***Best free standing stove?***

standard, Jun 1, 2:20am
Mine blew up yesterday so time for a new one, it has had it's time.
What would you recommend around $1000 - $1200.
Thanks

lesleyd3, Jun 2, 4:17am
As far as I am concerned ignore the f&p one with ceramic cook top. We bought one last year and the elements take ages to heat up, ages to cool down and keeping it clean is quite a bit of work. Worst purchase we have made in ages.

biggles45, Jun 2, 5:52am
We have a baumatic - looks nice but not that good. I would go for a belling next time. We have had F+P in the past and found them very good.

wheelz, Jun 2, 6:22am
Just bought a Bosch 90 cm dual freestanding oven. Love it! Finally got an oven that I really want.
I drooled over the Belling, but at over $5000, out of my range.
Hmmm. I don't think even the 60cm fits in your price line tho.

sossie1, Jun 2, 6:30am
we don't really need a new stove, as the ancient one still works. It is the only large appliance in the house that hasn't needed replacing due to power surges, earthquakes etc. I think it must be made from old tractors.
I have been looking at new stoves, but I keep coming back to older model second hand ones, when they were made to last.

I'm just not confident enough to buy something new for our budget ($1000.00), and expect it to last as long as the 30 yr old "beast"!

kernal1, Jun 2, 6:43am
Have a look at Parmco, Noel Lemmings sell them but available for a lot less from Appliance Smart( Google) which includes free delivery anywhere in NZ and has a 5 year guarantee. Came highly recommended to me by local agent who services that brand, didn't recommend other items of same brand, I was considering microwave and dishwasher so took comments as being honest, liked the look of free standing range but felt oven was low so now 'considering' separate units and building up. I only have space where free standing range fits but this place has many choices and much cheaper than normal retail outlets. Offer choice of payment also.

bubbles22222, Jun 2, 10:16pm
would not recommend going for a glass top look, as opposed to eg elements or the other sort. We have a westinghouse with the glass look elements, i have one of my four that can be switched between a big element or a small element, and the big element has packed up and can only use the small, we got an electriclan to look at it and he said it would be no cheaper than $300 to fix. We didn't as we would rather towards $300 towards a new oven one day. So i would never go for those glass look elements again.

kaddiew, Jun 2, 10:51pm
I have one of those "built like a tank" older ovens too, and the damn thing just won't die (not that I can afford to replace it). It's brown, ugly, sitting in a monstrosity of a tower - BUT it works perfectly, is brilliant for baking, and nothing newer I've had in other houses, came close to it.

kaddiew, Jun 2, 10:55pm
OP I would steer well away from a Classique brand oven. Had the misfortune to 'inherit' them in 2 previous homes, and they're absolute rubbish.One of them didn't even have a standard 'bake' function. And despite repairs done more than once, the bottom hidden elements were so weak, they could not even brown the bottom of a slice of bread.

bowla3, Jun 3, 7:21am
Westinghouse Neptune. Has 4 simmerstats, In 6 years we have had 10 new ones fitted. The new stoves have plastic warming drawers.
Don't think we'll be buying anymore junk like that.
Just got a new fridge/freezer. Samsung. Hope it lasts longer then the 7 year old Whirlpool.
Recently dumped a Prestcold we inherited from Mum. Made in 1977.

pengy2, Jun 28, 9:17pm
Have been putting off replacing my 16 year old stove but now the door is not shutting properly and the grill has stopped working, so forcing me to do something. I went looking at the various freestanding options-electric 60cm ceramic top with fan forced-but was not impressed with build quality, most made in China. Many had very small ovens and quite a few were down at floor level which would be hard to lift out of? Some didnt have fan forced, just fan assisted? (not sure of the difference?) Many didn't have a storage drawer (where do you put all that stuff?). I looked at models around $1700-$3000 (yikes, didn't expect to be looking at $3000), some bit less, some much more. What brands or tips can anyone suggest? Thank you for any help.

raloki, Jun 28, 9:58pm
I got a new Fisher and Paykel freestanding four function with normal elements on top last year. My electrician recommended Fisher and Paykel when I asked. I had inherited a F& P when I moved to this place, but it was made for rentals more was cheap and they had heaps of problems with them. I don't remember the name of it sorry, but don't think it is made anymore either. My electrician told me not to get a Westinghouse or Simpson because of problems with elements always needing replacing. I am really happy with my oven. It is reliable and a joy to cook in and on.

toffeey, Jun 29, 3:38am
I personally don't like ceramic tops. Bought one myself and loathed cooking on it. A also had one that was complete rubbish. Elements seemed to keep turning themselves off - very frustrating. Also I see Parmco has been recommended. I had one with a gas hob. The gas top was great but the oven itself was an impractical shape - wide but not deep. Odd because it was such a large oven. It had rotisserie function but not fan bake for some reason and I struggled to put a decent sized turkey in it even though it was a large oven. Also things didn't seem to cook very evenly. It was ok but just not great considering it would have cost a lot of money. Best oven is my current old Shacklock. Doesn't have fanbake or any other flash feature such as a timer but the oven cooks very well. Realise that this doesn't help very much. Sorry. If it was me I'd probably be looking at F&P. I had a nice F&P oven in a house with normal elements and it worked well.

bev00, Apr 24, 1:13am
great info .