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This range lacks any extraneous features, but it does offer helpful bake settings, burners that can get astoundingly low, and an electric griddle. Read More
Beyond its bold design, Wolf's dual-fuel range offers superior control and versatility. Read More
This sleek German range is designed to make cooking a lot easier. Once you get used to the touchscreen, it will. Read More
The Monogram features a slew of extra features you won't find on most pro-level oven ranges, but its max temperatures aren't as hot as you'd expect. Read More
Serious home cooks like dual-fuel ranges because they combine the best of both worlds: Gas burners for superior control, and an electric oven for even baking.
That’s why high-end appliance companies—like Thermador, Wolf, Miele, and Monogram—specialize in dual-fuel ranges with pro-style looks. For an upscale remodeling project, most designers recommend at least a 36-inch model because they’re large enough to fit at least five pots and pans with room to spare, and offer enough oven space to prep for a dinner party.
At Reviewed, we cooked on 10 of the top-rated dual-fuel ranges on the market. We recorded how evenly they broiled, whether their ovens had any hot spots or cool areas, how well they roasted, how fast they boiled, and how low they simmered. (If you want to know more, you can read all about how we test.)
Armed with that knowledge, we can recommend our favorite 36-inch dual-fuel ranges, the Thermador Pro Harmony PRD364GDHU. (available at AJ Madison)
These are the best 36-inch dual-fuel ranges we tested ranked, in order:
Dual fuel ranges combine the power of an induction cooktop with the even baking of a gas oven.
One of the main ways to differentiate ranges is by their fuel type: gas, electric, dual-fuel, and induction.
• Gas — Lower cooktop temperatures, faster water boiling, potential for uneven cooking/baking because of central flame location
• Electric — Higher cooktop temperatures, slower water boiling, more even cooking/baking because of heat distribution over coil
• Dual-fuel — Faster water boiling, more even cooking/baking because of heat distribution over coil
• Induction — Super faster water boiling, very high and low cooktop temperatures, requires special cookware, may require recipe modification
Depending on your cooking and baking priorities, as well as the way you learned to cook, one of these fuel types might be more appealing than the rest. One more thing to consider: dual-fuel and induction ranges are typically more expensive than gas and electric ranges.
True Convection is an oven setting that includes installing an extra heating element and a fan in the oven. By adding an additional heating unit and fan that circulates the hot air, True Convection is great for ensuring that cookies or cakes baked on different racks will bake through at the same rate, rather than the cookies closest to the bottom heat source cooking faster than those on the rack higher up. If you don't see mention of "True Convection" or "European Convection", but do see the word "convection" in a range's specs, it means that the unit lacks an additional heating element, but does have a fan to circulate the hot air. While you don't get the full baking and cooking effect that you would with True Convection, the added heat circulation can cook or bake food more evenly than it would without a fan.
There are also ranges out there that do not offer convection options at all; these ovens aren't bad, it will just take more time to cook and bake food all the way through. If you're a frequent baker or cook, convection can be a great time saver, but your dinners won't suffer unduly without it.
In a nutshell, slide-in ranges are meant to sit flush with your countertops, while freestanding ranges are meant to sit on top of any surface. While slotting in and sitting on top of your countertop may seem similar, the main differences between the two involve finish and ease of cleaning. Because freestanding ranges are visible from all slides, they have a more finished look; slide-in ranges are meant to have their sides hidden by the cabinetry, so the finish typically isn't as pretty on the sides.
Additionally, because slide-in ranges sit flush with your countertop, they're a bit easier to clean because they do not have a large lip around the edge. Freestanding ranges often have larger lips around the edge of the cooktop to corral any crumbs that would otherwise decorate your floor. Freestanding ranges also typically have a back-mounted control panel for the same reason.
While slide-in ranges will do fine in a freestanding arrangement, the reverse is less true. If your current cooking setup has the range sitting in a cabinet or countertop cutout, we recommend replacing that range with another slide-in range. Conversely, if your range stands alone in your kitchen, we'd recommend replacing it with another freestanding range to cut down on food debris spilling everywhere.
As we mentioned earlier, most freestanding ranges have back-mounted controls, but some slide-in ranges do as well. Both arrangements have pros and cons; on the one hand, having back-mounted controls means you may have to reach over hot food to adjust the oven temperature, the controls are also far enough away that you would have difficulty hitting something on the control panel by accident. On the other hand, front-mounted controls are easier to reach, but that convenience can turn against you if you brush up against a knob accidentally. Consider the ergonomics of using the range when it comes to picking a front- or back-mounted control panel.
Depending on how much time you spend in the kitchen, it might be worth it to investigate in some extra options for your range. When it comes to the cooktop, anything above the standard four-burner setup is a bonus. Some ranges can have five, or even six burners; however, the more burners a range has, the more difficult it becomes to fit large pieces of cookware, such as a spaghetti pot and a frying pan, on their respective burners at the same time.
Sometimes, those extra burners are specialty burners are designed to accommodate special cookware such as a griddle or a wok; other burners are bridge burners that are meant to keep food warm without continuing to cook it.
Another possibility is to have a dual-ring burner, or a burner that includes a stronger heat source wrapped around a weaker heat source. That way, on a single burner, you can choose to use just the smaller heat source for lower temperatures, but you can add the stronger heat source if you need higher temperatures.
As for extra oven features, they can include everything from accessories like special oven racks or a temperature probe to special cooking features like the aforementioned convection settings, fast preheat (which expedites the preheating process), bread proofing (where the oven settings are customized to activate yeast and make bread rise), steam cooking (where you pour water into a reservoir and gently cook something with the resulting steam), air fry mode (where you can expeditiously fry frozen and fresh foods, similar to an air fryer) and many, many more options.
Iconic design
A great deal of control
Unique modes for breadmaking and drying fruit
None that we could find
Over 100 automatic smart recipes
Fingerprint-free finish
Preheats quickly
Touch controls may take some adjustment
A variety of extra cook settings
Built-in timer
Exceptional low-end burner temps
Insufficient upper-end temperatures
Keith was the Editor in Chief of Reviewed's appliance and automotive sites. His work has appeared in publications such as Wired, Car & Driver, and CityLab.
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