a passion for entertaining and prefer to let someone else prepare the food, a high-end range from such brands as Viking, ILVE or Verona can offer the power and versatility you need all within a beautiful exterior that fits your style.
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Krista Franks Brock is a Dallas resident and freelance writer who enjoys writing about a wide variety of topics from cooking and home design to the mortgage industry. When she’s not writing, she’s often either experimenting in the kitchen or pursuing artistic endeavors such as painting, sewing and jewelry-making. |
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