March 5, 2007 - 8:17am
Restaurant-grade ovens?
Hi all,
Just wondered if anyone is baking in, or is investigating, a used restaurant range? In the last 12 months I've twice blown out the electronic sensors in my not-very-old home Maytag. I've explored the Viking, Aga, Jenn-aire and KitchenAid models, but wonder if there might not be great value in a used commercial range. Would appreciate your thoughts.
Sylvia
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Issues you would need to consider would include whether or not your house has sufficient electric and/or natural gas capacity to support a restaurant stove, whether or not any additonal safety equipment would be required (particularly fume hood and automatic fire suppression), and in general the question of what local building codes would apply and whether or not the code dept would allow the installation in your jurisdiction and/or your specific application.
I suspect Viking's advice would be that they designed their home stoves to give professional results within these constraints.
sPh
SPh,
Thanks for the note. I'll keep those issues in mind as I go trolling around the area. I live in a rural community on the north western edge of Wisconsin; just an hour outside St. Paul, Minnesota. Every once in a while a restaurant shuts its doors and equipment can become available. And, of course, there are those businesses within a 100-miles radius that broker the used ranges.
Sylvia
We have a Dacor - the white 4 burner, dual fuel convection range and are not very happy with it. We've had SO many EXPENSIVE repairs on it, not to mention a face plate that keeps cracking but they replace that for free. whatever. I love the stove top but I'm not happy with the range, especially when you consider the $$$$ for it. I've used cheapo's in base houseing for year, and never had problems! I have a "junk" oven on my back porch I got at an auction - it bakes better than the dacor!
I know the dacor we have isn't commercial, but it was a 2000 dollar range!
Anyone else out there have a Dacor they've had problems with?
Cecelia
cecilB - thanks for the warning. I've seen the commercial Dacor's at local cooking school, and wondered about those made for the home.
Just got a note from my sis - the interior decorator - who mentioned that the used restaurant ranges should not butt up against any cabinets, should have a hood able to handle the specific range, and wouldn't need special gas hookup. However, if an electric range, might need special hookup for that.
I guess I'll see what I discover as I snoop around. If I find anything of interest, I'll report back.
Sylvia