BUYING A NEW HOME RANGE- HELP!!

AM LOOKING AT 30 INCH FREE STANDING  DOUBLE OVENS..SO FAR ,TO US ANYWAY, THE BEST SEEMS TO BE MAYTAG...A CLOSE SECOND IS ELECTROLUX THOUGH THEIR DOUBLE IS REALLY SMALL, 1.5 cubic
 NOW I AM RETHINKING THE DOUBLE- ALWAYS THOUGHT IT WOULD be nice , but with what I have seen you do have to sacrafice some cooktop features to have a double ...ah hell , maybe we should just get a deluxe hot plate...any ideas/feedback most appreciated

Have you tried looking at the reviews on Home Depot ?
 
Are you looking for gas or electric?

Also try Consumer reports.

You're in CA?  Make a trip to Pacific Sales in Southern CA...  It will be worth the trip.

How much do you plan to spend and how serious a cook are you?  If you've got the budget, Blue Star is hard to beat -- they have by far the highest BTU burners and best flame pattern.  Also, the rangetop is modular so you can spec whatever combo of burners, griddles, grills (the latter are completely uselesss IMHO) etc.  They've had some issues in the past with igniters, but nothing chronic.

Gardenweb.com has an appliance forum which is fairly useful, but bear in mind that like most forums, its dominated by complainers -- those that like the products generally don't feel the need to post.

New Home Range?- Is that where the deer and the antelope play?

at saps' comment.

Some random thoughts. If you're buying electric, glasstop burners limit your pot/pan size to the burner. Some have controls to vary the burner. If you choose glasstop, choose a model that's recessed like the Maytag to contain spill overs. If you can get gas, do so. Electic burners are a pain for heat regulation. Glass burners require perfectly flat/capsule bottoms to work best. If gas, try to find one with the highest possible BTU output for your large burners. Regulations prohibit commerical output burners. You want the eveness of the oven. Covered heat element/burners seem nice for cleaning, but affet the oven's eveness. While we're on the subject, choose a model with a convection fan. You'll never regret the added expense. That bottom oven? Are you over or under 50? It's not worth it all things considered including your back. Better a storage space for large pans. You'd be better off investing the extra bucks into a combination microwave/convection oven overhanging the stove which you'll probably find you use quite a bit.

I bought the GE Profile double oven electric range when I remodeled my kitchen last year.

http://www.geappliances.c...ons/double_oven_range/

The upper shallow height range is the best range by far for baking pizzas. It is designed for baking fresh made or frozen pizzas and has custom settings for both. It heats up to 550 degrees. I use a stone in the top oven to bake my pizzas and artisan type breads. The bottom range is a combination conventional and convection. We use the top oven probably 90% of the time and the bottom one when having large holiday meals and the turkey of course.

The top range glass has one right/front burner that you can select 6-9-12" burner size and the left two burners have a bridge  element so you can use a long griddle with both. There is a fifth warming burner as well. All in all it is pretty versatile. You are limited to the type of pots and skillets you can use. We have a set of perfectly flat ware with heavy thick bottoms.

The range/oven was not cheap but neither was any of my kitchen. It may be our last kitchen we build ourselves and we did not go cheap this go around.

ps. We have an all electric house with no gas available.

well thanks all..it will be gas ( cannot belive i left that out)...will check out your suggestions and thoughts...am still leaning toward the maytag but will check out blue star too...one think I hate are all the electronic gizmos, but guess , like in cars, its hard to escape that now

Blue Star is about as electronic-free as it gets now.  Other than the piezoelectric igniters (which they need to have since pilot lights are generally outlawed in residential apps) there's nothing much but cast iron & steel.  These are meant to be used, not looked at.

If you're ambitious, check out the Blue Star freestanding salamander -- runs to 1,350 degrees.

HEY THERE - THANKS FOR ALL THE NOTES.ENDED UP WITH THE MAYTAG STAINLESS  GAS DOUBLE AND HAVE HAD IT FOR THREE WEEKS NOW AND JUST LOVE IT,,,THANKS AGAIN GANG !

OK. GLAD YOU LIKE IT.