The Search
In 2021, when we moved into our current house, I fulfilled my long-time dream of having two ovens in my kitchen. I had always envisioned the ovens being double wall ovens but one range and one wall oven also worked perfectly well. Both the range and the wall oven were top-tier appliances but they were 20 years old. Just a few months after buying the house the wall oven died on Jaeger’s birthday, right after his cake finished baking. Long story short1, more than a year later I was able to fix the wall oven. Everything was fine for about 11 months and I was excited to once again have two working ovens. Then, in September of 2023, I deep cleaned the range and killed the oven. I don’t know exactly what happened but my best guess is some liquid leaked down into the electronics and shorted something out. The oven kind of worked for several weeks after that but it clearly was on its last legs.
I felt both chagrined I had managed to kill the oven and excited that I finally had an excuse to get an induction range, something I had wanted ever since having a Kenmore induction range2 in Colorado. Then, I made an unpleasant discovery. Our range was in an island and it uses a downdraft range hood. This meant that the electrical (and gas) for the range was installed in the middle of the floor underneath the range.
My old range was a pro-style dual fuel Dacor that had feet to lift it above the electrical outlet. I talked to an electrician and he said he could move the outlet a bit but I might still need to put a new range on boards to get it to clear. I did not think that would look good so this limited my options to pro-style ranges with feet. Pro-style ranges tend to be more expensive than normal ranges and, unless you spend a lot of money, seem to be inferior to the normal mid-range models3. In January, I gave up and Jaeger and I agreed that we could wait to see if better options came onto the market and this would probably be perfectly fine because most people only ever had one oven and two working ovens is a luxury, not a necessity.
Then March came. An excerpt from my A New Computer and a Cake post:
Saturday morning I woke up early and nervous because it was Julian’s birthday party day. I went downstairs to make muffins for breakfast and then discovered I had too little sugar for the cakes I was planning to make while the muffins were baking. It was still very early, and everyone else was still in bed, so I rushed to the store to pickup sugar. I got back and mixed up the muffin batter. I went to put the muffins in the oven and discovered that my oven was broken.
We ended the day with a very good toaster oven but while I was willing to go from two to one oven, I was not willing to permanently use a toaster oven for all my baking needs. So, my search for a replacement range started in earnest again. When I gave up in January, the Bosch HIS8055U was the only pro-style range with feet that was (barely) a price I was willing to pay and also seemed to work reasonably well. After some additional research, and additional time to think, I finally decided that was my best option and I should just order it. By this point it was mid-April and Home Depot showed the Bosch on sale (only for 10% but better than nothing). However, I was dubious a Home Depot installer would be able to handle our somewhat unique installation. Jaeger and I talked and decided we’d be willing to pay more to buy from a local appliance store if they could also hook us up with a good installer. To my astonishment, they quoted me a price that was cheaper than Home Depot. Install was extra but the installer did a great job and, two months after Julian’s party, we finally had a working oven again. (Before the installer arrived Jaeger also had to trim our Corian countertops a sliver on either side so the opening was a true 30″ wide. Personally, I think it looks better now than it previously did because someone had awkwardly chiseled away part of the counter for the previous range.)
The Review
This range isn’t perfect but it does everything I need. I’ve had it for a bit over a month and so far every baking recipe has turned out perfect (cakes, crusty breads, muffins, scones, etc). Everything I’ve made on the stove has also turned out well. Though, I find there’s a steeper learning curve for the stove than the oven, even with previous induction experience.
If you must have a pro-style induction range, I think this Bosch range is the best that is currently available for under $5,000. I’m particularly happy with the oven. The large window is great and it’s very easy to see what’s happening without opening up the oven. I’ve mainly been using the basic bake function, it does what I need, but I have used the convection bake a couple of times. I really like that this range doesn’t turn the broiler on to preheat the oven faster (my Dacor did this and I hated it). It is a little slower to preheat but it’s always done by the time I finish mixing up muffin or cookie dough. The time bake works great and I think it is well designed. The print on the knob is hard to read but I now mostly turn it by feel. I really like that you turn the knob and the oven is on rather than entering a temp and then having to press a start button. I do wish it had one more rack, it comes with two, but I guess that’s something to put on my birthday list.
A lot of the reviews complain about the oven fan. Both my old Dacor range and my Thermador wall oven also had fans that come on when baking. It’s not louder than either of those ovens, and it is much quieter than my range hood. What is different is the fan is a variable speed which I don’t like but find tolerable. Using an Android Sound Meter app I measured the fan at 79 dB right over the rear vent but a much more reasonable 42-45 dB standing in front of the range where one would normally be cooking. Once interesting quirk of our setup is the oven’s exhaust vent outputs directly in front of our downdraft hood. I don’t know for sure but I speculate that this makes it more efficient at exhausting the hot air on a warm day than a typical overhead hood would do.
This oven does not have a self-clean function. However, multiple appliance repair people have told me in the past not to use the self-clean function on ovens because it shortens their lives. As a result, I haven’t used self-clean in years and don’t miss it.
I mostly like the induction stove top but I do have some reservations. I wish this model had a bridge element (ideally on both sides but I think only the exorbitantly expensive models have that). My Dacor gas stove top had two full-length griddles so I could fry 12+ pancakes at a time and I really miss that ability. I have settled and bought an electric griddle, and I’ll probably get a second for when we have guests, but that takes extra storage space. My old induction range didn’t have a bridge element but still did a decent job of spreading out heat when I used a cast iron griddle. On this stove, the heat seems much more concentrated. However, it works great for everything I’ve needed except the griddle.
I really like the stove knobs, rather than having buttons and/or touch, and the small print doesn’t matter as much for the stove since you also see an indicator on the stove top. Like my last induction stove it takes a while to figure out the right settings for everything. Using the boost setting it boiled 5 quarts of water in about 5 minutes (at 200 ft above sea level). It can also do a nice low heat and everything in between. There is a detectable buzz when the stove is on but it is quieter than my last induction range.
The one unexpected thing this stove top does is it doesn’t always turn on correctly the first time. I place my induction compatible pot on the burner, turn the burner on, and sometimes it just immediately turns itself off. It works fine when I turn it on the second time. It’s almost like it has trouble with a cold start which doesn’t make sense. I’m using the same cookware I used on my first induction stove so it’s not my pans. It has trouble with both my cast iron and induction compatible All-Clad pots.
Cleaning the stove top is great and much easier than a gas stove or old-style electric stove. It’s best not to let messes cook onto the top. However, the Weiman Glass Cook Top Heavy Duty Cleaner and Polish works really well if something cooks on.
So far I’m very satisfied with this purchase. It does everything I need and the downsides are more minor irritations rather than deal breakers. If I didn’t need feet to clear the electrical, I think I would have gotten an LG induction range. However, I do need feet and this is working well and looks very posh in our kitchen.
- See here for the long version ↩
- It’s no longer made but it was a Kenmore Elite 6.1 cu. ft. Freestanding Induction Range w/ True Convection. ↩
- BTW, if you’re shopping for an induction range Yale Appliances has some really nice videos comparing some popular options. ↩
