Electrolux EI30GF45QS review: Electrolux's gas stove can't keep up with the competition
The $2,700 Electrolux EI30GF45QS cooks food well -- as long as you have the time to spare.
In a different world, this would be a glowing review of the $2,700 Electrolux EI30GF45QS gas stove. It's a good-looking appliance that will class up your kitchen. For the most part, it bakes, broils and roasts food that ends up tasting great. So what's the problem?
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The sheen of this Electrolux slide-in range dulls when you compare it with similar gas stoves. The Electrolux's cook times fall behind those of other appliances, especially when you look at how long it takes to broil hamburger patties. And its 4.5 cubic feet of oven space seems tiny when you hold it up to ovens that give you more than 6 cubic feet.
I'd give the EI30GF45QS an enthusiastic endorsement if it weren't for these comparisons. Instead, I have to add a couple of caveats. The EI30GF45QS will cook your food well and look good doing it. But if it's speed you value, you can find stoves from other brands that will cook food faster for about the same amount of money, such as the $2,650 KitchenAid KSGB900ESS.
Heavy on visual appeal, but light on baking space
The EI30GF45QS is the gas version of the Electrolux EI30EF45QS electric range, and the two are nearly identical. Both of these stainless-steel ranges are 30-inch-wide slide-in models, which means there's no back panel. Instead, all the controls are located on the front of the units. This created the same problem on both stoves: It's too easy to accidentally press a button on the control panel when you reach across the cooktop.
The EI30GF45QS is a mixed bag when it comes to how much you can cook at once. The cooktop has five burners, including an oblong center burner that accompanies the griddle that comes with the stove. But that generous cooking space doesn't extend into the oven, where you only get 4.5 cubic feet. Similar stoves such as the Samsung NX58H9500WS, the KitchenAid KSGB900ESS and the Kenmore 72583 have at least 5 cubic feet of space. This doesn't mean you can't cook a Thanksgiving turkey in the EI30GF45QS, it will just be a much tighter fit.
Other notable features on the EI30GF45QS include the convection fan built into the back of the oven wall, a warming drawer below the oven and a temperature probe that you plug into the oven to track the internal temperature of dishes you're baking or roasting. The oven also comes with a gliding rack, an offset rack and a standard rack.
Cook times lag behind other gas stoves
When it comes to cooking, the EI30GF45QS is noticeably slower at basic tasks than similar gas stoves. Let's start with the not-so-bad-but-could-be-better boil times:
It took an average of 11.55 minutes for the EI30GF45QS to bring 112 ounces of water to boil. That's nearly 4 minutes faster than the most expensive gas range we've reviewed, the Dacor RNRP36GS. But that time still trails nearly 2 minutes behind the $1,400 Kenmore 74343, the gas range with the fastest boil times we've tested.
Broil times were even more disappointing:
It took an average of nearly 20 minutes for the EI30GF45QS to bring six hamburger patties to an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a super sluggish time when you stand the EI30GF45QS's performance next to its competitors'.
But there's a flip side to the EI30GF45QS's performance. Though it takes a long time to get those burgers to our testing temperature, the end result was patties that retained their juiciness despite being under direct heat for about 20 minutes. That's definitely a coup for the EI30GF45QS -- if you're willing to carve out the time to wait for those aforementioned juicy burgers.
And the convection roast setting produced an equally moist chicken, though the skin could've been crispier:
The EI30GF45QS's baking chops are just decent. The convection fan, which circulates air for more even baking, wasn't effective enough to evenly cook two racks of biscuits at the same time. The biscuits that baked on the bottom right side of the oven were regularly lighter than the rest of the biscuits across two racks:
Final thoughts on the EI30GF45QS
I'd be happy with what this stove can do with food if I didn't compare this stove with other products -- the EI30GF45QS is a solid product if you don't mind the wait. But if a quickly cooked dish is a must-have for your mealtimes, you can find stoves from other brands that can cook food faster for the same amount of money.