The Best Electric Ranges of 2023

Gas ranges may be the pros' choice, and induction may be the (magnetic) wave of the future, but there's still plenty to be said for cooking with radiant electric cooktops. Electric ranges can provide an impressively wide temperature range, consistently excellent convection, and even heating across the board. These are all great things to have if you enjoy cooking.

While the decision of which fuel to cook with might be out of your hands, you still have plenty of options when it comes to the model. There are dozens of options to choose from, but lucky for you, we've tested enough electric ranges to make some strong recommendations. That includes our best overall pick, the Whirlpool WGE745C0FS (available at Best Buy for $1,449.99) .

Other Electric Ranges We Tested

How We Tested Electric Ranges

Not only do we perform repeatable, lab-based tests on ovens, ranges, and cooktops, but we also do real-world evaluations (think: cookie baking and the like). That means we can tell you which products will perform the best, will give you the most bang for your buck, or have the sleekest looks.

Burner Temperature

For products with burners, we measure the maximum and minimum temperature of each burner to help consumers identify which burners are ideal for simmering soup, and which burner can get hot enough to properly sear a steak. We conduct these tests by using a thermocouple to measure the temperatures of empty stainless steel bases.

A range or cooktop with multiple burners that can reach very high and/or very low temperatures will score well. If burners cannot reach very high or low temperatures—or if only one burner can do each task—scores will be lower.

Time To Boil Water

One of the most common tasks for a range or cooktop is to boil a pot of water. For each burner, we take an appropriately sized pot, and fill it up halfway with distilled water. Then, we position a thermometer horizontally in the middle of the pot, and vertically in the middle of the water column. We monitor the thermocouple and record the time it takes for the temperature of the water to reach 200°F.

Because the water volume is different for varying burner sizes, we score the boil test on the rate of boiling. Faster water boiling will result in higher scores, while slower water boiling will result in lower scores.

Time To Preheat

Using a stopwatch, we measure how long it takes for the electric oven to achieve a preheating temperature of 350°F. We stop the clock when the oven’s preheat indicator beeps.

Because no one wants to wait around forever, shorter preheating times result in higher scores, while longer preheating times result in lower scores.

How Evenly The Oven Bakes

One happy side effect of testing ovens is that there are always extra cookies lying around. In addition to being delicious, cookies double as a cooking/baking proxy for other thin food items, such as brownies or vegetables.

We place 12 Pillsbury ready-to-bake sugar cookie chunks on an ungreased cookie sheet in a grid formation. After preheating the oven to 350°F for 15 minutes, we place the cookie sheet in the oven on the rack recommended by the manufacturer (or, if there is no recommendation, the middle rack) to bake for 15 minutes. We remove the cookies from the oven, and allow them to cool for 2 minutes.

After looking the cookies over, we determine how evenly baked they are, both within a single baking sheet (regular baking mode and second oven baking mode) and between multiple baking sheets (convection bake mode). Because convection is generally a more efficient way of cooking or baking something, it is important that the multiple food items on different racks be cooked or baked to the same degree.

For all of our cookie tests, the more evenly baked the cookies are, the higher the score will be. If the product has a second oven and/or convection cooking capabilities, then the cookie scores for those tests and the main oven test are weighted and combined to arrive at a final cookie score. This way, products with just a single, conventional oven are not penalized for their lack of a second oven or convection capabilities.

We also use another thermocouple thermometer to subjectively measure how well the oven maintains a certain set temperature over the course of an hour, accounting for any dips in temperature along the way.

Heat Insulation

A tell-tale sign of a range with solid construction is maintaining heat insulation. We use thermal image testing to monitor how well a range is able to hold heat without letting it escape.

Thermal imaging can also help us determine whether a range is dangerously heating control elements—like rear burner dials—so that we can account for that when writing a review.

Overall Experience

While we go to great lengths to test the cooking/baking abilities of these cooking appliances, we also incorporate more subjective information into our overall assessment.

For example, how easily can the cooktop surface accommodate multiple pots and pans? Is there a spacious storage drawer? How easy is it to understand the control panel? We answer all of these questions and more to determine if there are any major drawbacks to the product that might not make it a good fit for most households.

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What You Should Know Before Buying An Electric Range

What Is The Difference Between Convection And True Convection?

True Convection is an oven setting that includes installing an extra heating element and a fan in the oven. By adding an additional heating unit and fan that circulates the hot air, True Convection is great for ensuring that cookies or cakes baked on different racks will bake through at the same rate, rather than the cookies closest to the bottom heat source cooking faster than those on the rack higher up.

If you don't see mention of "True Convection" or "European Convection", but do see the word "convection" in a range's specs, it means that the unit lacks an additional heating element, but does have a fan to circulate the hot air. While you don't get the full baking and cooking effect that you would with True Convection, the added heat circulation can cook or bake food more evenly than it would without a fan.

There are also ranges out there that do not offer convection options at all; these ovens aren't bad, it will just take more time to cook and bake food all the way through. If you're a frequent baker or cook, convection can be a great time saver, but your dinners won't suffer unduly without it.

What Is The Difference Between Slide-in And Freestanding Ranges?

In a nutshell, slide-in ranges are meant to sit flush with your countertops, while freestanding ranges are meant to sit on top of any surface.

While slotting in and sitting on top of your countertop may seem similar, the main differences between the two involve finish and ease of cleaning. Because freestanding ranges are visible from all angles, they have more finished sides; slide-in ranges are meant to have their sides hidden by the cabinetry, so the finish typically isn't as pretty on the sides.

Additionally, because slide-in ranges sit flush with your countertop, they're a bit easier to clean because they do not have a large lip around the edge. Freestanding ranges often have larger lips around the edge of the cooktop to corral any crumbs that would otherwise decorate your floor. Freestanding ranges also typically have a back-mounted control panel for the same reason.

While slide-in ranges will do fine in a freestanding arrangement, the reverse is less true. If your current cooking setup has the range sitting in a cabinet or countertop cutout, we recommend replacing that range with another slide-in range. Conversely, if your range stands alone in your kitchen, we'd recommend replacing it with another freestanding range to cut down on food debris spilling everywhere.

Should I Get A Front-mounted Control Panel Or Back-mounted Control Panel?

As we mentioned earlier, most freestanding ranges have back-mounted controls, but some slide-in ranges do as well.

Both arrangements have pros and cons; on the one hand, having back-mounted controls means you may have to reach over hot food to adjust the oven temperature, the controls are also far enough away that you would have difficulty hitting something on the control panel by accident.

On the other hand, front-mounted controls are easier to reach, but that convenience can turn against you if you brush up against a knob accidentally. Consider the ergonomics of using the range when it comes to picking a front- or back-mounted control panel.

How Many Burners Do I Need?

Depending on how much time you spend in the kitchen, it might be worth it to investigate in some extra options for your range. When it comes to the cooktop, anything above the standard four-burner setup is a bonus. Some ranges can have five, or even six burners; however, the more burners a range has, the more difficult it becomes to fit large pieces of cookware, such as a spaghetti pot and a frying pan, on their respective burners at the same time.

Sometimes, those extra burners are specialty burners are designed to accommodate special cookware such as a griddle or a wok; other burners are bridge burners that are meant to keep food warm without continuing to cook it.

Another possibility is to have a dual-ring burner, or a burner that includes a stronger heat source wrapped around a weaker heat source. That way, on a single burner, you can choose to use just the smaller heat source for lower temperatures, but you can add the stronger heat source if you need higher temperatures.

What Oven Features Do I Need?

As for extra oven features, they can include everything from accessories like special oven racks or a temperature probe to special cooking features.

That can include the aforementioned convection settings, fast preheat, bread proofing, steam cooking (where you pour water into a reservoir and gently cook something with the resulting steam), air fry mode, and many more.

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