Thursday, October 18, 2007

The New Addition

After many days of deliberation and several emails to friends and family for advice we finally decided to purchase the new GE Cafe Series Freestanding Gas Range. We'd been thinking about upgrading for awhile but hadn't been able to find a 30 inch stove with all the options we were interested in. My husband and I stumbled across the GE Cafe by accident one day when we were out looking at other GE models. It seemed perfect except for the all stainless cooktop. I had heard some horror stories about how hard it is to keep a stainless cooktop clean and looking nice. I've always had enamel cooktops so I really had no idea.

We've had the stove for a week now and we're extremely happy. So far so good as far as the clean up goes. I'm sure eventually it will look worn but that is something I will deal with when the time comes. I love having all of the extra options like the double oven and the griddle pan.

Thanks to all of you that provided feedback and helped us make this decision.

36 comments:

  1. If you don't mind my asking, where did you purchase it and were you pleased with the experience? I ask because I am looking for a new microwave / range hood and am not pleased with the shopping experience at the big box chains.

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  2. I was going to get it at Spencers Appliance but wasn't real happy with them. I ended up getting it at Home Depot. The service was actually great.

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  3. This is beautiful!!! I'm so excited for you. Cooking is a whole new experience when you have a stove you love. Have fun! Can't wait to see everything that comes out of this.

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  4. Thanks Christine! I've been having so much fun with it.

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  5. A good cooking decision. Good BTU output especially for the price

    Steve

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  6. we are considering buying the cafe gas stove and read one review that said the oven fan was exceptionally noisy- what is your experience with the oven??

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  7. It's a little noisy but not as bad as some others. So far we're loving it.

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  8. I'm trying to decide between the cafe and the jenn air- is as noisy as an exhaust fan?? thanks so much for your input- i've only seen 2 reviews- yours and one on epinions which was so negative becuase of the noise- i've paid for it but the order won't be placed until monday so i have some time to change my mind. thanks for your help.

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  9. I would compare it to a low exhaust fan. From what I was told all ovens with the electronics in the front will have a fan like this. I've also been told that this is a big improvement over most other fans. At first I was a little surprised by the noise not ever having one before but you kind of get used to it. let me know what you decide to go with. If you get the Cafe I would love to hear your thoughts.

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  10. came upon your blog as I was doing research on the cafe range. So, with some more time passed, are you still pleased with your purchase? I had picked out a GE Profile range, but changed my mind when I found the cafe line.

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  11. Still enjoying it. It did take some time to get used to and it doesn't stay as clean as I would've hoped but it was the right decision for us.

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  12. I like the stainless backsplash. Is is custom-made?

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  13. It's just a standard backsplash we found at Home Depot.

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  14. i was sold on dual fuel bosch integra but stumble across ge cafe on line. not too many reviews as it is brand new. I like extra features on ge such as griddle, second oven and higher btu output (not by much compared with bosch. just can't decide whether to go for options on ge or get bosch which i think is a little bit better quality overall. is yours a dual fuel? Thanks Michael

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  15. are the grates made of cast iron? a photo on ge site makes them look grey in colour. are your grates black or grey?

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  16. My grates are cast iron and black. I didn't get the dual fuel but I know that it's available. Just not an option I wanted. Having the second oven (although small)was very useful during the holidays. We love the griddle also. We use it for breakfast foods like eggs and pancakes and too cook chicken.

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  17. How long does it take the oven to preheat? A friend of mine has a GE double oven that takes 45 minutes to preheat. She has trouble with the broiler temp as well. Have you experienced something similar with the cafe range?

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  18. The main oven heats up faster than any oven I've ever had. The smaller oven does take a bit longer. I'm not exactly sure how long. No problems with the broiler.

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  19. The main oven heats up faster than any oven I've ever had. The smaller oven does take a bit longer. I'm not exactly sure how long. No problems with the broiler.

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  20. Our GE Cafe microwave and gas range were delivered and installed last Wednesday [Jan. 23,2008].

    The installers were great as were the people at Home Depot where the units were purchased. Here are a couple of problems which we have encountered thus far:

    Of the two microwave over-counter lamps [halogen, 20watt], only one was functioning. Attempts to locate the lamp's identification on GE's web page were unsuccessful. We still don't know if the lamp [bulb]itself is to blame or something more sinister.

    The microwave fan IS noisy but we don't mind that --- all fans make some noise. What we DO mind is the 'Walter Mitty' sound which comes from the turntable [Puckita-puckita-puckita] as it makes its rounds. Cheap microwaves sometimes do that. This is not a cheap microwave. The food is well processed though... I'd give it five stars for that.

    The range, I'm sorry to say, has me worried. We opted for an all gas model because I didn't want to increase our electrical usage beyond the enormous level which we have already established in this home. I had been advised to go with dual fuel because the electric oven was said to afford better temperature control than the gas oven. It would only have cost another hundred bucks so purchase price was no consideration.

    This morning we used the convection oven for the frst time; Ours won't go above 400 degrees although we were requesting 425. I don't know if the fault lies with the thermostat or the display. Right now the display doesn't display any higher than 400 degrees.

    I notice that the really neat photo which 'food hunter' refers to in this column bears a bright reflection from lighting equipment used to produce it. In that lighting the electronic touchpad controls [on the range] appear to be well lit and easily read. This is not the case, however, with normal kitchen lighting where the controls can be read only with difficulty and at very close range [GE says that they "have never heard this complaint before"].

    Has anyone else seen these problems or similar ones? I would appreciate feedback from anyone who owns these units. Thanks.

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  21. OK, Let me make a partial retraction:

    If, as we did, you were to use the "Convection Bake, Muli-Rack" option offered by the gas range firmware, you would run into an undocumented feature which might prove to be helpful after all.

    GE feels that the aforementioned option should be used at a temperature approximately 25 degrees lower than would normally be selected. In order to ensure that this is done they will AUTOMATICALLY DEDUCT 25 DGREES from your chosen temperature setting whenever you have opted for 'Convection Oven, Multi-Bake'.

    We had requested 425 degrees and so GE adjusted our request to 400 degrees instead... The feature isn't documented...

    Don't ask me; Ask GE.

    Oh yes, my wife says that I must now tell you that "it did a beautiful job" [I will now go and stand in the 'henpecked line'].

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  22. Our microwave just started making a similar noise. We are having someone come out to look at that and the LCD panel on the unit. We are experiencing some air pockets in the panel. Anyone else having that issue? We haven't had any problems with seeing the panel on the range itself. I did experience the convection issue you mentioned but once it hits the temperature, 400 even though you want 425, I was able to hit it again and it adjusted itself.

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  23. Food Hunter Said: "I was able to hit it again and it adjusted itself."

    Thank you Food Hunter... That too was undocumented.

    Perhaps we could all put together a small book entitled "Undocumented Secrets Of GE Cafe."

    New owners would be glad to have it... So too would The General Electric Corporation.

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  24. Food Hunter said: "I was able to hit it again..."

    Exactly what did you hit? We're trying to repeat your solution.

    Thanks

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  25. I was able to just put in 425 again after it reached 400 and it went up to 425 the second time around. unless I was mistaken. I'll try it again sometime soon and let you know.

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  26. Well, now the second (and last remaining) halogen bulb on the GE Cafe microwave has gone. It departed this world with a strobe flash like that from a camera, knocking out a house circuit breaker in the process.

    The stove top also exhibits some previously undiscovered behavior: When ANY of the ignitors are activated the one on the right, front burner also fires.

    These problems, along with some of the complaints I've read about on other blogs, have made me think that perhaps we shouldn't have bought GE products.

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  27. I have a GE Monogram stove and hood, like the ones on the Martha Show. They work great, no problems, love the stove. We did have a problem with the halogen lights in the hood. They blew easily, in under a year, and were $20 each to replace. Replaced them and they blew again a few months later. I do not fry alot. My husband dismantled the lamp, replaced the cheap Chinese plastic socket with a better one from Home Depot, which would accept reasonably-priced halogen bulbs. If the bulbs go now, it won't cost me $40 plus shipping to replace them. This meant we could no longer use the chrome rim around the bulb, but it looks fine and works! This would be a simple fix, only took my husband 30 minutes plus shopping time.

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  28. OK. You've had this item for a while now. What are your longer-term impressions? Still happy with it?
    We're shopping for one and found this blog during research.

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  29. I'm still loving it! It's great having two ovens and the griddle is awesome. there was a slight learning curve in the beginning...it just takes a little getting use to. I would purchase it again.

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  30. I'm on the process of purchasing the GE Cafe' series from Home Depot. I like your stainless steel backsplash and hope I can find it at Home Depot. Read all the post and it really helped me. Thanks.

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  31. We bought our GE Cafe via Internet at Home Everything. Got it for just a hair over $2,000, no tax and no shipping. Delivery brought it inside and I hooked it up myself. Saved $500 over many local places. Took a week, but worth it. It works extremely well. Glad I bought it.

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  32. Im so glad to read the latest comment. I Just bought GE cafe, almost purchased it from home everything but a local store matched price at $2,100. Im switching from elec to gas, cant wait till it's all set up. I hope Im not sorry for this purchase I've read a lot of negative post

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  33. http://www.facebook.com/foodkingdom
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  34. I was wondering how strong the vent fan is on the microwave unit? I was concerned that this over the range microwave would not be a powerful enough vent fan for an active cooktop.

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  35. Thank you! This has been a very helpful comment thread.

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