I talked to La Cornue’s National Sales Manager, Noelle Skurchak, just to better understand the inner workings of the range.
At the end of our conversation, she told me about their brand new “Château Suprême.”
I was thinking you need a Suprême version of a $50,000+ range?
You decide:
I don’t know how to describe this style. Is it Mid-Century Modern, Deco, or transitional as it has contemporary and traditional elements?
Look at the unique grid at the bottom of the range and the stove knobs. It reminds me of a classic turn-of-the-century faucet.
Only one company can produce a range of this caliber: La Cornue.
If you are looking for a unique range and want to customize your range with gas, induction, teppanyaki, or a French top in a distinct color and trim style, only La Cornue can build you that range.
In this post, you will learn a bit about the company, its best features, and sizes.
I will also show you a few cool custom finishes like this one:
Let's get started.
This article is about the Château series. Their lesser expensive CornuFe series will be separate.
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La Cornue is a French range dating back to 1908. They pioneered the first convection oven.
Their founder followed the new gas lines being placed in Paris at that time. Before then, food was cooked over a flame.
Nowadays La Cornue is known for incorporating the best materials to its ranges.
Each unit is individually hand-made and customized based on your requests and specifications.
You are assigned a project manager for your Château range. We have mandatory paperwork to sign as well.
There has never been a La Cornue delivered wrong due to their detail-oriented process.
It's pretty amazing since the Château has 8,000 different possible configurations in size, colors, configuration, and trims
It's quite a testimony that they have never had mix up between Provence or Lavender Blue (or the other three blues)
Most of the range is still built by 60 Master craftsmen who spend generations building and refining their ranges.
Machines were added only recently to aid the process.
One of their master craftsmen talks about manufacturing a La Cornue stove on their YouTube channel.
You get a real sense of his passion for manufacturing cooking ranges for people. It's impressive as he talks about his art and craft.
It's unusual in a world of automated mass manufacturing.
La Cornue is a completely different range with the ability to customize colors, trims and even the configuration of the tops.
It is the finest range you can buy, but it's not for everyone.
Most upscale ovens and brands are convection, but La Cornue is unique.
The air flows from the bottom under the oven, not from a fan in the back. Fans can dry the food.
La Cornue has a patented concave arched top to provide a natural convection effect to cook evenly without drying your food.
The larger sizes from 47.5” and up have one gas oven, moister heat for roasting and broiling.
You also have an electric oven. Electric has drier heat and is better for baking. For the smaller ones some sizes of 35.4 and less, you have a choice of electric or gas.
I had our chef describe how you would use each mode.
The Conventional Heat Mode is similar to old-fashioned (thermal) ovens without convection. This mode would work as a finishing mode to crisp the bottom of pastries or cakes. You could also make pizzas in this mode.
The Floor Vault Combination Function operates with top and bottom heat only. Food will brown more quickly in the top part of the oven in this mode.
This mode also claims to offer a temperature variance from the top to bottom, the top being hotter and cooling down as you get to the bottom of the oven. You would also bake delicate pastries, cakes, or soufflés that need to rise in the oven.
The Forced Air Convection Mode is also known as True European Convection. Its the fan and the element behind it. There is no top or bottom heat in this mode. Its great for multi-rack cooking, like three trays of cookies or any items that cook at similar temperatures.
The Convection Assisted Oven Mode offers heat from all three sources. Top heat, bottom heat, as well as the convection fan and third heating element around it. It's fast and intensive and great for larger items like roasts, so the time and temperature will have to be adjusted accordingly.
The Defrosting Mode circulates cold air through the cavity of the oven, which is ideal to thaw out smaller cuts of meat like fish fillets, chicken, and meat. You could also defrost desserts and frozen cakes on this mode. It is not recommended for larger cuts of meat.
The Broiling Function uses intensive direct heat from the top of the oven. Its used as a finishing mode to melt cheese or brown the tops of casseroles and lasagnas.
The Convection Broiling Mode is direct heat from the top of the oven along with a convection fan circulating the heat which will make the broiler less intense. You would cook denser or thicker cuts of meat like steaks or whole fish.
Unlike every other manufacturer, the rangetop is fully customizable with every type of burner from electric to gas to pro-gas to naturally a French top.
You cook directly on the Teppanyaki. It has the same heat throughout whereas you leave the pots on the French top.
The French top has different temperatures to cook many items at different temperatures versus one temperature for the Teppanyaki.
Many companies like Viking, BlueStar, Capital, and Bertazzoni offer colors at lower prices.
However, La Cornue executes color better than any other brands.
You can choose between 48 colors and six trims. It is designed to be an heirloom and focal piece in your kitchen.
You can request any color and they most likely have it.
When we teach classes in design, we always talk about how appliances fit in standard openings...It is true for almost every brand.
Except for La Cornue, the dimensions are similar but not the same.
The following are sizes in widths and starting price for La Cornue Château ranges:
Grand Palais 180: 70 inches from $60,300
Le Château 165: 65 inches from $56,000
Le Château 150: 59.1 inches from $52,300
Le Château 120: 47.2 inches from $49,275
Le Château 90: 35.4 inches from $34,700
Le Château 75: 29.5 inches from $27,500
La Cornue is a functional, personalized, and beautiful cooking product.
However, it is not technical and doesn’t have some of the updated conveniences of other brands.
It doesn’t have a clock and timer, although many professional ranges, like BlueStar, do not.
La Cornue does not have steam like Miele in their steam assist ovens or Thermador with their full steam oven in their larger 48- and 60-inch ovens.
It is not Wi-Fi enabled to be controlled by an app on your phone with recipe tie-ins like Jenn-Air. Thermador and Dacor are Wi-Fi enabled as well.
You can buy many ranges with decent colors with some less expensive options like a Bertazzoni or Fisher & Paykel.
Viking and BlueStar pro ranges offer custom colors like La Cornue.
However, only La Cornue allows you to customize the top with gas and electric ovens along with more vibrant color and trim combinations.
Every company uses fan-driven convection and only La Cornue allows for extensive customization.
Lacanche is another French brand. It’s a beautiful range. However, Lacanche is a convection range using air and vapor instead of the natural convection of the La Cornue.
In terms of quality of materials, La Cornue is the best range available. It is also the only customizable range, so it’s engineered to work with your unique cooking style on the top.
La Cornue will cook the best as well with their natural convection, arched top ovens befitting their French cooking heritage.
In terms of colors, while more companies now have colors, La Cornue executes color better and will look great in your kitchen.
If you want the best stove also engineered to perform and look the best, then consider a La Cornue Château range.
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