Product review (3 stars): They don't make 'em like they used to
I could write pages on this item, so I'll hit the high points first. Mine is in bisque but I don't imagine that makes any difference.  I replaced my 30 year old GE with this so I was expecting quality - my bad. From reviews and talking with store owners I learned that GE is about the ONLY company trying to cater to the coil burner market. Many of us detest the flat-tops for numerous reasons, and coil was my choice since I can tomatoes and fruits, make popcorn, and generally do a lot of cooking.

Note that the coils are not flat so even though you are admonished to keep the pan bottom over the entire surface of the burner, your choice is to do that OR have it touch most of the burner since the place where the coil comes 'up' is higher than the rest of the coil - on the small burners. If I was going to keep this stove, I would purchase new burners, having physically looked at them first. The drip pan/burner ring is one unit and they have eliminated the lip around the hole for the burner so you cannot use the two part kind. This is a problem because within two weeks the drip pan had begun to rust through.  Talk about junk. Not even enamel or chrome? Who puts metal that rusts round the burner of a stove? There is a hump at the edge of the hole that they think the burner ring should fit on, apparently, but it really means it kind of wiggles around. Someone should be fired in their design department. Further the burners are WAY slower than my old stove and since they all use Calrods, I have to blame it on the stove itself, not the burners - no matter how poorly made they are.  Because of the exceedingly slow warming up you need to keep a close eye on things to be sure they aren't cooking on too high a temp after a bit.  They lose a star for that major issue.

  Note to non-GE stove users.  If you are really fond of your burner arrangement, take note of the GE's because the big burners are on the right front and left rear.  I didn't realize most stoves are different until we went stove-shopping.

The oven: It's HUGE. Can't imagine what anyone would need that big an oven for (and I bake 4 loaves of bread at a time) but it takes away from the very handy drawer under it, which, by the way, is very flimsy and cheap feeling compared to the old one. Further, it takes forever to pre-heat, probably because the top element doesn't appear to come on at all. Other than that, the oven works fine. You need to have a great deal of patience to stand around pushing buttons forever to set the temp. Why anyone would want to push buttons rather than simply turn a dial to what you want is baffling to me. Oh, and this is an important point: You cannot lower the temp once the oven is on. You MUST turn it off and start the entire process over again - and mind you, the temp will revert to 350 so you have to do the temp setting again. Yeah, dumb, huh?  The broiler has a hi and lo setting, which is better than nothing but I do miss my ability to set the temp on the top element when broiling.

Knobs: Can't imagine what someone was thinking when they made the dials. The knobs are all white (on a white background) with a simple, easy to hold molded design, slightly tapered at one end, underline slightly. So if you have it set on 5 (numbers, not good old high, medium, low and in betweens) where it is pointing straight down, it is virtually impossible to tell if it's on or not. I highly recommend a little dot of color on the 'pointing' end so you can see at a glance where it is. Nail polish works fine.

The overall look is very old-fashioned and if I wasn't set on a GE I would never have chosen it just because of that. The top is curved, so if you are used to having a shelf over the stove, you'll need to mount it on the wall. It looks like something out of the 30's, something your grandmother would have had except for the bizare addition of the touch pads in the middle.

While I have a lot of issues with this stove, the real test is in the feel. You need to go to stores and actually put your hands on the various stoves. We looked at several and were almost sold on another one until I opened the bottom drawer and it came out all crooked and detracked. Put your hands on the top and lean on it - after all, a canner full of water is pretty heavy - and see which feels sturdier. This one felt better constructed than the others, which is why we went with it, though I sure have a lot of regrets. This model does NOT have the timed or delay bake, get the JBP28 for that (which is what I'm trading this out for).  The bottom line is that this appears to be one of the best options out there, but the options are petty crummy. Don't people cook any more? Surely I'm not the only one who would pay dearly for a good, quality, well-made stove. Some company is really missing a huge market. I want it to work well, to be easy to set, and heat quickly. Not too much to ask, surely.