Product review (5 stars): Best range I've ever had
As I prepared to purchase a new range,  I did a lot of research on the internet.  While there were many glowing reports for the cafe dual fuel, there were just as many highly critical reports.  What explained such a discrepancy?  Bad quality control?  Maybe.  Inexperienced users?  Perhaps.  People expecting one thing and getting another?  Possible, I suppose.  I didn't know.  But I noticed the same thing for all brands and all types of ranges.  It would seem that there is no range that is universally recognized as the best.  Likewise,  I noticed that people get pretty worked up about ranges.

How could I cut through all that and find a range that I really like?  The first thing I did was talk to 3 different appliance dealers that sell nearly all brands and all of them said  that GE does ranges better than it does anything else and furthermore that GE knows ranges better than most.  That was helpful.  I was really interested in dual fuel.  I also liked the looks of the Cafe.  But then on the other hand,  my sister liked her Bosch dual fuel range that is similar in style.

Eventually I settled on the GE because it seemed more substantial.  I did this tentatively;  crossing my fingers; hoping that actual problems were rare.  I assumed that those who got stuck with a lemon were more motivated to go on the internet and write something then those who had a stove that worked well.

When my new range was delivered,  I was very interested in putting it through its paces and seeing if I  agree or disagree with those who wrote against it. Also I wanted to see if I made the right choice.

The chief complaints people seem to have against the GE dual fuel Cafe range are as follows:

1. Burners not calibrated well

2. Lower oven does not heat fast enough.

3. Griddle is not hot enough

4. Control knobs get HOT!

5.  The mess!  Oh the Mess!

6. Water doesn't boil fast enough!

Here's what I have concluded about these complaints after a couple of day fiddling with the The Cafe:

1. Burner calibration:  For me and my range,  this complaint was not true.  I took a sauce pan,  about 8" in diamater, filled it with water,  put it on the biggest burner,  brought it to a boil.  When it come to a boil,  I was immediately struck by how even the bubbles were in size and spacing.  I've used three different stoves  over the years and never saw this before.  As I lowered the heat,  the bubbles merely got smaller...but still evenly spaced.  Wow!.  Nice, even heat and  such a delicately broad range even in rate of boil!  I did this on all the burners and had the same experience.  This cooktop has great control.  Cooked bacon on it this morning and easily found the sweet spot for perfect bacon....barely sizzling.

2. Lower oven does not heat fast enough:  Yep there is some truth to this complaint.  But it depends on what is meant by "fast enough".  It does require 20 minutes to warm up.  This is not the main oven,  and I never expected it to perform like my main oven.  If I'd wanted two main ovens,  I'd get dual wall ovens.  I'm just happy and somewhat amazed that I get to have an extra little oven in my storage drawer!  (and yes... you can still use it for storage!)  It'll be handy the 20 or so  times a year when I want to cook two different things at different temperatures.  For those times, I'll simply plan ahead and give the lower oven time to warm up.  I did a pan of corn muffins (20 minute baking time)  in this lower oven as I cooked some ribs(70 minute cooking time)  in the bigger oven.  As  I put the ribs in the big oven,  I turned on the lower oven to warm up.  I put the corn muffins in so that they would be done the same time as the ribs.  Both ribs and muffins turned out great.  They don't recommend things like pizza or roasts in the lower oven....no way to clean the upper surface.  So only breads, cookies and non splattering things go in the lower oven.

3.  Griddle not hot enough:  I think this complaint is  just a case impatience and a related lack of reading.  The manual tells exactly how to set it for each food..and how long to warm it up.  For pancakes it is setting 4 with a 10 minute warm up.  It made perfect pancakes!  Better than my stand-alone griddle (which, by the way, takes 7 minutes to warm up and doesn't have the benefit of my exhaust hood).  The cafe griddle is heavy... and gives very even heat across the whole surface.  The pancakes I've cooked on it turn out identical and even in color. Never cooked such perfect pancakes.  In the reviews, I hear people talking about cooking sausage, bacon,  and things that splatter.  I would never do that on this griddle in my kitchen.  Massive amounts of grease spattering everywhere is most uncool.  Funny thing though, GE  put grease channels in this griddle as if you'd use it to fry greasy/sizzling things, a sales gimmick no doubt.  But pancakes,  eggs, french toast,  rubens; all would do very well on there.  It did a marvelous grilled cheese.  But only held three  of them (larger sandwich size bread).  It's kind of nice having a little griddle ready to go.  It's smaller size makes it easy to clean.

4. Control knobs get hot.  There is some truth to this complaint.  While I was cooking the ribs in the oven,  I boiled a big pan of water on the front burner just to see how hot the knobs get as both stove top and oven are used at once...which is the situation that generates this complaint.  They do indeed get hot.  But I would not say it was a burning temp.  I could still hold them constantly....but only on the part that was farthest away from the range (the knobs are long and project outward).  Tonight I did convection setting...with pizza in there. Barely any heat in the knobs.

5.  Mess!  This complaint has some validity too.  Range tops do get messy.  I suspect that these are first time gas stove users who are making this comments.  Gas stoves can be quite a bit harder to keep clean than smooth tops or electrics.  But the way this one is constructed, I think the cleaning will be a lot easier than any other gas stove I've had.  The burners are sealed and skirted so that the seam between burner and the sheetmetal is not an issue.  I'll like not having to try to clean that!

6.  Water doesn't boil fast enough:  Okay, this is one of consumer report's issues too.  They seem to mark all gas ranges  down because they don't  boil water as quickly as an electric.  But I contend that there's a lot more to cooking than boiling water fast!  A lot of people don't know this,  but gas burners take longer to boil water than electric or ceramic.  Yep.  it's just a fact.  you'd expect all that impressive fire to heat faster,  but no.  Where gas shines is in it's ability to simmer and saute without scorching.  Gas is much gentler and more capable of doing foods just right and at a much higher level of flavor.  That's why I like it.  If all you do is boil water to heat prepackaged meals, I wouldn't recommend a gas stove.  But if you like to cook,  to saute, simmer, caramelize, reduce, and deglaze you gotta get gas!  One other thing that is more critical with gas is the size of the pan.  If you put a little pan on a big gas burner,  a lot of heat's going to blast up the sides of the pot.

In Conclusion,  the GE Cafe Dual fuel is, so far the most impressive range I've ever owned.  To my mind the extra money spent was well worth it.  If my impression changes I'll amend this later.  I did buy an extended warrantee just to be safe.  Seems like appliances don't last as long as they used to.

P.S.  Here's what ranges  I've used  in the past just to give you an idea of what I am comparing to so you can understand where I'm coming from:  an Older Hotpoint Electric (from the late 70's/alright ),  A GE Gas...(mid-level from '95/Good),  and Jenn-air gas (2003..slide in/ very disappointing and found perverse joy in seeing it carted away)

----Update at the 1 year mark  February 22, 2011----

After nearly a year of use, my opinion of this range has not changed.  It is still the best range I've ever owned.  I thought  I'd add a few comments that come from my experience over time.

1.  Pan size.  I wouldn't use anything smaller than 6 inches.  Have a revere 4 inch which is useless on it.  None of the burners handle really small pans well.

2.  Convection bake.  I make my own granola,  this requires spreading it out in a single layer on two jelly roll pans.  In every other oven I've used,  I've had to rotate the pans two or three times during the baking in order to achieve even cooking.  Not so with this oven in convection mode!  I put the pans in on two different  shelves and and don't turn them at all.  The granola comes out perfect.  In addition, instead of having to adjust your time, the oven automatically knocks off 25 degrees when you go into convection. Thus, old recipes that are non-convection can be cooked for the same time period.  (I remember one reviewer who complained that his oven never reached the temp he set.  Perhaps this is why.)

3. Convection roast.  (This differs from convection bake in that it doesn't take 25 degrees off... their might be other technical differences that I am not I don't know about.)  One of my family's favorite things is when I cut up potatoes,  coat with olive oil, sprinkle with rosemary and garlic and bake  at 375,  it takes an 60 minutes plus a little extra time under the broiler to give them a golden crust in a conventional oven.  But in Convection roast,  it takes  about 40 minutes with no broiler at the end and it develops the golden crust all by itself.  I also did a prime rib with convection roast.  Awesomeness!  What's cool about the convection roast is not only is it faster and more even,  but it seems to preserve the moisture in the food better.

4.  Regular bake.  I bake a loaf of bread about every three days.  (Rose Levy's Flax loaf).  Turns out great.  Casseroles and other hot dish recipes also work out well.

5. Main big burner in front works great for wok cooking.

6. Cleaning the range top.  Easy.  Still not as easy to clean as an electric however.  The Stainless steel does make it easy to keep clean compared to other gas stoves.

7.  I've use the self-clean feature twice.  Does what is supposed to.

So far everything still works great.  I am still satisfied.