The burner deck alone, dropped into a counter cutout and paired with a separate wall oven.
also: drop-in cooktop, built-in cooktop, hob
The basics
What to know about ranges & ovens
One cabinet, two appliances
A range is one cabinet carrying a cooktop on its lid and an oven in its belly, fed by a single fuel or power connection. Pull those halves apart and you get the rest of this family: a cooktop that drops into the counter, and a wall oven built into a cabinet at chest height. Almost every home range is 30 inches wide, with 20 and 24 inch versions for apartments and 36 or 48 inch versions for large kitchens. Freestanding models put the controls on a raised back panel and leave the sides unfinished. Slide-in models move the controls to the front and need finished countertop running behind them, so trading one for the other usually drags a countertop job along with it.
Three ways of making heat
Three ways of making heat sit under the cooktop, and where the heat starts explains how each behaves. A gas burner burns fuel beneath the pan, so the flame is visible, the response is instant. Only about 40 percent of the energy reaches the food while the rest warms the room. Radiant electric pushes current through a coil under glass-ceramic: the coil glows, the glass takes the heat, then the pan does. A power change arrives a second late, which is also why the surface stays dangerous long after the light fades. Induction drives an alternating magnetic field into the base of a magnetic pan and induces current there, making the pan its own heating element. Roughly 85 percent of the energy lands in the food, a quart of water boils in about half the time radiant needs, and the glass warms only by touching the hot pot. Ovens work more simply, heating still air inside an insulated box. Convection adds a fan, sometimes ringed by its own third element, that moves that air so the top and bottom racks finish together.
Begin at the supply line
Begin at the supply line rather than the showroom floor. A Gas Range fits a kitchen that already has a compliant gas line and a hood ducted outdoors, and it rewards wok cooking and charring peppers directly over the flame. A Radiant Electric Range is the least expensive full-size electric answer and drops into any kitchen with the dedicated 240 volt circuit an electric range needs in North America. An Induction Range pays back in hot climates, small closed kitchens and homes that want no combustion indoors, provided your pots pass a magnet test. Choose a Dual-Fuel Range only if you can say in one sentence why you want flame above and electric heat below, usually because you bake several times a week and dislike the moisture a gas oven adds to the cavity. A Wall Oven suits frequent bakers and anyone tired of kneeling to check a roast, and it frees the cooktop to sit on an island.
What burning gas indoors costs
Each of those choices sends a bill somewhere. Gas moves combustion indoors: burners release nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, fine particles and close to a pint of water vapor for every 10,000 BTU of gas burned, BTU being the unit that burner output is rated in, making ventilation part of the appliance rather than an accessory. Induction stays silent only until its cooling fan spins up, thin pans buzz at high power. Its power board costs several times what a radiant element costs to replace. Glass-ceramic scratches under a dragged cast iron skillet, and a sugar spill left to bake pits the surface for good. Wall ovens cost more to buy and much more to replace, because the next one has to land in a cutout framed years earlier. Double-oven ranges split roughly 6.7 cubic feet into a 2.2 cubic foot upper cavity and a 4.4 lower one. Neither will take a 20 pound turkey comfortably.
Bring your own pans
Bring your own pans and a clock to the showroom. Ask for the lowest burner output rather than the highest: a simmer burner rated at 5,000 BTU or less holds a sauce without scorching, while a 20,000 BTU power burner saves about a minute on a stockpot. Grates should let you slide a full Dutch oven from one burner to the next without lifting it. Pull the oven racks out fully while pressing down on the front edge and watch for tipping, then look for ball-bearing glides on at least one position and a bake element hidden under the floor, which makes spills wipeable. Close the door on a dollar bill and pull: firm resistance all the way around means the gasket seals. Preheat to 350 F should take 10 to 15 minutes on a full-size oven; past 20, the insulation is thin. Ask which parts a local technician stocks, since igniters, elements and control boards are the three things that fail.
What shortens the life
A range should give you 13 to 15 years, and most of what shortens that is heat you chose to apply. A pyrolytic self-clean cycle holds the cavity between 850 and 900 F for two to four hours. That is the usual reason a door lock, thermal fuse or control board dies in an otherwise healthy oven. Run it before the cavity is filthy, never the night before a holiday, and open a window while it works, because the fumes are dangerous to pet birds. Everything else is small and repeated: ports kept clear, the hood filter washed, the door gasket unbroken, spills off the glass before they cook on.
Buyer checklist
Before you buy ranges & ovens
A major appliance must fit the space, the utilities and the service network. Running cost and repair access belong in the first comparison.
01
Measure the full installation
Include doors, handles, hoses, vents, clearance, service access and the delivery path, not only the cabinet opening.
02
Confirm every utility
Check voltage, circuit, plug, water, drain, gas and ventilation requirements against the exact model and local rules.
03
Compare ongoing use
Use the local energy or water label and include filters, detergent, bags and other consumables.
04
Check parts and service
Look for local technicians, realistic warranty coverage and the availability and price of common replacement parts.
Measure the opening at the front, the middle and the back wall, then shop to the smallest of the three, since a 30 inch range needs a clear 30 inches and cabinets built in place are rarely square. Check the delivery route as well: the crate runs 2 to 4 inches wider than the appliance, and a full-size range weighs 150 to 250 pounds.
Open the oven door on any candidate and measure how far it swings out, usually 20 to 24 inches. Add your own body depth and compare that with the walkway. Below the 42 inch kitchen standard you will be pinned against the opposite cabinet while holding a hot roasting pan.
Leave 30 inches between the cooktop surface and any unprotected cabinet or shelf above it. Less is allowed only when the thing overhead, a hood or an over-the-range microwave, is listed for that position and mounted at the height its own instructions give.
Confirm the supply before you fall for a model. In North America an electric or induction range needs a dedicated 240 volt circuit at 40 or 50 amps. A gas range still needs a 120 volt outlet for ignition and the convection fan. Voltages and breaker sizes differ by country. New circuits and every gas connection are licensed work.
For a wall oven, build to the maker's cutout drawing rather than to the old hole. Openings of 24, 27 and 30 inches are not interchangeable, cutout heights vary by an inch or more between models of the same width. The junction box has to land where the drawing puts it.
Press down on the open oven door and watch the range: it must not rock forward. An anti-tip bracket screwed into the floor or the wall behind is what prevents that, it is required on every range sold. It is the step most often skipped when someone slides in a new one alone.
Care
Caring for ranges & ovens
Wash the hood's metal grease filters in hot water and dish soap every month you fry or sear. A loaded filter chokes airflow and becomes fuel itself. That mesh is what stands between a flare-up on the burner and a fire inside the duct.
Scrape sugary spills off a glass cooktop while the surface is still hot, holding a razor blade at a shallow angle. Sugar melts into the glaze as it cools and leaves a pit that no cleaner will lift.
Clear blocked gas burner ports with a straightened paperclip or a soft brush, never a drill bit or a pin that widens the hole. A lazy yellow flame, or clicking that runs past four seconds, means the ports or the igniter are dirty, and a port opened too far cannot be repaired.
Limit the self-clean cycle to roughly twice a year and run it on an ordinary weekday with a window open. Two to four hours near 900 F is what kills door locks, thermal fuses and control boards on ovens that were otherwise fine.
Hang a separate oven thermometer on the middle rack once a year and compare it with the setting after a full preheat. Sensors drift 25 to 50 F as they age, and most ovens let you correct the offset in a settings menu instead of guessing at every recipe.
Keep the vents under and behind an induction cooktop clear, because a fan cools the power boards, and treat firmware updates on a connected range as maintenance rather than novelty. An update can reset your temperature offset and preheat preferences, so recheck both afterward.
Questions
Common questions
Is induction really faster than gas?
Yes, and the gap is measurable. Induction puts about 85 percent of its energy into the pan against roughly 40 percent for a gas flame, so a quart of water reaches a boil in about half the time. The catch sits at the low end: inexpensive induction zones pulse on and off at low settings, which can scorch a delicate sauce that a 5,000 BTU simmer burner would hold steadily.
Can I swap a gas range for an electric one myself?
No. An electric range needs a dedicated 240 volt, 40 or 50 amp circuit that a gas kitchen does not have. The abandoned gas line must be capped by someone licensed to do it. Going the other way means running new pipe. Both directions are permit work in most places, and the wiring or the pipe often costs more than the appliance itself.
How much oven capacity do I actually need?
A standard 30 inch range gives 5.0 to 5.8 cubic feet, which takes a 20 pound turkey plus two side dishes on separate racks. Below 4.5 cubic feet, roasting pans start touching the walls and airflow suffers. Measure your largest sheet pan instead of trusting the headline number. A half sheet at 18 by 13 inches is the real test, and some 30 inch ovens will not take one flat.
How powerful does the hood over my range need to be?
Start at 100 cubic feet per minute for each foot of cooktop width, so 250 for a 30 inch range. With gas, figure 1 CFM for every 100 BTU of total burner output. Push past 400 CFM and many building codes require a makeup air supply, because a fan that strong can pull combustion gases back down a nearby flue.
Which pans work on induction?
Hold a magnet against the base, not the side. Firm grip means the pan will work, and a weak pull means slow, patchy heating. Cast iron, carbon steel and most clad stainless qualify, while aluminum, copper and glass do not unless a steel disc is bonded underneath. The base also has to be flat and cover most of the marked ring, usually 4 inches across or more.
Does convection change my recipes?
Drop the stated temperature by 25 F and start checking at about three quarters of the listed time. The fan strips the insulating layer of cool air off the food, so it cooks faster at the same dial setting. Reach for it on roasts, sheet pan dinners and several trays of cookies at once. Leave it off for cakes, custards and any loose batter that moving air can ripple.
What fails first, and how long should a range last?
Plan on 13 to 15 years. Surface igniters and bake elements go first and are cheap parts, often under 50 dollars plus labor. Electronic control boards fail next and can cost a third of a new range, which is where repair stops making sense. On a glass cooktop, cracked glass usually ends the appliance, because replacement panels often cost more than the machine is worth.
Should I buy a wall oven and a separate cooktop instead of a range?
Only when the layout earns it. Two appliances cost more than one, consume a tall cabinet plus a counter run, and usually need two circuits. What you buy is an oven at chest height, no bending over a hot cavity, and a cooktop free to sit on an island. What you accept is a cutout that ties your next replacement to a narrow set of models.
