I am totally pleased with the cooktop. Need to make sure the pots and pans you use lay flat on surface and within marked boundaries. Clean it everyday with tiny amount of cleaner that comes with it so it just takes minutes and looks like new every time. I added two 12 x 24 inch tiles on each side to rest hot pots if you don't want food to continue cooking while off and cooling down. The downdraft exhaust did not match up with our previous Jenn-Air cooktop so it took my husband a bit of work to line it up with existing hole with the use of a transition duct pipe you will need to purchase separately. Transition duct size is indicated in instructions. IMPORTANT: you may need to purchase a wire kit separately also mentioned in the instructions, but not mentioned on Amazon's item page. Also, it requires a 40 amp circuit.
This GE range was a replacement for a Jenn-Air CVE1400/4180/4210/4270 series downdraft for which we could no longer easily get parts. If you are considering the same swap, then you'll probably find challenges lining up with the existing duct-work. The required opening is the countertop is almost identical, the GE requiring 5/8" less distance from front to back and just 1/16" less side to side. So it slips into the old aperture easily, and with sufficient overlap that there are no gaps. The outlet to the ducting is 7/8" more to the right and 1-7/16" further to the back than the Jenn-air, which isn’t much but enough to cause problems because the fan box (plenum) on the GE is considerably longer, at a distance of 6-3/8" lower than the Jenn-Air. Added to that is the need for a 10" x 3-1/4" rectangular to 6" round transition adapter, which is longer than the required Jenn-Air 5" round to 6" round transition, all in all coming almost to the bottom of a standard cabinet, which leaves very little room to crank over toward the old duct-work.
For me, the ducting was by far the most difficult and time consuming part of the install. When I later noted that the Amazon price for installation is $180, I thought that it was a great deal. Then looking at, "What's included with service" there is no mention of the duct-work. If you choose this option I advise checking with the installer.
When installing the GE range you alternate between thinking, "this was thoughtful design" to, "why didn’t they just do this to make it easier". For example, when fitting the fan box you see an apparently useless hole in the top of the range cavity but you soon realize that it happens to line up with a dimple in the fan box that together mean that the weight of the box is supported while you install the fixing screws; good thinking. On the other hand, the first operation is placement of an adhesive foam gasket seal around the periphery of the underside of the glass top, and while doing this you wonder why the customer has to fit this, and not GE. The electrical box is attached with 2-screws, one at the back that is really hard to get to and one at the front for which your screwdriver will be difficult to access should your cabinet have a central divider. There seems no good reason why this box could not have been retained by screws to the sides. The instructions say that the electrical box takes a ¾" conduit, but mine had a hole for a 1" conduit, which could be a nuisance if you're not prepared.
The GE range itself looks very sleek on the counter and so far has operated just as advertised. There is, however, room for improvement. There is only a single light to indicate that a heated element is on, but to see which requires checking the position of each control, which on our black control knob on black surface range, isn’t that easy. There are, however, "Hot Surface Indicator Lights", one for each side that remain on after switch-off as long as the glass on that side remains hot. The indicator to show if the front left control is on front-burner only, or front-burner and bridge, is a minute rectangle which is either filled or open, and is very hard to see.
At the time of writing we are scared to death of spilling anything just in case it spoils the looks forever. I think that this range's surface is going to need a lot more cleaning than that of its predecessor, just like our granite countertops and stainless steel fridge. Progress? Form over function?
I would have given it five starts if it wasn't a pain to install the duct work for the fan and if it was a little easier to clean.
I replaced a Jenn-Air with this one.
The knobs are WAY stronger than the crap ones on my last stove (which were ridiculously expensive to replace). I love that the knobs are in the middle. My last ones were in the corners and I couldn't use my big pan on the burners without having to move the pan slightly off to fit. However, the knobs are so close together that it's hard to get clean in that little space. If you're OCD like me, you will have to wipe it down for a while every night. The more you wipe the more oil smears and streaks the glass. And the glass is harder to keep clean than the Jenn-Air. A lot of elbow grease but it's beautiful when it's done.
The fan has three levels and is powerful. I have only needed the lowest so far.
Also, there's a burner lock. If you have it set to on, it will sound a buzzer alarm if a burner is turned on. I'll likely never use it but perhaps a good feature for someone out there.
The burners are great. Even heat, heat up pretty fast, and the various sizes are working well with all my different pans.
My husband had a fun time installing the fan because these geniuses made the duct squared instead of round like the one already under our cabinet. He had to customize it. If you're not handy make sure you get someone who is. It's a pain, especially if you don't have much room under the stove. You will need to make a trip (or two) to Home Depot to install the fan if your original is round.
Other than that I love it. I cook 3-4 meals a day and have used it for over a week now. Since there are so few glass tops with a down draft to choose from I'm glad this one is so nice and I didn't have to settle for mediocre. Overall, very happy with my purchase.
UPDATE:
Been using this for about 3 months now. I still love the stove top for a lot of reasons: The heat levels, the size of the burners and overall function.
I will add from my previous review that the fan is good but has a harder time with high pots (which I don't use often). And to expand on the surface of it....well, it's such a pain to keep clean and scratches so easily. If you cook at all on this, it's impossible to keep nice. Let go of the OCD early on or it will drive you nuts every night.
Lastly, when I reach down into the fan to clean it out I continually get cut from the screw in there. I need to cover it with something. Other than that, it's pretty easy to clean the inside, the filter and the vent top.
Overall, I really like this stove top.
Great looking cooktop. Our 12 year old Jenn-air did not heat well, needed new burners at a cost off $500. We were getting new counter tops so we replaced the cooktop. The fan has more power thus better air flow than the Jenn-air.
Pros: Same exact counter top dimension as the 25-year-old GE Profile downdraft cook top this replaced with. Assuming that you can reuse the existing electrical wiring and venting ducts, the installation is a simple DIY task.
Cons:
1) This unit does NOT come with a bracket to secure the cook top to the counter. Read the manual online and order the brackets and screws if you plan to secure the cook top to the counter from below. The default installation relies on applying thin rubber gasket around the edges of the glass cook top to hold the glass in place on top of the counter with the gravity providing the grip
2) This unit has vertically longer fan module that extends about 5-6 inches lower than the old model. The impact is that you may NOT have enough space to route the duct and you may end up having to cut into existing floor of the counter shelf. Read the installation manual online first and measure before you buy!!! I had to make some cuts into the floor board of the counter shelf and come up with a creative use of the standard 6 inch flexible venting tube.
3) Supplies you should have ready: 3.25 x 10 in to 6 in transition duct (not included), standard 6 inch flexible duct, duct tape, drill , wood cutting dremel tool or something similar, power drivers to remove the old unit... and a lot of patience.
Feature Product
- PP9830DJBB
Description
30 Inch Smoothtop Electric Cooktop with 4 Burners, 3-Speed Downdraft Exhaust System, 9"/6 Inch Power Boil Element, Bridge Element and.
I'm not going to say anything different than what's already been said. The stove top heats incredibly fast and hot. It looks beautiful for about a week or two. The top scratches and stains very fast, and no amount of cleaning will stop it. Still, coming from an old Jenn Aire, this is an easy 4 stars
Update: as with many here, I too had a heck of a time keeping it from marking, until today. I found some great products by Weiman, that actually took off a years worth of stains. The Top looks new again, so it’s not a faulty product. It’s us.
The two items I used are “Glass cook top Hevy Duty cleaner & polish” and their cook top scrubbing pads. Seriously, it looks new again, so my only problem I had was the downdraft vent.
I give this a solid 4 1/2 stars
This is a replacement for our old GE profile cooktop. But the existing ductwork didn't work with this one. Amazon installation service doesn't include making the duct work. The cooktop under parts are much lower, after attaching the transition duct as manual suggests, it only leaves a few inches to the bottom of the cabinet and there is no way to connect any other duct to it. Good thing, Lowes has 90 degree turn stack hood and 6" semi rigid flexible duct, so it works.
So far so good. Replaced an ugly old Jenn-Air. Fit perfectly in the existing counter hole. Exhaust is very powerful (important for a downdraft). Wishing the exhaust output was a 6" round, rather than a 10" rectangle. Gotta get an adapter peice.
Stove heats up in an instant! So fast. Have to rethink my cooking process now since I don't have to wait for the old Jenn-Air to heat up. Instant heat.
I replaced an older model downdraft cooktop with this model. When it comes to downdraft cooktops you don't vhave a huge selection out there. This works well. The burners all work well, the turbo boil setting works great. There are a few issues, keeping it clean is a chore. Anything shows up on this cooktop. The knobs are located in the center are there to attract grease. A flush electronic style of switch may have been easier to keep clean. Overall it's a great cooktop so far, we have had it for a month.
The exhaust unit is a bit of a pain to connect up, esp if you have an existing duct already. Chances are the existing duct will not line up with the outgoing duct on the unit. I ended up severely hacking a connecting adapter and using tons of flex metallic tape to make the imperfect fit air-tight. The operating controls are turnable switches, and it is a bit of a pain to clean around them.
Other posters complain about the unit getting dirty easily. True, it is glossy black, shows up any spill or smudge on it. But It can be cleaned relatively easily with some glass cooktop cleaner spray and it looks good again. I use Weiman glass top cleaner on it, works good.
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