After spending $10-$20,000 on a 48 inch pro range, you would think they would meet all your needs.
However, it’s simple to buy the wrong range. In fact, most people don’t buy the right range for the way they cook.
The best way to buy a 48 inch pro range is by checking the most important features you commonly use and then match them with the best branded model.
It’s not what the salesperson says, it’s what you use, and there’s no one best range for every feature.
In this article, you’ll learn the difference between dual fuel and all gas models, as well as features from every major manufacturer.
You’ll have a better idea of the one or two ranges best suited to your cooking style.
Table of Contents
Difference Between All Gas & Dual Fuel Ovens
Before we talk about brands and models, you should know the difference between all gas and dual fuel ovens.
Most people are automatically pushed to dual fuel because it’s marketed as being the better option, but that’s not always the case.
Gas is better for roasting, while electric is better for baking. On average, dual fuel ranges have a more accurate temperature than all gas.
Dual fuel typically incorporates more advanced features such as self cleaning, a timer and sometimes menu driven electronics.
Wolf, Thermador, SKS, and Miele will have enhanced features available only in their dual fuel models, like better control, steam or speed ovens, and self cleaning.
All gas ranges, however, have much better boilers, especially when it’s an infrared, which will sear better than electric.
On average, all gas ranges are about $2-$5,000 less than dual fuel ranges in the professional style category.
Wolf
Wolf is a cooking brand owned by Subzero. And is family owned and made in the US. They’re best known for their signature red knobs.
The grill and griddle are infrared, like an outdoor grill’s sear zone, providing less cleanup. Infrared evaporates any drippings or residue.
Wool features a French top option as well. French tops look like griddles, but work completely differently. A griddle is designed to be consistent. A French top is designed to vary the heat outward so you can cook many items at different temperatures.
You also have the food and the pans on a French top instead of placing it directly on the surface of the griddle.
There’s a huge difference between all gas and dual fuel Wolf ranges. In fact, only the grill, griddle and French top are the same. The burners are upgraded in Dual fuel to multiple 20,000 and 18,000 BTU burners versus just the 15,000 BTU in gas.
The ovens will have the VertiCross blower convection system compared to the signal convection of the gas model.
Blowers move air faster than fans for more oven heat and more space in the oven.
Verticross has been in Wolf wall ovens for years. Gone are the clock and timer. You now have a Touch screen. The oven also features Wolf gourmet. You pick the food how you like it cooked, and the oven will select the exact time and temperature for your meal. It will even determine the best rack position.
Wolf Gourmet also features 50 automatic recipes. The dual fuel range also has the new Wolf WiFi system so you can control your Subzero, Cove dishwasher, and the Wolf range on the same app.
Miele
Miele was the last major manufacturer producing a Pro range. They’re family owned and based in Germany.
The 48 inch only offers dual fuel models and no all gas types. Miele didn’t start producing professional ranges until 2014. They copied many good features like an infrared grill and griddle.
They also added a few more like self-cleaning racks and dishwasher safe grates. Miele offers steam assist for caramelizing tops and baking bread.
You have a speed oven with a convection-microwave oven, combination with a warming drawer instead of a smaller companion oven like the others.
The real highlight of this range is the Master Chef controls. Miele simplifies the cooking process. You choose the food and weight, the oven calculates time and temperature.
You also have many automatic cooking programs, including 15 different bread modes from focaccia to sourdough.
Miele is a cleanable range and offers controls and guides to help you cook, but doesn’t offer any smart functionality.
Thermador
Thermador is a cooking brand owned by BSH Appliance Corporation. Although BSH is a German Corporation, Thermador is made in the US.
With 15 different 48 inch models from $$10,499 to $16,599, buying one is confusing.
Here’s how you should buy a Thermador Pro range.
First, determine if you want a steam oven in the side compartment. Unlike Miele’s steam assist, Thermador has a full steam oven, meaning you can cook an entire meal using steam to enhance the flavor and not bake out nutrients.
They also have a warming drawer like Miele, underneath, which will come in handy. You can cook and keep food warm up to 3 hours without dehydrating it like in a microwave.
Then you have to decide whether you want the Pro Grand or Pro Harmony range.
The Grand Series is the premium offering of the two with a large capacity oven, high BTU output of 22,000 BTU, and self-cleaning in all gas.
Pro Grand is the series with steam ovens and warming drawers as well.
However, Harmony is more popular because it doesn’t protrude from your cabinets, unlike the larger capacity Pro Grand. Pro Harmony is also less expensive. Both ranges have Star burners, which can simmer better at 100 degrees on two burners.
Thermador’s Star burners are raised for easy cleaning as well.
In 2019, they added the style, added WiFi and two induction burners instead of an all gas range top for a faster boil and the best simmer of any fuel type, on a few models.
Induction is a good option. You should consider it.
Just to sum up, the Pro Grand has the steam oven, warming drawer option along with two induction burners, if you choose. It has a higher BTU and is self-cleaning and dual fuel and all gas, while Pro Harmony doesn’t protrude, is less expensive but not self cleaning in all gas, with no induction option.
BlueStar
BlueStar is a family owned appliance company based in Pennsylvania. They have the most commercial style of the professional ranges listed for looks and BTU power.
This range has two 25,000 and two 22,000 BTU burners. BlueStar ranges are also known for customization. They’re available in 1,000 colors and 10 trims, and you can also customize the cooking service for an additional cost.
Over 75% of the Blue Star ranges purchased are in color. And BlueStar has five different lines in all gas only.
The two top series are their most popular, they’re, Platinum and RNB.
Platinum series features eight burners only, they have pure convection the ovens, with an element in the back for more even heat.
BlueStar and SKS are the only gas stoves, on this list, with a separate heating element in back.
Their RNB is a lesser expensive series, but has the built in grill and griddle with slightly lower BTU output without the pure convection in the oven.
You buy the RNB series with the French top as well. Having open burners is tougher to clean. In a spill, you have to clean the underneath of the top.
However, almost everything is removable and can be cleaned in the sink. Much like a commercial range, BlueStar offers no clocks, timers, or smart functionality.
However, if you’re looking for a range that has commercial characteristics, or if you want a pop of color in your kitchen, you should consider a BlueStar Pro range.
SKS
New brands seem to have the same playbook of matching the best features of the existing products and then adding a few new ones. SKS’s division of LG is now the most unique professional range you can buy.
The burners are 23,000 BTU with a combination of 15,000 BTU. Three of the burners are 100 BTU, matching Thermador’s simmer.
In all gas, SKS’s Pro range has one option with a griddle and six burners. In dual fuel, SKS offers two options, one with easy clean chromium griddle, and the other with an induction set of burners and Sous Vide.
Sous Vide is SKS’s unique feature. You can cook with precise results. Just add your protein and marinade in a vacuum sealed bag and then wait for it to reach the core temperature for a perfectly cooked meal.
In the smaller oven, you have a combi-steam, combination. SKS is also WiFi enabled through LG’s ThinQ app.
Fisher & Paykel
Fisher & Paykel has five ranges of small distinctions other than all gas or dual fuel.
The RHV3 is their most interesting range and offers a glimpse of what the future may look like for larger ranges. It has four 18,500 BTU gas burners along with four induction burners.
The other two dual fuel models are 8 burners with a combination of 23,500 and 18,000 BTU’s. Or 5 burners with a 24,000 BTU griddle, which is unusually hot for griddle.
Fisher & Paykel’s dual fuel ranges have more cooking modes, eight burner ranges and WiFi connectivity.
La Cornue
You probably have a sense of what we said in the beginning. No one range has the best of all features, except perhaps for La Cornue.
La Cornue is the exception because you can order any feature. In fact, the range is customized by you. The 120 range has a gas and electric oven. You don’t have to choose.
Their ovens are natural convection, meaning the air is emitted from the bottom along with the arch top. It keeps an even heat without using fans.
The cooktop can be almost anything you want from having a French top, griddle, or wok burner, gas burners or grill.
You have 40 colors with eight trim styles for a unique look. If you don’t like their colors, you can choose one of your own.
It is the best range because it is made for the way you cook without compromise with one drawback, the price is over $50,000.
Reliability
Professional ranges need more service than any other appliance.
That said, a 48 inch range is also much larger than an average appliance with more burners, ignition systems and two ovens.
Before we become panicked, half of these ranges are fixed without parts.
Installation and customer education are two big factors that they’re not necessarily service problems. Igniters are one of the more common problems for gas ranges in general, but it’s usually just a burner. In a 48 inch range, you have at least 3-7 more burners to use.
However, service for sophisticated appliances becomes crucial. You want your range to work, always inquire about repair before you buy any appliance.
Takeaways
First, there’s no single best professional range. You should buy the features aligned with the way you cook, whether it’s baking, boiling, grilling, griddling or any other feature.
Other questions you may want to ask are controls. They run the gamut from none like BlueStar, La Cornue, and Thermador Harmony to sophisticated that figure out everything from time to temperature based on your prompts.
Steam has become a consideration. Thermador offers steam ovens while SKS and Miele allow you to Bake bread and finish foods with the steam assist.
Then do you buy lesser known brands like SKS and Fisher & Paykel or more established product? Availability on the more established brands could be a year, so plan accordingly.
See a demonstration of these ranges before you buy anything, if possible. Always inquire about service as well. Unfortunately, you will need some type of service throughout the lifetime of any of these ranges.
Each manufacturer has its pros and cons, you want to match them to how you cook. That’s how you buy a 48 inch pro range.