On the subject of appliances...

We were walking around, looking at dishwashers yesterday, when Dottie saw something that really caught her eye.  It was an electric stove with two ovens:  a smalle one just below the cooktop, and a larger one below that.  She got to thinking, and that makes a lot of sense; she almost never uses the whole ove, just one shelf for a pizza, cookies, cake, etc. 

Something like this, but not this model (or this price!):



What do you ladies think?

I would LOOOOVE something like that!  Esp around the holidays when you want to cook 2 things at different temps.  Or keep some things warm in one part even.  I have a drawer under my stove that holds stuff I barely use.  Baking pans mostly I think!  It catches crumbs and I hate cleaning them out of it.  Eeeewwww just thinking of it....  So that stove would be my 2nd dream after having a built in double wall oven (so it's not so low to the ground, to make things easier to see and pick up) and a separate range top on an island so you can cook without facing a wall for those stir-intensive dishes.

It's a great idea, because you often only have one thing in a large oven, which frankly is a waste of energy as well as time while you wait for it to reach the proper temperature. It would probably also last a lot longer than a combination microwave, which a lot of people use for baking small amounts.

We discussed getting a turkey out of that bottom oven.... 

We have an electric stove with a double oven and I'd never do without one again. It's a GE Profile, but I don't remember the model number and we've had it now for about 4-5 years. We have the big oven on top, and it's a regular size oven, and the "drawer" that is at the bottom? Well, that's the smaller second oven. It works well for me, largely because of turkeys and such. The little drawer oven is great for things like scalloped corn or baked beans, things that usually go into a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. It's not good for foods in deep casseroles because the heating element is only about seven or eight inches or so above the dish. It has a separate knob for the double oven and that's a turning knob....the rest of the stove is digital. Top temperature for the drawer oven is 475 degrees, which covers pretty much any food you want to bake. You are limited by the height, but it works OK for me. I have never burned anything in that little oven either. Honestly, I love it. It comes in very handily when we do big family dinners and I need to bake foods in that lower oven. It's not self-cleaning, but the big oven is.

I should mention that the big oven is also a convection oven and it has the temperature probe. One end goes into the top of the oven and the other end goes into the meat. It also has a Proof feature. Our house is cool in the winter and that Proof feature is wonderful when I'm trying to get my yeast doughs to rise in the big oven. It has five racks, too. If your wife doesn't bake bread or if your house is warmer, you wouldn't need the Proof feature. I bake a lot and it comes in handy. It was a little on the pricey side, but I cook a lot and it's a great oven for me.

My sister also has a double oven and hers is like the one you picture, only in black. I've used it often and I like that one, too. But the idea of taking a turkey out of that bottom oven is problematic, especially if the turkey is a big one and if either of you have back issues. Around here, we do 24+ pound turkeys and it gets heavy, esp considering that you're bending down quite a bit just to get to that bottom oven (keep in mind people with bad backs....I have flour blown disks in my lower back, so I have to be very careful). We managed at Thanksgiving. But it's not easy.

My dream oven is a Viking or a Wolf with the dual-heat....large gas stove and side-by-side electric ovens. They're so expensive it's not even funny, so I'll probably never have one in my kitchen. I love cooking with gas, but prefer baking with electricity. JMO.

I looked at those when we were in the line for a new stove, but I chose to go with the center griddle burner instead. I would like either I think though.

I'd like a double oven one too electric but it has to have regular heating elements instead of a smooth top due to my canning equipment will not work on a smooth top.

GailC said:

I'd like a double oven one too electric but it has to have regular heating elements instead of a smooth top due to my canning equipment will not work on a smooth top.

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I used my pressure canner on my smooth top stove last year? And my water canner. It took longer for the pressure to get up in the canner and I think it's because of the smooth top burners.  I had read where you shouldn't use some canning equipment on smooth top stoves because of the way the bottoms of the kettles are shaped. This summer, we'll use either our camping stove or the burner that's on our grill for canning duty instead of the stove.

I do like our smooth top stove, but man, it's a bugger to get spills off that thing. I have little marks in some areas from when we were doing applesauce.

Does you canning pot have a ridged bottom?  I recently bought a smooth top stove, and I have heard that you can't use those.  However,  I used DH's aunt's old canning pot (I inherited Aunt Helen's canning supplies when she died), and it has a flat bottom, and worked very nicely.

GailC said:

I'd like a double oven one too electric but it has to have regular heating elements instead of a smooth top due to my canning equipment will not work on a smooth top.

Click to expand...

I looked at mine today and its not entirely flat.  Spoke with a couple of ladies at Lowe's today and they said the pots have to be flat.  Some of the brands now have a 12" burner which they said can take a pot up to two inches larger.  I've read alot of websites on the pros and cons of glass tops though and one needs to be much more careful.  Nothing sitting on the top like I have now in case a it falls on the cook top.  Hot covers from pans cannot set on cooktop as they can cause cracking.  Lots and lots of comments about keeping the top clean.    Maybe there is a coil electric range with dual ovens (not likely though.....)