2 ovens in a 1 oven kitchen!
Written: Feb 08 '03
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Pros: The smaller oven is more useful than you think.
2 ovens without remodeling.
Cons: The stove is slow to cool.
The lower/simmer temperatures don't work well.
The Bottom Line: This is a great way to have a double oven in a standard range space. The ovens are great. The cooktop is good enough.
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| gstriph's Full Review: Maytag Gemini MER6772 Electric Range |
When we moved into our house, I settled for a single oven (it's hard to go back to one when you've had two) and there was no space for a second oven without remodeling. Then Maytag introduced the Gemini. Essentially, you trade the bottom pot/utensil drawer (or perhaps a broiling drawer) for a skinny 2nd oven.
My first reaction was that it still wasn't 2 ovens. I was completely wrong. The skinny upper oven preheats in half the time of the normal-sized lower oven. It fits a large cookie sheet/tray, casserole, or a couple of cake pans. In short, it is the perfect side dish/dessert oven with a larger main course in the bottom oven. We ended up using the upper oven at least twice as often as the larger "real" oven.
The small oven also offers a keep warm feature which is really useful. It has a toasting function as well. I find that it borders on burning on the default length of time for toasting so you may want to watch or adjust. OTOH, you can make a pile of toast at once for a crowd. The ovens broil reasonably well.
The bottom oven has 2 metal racks that come out in 2 levels with metal wheels. These work pretty well. I find the heat is pretty even. You can bake bread in it without having to rotate the pans.
Both ovens have a self-clean feature that really work. The electronic controls are reasonably intuitive. I still have trouble ending the timer early (you can't just cancel it, you have to set it to zero time).
The stove top is less desirable. As with most electric cooktops, it heats relatively fast but takes a very long time to cool off. Because the cooktop is entirely flat, if you spill something, it will get on all of the hot burners and create a mess. I find that there really are no low/simmer settings. I end up leaving the smallest burner set on the lowest setting and leave the pot half off the burner. One of the large burners has a temperature sensor that is supposed to keep a pot at a constant temperature; I have not found this to be too reliable. The burners glow orange when hot but will darken while they are still quite warm; there is a little orange warning light to remind you. However, like the boy who cried wolf, this orange light stays lit until every lawyer in the country would feel that the burner was safe so it is not all that useful.
We've had this one for 2 years or so and it has been entirely reliable.
On the balance, I don't feel that the problems of the electric cooktop are all that different than many of the other electric ranges that I have used. If you only have an electric power source, then this is a great oven. If you have the possibility of both gas and electric, you need to balance the availability of a double oven to the relative advantages of a gas range. Having a double oven is great when you need it. I think that you can compensate for the stove's relative deficiencies more than you can do without the 2nd oven so, if you only have space for one range, this really does the trick.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1199
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Epinions.com ID:
gstriph
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Reviews written: 14
Trusted by: 1 member
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