Lacanche Range

A little story about why I selected our Lacanche range, things to consider if you’re considering one and more! Updated 11/29/2018

I realized that it’s been a while since I’ve written about our kitchen and even longer since I’ve mentioned the Lacanche range that has become the centerpiece of our kitchen remodel.

When planning our remodel, I knew I wanted to integrate a professional range / oven, consolidating our existing wall ovens and countertop range. I had been drawn to La Cornue and seen Lacanche in the kitchens of several great designers and my friend Jennifer’s kitchen.

I loved how a French range feels timeless, and at the time it felt a little different than what you see in most American kitchens.

I considered a variety of other professional ranges including Wolf, Thermador, Viking, Blue Star and Dacor. Ultimately I chose a Lacanche range.

One notable difference between most Thermador, Wolfe, Viking and Blue Star ranges is that there are no windows on the doors. To be honest, I think that’s what drew me to the Lacanche – the simplicity. It fits seamlessly into our kitchen. To further ensure that, I had the cabinet paint color matched to the enamel sample.

While I found the decision-making to be a bit overwhelming and would do things a little differently if I could do it again, I loved that I could configure my french oven and range to how I’d use it which I’ll be sharing soon!

Items to Consider When Contemplating Purchasing a Lacanche Range:

• cost of freight {$1,575}
• additional cost of color {black is standard, color upgrade is $900}
• additional burners {I paid an additional $850}
• cost of installation
• time/availability. It takes 3-6 months for your range to arrive depending on the shipping method you select and lead time, so plan accordingly
• the handles stick out several inches from the range, so be sure to include them in your measurements for walkways. Most cities have codes that dictate how many inches you need.

Though we were already going through a remodel, installation was a considerable expense given the number of people it took to successfully get it through the door, placed in the kitchen at the proper height and properly leveled.

Our Lacanche before our marble to ensure the marble would not be damaged, but that made adjusting the height a little tricky. It’s about 1/4 higher than our counters, but I didn’t want to go through the additional expense to have it disconnected and reconnected and before we knew it, the backsplash was in and we were committed.

While we had a lot of confidence in our team, they had never installed a Lacanche before and there was a learning curve, even with the abundance of documents shared from the Lacanche team. I wish there was a bit more support on this end or local installers they could confidently recommend. It is my understanding that they do now have more installers/service nationwide, however when ours needed repairs, they sent someone from Florida.

What I Love About Our Lacanche Range

Plain and simple – the style. The brass knobs and burners make my heart sing. The grates are easy to remove to clean the cooktop and the ovens are easy to clean as well. The unlacquered brass ages beautifully.

After the tech came out, (keep reading for more on why) I love the way the gas range cooks.

What I Wish I knew About Lacanche Prior to Ordering

I was so excited to bake with convection I must have overlooked that the Lacanche convection doesn’t work like modern convection.  It doesn’t bake evenly because fans are solely at the rear and the seals are at the front (modern convection has multiple fans throughout) and therefore it bakes on a bias. You have to rotate baked goods halfway through to bake evenly, even then I have struggled a bit.

I have also noticed that when baking in the gas oven items on the left tend to bake much quicker than the right with items in the back right needing several additional minutes. Below is a snapshot of an example testing the oven.

You can see I tested the second loaf from the bottom with a toothpick which came out clean, but the others needed additional bake time. While I’m a baking enthusiast, I’m not an expert, but given all the questions I receive via email and IG dm’s I wanted to provide some examples for you.

Finally, the issues we’d experience in our first year. I looked at a french range as an investment – a workhorse for our family and business. I wasn’t concerned about service because it would be years before it would require any maintenance.

From the start, we had a few problems. I’ll be very honest – I become quickly overwhelmed and the manual, emails back and forth were just too much for me. We had our plumber out again (at our expense) to make adjustments that Lacanche recommended to the best of their ability with the information provided.

We had a second plumber, then my husband Chris attempt to correct the issues. I gave up. I wanted to enjoy it and let go of the frustration. Lacanche reached out a couple times about a fix, but honestly, I didn’t want to keep sinking time and money into it.

In the meantime, the seal came out of the gas oven. Despite putting it back in time and time again, it continued to fall out – most often while the oven was in use leaving it to drape while backing.

Eventually a reader contacted me and said they would really love to make it right. I decided to make one last attempt at a fix and they sent a tech from Florida since no one was available in our area (St. Louis).

I was told that I was one of a handful of ranges with a seal issue and that was isolated to early 2017 ranges, though I wish they had contacted me to provide a fix knowing it was an issue.

2 of my burners left the warehouse turned wrong which is why we were having issues “firing” them up. As previously mentioned, it cooks flawlessly now.

As for baking, well, some things never change. To make it work I carefully plan and calculate placement, timing and turning to ensure proper baking.

Frequently Asked Question – Can You Fit a Full Size Cookie Sheet in a Lacanche?

It depends which one you purchase, but I can in my gas oven (on the left). I use 6 of these cookie sheets at a time in the electric / convection oven to the right.

I know this is a lot of information and that it’s not everyone’s experience, but hopefully it helps you make an educated decision about whether or not it’s right for you and answers all of your questions.

You can learn a little more about it here until next time and learn more about my friend Chloe’s experience with her LaCornue here.

Do you have a french range or are you considering one?