Choosing a new range can be daunting. Not only is it a major purchase but there’s a huge selection of products available at a wide price range. Which one is best for you depends on how you cook, your sense of style and, of course, your budget. To help you make a smart decision, we interviewed Kimberly Kerl, a professional residential designer and owner of Custom Home Design in Greenville, South Carolina; Steven Sheinkopf, CEO of Yale Appliances, a retail appliance chain in Massachusetts; and Shirley Hood, an appliance expert at Abt, an appliance retailer in Illinois. Then we visited stores and showrooms and reviewed specifications and consumer reviews for all the major brands — and came up with great advice as to how to choose the right range for your kitchen as well as great buys in several categories.
This handsome gas range has lots of bells and whistles, but most importantly, brings water to a boil fast, simmers steadily and bakes evenly. Plus, GE has a reputation for reliability.
With a high-power burner, an air fryer setting and a self-cleaning oven, this value-priced range gives you a lot for your money.
Cooks who never have enough oven space will love this range. With two ovens that can be used simultaneously at different temperatures, it can broil steaks and bake biscuits at the same time.
You can depend on this electric range for top-notch cooking and baking results. Plus, it’s equipped with just about every imaginable convenience.
From its sleek styling, you’d never know this range was value priced. And it’s more than a pretty face: It has lots of useful extras, including smart technology.
On this model, you get the ultimate in flexibility. In addition to two ovens, both of which have self-cleaning cycles, this range features a cooktop with a set of powerful burners.
This affordable model is a good entry into induction cooking. You’ll find it faster, more responsive and safer than a traditional electric smoothtop range.
Best gas range overall: GE Profile Smart 30-Inch Freestanding Gas Range
$1,499 $1,294 at Abt Electronics; $1,499 $1,298 at Home Depot; or $1,350 $1,299 at Best Buy
GE ranges have a reputation for giving even results on the cooktop and in the oven, and this freestanding gas range meets that expectation and then some. It’s also stylish and has just about every conceivable feature you could want.
Both the front burners are high powered so you can boil water for spaghetti and pan-grill hamburgers at the same time. In the center of the cooktop, there’s an oval griddle burner, and a reversible cast-iron griddle/grill is included with the range. As the cast-iron grates are continuous, it’s easy to move a pot from one burner to another.
With 5.6 cubic feet of space, even your largest roasting pan should easily be accommodated in this oven. It’s equipped with three shelves, so you can cram in a trio of cookie sheets at once or load it up with Thanksgiving sides while the turkey’s resting. The oven also has convection capabilities, and when you program in the temperature you typically use, the oven will automatically calculate the convection temperature and lower it accordingly. We love the air fryer feature too, which can be used for crispy chicken nuggets or brussels sprouts and eliminates the need to clutter your countertop with a bulky air fryer appliance.
While the oversized grates may not fit in the kitchen sink, you can clean them in the dishwasher or the oven during a self-clean cycle. The oven has a high-heat self-cleaning feature that will get rid of spatters from a roast chicken or burned-on messes from a lasagna that’s bubbled over. For a lightly soiled oven, there’s also a steam-clean setting. Plus, the finish is fingerprint-resistant to smudges and smears and is available in stainless or black stainless colorways.
Wi-Fi is built into this range, so when you connect it to a companion app, you can control the range on your mobile device or via Alexa or Google Assistant. When new features are introduced, you’ll even be notified and can download them to your range.
Best budget gas range: Frigidaire 30-Inch Gas Range with Air Fry
$1,399 $898 at Frigidaire; $1,199 $898 at Home Depot; $1,199 $899 at Abt Electronics
Although it’s very reasonably priced, this Frigidaire gas range has all the features we think are essential in a range. In the words of Hood, you get “bang for your buck.”
On the cooktop, there’s a high-powered burner of 18,000 British thermal units that you can use on weeknights to get macaroni on the table fast and a nice griddle burner for cooking eggs and pancakes on weekends (but you will have to purchase a griddle to use on it).
The 5.1-cubic-foot oven features two racks and a convection mode; however, unlike the GE, it doesn’t automatically convert the temperature for convection. The Frigidaire oven has an air fry setting too, though it requires preheating. The oven also has a self-clean feature.
Best double oven gas range: LG 6.9-Cubic-Foot Double-Oven Gas Range
$1,799 $1,298 at Home Depot; $1,799 $1,299 at LG; or $1,800 $1,300 at Best Buy
Cooks who bake, roast and broil often and find themselves challenged to coordinate cooking foods that require different temperature settings will love the this 6.8-cubic-foot double-oven gas range from LG, which has two oven cavities.
The top oven is the smaller of the two, making it convenient for heating pizzas, broiling or keeping a casserole warm. Below, there’s a 4.3-cubic-foot convection oven with two racks. When you select convection mode and enter a temperature, it will automatically lower the setting.
On the stovetop, the LG has a high-powered burner and an oval griddle burner, and the grates are dishwasher-safe. We love the fact that both ovens have a traditional self-cleaning function as well as one called EasyClean for light touch-ups.
By connecting the oven to a companion app, you can control the oven on your phone as well as get a remote diagnosis if something goes wrong.
Best electric range overall: GE Profile 30-Inch Glass Top Free-Standing Smart Electric Range
$1,349 $1,208 at The Home Depot; $1,215 at Best Buy; or $1,299 at Lowe’s
Because of its excellent cooking and baking performance, this GE smart freestanding range is our top pick for an electric range. We also love that it’s loaded with truly helpful features.
On the stovetop, there are five heating elements. The one you’re likely to cook on most often is the high-wattage element in the front that can be used with a 12-, 9- or 6-inch pot. There are two elements with the same power on one side of the range that can be turned on simultaneously to create a griddle zone, and in the center of the cooktop, you’ll find a low-wattage warming burner.
There’s a spacious 5.3-cubic-foot oven with three racks, and in our experience, a GE oven can bake three sheets of cookies at once without any need to rotate them. There’s a convection mode that will automatically convert the temperature you input, and with the no-preheat air fryer feature, you can crisp up french fries or chicken cutlets and forgo buying a countertop air fryer.
To clean the oven you can use either the very effective high-heat self-cleaning setting or the steam-clean feature for lighter jobs. This range is available in fingerprint-resistant stainless or black stainless.
If you connect the range to Wi-Fi, you can control it on your mobile device or with Alexa or Google Assistant. When GE introduces new features, you’ll be notified and can download them to your range.
Best budget electric range: Samsung 6.3-cubic-foot Smart Wi-Fi-Enabled Convection Electric Range
$1,099 $799 at Home Depot; $1,136 $799 at Samsung; or $990 $800 at Best Buy
You get an awful lot for your money with this Samsung electric range. For starters, it’s sleek and definitely doesn’t look like a value-price model. Sheinkopf says, Samsung makes a great-looking product line and “made everybody up their style game.”
Both the front burners have high wattage for bringing water to a boil quickly or searing steaks. A dedicated warming burner in the rear of the cooktop is ideal for keeping soup hot until everyone comes to the table.
The oven is a whopping 6.3 cubic feet, so you can cook a large steamship roast or just several casseroles at once. When you use it in convection mode, it will adjust the temperature automatically, and it has an air fry setting that doesn’t require preheating. For ease of cleaning, it has both a traditional self-clean cycle and a quick-steam setting.
As you would expect from a company that specializes in technology, this range communicates with a companion app via Wi-Fi, allowing you to search a recipe database and preheat or adjust the temperature from your mobile device. You can also manage it via Alexa or Google Assistant.
The Samsung is offered in smudge-and-smear-proof stainless and black stainless steel.
Best double-oven electric range: LG 7.3-Cubic-Foot Double-Oven Electric Range
$1,699 $1,299 at LG; $1,699 $1,299 at Abt Electronics; or $1,700 $1,300 at Best Buy
This LG electric range top is our top choice for cooks who need the convenience of two electric ovens that can be used simultaneously at different temperatures. The powerful cooktop also has two high-wattage elements and a warming burner.
It has a 3-cubic-foot oven on top with broil, pizza, and warm settings and a 4.3-cubic-foot convection oven with two racks below. Both ovens have a traditional self-cleaning function as well as one called EasyClean for light touch-ups.
By connecting the oven to a companion app, you can control the oven on your phone as well as get a remote diagnosis if something goes wrong.
Best induction range: Frigidaire 30-Inch Induction Range
$1,699 $1,098 at The Home Depot; $1,949 $1,098 at Frigidaire; $1,699 $1,099 at Abt Electronics
All the experts we spoke to told us that induction is the way of the future. While many induction ranges are still quite expensive, this moderately priced Frigidaire model can help you get ahead of the trend without spending a bundle. Just keep in mind that like virtually all induction ranges currently on the market, it’s a slide-in model, which means it has to be installed between two cabinets, and for a polished look, you’ll want a backsplash on the wall behind it.
The Frigidaire has a bridge burner on the cooktop that you can use for a griddle or oversized pan and a large 5.3-cubic-foot convection oven with a self-cleaning setting.
How to pick a range
First decision: Gas, electric or induction?
Most people don’t have a choice as to whether to choose an electric or gas range. In order to easily install a gas range, you have to live in an area that has a natural gas line. If you live in a home with an outdoor space, you can decide to use liquefied petroleum (LP) gas. However, that’s an extra expense and means you’ll have a large, not particularly attractive tank on your property. On the other hand, electric ranges require a more powerful circuit than the ones that power other household electric appliances. If you have a gas range in your kitchen and want to switch to an electric model, Sheinkopf strongly recommends that you have an electrician pay a visit to determine if you’ll need a new electric line in your kitchen and how much it will cost. A third option, induction is an energy-efficient version of electric stovetop heating. On induction ranges, the oven will be the same as on a typical electric range.
What’s great about gas
Gas burners heat up quickly and are very responsive. When you’re making something like an omelet that cooks in just a few minutes, you can be rolling it onto a plate sooner than an electric element heats up. If you’re stirring custard, you can lower the heat as soon as it starts to thicken to prevent scorching. With gas, it’s also easy to gauge the heat level by looking at the height of the flame.
According Hood, gas ovens have improved a great deal over the years. When we tested them, we found they’re now almost as good as electric ovens for baking and often do a better job of roasting. A gas oven that’s equipped with an infrared broiler rivals an outdoor grill when it comes to browning and crusting steaks and chops. However, infrared broilers are primarily found on pricey pro-style ranges.
In a kitchen, a gas range gives a more traditional look. One with a commercial look — a stainless steel finish, oversized knobs and a towel bar oven handle — makes a statement that cooking is important to the household.
Keep in mind: Sheinkopf emphasizes the importance of having a hood or exhaust fan above a gas range to clean the air of fumes. The best hoods vent to the outside.
What’s to love about electric
While it takes electric elements longer to get hot than gas burners, once they do, they heat more quickly. They can bring a large pot of water for spaghetti to a boil as much as 10 minutes faster.
When you use a pan with a perfectly flat disc on the bottom on an electric range, you get extremely even browning and searing results.
Electric ranges are sleeker and more modern looking. With their flat glass cooktops, they’re a lot easier to clean than gas ranges, as they have fewer crevices to collect debris and don’t have grates to remove and scrub in the sink.
When it comes to indoor air quality, electric ranges are better than gas ranges. They release less carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and other pollutants, all of which can be problematic for anyone with asthma or another respiratory illness.
Keep in mind: You do need to be vigilant about cleaning up after boilovers or splatters to prevent residue from burning onto the surface and becoming hard to scrape off.
Why induction is becoming popular
While not so many years ago, induction ranges were premium priced, you can now buy one for as low as about $1000. Sheinkopf predicts that they will eventually replace all other electric models; however, right now, most induction ranges are slide-in models rather than freestanding ones. That means you need to be able to install it where the sides won’t show and you will want to put a backsplash on the wall above it.
Just like electric ranges, induction models have a smooth glass surface, but below that surface there are coiled copper wires. An electric current passes through the coils, creating a magnetic current that heats up pots and pans directly without heating the surface of the cooktop. That’s why induction elements heat up much faster than standard electric ones: There’s no waiting time before the butter for your eggs starts to melt or your soup starts to simmer. In under 15 minutes, a large pot of pasta water can be at a rolling boil.
As induction elements react instantly, they give the same kind of control you get from a gas burner. As marinara starts to bubble, you can lower the heat setting to a simmer before the sauce starts boiling over and spattering on the cooktop.
Induction elements also give very precise temperature control. When you select a setting, the heat remains steady so that if you’re making beef stew or chili, it stays at a constant simmer and you don’t have to continually stir and/or adjust the heat.
An induction cooktop is safer than electric or gas. It won’t heat up unless there’s a pot on top of an element, so even if you accidentally turn one on, you don’t have to worry that someone will get a burn from touching the surface. Kerl recommends induction ranges for multigenerational homes or people who are aging in place. However, when it’s operating, the area under a pot will absorb heat from the pot itself.
Induction cooktops are the most energy efficient as heat is transferred directly to the cookware and none is lost into the air. They cost less to run, and the reduced energy usage is better for the environment.
Keep in mind: Induction cooktops require cookware with magnetic properties. If a magnet sticks to the bottom of a pot, it’s good to go. It’s also important to choose pans with perfectly flat bottoms. A ruler placed on the bottom of a pot should lie flat from end to end.
Other things to consider
Freestanding or slide-in
Freestanding ranges are the most widely sold and easiest to install. As they’re finished on the sides, they can be used anywhere in the kitchen, even a corner. Slide-in ranges have unfinished sides and slip between cabinets to give a custom, built-in look. As all the controls are at the front of a slide-in range, you can install an attractive backsplash behind it.
Gas burners/electric elements
Check the BTUs on gas burners and watts on electric elements. The higher the number, the greater the cooking power. Look for at least one high-powered burner with 15,000 BTUs or 3,000 watts or greater that you can use for boiling water fast and searing steaks and chops.
Bridge or oval burners are great for cooking in oversized pans like griddles and oval casseroles or for deglazing a roasting pan to make gravy. On electric ranges, there are either two adjacent equally powered elements or an additional burner between the front and back elements to connect them and form one long oval burner. Gas ranges will feature oval burners in the center of the cooktop. Often a reversible griddle comes with a range that has a bridge or griddle burner.
Oven
Oven size is measured in cubic feet. We recommend choosing a range with an oven that’s 5.0 cubic feet or larger. While a smaller one may still accommodate a large turkey, it may not hold as many side dishes. If you have a favorite oversized roasting pan or cookie sheet, don’t hesitate to bring it with you when you’re shopping to check if it will fit; if you’re shopping online, measure the pan from handle end to handle end and compare it to the dimensions of the oven racks, not the oven itself.
Convection ovens have a fan that circulates hot air to speed up cooking and promote browning. Often, they also have an element near or around the fan. When you use convection, you usually have to reduce the oven temperature and cooking time; some ovens will automatically convert the temperature for you. In our experience, convection works better for roasting than for baking, but results vary from brand to brand. While this feature is nice to have, we don’t consider it essential, especially if you rarely use your oven.
Ranges with two separate ovens allow you to cook different foods at different temperatures at the same time. We’ve found that you can even bake a sponge cake while you’re broiling salmon without worrying that your dessert will taste fishy. In some ranges, there are two separate cavities. In others, you place a divider into the oven to create two separate zones. While this is less convenient, it does give you the ability to use one large oven if you’re roasting a really large turkey or ham. Keep in mind that a range with a double oven doesn’t have a storage drawer.
We think a traditional self-cleaning cycle, often referred to as high-heat or pyrolytic self-cleaning, is absolutely necessary, and all the experts we spoke to agree. While a quick- or steam-clean cycle may help loosen burned-on grease and gunk, it won’t thoroughly clean an oven with lots of baked-on splatters from roast chickens and spillovers from pies and casseroles. Trust us on this. When you shop, be sure to read or ask about the self-cleaning feature included in any model you’re considering buying. We know that some of you are concerned about the heat produced by a self-cleaning cycle, but Hood assured us that in her 29 years with Abt, she has never heard of a fire from a self-cleaning oven.
Color
Stainless steel is the most widely available finish, and its popularity shows no sign of waning. Quite a few ranges are offered in black stainless steel, and when they are, we’ve noted that in our write-ups. However, Sheinkopf warns that it’s basically an oxide coating that can peel off like a piece of tape. Once you nick it, he says, you can’t do anything about it.
Service
Sheinkopf says what you really need to worry about is how your new range will be delivered, installed and serviced, and Kerl goes as far as to say the “service company is more important than the brand.” Before you buy a product that you like, Sheinkopf recommends that you “google service near you.” He also suggests buying from a retailer, whether online or at a store, that will ship the range from your area and not from across the country, to decrease the amount of travel stress that the appliance experiences.