We replaced our old 40+ old electric oven with a GE cafe series gas oven. It was between that and a newer electric oven with 2 equal sized ovens underneath. The problem with the new electric ovens are that they are less resistant to damage than the older models with the exposed stove top filaments. They are essentially a flat surface and would be easily damaged if I dropped a cast-iron skillet on the surface. So we went with a gas. The gas ovens have a cast iron barrier that goes over the burners so they are far more secure if you drop a hot frying pan due to a oil burn. In the process of cooking, you will most likely burn yourself so its a relief to know that dropping the frying pan won’t destroy the stove top.
The model we got actually has a slide out electric oven that is underneath the full size oven. I don’t use it often since its slower to warm up, but its nice for when I cook a large volume of food and want to warm up something at a different temperature. The full size double oven was best, but they know longer make that style oven anymore.
Gas cooks a lot faster especially for frying. Where it might take 6 minutes a side to fry boneless chicken thighs, it takes 4 minutes a side with gas. This is on mid heat. On full power it would probably take 2 minutes however the splattering would be quite dangerous I would think, so I haven’t use full heat that often. I use close to full heat on when I sear tuna steaks, and that takes me about 1 minute per side to get a nice searing with super rare interior. It cools very fast after its off the heat so it has to be made right before we eat.
The hottest burner on the stove top is the bottom right one. It gets 15,000 btus and will boil water in about 2 minutes. However at that rate it also really heats up the handle so you need to use a glove to lift up the tea pot. The other burners have different levels of btus and will cook things at different temperatures. The front two are best for frying up things and the back are better for simmering. I have not use the middle burner since I rarely make pancakes.
The oven itself doesn’t really cook super fast compare to the electric, however its pretty reliable. Although I had a scare at one point where a bbq grilled hotdogs was being warmed up and fell into the burner, starting to really stink up the oven. There was a lot of smoke and I had to turn off the oven to pull out the then charred hot dog. The fire comes from the top and bottom areas. The fire near the top is a bit more intense and that is where you place the foods you want broiled. It will sear the skin better and leave a cool inside if done correctly. If the food is further away it cooks the entire food more evenly which is better for baking. Broiling takes about 10 minutes before its warm enough.
The microwave which is separate I honestly don’t use much. I find it difficult to use a the knob as opposed to simply entering in time with a number pad. We have a separate old microwave that I still use. From what I have seen of its use its pretty powerful if you get used to it.
The controls are pretty simple to use. Rather than use a dial to get a the right temperature, you key them in at the control panel. I still use manual timers so I haven’t used the built in timers. Apparently the timers will turn of the oven when it reaches the desired time. It would be nice to have a setting where it would automatically drop to a set warming temperature like 225 F until ready to serve. Probe cooking works but inserting a the included digital temp probe into the meat, and the oven turns off when the internal temperature reaches the desired temperature. I only used that once for a turkey so far, since it would probably be over kill for a steak. If you have any more questions about it just ask. The oven can do a lot more types of cooking than the old one, I just haven’t really used them all in the last few months.
primally kosher 