viking stove review






hello everyone.  i hope your weekend was nice.  ours was very wet and cold which was a nice change.
we need rain here!



i thought i'd do a little review of what if think of my overpriced,  no frills cooking machine, aka my viking range.

i have cooked professsionally on viking ranges so i was pretty familiar with them.  it is a powerful range, each burner has 15k btu's.  in comparison, the average range has 7k btu's per burner. for me the best part of a high btu range is the way it sears food really fast and evenly, giving great color to whatever you are making. 

my only complaint with the burners is that when you are on the lowest heat, an annoying clicking sound is made.  i'm guessing this is so you don't walk away thinking that whatever it is you are making is safe b/c you have it on low heat.  low heat on this range is still very hot.

another thing to consider is that you cannot use lightweight cookware on this range.  you need something heavy.  i use an old, heavy set of calphalon w/o teflon.

nice, heavy cookware and this range is a beautiful thing.

oh and one more thing, there is no built in timer or clock.  whatever, you'll get used to it.










i ordered a high shelf for my range.  that's the stainless steel backsplash and shelf.
i know a lot of people store their oils and spices up there but that is a mistake.
i think most people just style their photographs that way but that shelf is really a warming shelf.
when you get 2 or 3 of those burners going at once, that heat is quite hot and the shelf is designed to capture that heat.  it is intended to keep dishes and food warm up there while cooking.
that high heat will cook your oil and spices.












the convection oven is large and spacious. 
again, very powerful fans that cut 1/3 cooking/baking time off a recipe.
you have to get the hang of that too.  i swear the oven is almost as fast as the microwave.



 




this is the 24" stove i originally wanted.  so cute.
i thought it would be so perfect for my small kitchen.
i changed my mind when i found out that the burners were not sealed.
i'm a pretty messy cook and i need/love sealed burners.










there isn't much not to love about this range except things can burn quickly, there are no trendy gadgets (like timers) oh and the price.
this was the one splurge in our house renovation.
i believe with tax it was $5200.
almost 1/2 the entire cost of the kitchen renovation!

i would say that if you love to cook it's worth it.  if not, i think it would be a frustrating range to own.
anyone can get the hang of it though, it's just a question of whether you want to or not.


i hope you all have a spectacular monday b/c why not?!

xo
janet





56 comments

  1. I had the 48" double oven Viking range in my old home and am saving saving saving for one for my farmhome. Oh the memories of having all those burners going at once to cook for my large extended family. Such joy.

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  2. I used to cook on Viking stoves when I cooked professionally, too. I love the way it looks in your kitchen, there's something very pleasing about the utilitarian stainless steel and chandelier together. x

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  3. I love your entire kitchen! The Viking looks like a Cadillac sitting in there ~ so regal. Went house hunting with my sister all weekend and the house she likes best has a gorgeous cherry red Viking. Awesome piece of machinery!

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  4. Are you sure the clicking isn't the electric ignition turning on when it's not supposed to? A friend of mine had that happen with his Wolf.

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    1. yes, i've had it checked by the viking crew and they say that's what it is supposed to do. but i honestly don't believe them.

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    2. Yes, I have had 3 gas ranges in the past 15 years, and they all do that until you turn the knob past the point where it clicks. It is the electronic ignition. You are not supposed to leave it clicking!

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    3. yes, cheryl, good point. when i turn the knob past that point, the clicking comes on intermittedly. say i'm simmering a soup, at some point during the long simmer the ignition will click - as if to remind me that i'm cooking something on low.

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    4. Hi Janet, lovely kitchen and I'm glad to see it back on the blog! My gas range does the same clicking. My plumber told me the knobs collect oil and tiny bits of debris which get stuck behind the knob and pull it tight to the stove. All you do - on mine at least - is light the burner and then pull the knob toward you so it loosens and stops clicking. It was truly annoying until I learned the trick!
      Katherine

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    5. I just talked to a Viking representative about the clicking. It's caused by a dirty igniter. She suggested using a soft brush to clean it and the clicking should go away. Hope that's true. I'm considering a Viking gas range.

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  5. Your kitchen is my absolute favorite...so yeah! for all the great pictures. They look so professional by the way....

    After 20 years of cooking every meal for the family, I am taking a break and Chad has become the chef. He loves it which gives me high hopes of getting a new stove.

    I really like how it's modern but looks right at home in your classic vintage kitchen.

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  6. Hello Janet:
    Gosh that is a very serious looking mean cooking machine that you have there!!! Wonderfully striking in your beautiful kitchen, but we know that we should be terrified of it. Are you sure that it is only for cooking......it looks to us as if it could rocket men to the moon!!!!

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  7. I have stove envy...longing for a commercial range. Worth every penny I say.

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  8. janet, I just love any post that shows me your gorgeous kitchen again. Yours is absolutely my favorite, hands down, kitchen. I love absolutely everything about it. And here's something interesting - I believe that last photo shows an angle I hadn't seen before. All this time I imagined that the sink was on a wall directly opposite from the stove! I'm not sure why I thought that. Anyway, yes, I stalk your kitchen photos. Love. :)

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  9. I long for a Viking. But i also long for gas. I cook on electric....a whole other pot of woes.

    But i remember my days at the helm of a viking.

    And they were good:-)

    xo jane

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    1. Janet,

      Your kitchen is so beautiful and atmospheric. I love it.

      Thank you for the Viking review. I've cooked with gas all my adult life but the building of the condominium we're remodeling doesn't have gas lines. That was a disappointment. We got an induction cook-top. It uses very little electricity and the heat goes into the pot - not the atmosphere. I live in the Deep South and using as little A/C as possible is the goal.

      Anyway, the induction cooktop looks sharp and the clean-up is a breeze. It's not something I would have gotten if we didn't have to but as it turns out, I love it.

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  10. You bought this for your life. Living.

    Consider the price of my Conservatory? NEVER.

    Just got a GE gas stove with 5 burners & 2 ovens. Love it. Viking? No. My choice was the Conservatory.

    XO T

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  11. Oh I absolutely love your kitchen, Janet! Our weather was warm and sunny this past weekend, so we spent quite a bit of time outside enjoying it (before it gets to be sweltering again). :)

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  12. Janet your kitchen is so my style. Love all the black and white and simplicity. The range looks great. I had a Viking in my last house and loved it. When we moved to this house they had a Thermador. I thought the Viking was hot, but the Thermador is crazy hot. I've had to adjust all my cooking. Everything cooks in half the time! You are probably right about those shelves above! Bet that's all stylists doing for pictures.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog. I was thrilled!
    Have a good day.
    Kim:)

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    1. kim i know what you mean about the thermador. i've cooked on one or two while catering. plus it has lots of bells and whistles. i'll stick to my beast if you know what i mean:)

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  13. I have stove envy too. Maybe if I really pretended to love to cook Hubby would get me one???

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  14. Well, it's a beautiful thing, no doubt about it.

    We looked at Vikings but went (mostly for cost reasons) with the Blue Star.

    It's somewhat similar in appearance, but otherwise I'm not sure how it stacks up with yours. I know that we have one extra-hot burner, and one "simmer" burner, and then the other two.

    I really like not having any built-in timer or digital read-outs on the stove. I think it gives it a more timeless (no pun intended!) look.

    I notice you don't use a ventilating hood -- has that worked out all right for you? We have a simple fan w/filter, but are considering getting something that will vent to the outside ... a bit of a challenge, as our stove is not on an outside wall. For now it seems to be working fine, though.

    I still haven't figured out when to use the convection oven, and when to use the normal oven (we have a switch on ours that lets you opt for one or the other), so I end up using the normal pretty much all the time.

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    1. i'm fine w/o a hood. we had planned to install one and kinda ran out of money. we thought we'd install one down the line but it has been 4 yrs now and i don't see it happening. about every other week i just wash down the tile and ceiling (if it needs it) and that is a lot easier than cleaning the inside of a hood. and to be honest, there isn't much to clean anyway b/c i'm not cooking a lot of hot fats like in meat.

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    2. Hi Janet! I'm a little late, but I hope this finds you! The tile floors are beautiful! Is it spiral, basketweave pattern? Where did you purchase?

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  15. I, too, have a Viking, but it is a drop-in cooktop, set into my granite. One of my 4 burners will continue that clicking when on low, sometimes going off, sometimes not. I know it is a mal-function in the ignition. I rarely use that burner so I don't pay any attention to it. I rarely use more than two burners at a time.
    And, yes, the temperature on my Viking is, also, VERY hot. I cannot simmer anything. On the lowest setting, it boils and I do use heavy bottom stainless cookware. I am annoyed by my home cooktop heating like a commercial one that is manufactured for speed of food prep. If i make something that takes a long cook, I use the oven or crock pot and it works just fine. The oven roasting of a soup, etc. enhances the flavors unlike the cooktop anyway.
    Love the look of your stove in your kitchen...elegant!
    xoxo, Chris

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  16. Love, love, love your kitchen. I have white cabinets and white tiles too. At first, everyone thought I was crazy for getting the white but I love it. I don't have a viking stove but wish I could afford one. I love to cook and do most of the cooking every day so I would appreciate having one. Didn't know much about them and the fact that they are hotter than the average stove. That would take some getting used to I would think. Your kitchen looks like something out of a decorator magazine. Can't ever keep my kitchen that spotless. Did I mention I also have a white tile floor? Very trying, especially for someone who cooks every day. What was I thinking? Love your black and white floor. Thanks for the kitchen photos.

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  17. Janet, I am with others that LOVE you kitchen and that Viking stove is a crowning glory. I was told by realtor that things like that sell the houses, people just fall in love with them and I can understand it. I meyslef have a pretty basic stove because my cooking is pretty basic and I wanted to save money but maybe when one day I replace I will splurge, since hopefully I will not have so many other expenses.
    Thanks for sharing!

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  18. LOVE your kitchen, and what an interesting little post! I don't own a Viking, but it sounds like one bossin' stove. :-)
    -Suzanne in Illinois

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  19. I have a Thermador, one burner has 18K BTUs, I use it to wok fry. Booyah! I love my stove with a burning passion :P

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  20. Janet, I have to ask, as a viking owner myself, i love the stove and the sealed burners, hubby also paid extra for the self cleaning mechanism too, but we have had a problem with the oven, i use it quite often and now it turns off mid way through my baking session. It has been repaired two times already {which was a nightmare with Pacific sales, felt they were giving me the run around, after being taken for 6 g's). My sister also had similar problems with hers and this move, she opted for a thermador. Have you had any problems with your oven keeping it's temperature?

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    1. maggie i haven't had any problems at all with the oven. sorry to hear about your troubles, what a pain!

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  21. Janet it looks amazing. I have always liked the idea of a Viking Range and thanks for your review. Now I definitely want one. Or an Aga ! (back in UK of course, not in Oz!) And from your previous post how cute do you look in your tartan kilt? Just wonderful ! x

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    1. Having usede both, I nwould say te AGA was great in the 1930's, and currently great snob appeal in the UK.
      However, real cooks prefer Viking - I am a culinary editor with a major magazine.

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  22. I want a professional 6-burner stove in my next kitchen. I love to cook BIG meals and nothing is more annoying than discovering you don't have enough burners & have to readjust cooking times or (in my case) run the simmering pot of soup to go sit on the stove in the guest house!

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  23. My son has asthma so a gas range is out of the question. I love cooking and sometimes long for gas, but once I start cooking I find all I need is heat. One can adapt to anything.

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  24. Janet,
    I have the Bertazzoni Prof. Gas duel oven and the speed took me awhile to get used to. Turn around and I have burnt something but it sure makes things taste good.
    I wanted it in yellow....but opted for stainless steel since everyone said "Eww Yellow!
    I love the look....just not cleaning it so much. But I do.
    pve

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  25. interesting to hear a prof. talk about a prof stove. Matt really wanted me to go with professional grade when we did our kitchen. I just thought it was too much for me. I got the Kenmore knockoff -- it looks like the viking, but not as powerful. It works for me!

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    1. I'm wondering how you like your Kenmore look-alike. Do you have the Kenmore Elite? I've been looking at that one. Can you write back your experience so far with your range? It has pretty good reviews compared to so many others on the market. Thanks for writing back.

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    2. I have the Kenmore knockoff and I hate it. the oven is so shallow (in depth) that I can only cook one cookie sheet at a time. The small oven is useless. It is very small and can accommodate a loaf pan. The temperature of both ovens is unreliable. The 46 inch size , if you have custom cabinets make it difficult to upgrade to a 48 inch range.
      B.

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  26. I have a Viking cooktop - 6 burners--and I love it I have a diffuser that I use often to keep things simmering but not scortching. I have a Viking wall oven that works beautifully and I LOVE my Viking microwave.

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  27. First, your kitchen is so pretty Janet. I love it more every time I see it. I have a wolf range and I do love it for all the reasons you mentioned about your Viking. I can't imagine that it should click when it's on very low heat...I simmer all the time and a clicking noise would drive me a bit crazy. Mine does have a clock and a timer, I usually keep it in the popped up (close) position because it's digital and I think it sort of wrecks the whole look. Crazy? Probably!
    xo
    annie

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  28. Hi Janet,

    Thanks for the review on the Viking range. My husband is paranoid about gas stoves so I may never own one. :( For right now I still use my very basic boring electric stove that was here when we bought our house. We replaced all the other appliances but because the stove was brand new, we didn't bother. We were considering it recently but then our a/c bit the dust so with summer approaching it looks like that is priority for now!

    Linda
    xo

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  29. hi Janet,
    My Wolf clicks for a couple of seconds when I change it from low to simmer, but then it goes away. It would drive me crazy if it continued to do that. I found a couple of things on line I will email to you. Doesn't sound like it should be doing that. I think the repairman just wanted to go get a beer;)
    xojoan

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  30. Dear Janet,
    I've been lurking around your blog for quite awhile now and just have to tell you how much I like it. It's part of my daily routine...'has Janet said anything'? I like the way you write, your philosophy (which is so gently put forth) and your ideas...the thoughtfulness with which you live...it's all quite inspiring.
    Also, I feel right at home at the gardener's cottage...I grew up over the carriage house on an estate in Connecticut...my father was the butler there. I received a great (osmotic) education about art, antiques and books which I appreciate more and more every day.
    At one time, we lived in Moreno Valley and I visited a friend in Redlands regularly, so I sort of know your stomping grounds and what a charming community Redlands is.
    Cheers to you! Jean from Maine

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    1. what a great story and thanks for all the lovely compliments jean!

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    2. Where did you get your blinds? They look perfect in all of your rooms.

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    3. Where did you get your blinds? They look perfect in all of your rooms.

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  31. I love it any time you do a post on your gorgeous kitchen. We rented a house for a year in Santa Fe -- it had a Wolf and when we got there, I thought, oh lord, I don't know why people spend this kind of money on appliances. And then I cooked on it. Enough said.

    I had no idea that shelf is supposed to be a food warmer. Awesome idea. I'm going to remember that if ever we get a Viking or other professional grade stove.

    Camille

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  32. Dear Janet, Thank you for this very informative post. I never knew about warming shelves either or that you could get sealed burners. I love a gas stove that burns hot - great for stir fries and I love wielding a heavy pan, not sure why. I have been eyeing an enamelled cast iron le creuset one recently. How wonderful having chandeliers in the kitchen. I am definitely putting that on my wish list. love Lindaxxx

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  33. My husband has been very disappointed with his Viking. The clicking sound is extremely annoying. He loves the way it looks and cooks. Notice it is his- I just visit him in the kitchen.

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  34. I have a gas range top and a wall oven and I adore the set up. Of course my range and oven were high end in like 1990 and need to be updated soon but that requires a kitchen remodel because why do something half assed?
    Since our kitchen remodel involves bumping out one wall and tearing down another, I'll just click back to this post for the next year or two and swoon over your stunning kitchen until I have my own.

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  35. I too splurged on a must have Viking range...what a mistake...the 20 year old 300.00 Sears Kenmore never gave a bit of trouble, I've lost count how many costly problems this stove has had...of which my husband never lets me forget . I love to cook just don't love my stove.

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  36. I love the tile! Is it basketweave or spiral pattern?

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  37. I love my Viking kitchen. I have the 36" gas range with a griddle and love the powerful burners and the convection oven. We love broiling fish and steaks with the infrared broiler located in the oven. Investing in our Viking kitchen was the best decision we ever made.

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  38. I love my Viking Dual Fuel range! Here's a trick for getting your burners to simmer. The simmer setting is between off and high, so once the burner is on, wrap your hand around the knob and very gently turn the flame down until the blue flame is below or even with the burner cap. The cap absorbs the heat from the flame and simmers across the bottom of your whole pan. Love, love, love this feature!

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  39. Hi Now it's over a year later, just wondering on the maintenance on your range and how it's held up. Also wondering about any type of quirky things that have been any challenges. Would you mind just updating us a little?
    Thanks

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    Replies
    1. hi ntala. i have zero complaints with this stove. that clicking sound that i mentioned in the post is completely gone. i have no idea why but it does not do that any longer. i love this stove and feel so fortunate to have it. thanks for asking. :)

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