Nice Look But Low Quality
Pros:
Looks great, a professional looking stainless steel stove
Cons:
No durability, the ignitors only last 3-4 years and are expensive to replace; poor warranty
The Bottom Line:
Ignitors fail and oven will not work. Very expensive to keep this thing going. AVOID for something more reliable.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
When we redid our kitchen 4 years ago, we opted for all high end brand appliances in stainless steel. Since we had a small galley style kitchen, we liked the fact that Viking had a 30" wide model which still gave you four rangetop burners and a good capacity oven.
This Viking product has been a big disappointment to us, unfortunately. I guess I am one of those people who just want something to work when you turn it on. But the electronic ignitors used by Viking are VERY low quality and have to be replaced frequently. Without the ignitors, the oven and broiler do not work. There are three ignitors total (two for the oven, one for the broiler). We've now replaced all three, and the broiler has been done twice. Consider the math on this. It came with three ignitors new. We've replaced the ignitor for the broiler twice. We've now replaced the bake oven ignitors. That's a total of seven ignitors in 4 years. The warranty does not cover the ignitors for more than the first year. (the burners are covered for 5 years but these are less likely to fail).
I've called Viking customer support and they pretty much take the following attitudes: We have a quality product; These ignitors only last a 3-4 years anyway, so replacing them is part of owning this product; You are a hopeless schmuck whom only your mother can love. Mind you, they deliver these messages in the most endearing Mississippi accent.
I don't know anyone else who's ever had such trouble getting their oven to work. In fact I know people who've had the same oven for 15 years or more without any glitches at all. Had I known that Viking would tell me to expect to replace these ignitors every 4 years for hundreds of dollars each time, I would have avoided them, since they are admitting the low quality of their product.
On the plus side....ummm lemme think. There's not a lot of plus side when the thing DOES NOT WORK. Wait, that's not fair. The oven light has not burned out yet (but then again, maybe that's because we don't open the oven door, because the oven DOES NOT WORK.)
We've had considerable down time with this oven. Looks alone cannot compensate us for the fact that we are often unable to bake or broil using this oven. And there's only so much pasta a guy can eat.
