Why You Can Trust CNET Samsung NE59J7630SB review: Flaws aside, this Samsung offers good performance for less than $1K
The Samsung NE59J7630SB Electric Range doesn't break any new ground in the kitchen, but its impressive performance and bonus features make the appliance appealing.
Samsung has earned a lot of attention for its mid- to high-end kitchen appliances, especially the manufacturer's Flex Duo line of ranges . But Samsung's NE59J6730SB Electric Range shows that the manufacturer doesn't skimp on its lower-priced models.
Samsung NE59J7630SB
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The NE59J6730SB has an MSRP of $949 and contains helpful features that add versatility to cooking. The smooth-top range also boasts some impressive performance times when it comes to boiling and broiling. The Samsung NE59J6730SB has a few flaws: biscuits from the oven were chewy, a roast chicken was a touch too dry and the oven's generic appearance won't make it stand out from its competitors.
The range doesn't set the world on fire with innovative looks or perfect cooking, but the functionality and fast performance times make the Samsung NE59J6730SB a worthy addition to a home kitchen.
Samsung gets the job done with this easy-to-use, quick-cooking range (pictures)
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Unoriginal design hides good features
All ranges that have rotated through the CNET Appliances test kitchen have given me stainless steel fatigue. As its popularity has grown, stainless steel has gone from high-profile to ho-hum. It's hard to find a stainless-steel range that stands out from the pack appearance-wise, and the Samsung NE59J7630SB is no different from its competitors.
This Samsung model is 30-inch electric range features a smooth, ceramic, black cooktop wrapped in stainless steel, similar to the GE JB650SFSS and the Frigidaire Gallery 30-Inch Electric Range , with controls that sometimes work against the home cook. The back panel of the NE59J6730SB looks identical to the Samsung NE59J7850WS -- four thick knobs to control each of the burners and a touchpad with a digital display. The four burners range from 1,200 to 3,300 watts of power.
The knobs for the two large burners at the front of the cooktop were confusing to use. The left front burner has a Rapid Boil feature in which you can use two concentric burners to increase boiling speed. The right front burner has three of these concentric burners. However, there are different scales on each knob that control the single-, double- or triple-ring burner features, so you can choose how many burners you want to use at once. It's a tight squeeze to fit the controls of multiple burners around one knob. More than likely, I want all my burner power in use, so I'd sacrifice versatility for more streamlined knob controls.
Unlike the burners, the warming zone is controlled via the touchpad, which feels counterintuitive since the warming zone looks just like the two small burners at the back of the cooktop. And the touchpad is a little stiff and unresponsive to the touch -- I had to push harder than I'd like to select oven modes and temperatures. Button resistance aside, the touchpad is easy to use thanks to self-explanatory, simple labels. And the digital display tracks the temperature of the oven as it's preheating, a helpful tool when you're anxiously waiting for an oven to reach the intended temperature.
The Samsung NE59J7630SB's oven has a 5.9 cubic foot capacity, which is larger than that of the comparable GE JB650SFSS and the GE Artistry Series Range . But the two oven racks included with the Samsung NE59J7630SB have back edges that turn up to avoid hitting the convection fan mounted in the back of the oven. This reduces the amount of space on which you can sit baking sheets on the racks and makes the oven cavity seem more shallow than it actually is.
There is a lot that you can do with the Samsung NE59J7630SB's oven. Along with convection baking and roasting modes, the range comes equipped with slow cook, bread proof and dehydrate functions. These features are thoughtful additions for the avid home cook eager to experiment. Just be mindful of the oven's lack of an auto-convert feature for convection cooking.
Fast performance, but at what cost?
On the surface, the Samsung NE59J7630SB's performance is stellar: fast water boiling, competitive broil times, golden biscuits, and one good-looking roast chicken. But the numbers don't tell the whole story of my time with this range.
I cooked three batches of refrigerated biscuits using the Samsung NE59J7630SB's convection baking mode. The oven doesn't have an auto-convert feature, so you have to either bake food at a lower temperature or for a shorter amount of time to account for the faster cooking when you use a convection mode. I reduced the cooking time by 10 percent, so each batch of 24 biscuits (12 on one rack, 12 on another) baked for 8 minutes and 6 seconds. With just a couple of exceptions, the biscuits slid right off the baking sheet. They were noticeably more chewy and dense than biscuits I've baked in other ovens. Each cookie sheet of biscuits were fairly even, but the biscuits that baked on the bottom rack were a lot paler than their companions above them.
I used the broiler in the oven to cook hamburger patties, a technique that cooks food at high temperatures similar to that of a grill. The use and care manual for the Samsung NE59J7630SB advises that you keep the oven door partially open when you broil, so be prepared for columns of smoke to erupt from the oven cavity.
Hamburger Broiling Test (Electric Models)
It took an average of 15.08 minutes to bring six patties to 145 degrees, a time that puts the Samsung NE59J7630SB more than three minutes ahead of the comparably priced Frigidaire FGEF3030PF . But the burgers that were located near the back of the broiler were well done by the time the patties in the front reached 145 degrees. All of the burgers had a nice crisp char on the exterior that was just a hair short of being burnt.
In sticking with the oven, I used the convection roast mode to cook my favorite chicken that I seasoned with salt, pepper and olive oil. After an hour and 20 minutes, the chicken breasts had started to dry out, but the dark meat was juicy and the skin was brown and crisp.
The Samsung NE59J7630SB's cooktop almost erased the faults of the model's oven. The large burner with the Fast Boil feature lived up to its name -- I boiled 112 ounces of water in a 5-quart pot in just 9.33 minutes, the fast time we've seen on an electric oven (only induction ranges had faster boiling times).
Large-Burner Boil Test (Electric Models)
I also liked how well the Samsung NE59J7630SB's small burner was able to maintain a steady temperature on a can of tomato soup. After I brought the soup to 165 degrees, I reduced the temperature to low and tracked the temperature for the next 20 minutes. The chart below shows how steady the temperature remained on the Samsung NE59J7630SB in comparison to the gas cooktop of the Dacor RNRP26GS and the Kenmore 95073 , which has an induction cooktop.
Final thoughts
Too often, consumers have to sacrifice functionality to find a range for less than $1,000, such as giving up a convection fan in the LG LRE3021ST , GE JB650SFSS and the Frigidaire Gallery 30-Inch Electric Range . The Samsung NE59J7630SB has convection, helpful cooking modes and quick-cooking capabilities and still clocks in at less than $1,000. The oven isn't perfect, but its strengths are enough to make this a worthwhile purchase for the cook who wants to spend less than four figures for their appliance.