While sleek styling and a dazzling array of features might impress, what’s most important is a range’s ability to perform some very basic tasks really, really well, day in and day out. And that’s what we zero in on when we’re choosing the best electric ranges. Here’s what our recommended ranges have in common:
They heat water fast. The best ranges in our tests bring a large pot of water to a near-boil quickly.
They simmer steadily. They have a low-heat burner that maintains a steady temperature when simmering liquids, so you don’t need to stir constantly to avoid scorching.
They bake and broil evenly. Cakes and cookies emerge uniformly baked from multiple racks. And the broilers heat evenly while still getting hot enough to sear.
They offer plenty of space. Many manufacturers inflate oven sizes by counting the space you can’t cook with, like the bottom of the oven. We measure and score usable capacity from the lowest rack position.
They self-clean well. For ranges with a self-cleaning feature, we bake a truly disgusting mixture of eggs, tapioca, pie filling, and a few other tough-to-remove foods onto the walls of the oven and then run the self-clean cycle. Then our techs give each model a good wipe-down to see how effectively the self-clean feature loosens grime. (That said, many ranges don’t have a self-clean feature, and that’s okay, too. Here’s how to clean an oven without a self-clean setting.)
They’re reliable. We survey thousands of CR members each year about the reliability of their gas, electric, and pro-style ranges, and tabulate scores based on those responses.
