Jenn-Air Pro vs Café Appliances is an interesting comparison as both have different attributes. This will be a good article, because pro ranges have become more like residential ranges with self-cleaning and better interfaces. Residential ranges have better BTU outputs like a pro range, so this will be intriguing.
What is Dual Fuel?
When shopping for a gas range you have two options: an all gas range, or a dual fuel range. A dual fuel range has a gas burners and an electric oven whereas an all gas range has gas burners and a gas oven. Your cooking style will determine whether an all gas or a dual fuel range is better for you. All gas ovens tend to have a better broiling capability whereas dual fuel ovens have true convection which is great for people who like to bake.
Jenn-Air
Jenn-Air is part of the Whirlpool Corporation (along with KitchenAid, Maytag, Whirlpool and Amana), the largest household appliance manufacturer in the world. Jenn-Air is the Whirlpool Corporation’s premium appliance brand. It is known for producing affordable luxury and professional products. Jenn-Air produces a slide-in range that comes in both all gas and dual fuel.
Jenn-Air JDRP430WP - $4899.00
Features:
- Four sealed burners
- (1) 20,000 stacked power burner great for wok cooking and flash frying
- (2) 15,000 BTU burners so you can cook multiple dishes at maximum heat simultaneously
- (1) 5,000 BTU simmer burner that can be reduced to as low as 500 BTUs
- 7-inch full color LCD display control panel with 6 convection cooking modes
- MyCreations feature stores favorite recipes for later use
- Dual fan true convection system using two fans to distribute heat evenly throughout the oven
- Auto convection conversion automatically converts your recipes with conventional cook time and temperature to convection
- Self-cleaning oven feature
- 4.1 CU. FT. oven capacity
- Free dishwasher with purchase of Jenn-Air Pro range (JDB8200AWS)
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Café Appliances
General Electric, owner of Café Appliances, is one of the world’s largest corporations and is a leading producer of household appliances in the North American market. GE is an American company located in Louisville, KY. Café Appliances is one of their most successful labels because of its professional appearance at an affordable price. Café Appliances produces a slide-in range that comes in both all gas and dual fuel.
GE appeals more to the builder niche, whereas Jenn-Air is almost exclusively geared towards consumers.
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Café Appliances C2S985SETSS - $3000
Features:
- Five sealed burners
- (1) 20,000 tri-ring burner offers maximum flexibility with 140F degree simmer
- (1) 17,000 BTU burner
- (1) 9,100 BTU all purpose burner with 150F degree simmer
- (1) 8,000 BTU central burner
- (1) 5,000 BTU
- 140F degree simmer
- Glass touch digital controls
- Convection baking system ensures precise temperature settings
- Range with additional baking drawer that can range from 140 to 450F degrees
- Self-cleaning oven feature
- 6.4 CU. FT. total oven capacity
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Which is better?
When looking at these two models it is important to consider your cooking style and the size of the pans you regularly use. Although the Café Appliances model has five burners of various outputs it will be unlikely to accommodate five large pans simultaneously. However, I like the large capacity of the Café Appliances oven and the variable BTU output in the power burner. GE also has two ovens at 6.4 cubic feet compared to Jenn-Airs one oven at 4.1 cu. ft.
I like the cook top on the Jenn-Air range because it has multiple high output burners that can simultaneously accommodate four large pans and will have higher BTU than the Café unit.
The LCD touch screen display on the Jenn-Air range is incredibly intuitive and simple to operate. I am an adventurous eater but I am usually hesitant to cook dishes outside of my comfort zone such as duck or lamb. This screen will actually ask me what I am cooking and tell me exactly how to cook these meats to perfection. I like that you can save the oven settings for your favorite recipes so that you can easily access them every time.
The Jenn-Air range is great for anyone who likes technology incorporated into kitchen appliances. Jenn-Air also will dual convection for more even cooking as opposed to the Café with standard one fan convection.
Café Appliances will offer two ovens a fifth burner whereas Jenn-Air is hotter with a better oven and more robust controls.
Price
Jenn-Air is $4879 versus the Cafe at $3,000. However, Jenn-Air includes a free $1,200 integrated dishwasher.
Additional Resources
Download the Yale Pro Range Buyers Guide with features, specs and BTU output to every professional range in the industry. Over 40,000 people have read a Yale Guide.