CJD
Okay, so most people would agree that if appearances were king, this oven would rank 5 stars. Well, that's not the only criteria. First, the good. As mentioned, looks nice. It has 5 top burners, our last range had 4 burners so an extra one with a larger pot or whatever is nice. The burners on top seem to operate consistently, and provide plenty of heat. The oven door opens nicely, feels like a high-quality appliance. The oven is a slide-in meaning it can replace most slide-in ovens. It has adjustable legs so you can set it to counter height easily.
We have this range setup for natural gas, it also comes with an LP gas adapter. I doubt it makes a difference, but we have had lighting issues and some other issues staying lit.
I needs a couple basic features. For example, there's no temperature display or "oven lit" indicator. This deducted one star from the rating. Why not? Our last oven cost half as much and had a digital temperature display. Also, there's no LED or indicator light that the oven is lit and running. Literally we have to turn off all the kitchen lights, close the shades and look in the base of the oven through a tiny hole for a blue light to find out if it's lit. How stupid is that?
The lighting of the range is clumsy and confusing, made more clumsy by the lack of any indicator that the range is running. To light the oven, you have to press in the oven knob for 2 seconds, then turn to the desired temperature, then release. Seems clumsy, right? It is. Why not design it to just have an "on" button, then turn it to the desired temperature like every other oven. Not sure what they were thinking.
Well, to make it worse, the lighting problem is complicated by the fact that it occasionally shuts off without warning or indication. I'm thinking it may have some kind of problem as we've had it less than a month. There isn't even a beep indicator to tell you the oven went off. Loss of another rating star, boo hoo.
Finally, the 110v plug that plugs into the 110v outlet - is way too long (like 4" long), and isn't a 90-degree plug. Simply, Bosch should design the range with a 90-degree 110v plug for the US version of this oven. This ridiculously long plug prevents one from pushing the range all the way to the wall as the back of the oven hits the back of the long plug. Again, it's crystal clear that this is a bad design. The only way it would fit is if the electrician happened to locate the outlet from about 1-4" off the ground making it fit in the leg height area. I doubt putting the outlet that low is allowed by local electrical code. Because of this bad design, we had to put in a 1-ft right angle extension to get the range pushed all the way back to the wall, which technically isn't allowed by code either.
My wife says she loves it, and she does nearly all the cooking. But her complaints about not knowing whether or not it's lit, have a been less than fun, so I should remove one star for that, awwww. If you're counting that should calculate to a 2-stars rating (3 star deduction). Well, I'm only deducting 2-stars simply because my wife likes it.
| Brand Name | Bosch |
|---|---|
| Model Info | HGS8055UC |
| Item Weight | 194 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 24.88 x 29.88 x 36 inches |
| Item model number | HGS8055UC |
| Capacity | 3.6 Cubic Feet |
| Installation Type | Freestanding |
| Part Number | HGS8055UC |
| Form Factor | Freestanding |
| Burner type | Gas |
| Drawer Type | Warming, Storage, Broiler |
| Heating Elements | 5 |
| Control Console | Knob |
| Voltage | 120 Volts |
| Wattage | 120 watts |
| Fuel type | Gas |
| Material Type | Stainless Steel |
| Batteries Required? | No |
