8 Best Gas Ranges of 2024, Tested by Our Experts
These single- and double-oven models aced our rigorous lab tests
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There’s a lot to love about a gas range, including its immediate visual feedback, as the flame grows or shrinks with the simple turn of a knob, and its versatility, working well with almost any cookware, such as traditional round-bottomed woks that would wobble on a smoothtop or induction range. And while electric ranges have a lag time when responding to any adjustments, gas-range burners respond immediately. That’s ideal if you’re frying an egg or sautéing veggies and want to avoid burning them.
- Best Gas Ranges: Single-Oven Double-Oven
- How CR Tests Gas Ranges
- How We Pick the Best Gas Ranges
But lately, there has been negative news about gas ranges, too. Outside studies and CR’s own testing have found that cooking on a gas stove may produce byproducts that are bad for the environment and can pose risks to the respiratory health of certain vulnerable people. While research is ongoing, one thing is clear: Ventilation is critical when you’re cooking on a gas range. So whether you’re stir-frying or baking, remember to turn on the hood and crack open windows and doors. (If you can’t install a traditional hood, consider a solution like the Airhood).
Best Single-Oven Gas Ranges
If you don’t usually need to bake or broil more than one dish at a time, consider opting for a single-oven range to save some money.
Best Double-Oven Gas Ranges
Double-oven ranges make baking two items at once a cinch. Be prepared, though, to bend a bit lower than you usually would to access what’s cooking in the lower portion.
How CR Tests Gas Ranges
To put a gas range through its paces, our experts use a combination of calibrated time and temperature measurements that size up how evenly an oven distributes heat. The whole process includes baking more than 2,400 cookies and 400 cakes over the course of the year.
As for the cooktop, we test how quickly it heats water and use a series of tests to see how well each model can simmer on different burners, which is critical for tasks like heating tomato sauce or melting chocolate.
How We Pick the Best Gas Ranges
At home centers and appliance stores you’ll find dozens of gas ranges to choose from, some with fancier features than others. But what’s most important is a range’s ability to do some very basic cooking tasks really, really well, day in and day out. That’s why we insist on gas ranges that meet the following criteria:
- They heat quickly. While gas ranges don’t heat quite as fast as the best induction or electric ranges, many still provide speedy boils for tasks like cooking pasta.
- They simmer steadily. The gas ranges here have a low-heat burner that’s capable of maintaining a steady temperature when simmering liquids, so you don’t need to stir constantly to avoid scorching foods like tomato sauce or chocolate.
- They bake and broil evenly. Cakes and cookies emerge uniformly baked from multiple racks. And the broilers heat evenly, even if they don’t pack the oomph of an electric broiler for high-temp searing.
- They offer plenty of space. Many manufacturers inflate oven sizes in gas ranges by counting the space where you can’t cook, like the bottom of the oven. We measure and score usable capacity from the lowest rack position.
- They’re reliable. We survey thousands of CR members each year about the reliability of their ranges and tabulate scores based on those responses.
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