The Best Electric Ranges of 2023
Gas may be the pros’ choice, and induction may be the (magnetic) wave of the future, but there’s still plenty to be said for cooking with radiant electric cooktops. Electric ranges can provide an impressively wide temperature range, consistently excellent convection, and even heating across the board—great things to have if you enjoy cooking.
While the decision of which fuel to cook with might be out of your hands thanks to your choice of home, you still have plenty of options when it comes to the specific model. There are dozens of options to choose from, but lucky for you, we’ve put enough of these electric ranges through their paces to make some strong recommendations, including the best overall Whirlpool WGE745C0FS (available at Best Buy for $1,399.99) .
Credit: Whirlpool
The Whirlpool WGE745C0FS is the best electric range we’ve tested.
Best Overall
The Whirlpool WGE745C0FS electric range is a knockout across the board. It passed every test we threw at it with flying colors, from boiling water to baking pizza. Its ability to multitask sets it apart from other ranges, in particular having the option to bake two dishes at different temperatures simultaneously and fit at least four pots on the cooktop at once.
This range is chock-full of features, including Frozen Bake, Rapid Preheat, and Sabbath Mode. You won’t find an air fry setting, but fret not; the True Convection mode will produce the same deliciously crispy results. It’s available in stainless steel, black, and white finishes, so it’s designed to match most kitchens. Regardless of the finish, we like the look of this range in particular because of the ultra-sleek smooth cooktop.
The only small downside we could find to this range was the uneven doneness of cookies when we tested True Convection mode in the bottom oven. That said, this is still the best electric range we’ve tested.
Mục Lục
Pros
-
Effective burners
-
Large oven capacity and spacious cooktop
-
Bakes evenly across a single tray
Cons
-
Lower oven doesn’t bake cookies evenly between two trays
$1,399.99 from Best Buy
$1,398.00 from Abt
$1,398.00 from Home Depot
Other Electric Ranges We Tested
The LG LREL6325F Freestanding Electric Range was our former top-performing electric range. Its cooktop is sleek and easy to clean, and the average boil times for its five burners (two of which are dual-zone) are the fastest of any electric range we’ve tested.
This oven baked cookies, pork, and pizza evenly, plus it’s got a built-in Air Fry feature that produced perfectly crispy French fries when we tested. This smart range is Wi-Fi–capable and is compatible with LG’s ThinQ smartphone app, which allows users to control their range using Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa.
Pros
-
Even baking
-
Short boil times
-
Has True Convection
-
Useful smart features like Air Fry and InstaView
Cons
-
Slow preheat
-
Air Fry tray sold separately
$1,049.99 from Best Buy
$988.00 from Abt
$1,048.00 from Home Depot
The Frigidaire Professional PCFE3078AF Electric Range has the bells and whistles you expect to see in high-end appliances. It’s one of the top-performing ranges we’ve tested and has many bonus features, such as the true-convection oven that can also air fry. The smooth, glass cooktop surface makes cleaning a breeze. Performance-wise, this range received perfect scores in our oven tests, from roasting pork chops to baking multiple trays of cookies.
This gorgeous slide-in range is great for baking enthusiasts and has a built-in oven probe to help you monitor the food. However, it took a while to preheat, and bring a pot of water to a boil. Those basics aside, serious bakers will likely find a lot to like with this appliance.
Pros
-
Built-in probe thermometer
-
Bakes evenly
Cons
-
Slow to heat up
-
Air fry feature could use improvements
Buy now at AJ Madison
Unlike a typical dual-oven range, the Samsung NE59J7850WS allows you to divide the 5.9-cubic-foot oven cavity in two on-demand, offering a new level of adaptability.
You can also bisect the door, but only when and if you choose. Along with the oven(s), the rangetop easily reaches searing heats or simmering lows. Whether you want to cook a Thanksgiving turkey or cook multiple meals at once, this range can fit your needs.
Pros
-
Cooktop heats very well
-
Adjustable dual oven
Cons
-
Uneven baking
$1,799.00 from Samsung
We love the Samsung NE59M6850SS/AA electric range with convection. Its Flex Duo divider means it’s three ovens in one package: It can function as a large, single oven, or you can simply slide in the divider to convert it into two smaller ovens for baking two things at once. This model also offers Wi-Fi for remote preheat, two powerful burners, great low-heat simmering, and some of the best roasting we’ve ever tested.
Pros
-
Roasts food well
-
Fast boiling
Cons
-
Uneven baking
$1,499.00 from Samsung
The LG Studio LSSE3027ST Electric Range is a fine range in terms of performance, but it’s not the best or cheapest LG electric range we’ve tested. The average boil time across its five burners (two dual-zone, three single-zone) was faster than our top-performing electric range, the Electrolux EI30EF45QS. We like that it has useful features like ProBake Convection, Remote Start, plus the option to use the ThinQ smartphone app.
Pros
-
Short boil times
-
Useful smart features
-
Large oven capacity
Cons
-
Uneven baking
-
Slow preheat
Buy now at Home Depot
If you like to multitask in the kitchen, then you’ll love the Frigidaire FGEH3047VF. This range has five burners, the front two of which have multiple rings, and can reach temperatures well over 800°F. The oven gets hot enough to cook a pizza (at 500°F), and makes baking evenly baked cookies look like a cakewalk.
The real selling point of this range is that it comes with an Air Fry mode, which works best with the air fry tray that you can purchase separately. Our tests showed that the Air Fry mode worked beautifully.
Pros
-
Front burners are customizable
-
Range and oven can get very hot
-
Air fry-compatible
Cons
-
None that we could find
$1,299.99 from Best Buy
$1,199.00 from Abt
$1,298.00 from Home Depot
There’s a reason why GE is the most popular brand for cooking appliances in the U.S.: It makes a solid product. The GE JB655SKSS is no exception. It does an excellent job at roasting and broiling, but may not be the best bet for serious bakers: Our cakes came out pretty uneven.
On average, it takes the burners about 9-10 minutes to boil 6 cups of water, but the right-front burner was able to boil that amount of water in under 4 minutes, which is pretty speedy. Overall, this range is a good deal for what it does and consumers agree.
Pros
-
Decent cooktop performance
-
Great at roasting and broiling
Cons
-
Poor cooktop control layout
-
Uneven baking temperatures
$848.99 from Best Buy
$844.00 from Abt
$848.00 from Home Depot
The Haier QSS740BNTS certainly has plenty of features that will delight tech nerds everywhere, assuming you don’t mind using an app to cook, as many of this range’s functions (including temperature control and a timer) are only accessible via the SmartHQ app. But serious home cooks might want to go with a higher-performing model as this range struggled to bake cookies evenly, cook pizza all the way through, and perfectly brown pork.
Pros
-
Attractive design
-
Includes built-in meat probe
-
Remote preheat
Cons
-
Uneven baking
-
Can’t use many features without app
$1,398.99 from Best Buy
$1,398.00 from Home Depot
The GE JS645SLSS Electric Range is easy on the eyes and it faired well on most of our tests, baking cookies particularly evenly.
But this 30-inch slide-in range is missing convection, so you can forget about achieving air fryer-like crispiness. This function is super basic and there’s really no reason an oven shouldn’t have it, especially one that’s over $1,000.
Pros
-
Sleek design
-
Even baking
Cons
-
No convection
-
Slow boil times
$899.99 from Best Buy
$894.00 from Abt
$898.00 from Home Depot
How We Tested Electric Ranges
Not only do we perform repeatable, lab-based tests on ovens, ranges, and cooktops, but we also do real-world evaluations (think: cookie baking and the like). That means we can tell you which products will perform the best, will give you the most bang for your buck, or have the sleekest looks.
Burner Temperature
For products with burners, we measure the maximum and minimum temperature of each burner to help consumers identify which burners are ideal for simmering soup, and which burner can get hot enough to properly sear a steak. We conduct these tests by using a thermocouple to measure the temperatures of empty stainless steel bases.
A range or cooktop with multiple burners that can reach very high and/or very low temperatures will score well. If burners cannot reach very high or low temperatures—or if only one burner can do each task—scores will be lower.
Time To Boil Water
One of the most common tasks for a range or cooktop is to boil a pot of water. For each burner, we take an appropriately sized pot, and fill it up halfway with distilled water. Then, we position a thermometer horizontally in the middle of the pot, and vertically in the middle of the water column. We monitor the thermocouple and record the time it takes for the temperature of the water to reach 200°F.
Because the water volume is different for varying burner sizes, we score the water boil test on the rate of water boiling: Faster water boiling will result in higher scores, while slower water boiling will result in lower scores.
Time To Preheat
Using a stopwatch, we measure how long it takes for the electric oven to achieve a preheating temperature of 350°F. We stop the clock when the oven’s preheat indicator beeps.
Because no one wants to wait around forever, shorter preheating times result in higher scores, while longer preheating times result in lower scores.
How Evenly The Oven Bakes
Credit: Reviewed / Julia MacDougall
We bake cookies in both standard bake and convection mode (if available) to see how evenly the oven can bake the cookies.
One happy side effect of testing ovens is that there are always extra cookies lying around. In addition to being delicious, cookies double as a cooking/baking proxy for other thin food items, such as brownies or vegetables.
We place 12 Pillsbury ready-to-bake sugar cookie chunks on an ungreased cookie sheet in a grid formation. After preheating the oven to 350°F for 15 minutes, we place the cookie sheet in the oven on the rack recommended by the manufacturer (or, if there is no recommendation, the middle rack) to bake for 15 minutes. We remove the cookies from the oven, and allow them to cool for 2 minutes.
After looking the cookies over, we determine how evenly baked they are, both within a single baking sheet (regular baking mode and second oven baking mode) and between multiple baking sheets (convection bake mode). Because convection is generally a more efficient way of cooking or baking something, it is important that the multiple food items on different racks be cooked or baked to the same degree.
For all of our cookie tests, the more evenly baked the cookies are, the higher the score will be. If the product has a second oven and/or convection capabilities, then the cookie scores for those tests and the main oven test are weighted and combined to arrive at a final cookie score. This way, products with just a single, conventional oven are not penalized for their lack of a second oven or convection capabilities.
Overall Experience
While we go to great lengths to test the cooking/baking abilities of these cooking appliances, we also incorporate more subjective information into our overall assessment.
For example, how easily can the cooktop surface accommodate multiple pots and pans? Is there a spacious storage drawer? How easy is it to understand the control panel? We answer all of these questions and more to determine if there are any major drawbacks to the product that might not make it a good fit for most households.
What You Should Know Before Buying An Electric Range
What Is The Difference Between Convection And True Convection?
True Convection is an oven setting that includes installing an extra heating element and a fan in the oven. By adding an additional heating unit and fan that circulates the hot air, True Convection is great for ensuring that cookies or cakes baked on different racks will bake through at the same rate, rather than the cookies closest to the bottom heat source cooking faster than those on the rack higher up.
If you don’t see mention of “True Convection” or “European Convection”, but do see the word “convection” in a range’s specs, it means that the unit lacks an additional heating element, but does have a fan to circulate the hot air. While you don’t get the full baking and cooking effect that you would with True Convection, the added heat circulation can cook or bake food more evenly than it would without a fan.
There are also ranges out there that do not offer convection options at all; these ovens aren’t bad, it will just take more time to cook and bake food all the way through. If you’re a frequent baker or cook, convection can be a great time saver, but your dinners won’t suffer unduly without it.
What Is The Difference Between Slide-in And Freestanding Ranges?
In a nutshell, slide-in ranges are meant to sit flush with your countertops, while freestanding ranges are meant to sit on top of any surface.
While slotting in and sitting on top of your countertop may seem similar, the main differences between the two involve finish and ease of cleaning. Because freestanding ranges are visible from all angles, they have more finished sides; slide-in ranges are meant to have their sides hidden by the cabinetry, so the finish typically isn’t as pretty on the sides.
Additionally, because slide-in ranges sit flush with your countertop, they’re a bit easier to clean because they do not have a large lip around the edge. Freestanding ranges often have larger lips around the edge of the cooktop to corral any crumbs that would otherwise decorate your floor. Freestanding ranges also typically have a back-mounted control panel for the same reason.
While slide-in ranges will do fine in a freestanding arrangement, the reverse is less true. If your current cooking setup has the range sitting in a cabinet or countertop cutout, we recommend replacing that range with another slide-in range. Conversely, if your range stands alone in your kitchen, we’d recommend replacing it with another freestanding range to cut down on food debris spilling everywhere.
Should I Get A Front-mounted Control Panel Or Back-mounted Control Panel?
As we mentioned earlier, most freestanding ranges have back-mounted controls, but some slide-in ranges do as well.
Both arrangements have pros and cons; on the one hand, having back-mounted controls means you may have to reach over hot food to adjust the oven temperature, the controls are also far enough away that you would have difficulty hitting something on the control panel by accident.
On the other hand, front-mounted controls are easier to reach, but that convenience can turn against you if you brush up against a knob accidentally. Consider the ergonomics of using the range when it comes to picking a front- or back-mounted control panel.
How Many Burners Do I Need?
Depending on how much time you spend in the kitchen, it might be worth it to investigate in some extra options for your range. When it comes to the cooktop, anything above the standard four-burner setup is a bonus. Some ranges can have five, or even six burners; however, the more burners a range has, the more difficult it becomes to fit large pieces of cookware, such as a spaghetti pot and a frying pan, on their respective burners at the same time.
Sometimes, those extra burners are specialty burners are designed to accommodate special cookware such as a griddle or a wok; other burners are bridge burners that are meant to keep food warm without continuing to cook it.
Another possibility is to have a dual-ring burner, or a burner that includes a stronger heat source wrapped around a weaker heat source. That way, on a single burner, you can choose to use just the smaller heat source for lower temperatures, but you can add the stronger heat source if you need higher temperatures.
What Oven Features Do I Need?
As for extra oven features, they can include everything from accessories like special oven racks or a temperature probe to special cooking features.
That can include the aforementioned convection settings, fast preheat (which expedites the preheating process), bread proofing (where the oven settings are customized to activate yeast and make bread rise), steam cooking (where you pour water into a reservoir and gently cook something with the resulting steam), air fry mode (where you can expeditiously fry frozen and fresh foods, similar to an air fryer) and many more.