[5 of 5 customers found this review helpful]

GE 30 in. Freestanding Double Oven Range Review

Dissapointed

"I was initially very exicted to get a double oven. We picked this model because the stoves were larger and seemed better built. Unfortunately, the cook top caused us to return the unit, not becasue of cleaning, but because of performance. Here's the deal...We cook a lot and we especially cook large volumes. I make my own stock, sauces, etc. We tried to boil potatos in a 12-quart stock pot with about 6 quarts of water, after 45 minutes, the water had not boiled! We tried to cook pasta in 4 quarts of water in a 6 quart pan. A boil was not reached for 25 then 30 minutes on two attempts. Once the pasta was in the water, it took too long for the temperature to rebound and the pasta was pretty much mush. Tried cooking bacon on the bridge burner. It burned in some places, undercooked in others. Also tried making some soups. Burners could not hold a consistent even temp and the veggies turned to mush. Sauces, especially cream sauces, scorched like crazy. Apparently, the elements are either "off" or "on" and the temp is regulated by the frequency of the on/off cycle. I timed this during one of the water boiling attempts, the on cycle lasted only 10 to 14 seconds. According to a repair guy, that's the way the unit is designed to avoid damage to the glass top. Unless you're only going to heat up canned soup, you really can't do much with this cooktop. On design, the small back burners are positioned way to close to the back panel, allowing only the smallest, shallowest pots to be placed there.



The ovens were good. Top oven heated rapidly, bottom oven cooked nicely. Used the probe for a turkey (slightly overdone) and chicken breasts (slightly underdone). Probably will work fine once you figure out the correct temperature settings for you preference of doneness. Obviously, the size of the bird/roast matters. Tried the convection oven to bake a coffee cake. Didn't seem to rise as much as I'm used to and the crumb topping turned to a butterly liquid rather than a nice crumb texture. Had to broil it to crisp it up.



Anyway, very dissapointed I had to return, but there was no way I waould have been able to tolerate the inability of this unit to put out an even cooking temperature. The 15% restocking fee was worth it to get rid of the unit. I'm now extremely skeptical of glasstop units.



On the delivery, the guys put a box cutter slash in the top and then the pick guys found additional dents in the sides. Make sure you look very closely at hte unit wen it arrives."