Shopping for a Gas Range

So, one quirk about the Louisville area is that when people sell their homes, they take the refrigerator, washer and dryer with them.  This struck me as a bit odd, but I understand it's common practice here.  And in a bit of good fortune, our sellers are also taking their electric stove too (I wanted a gas stove anyway).  Ultimately, I want to update our kitchen.

Anyway, if you've looked at my pintrest page, you'll see that I've been posting a lot of appliance pictures - and a lot of freestanding stoves, in particular.  Yes ... I've been looking at (dreaming about) Viking and GE Monogram.  Fortunately for us (and our budget), there are also a lot of really good, mid-priced appliances.  And this weekend was our window to scope some of them out.  My husband and I got a babysitter and went out appliance shopping.  It was fun!

Our first stop was a regular appliance store here in Louisville that carried the big name brands: GE, Kitchen Aid, Viking, Bertazzoni, etc.  We asked tons of question, got a lot of information, and generally got a feel for the various products.  Then, I wanted to check out a scratch and dent store here in Louisville.  I've never shopped at one of these stores, but I've heard others do it and have had great luck.  We went to Bargain Supply on Jefferson.  They had every appliance - and with various levels of damage.  I will coming back here because we also need a washer, dryer and television.

So lets start with the stoves.  It really came down to two stoves.  We came across a bella Bertazzoni - mama mia.  See below.

This beauty has the industrial/professional feel but at a much more reasonable (mid-range) price point; it was not damaged at all.  Karyn, our salesperson, raved about them.  She also said that all her customers who buy a Bertazzoni and then eventually move ... always comes back to buy another one.  Since stoves are their sole product and they've been doing it for years, it's no surprise that they make a great product.  The kicker is that they would throw in a new hood for free if we buy by 11/15.

I said that we found two.  The second was the GE Cafe dual fuel gas range.  This actually had a 20k BTU burner (vs. a slightly smaller, 18k burner for the Bertazzoni).  It also had 5 burners (vs. 4 for the Bertazzoni).  The middle burner grate can be removed and a griddle put it it's place.  It also has a baking drawer on bottom, which is really just a mini-oven.  The main oven was also somewhat larger, self-cleaning, and didn't feel as low to the ground - saving my aching back (yes, I'm old!).  See the beautiful GE Cafe range below.  It is quite nice but it doesn't have the same cool, industrial feel that I like.

So, what did we do?  We went back and forth.  But we opted for the GE Cafe range.  This was where we were leaning, given the second, baking drawer, the five burners, the larger oven, and the self-cleaning features.  The second baking drawer and the larger oven really sold me given our lifestyle. It's just more practical.

But the real kicker was our discovery.  A brand new, full-warranty GE Cafe dual fuel range arrived just a few hours earlier with one minor ding in the back right of the range (where it'll be hidden by cabinets anyway).

It was the only one they had and because of the ding, it was marked down ~$400.  And then Karyn made a point of mentioning that this particular range - especially in the dual fuel - doesn't show up often because of its high demand.  So, while the Bertozzoni gave the GE Cafe a run for it's money, the GE Cafe won out on price and functionality.

And, just as a side note, we also walked away with a GE Cafe french door refrigerator which typically runs ~ $2500, but lucky us, they were running a special and we got it for about $1K less!  If you're shopping for a french door refrigerator, go to Bargain Supply as they are running a $1499 special this week only!