Anyone who whips up gourmet meals on a regular basis, makes everyday dinners, or is enough of a gourmet to open up a restaurant knows how important it is to have a high-quality range that works for you and your kitchen. And since a range is often the heart and soul of a kitchen, it’s important to have one that looks good as well. Today’s ranges are available with dozens of features that make it easy to prepare a gourmet delight, as well as being something that you’ll be proud to show off.

When shopping for a range, you’ll find these three options from which to choose: electric, gas, and dual-fuel. Electric and gas ranges are completely powered by electricity or gas, respectively. A dual-fuel, however, has an electric oven and a gas cooktop—by some considered the best of both cooking worlds.
You can depend on most electric ranges to provide consistently good performance, including even heating and flexible features for many cooking purposes. Electric ranges use two types of cooktop heat—the standard coil burner or smoothtop ceramic glass cooktops with electric elements sealed beneath the solid surface.
Gas range cooktops allow you to select different levels of heat, cool down or heat up your cookware instantly, and allow precise temperature control. They retain little heat when the burner is off, so cooking stops almost immediately. If you’re shopping for a gas range, consider a model with electronic ignition, an automatic system that instantly lights the burners. Typically, gas ranges are more expensive than comparable electric models.
Dual-fuel ranges give you both types of cooking: a gas cooktop and an electric oven. You get the power and precision of the gas cooktop combined with the efficiency and convenience of an electric oven.

Size Matters

Ovens are discussed in terms of cubic feet. To choose a range, here’s some guidelines to determine the oven cavity size best suited for your family size:
1-2 people 2-3 cubic feet
3-4 people 3-4 cubic feet
4 or more people 4+ cubic feet

Installation

Ranges can be built-in, freestanding, and slide-in. Freestanding ranges have a backsplash, panels on both sides and can stand alone in a kitchen. They do not need to be installed between cabinets. A slide-in range is like a free-standing range, but without the backsplash. The controls are frequently on the front of the unit. Built-in ranges are exactly that: built into the surrounding cabinetry.

Ready to Shop

Your specific cooking needs should point you towards certain range features. Big families and households that entertain a lot will benefit from a six-burner cooktop, or perhaps a range wih two ovens. Teenagers who trail in from sports practice may lead you to a range with a warming drawer. A dehydration feature in the oven will let you dry herbs and preserve fruit.
Look for convenience features that are important to you. A self-cleaning oven is the most popular, but large viewing windows, extra shelves, removable doors, storage drawers, electronic controls, timers, and lighting are also in high demand by many consumers. Many ranges have a variable self-clean feature that lets you determine the amount of time the oven will clean, which is more convenient than having your oven unavailable for a cleaning cycle, which is usually 2-4 hours.

Broiling is a great way to prepare many foods, locking in moisture and flavor.
Here are some tips from the chefs at Dacor for successful broiling in your range:

• Bring foods to room temperature before broiling or they won’t brown/sear as well
• Slit the fatty edges off meat to keep it from curling
• Remove the outer fat layer from steaks and chops
• Cook thin meat on high as fast as you can; if they are cooked too long, they’ll dry up
• Cook thin items on high to sear in the juices and then complete the cooking in the
oven at a lower temperature
• Don’t pierce meat with a fork; the juices will escape
• Brush meats with an oil to lock in moisture and marinate them to retain flavors

Convection Cooking with Success

According to Chef Larissa Taboryski of Purcell Murray, a cooking distributor in Brisbane, CA, for the best success when cooking with a convection oven, follow these tips:

Roasting: use a shallow pan with a rack so the air can circulate around the food.

Baking: use light colored aluminum pans and always reduce the temperature by at least 25 degrees.

Large cuts of meat cook very quickly in convection, so it is important to use a meat probe or thermometer.

We asked America’s top chefs their preferences in ranges and what tips they have for cooking on them. Read on!

Jim Coleman, host of the television series “Flavors of America” and restaurant owner in Normandy Farm., PA	Larissa Taboryski, culinary guru and product education genius at Purcell Murray, distributors of fine cooking appliances in Brisbane, CA.	Caprial Pence, co-owner with John Pence of Caprial’s Bistro in Portland, OR and Caprial and John’s Kitchen Cooking School.