We replaced our Jenn-Air dual fuel downdraft range with a KitchenAid gas
range and Kenmore hood.

The Jenn-Air downdraft was more effective at sucking heat from the
burners than removing smoke and grease. Even with the downdraft off,
the burners never seemed to that powerful. Cooking in a wok, even with
the Jenn-Air wok stand, never worked very well.

The KitchenAid has a 15K, a 12.5K, and 2 6K burners. What really sold
me was that a section of the grate over the 15K burner pulls out and
flips over to hold a wok ("Insta-Wok"). The 15K burner also has slow
simmer settings (using just the innermost of 3 sets of gas outlets).

I haven't used the wok yet, but the big burner works nicely for sauteing
and simmering (the pot/pan needs to be fairly large to use the high
flame); the 12.5K burner handles the tea kettle (which isn't big enough
for the high flame) nicely.

The sealed cooktop seems easy to clean, although the cast iron grates
are heavy and a bit awkward (each grate spans half the cooktop; where
can you put them when you have to move them to clean).

The instructions warn that the oven will give off an odd odor the first
few times it is used - they are correct - I'm running the oven empty for
a while with the hood on to burn off whatever it is.

The hood pulls 360 cu. ft per minute; Consumer Reports liked it. It
seems to do the job, even pulls in steam from the rice cooker on the
countertop next to the stove. It's not too loud (less than the Jenn-Air
blower) and when not running full out (fan is adjustable) can be very quiet.

Installation was a real adventure - a kitchen remodel had made the hood
space too narrow by the width of the veneer glued on to the cabinets.
That had to come off first.

Then, the gas outlet was in the way of the new range - the plumber
needed to re-route it so that it now comes up from below the floor into
a cabinet, goes through an accessible shut-off valve (the old one was
behind the range), back under the floor, and back up right up against
the wall. The electrician had to change the 220v circuit to 110 and
install an up-to-code wall socket to plug the stove into. Then, it took
3 tries to get the anti-tilt bracket screwed in to the floor in the
right place. But we finally got it in and working.

The one hitch is that the ignitor on the big burner worked the first few
times but now doesn't light. The burner works fine when I use a
lighter, so the problem isn't the gas flow. I've already e-mailed KA;
we'll see how fast they get a service rep here.

http://www.kitchenaid.com/catalog/pr...roductId=46 7
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Regards

Louis Cohen

"Yes, yes, I will desalinate you, you grande morue!"

Émile Zola, Assommoir 1877