Okay, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover this week: I’m recapping my exhaustive stove range research alongside your excellent advice from our chat and with a few tips from the pros. It’s so thorough that I’m now questioning my range choice (gulp). More on that below—plus the simple but very satisfying way to clean your induction surface so it’s streak-free. To kick off, an image sent to me by reader Laura L. that exemplifies how attached we can get to a trusty range:
“This is Margaret, my 1949 O’Keefe & Merritt Aristocrat. The black-and-white tiles were handmade in Healdsburg, CA, after I spoke with someone at the Tile Museum there to find the right tiles for my retro-style kitchen. She’s seen a lot of cooking in her 76 years! My husband even made a Christmas ornament that looks like her to go on our tree every year.”
In early August, I posted the following chat: “Hey there, Homeward-ians! This week I’d love to hear all your thoughts on stoves—so we can all benefit from each other’s collective knowledge. I’m curious to hear your opinions about: - brands/models you like—or don’t!—and why You responded with more than 100 deep takes, which I said I’d synthesize, report out, and share with the community. Thank you for your patience! My research took a long time because there’s a lot going on in the world of gas and induction cooking. In fact, I didn’t get to explore everything I’d like to, so consider this part one of my findings. Part two will appear once I’ve had a chance to try out the stoves, dig deeper into the tangle of sales and customer service for these companies, and most importantly, hear your thoughts on what I missed!
What’s happening now in the cooking range industry is similar to the transformation that took place in the American car industry in the 1970s, when increased imports from Europe and Asia forced U.S. car makers to redefine what luxury and performance meant for their cars. In the world of cooking ranges, European brands like La Cornue, Lacanche, ILVE, and Bertazzoni have gained greater visibility. New American companies like Copper have launched. And nearly every player has improved its design and increased its features as home owners have shown an increasing willingness to spend. I focused on higher-end ranges, which combine a cooktop and oven, because they contain the widest array of wish-list features and are the biggest visual statement you can make in a kitchen. (There are also cooktops (drop-in) and rangetops (slide-in) as well as wall ovens, and these components tend to possess many of the same features as a range.) Here are my initial takeaways: FEATURE NOTES
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