Frigidaire Professional 40" Freestanding Electric Range

An almost perfect electric range

I am a serious home French pastry chef. Five years ago I bought the then-current version of this stove. My main interest was the convection oven. Indeed, this oven is extremely good in even baking. There were many other features I liked, although I found the controls a bit confusing. For guests and first timers, the controls can be VERY confusing. I would still have given it 5 stars. I bought this new version for a different home. There is one change that I find so annoying that I downgraded this new model in my view to 4 stars. This is the temperature readout for the main oven. On most digital readouts, including the earlier version of this stove, you start by setting the target temperature. Then as the oven heats up, it shows the actual temp. This gives you an idea of how much longer you need to wait. If you are cooking something at a non-critical 350 degrees, you might just put it in at 325. Similarly, if you open the oven, say to turn a tray, you know exactly how much the temp has dropped. Not with this new version. You set the target temp, then wait for a long beep to tell you the oven has reached the target temp. There is no way to tell the current temp. While heating up, some lights flash in an incomprehensible sequence. Neither the manual nor Fridigaire customer support could explain what those lights mean. Even with a totally manual oven (like the small side oven here), you can get an idea of current temp by rotating the knob and listening for the thermostat click. Another downgrade was the minimum temp setting on the old oven was 100 degrees, a sometimes useful setting in baking. The minimum on this oven is 150. Finally, this range (with the large oven operating) is significantly noiser than the older version. Creaks and vibration are much more noticeable.