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I just love my 5-burner La CornuFe range by Purcell Murray.
The original mammoth La Cornue cookers may be viewed and even sometimes used for cooking demonstrations at most William Sonoma stores. But when I was preparing to rip out the old 1970’s kitchen in this Victorian lake front cottage, I knew that the huge La Cornue cookers were way too expensive and just plain too large for my little kitchen.
The kitchen is not a modern open kitchen and I didn’t want to rip out any walls. The kitchen footprint is 13 by 10 and that’s it, folks. Into this space I had to fit all the accoutrements of a family with 3 active boys, and a mom (me) who loves to entertain and just plain eat. I wanted a stove that cooked BIG. I dreamed of two ovens at least for all those parties I wanted to give. I imagined Thanksgiving dinner or a Christmas feast coming out of this tiny but perfect kitchen. Clearly, I had to have the perfect stove. Because of budget reasons, I needed to be pretty sure I could justify that sort of expense.
In my old house I’d had a full 6-burner stainless steel Viking range w full-sized oven, plus 2 wall ovens (combo convection/traditional) and a built-in microwave/baker/convection oven, all in an open kitchen with a beautiful view.
In my new/old house the view is of a very nice street, but the lake is on the opposite side of the house. Although there was already a stained glass window, there was nothing else. If this space was going to be the gem I was hoping for, I had to do something special. I decided to pour money into the stove so it would be the centerpiece of the kitchen.
I went looking for stoves with color and character, and not stainless. In this part of the country (Michigan) Viking is not a popular brand, and most people with high end kitchens opt for Wolf ranges and Sub Zero refrigeration. I decided, after much hand wringing, to go for Sub Zero in a glass-front stainless, and I am very happy with that decision. That leaves about 18 inches of countertop between this fridge and the stove, which of course turns out to be the La CornuFe.
I cook a lot. Of course there are a lot of boys in this house at all times and there are times when they love what I cook so much that I allow myself to feel flattered. Then I remember we’re talking about growing boys who would be thrilled with cheese curls and frozen pizza as long as there was enough to go around. But it still feels nice.
So even though my audience may not be foodies in the snootiest sense of that word, they do love to eat and I love to see the food come from that wonderful appliance.
I was really nervous about buying. First of all, no one I contacted had ever used one. I went on message boards, called sales reps and had long conversations, even spoke to appliance repair companies who supposedly worked with La Cornue and Purcell Murray. I tried to find on-line reviews, and make some kind of reasonable decision based on facts, and not based upon my heart beating faster every time I saw a picture of one of these little beauties.
Yes, I had a crush on an appliance.
In the end, although I read positive reviews on other enameled stoves such as 5 Star, Bertazzoni, Elmira, etc., and all of these have good reputations, my heart led the way. When I walked into the William Sonoma in the nearby suburb of Troy, Michigan, and saw the La Cornufe in person, I swear my knees almost buckled. I had to have it.
So even though my emotions were practically fogging up my brain, I took a leap of faith and thank heavens, it did not turn out to be a mistake.
Honestly though, the criteria seems to be a very good match for my needs. It’s not a big 6 burner, but not a small 4 burner. There is a big middle burner that really blasts heat, and one little tiny burner good for things like melting chocolate and cooking rice in a pot. It has 2 completely seperate ovens. Each oven has a lot of different functions, one of them even has convection, they are both electric, which makes this appliance a dual fuel one because the burners are gas. It fits the space and offers a lot of function for that amount of square footage. I would have loved a French plate but this version of the stove doesn’t come with that option.
From a budget point of view, the La CornuFe is comparable to a Wolf. They charge you a lot of money for the actual stove (I paid about $8,000) and then another bunch of money for what they refer to as ‘white glove service’ ($1,000) which essentially means, they carry it off the delivery truck for you. I’m not kidding.
My main primary concern was, how is the service? I’ve already called Purcell Murray because one of the burners wasn’t igniting without a match. They contacted their service people and had a man at my house the next day with a part. Pretty impressive, I’d say.
It’s been about 15 months and the honeymoon is not over. I’m not a fine-tooth comb instruction manual reader, so it was a pleasant surprise when I discovered, about a month ago, that you can take the whole interior walls of the ovens off and wash them in the sink. I only discovered this because the ovens got really greasy, and they are not self-cleaning. The literature says that the self cleaning elements are too hot and can ruin other aspects of the ovens, so if you want this oven, you have to clean it yourself. Taking the walls off the ovens turned out to be ridiculously easy, as was putting them back on nice and clean.
In the end, it turned out that sometimes a leap of faith can be a good thing, to make up for all those other leaps of faith that might not turn out so well. The La CornuFe is not hand made in France, and does not guarantee the best souffle unless you know how to make really great souffles. But there is no doubt that it’s not just a pretty face. This time the wow factor goes all the way through.
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Now I really want to know what your kitchen looks like :-) you can post pictures if you want!
So I uploaded a photo. Where is it? Sigh. Should I try again? Ok I’ll try again.
So now it’s somewhere…twice apparently. Again, sigh.
I am seriously considering the cornufe 110, but have heard mixed reviews. Are you still loving it? I’m also considering the Lacanche Cluny or Bertazonni. I am in love with the french-style ranges! I’ll skimp somewhere else.
I still love the stove but here is what I’ve learned. The stainless steel top (with sealed burners) gets dirty and you can see the dirt easier than if the top had been black…but it’s not difficult to clean. Still, you will have to watch that. And the heavy burners as well as the brass turner knobs can sometimes lose the little rubber tips. If I was going to buy one of these stoves today, I’d buy extra handles and extra burner tips. But I would not hesitate after my experience with this stove to buy it again.
I am building a country home and really want a La CornuFe range. I too fell in love with it at Williams-Sonoma. I am thinking about buying the blue one….any input would be appreciated.
Well, for the price, I don’t think you can beat this stove. If I wanted to spend a lot more money I’d probably consider the Lacanche, which I also love. But this one really delivers the big bang for the buck and jaws drop when people come over. Style-wise, it would be good for a country home.
I was all set to by a 48" professional two-oven range, when I came across this range. My question, being that it is an unusual size (43"), what hood did you buy to go with it?
My hood is by Independent Inc., out of Reno but any quality high-end appliance store will have either this one or another comparable one. The sizes of commercial quality hoods for the home and trade are quite varied. This particular model is an excellent one, powerful, with 4 speeds and removable everything for ease of cleaning. The model number for mine is: ML SS-40-SS. It would look okay standing on its own but if you have access to the picture of my kitchen, you’ll see I had it clad in a wood envelope so you can’t see the hood itself. Hope this helps.
A photo of my kitchen featuring this range (and hood) may be viewed by looking at ‘related topics’ and it’s labeled Unnamed Picture because of my woefully unsuccessful internet uploading skills.
Thanks for the feedback on the range hood. I tried to look it up but couldn’t find it based on brand or style #. But I do have a couple of other questions, if you don’t mind. I have three smallish kids at home and I’m wondering if the doors get hot to the touch when the oven is on. Also, when the doors open to the side like they do, do they hit the cabinets on either side, and did you have to push the range out a bit so that they don’t? I was looking into a 48" range (like the GE Monogram, like I’ve had in the past), but I’m looking to shrink the stove so I have more room for needed cabinetry. This 43" range (that I am falling in love with also :) I think given it’s odd size technically needs a 48" hood, which doesn’t help me. I was considering a 42" hood, and it’s probably not a big deal, but would probably get slammed by purists on the topic! Also looking at several 5 burner double oven dual fuel ovens — not sure if you happened to look into any of those. That’s a lot of questions, sorry! But, like you noted, it’s hard to find someone who has some of these more obscure products to get reviews.
Thanks so much.
French doors do swing out, but they don’t hit the cabinets. I suppose if the range was in a corner that might happen, but it’s not. It’s on a wall-run with cabinets on both sides, probably about 6 inches or so on the left side due to a corner cabinet placement as you might be able to tell from the picture.
Yes, the doors do get hot to the touch but not hot enough to cause a burn. For instance, I open the doors (with their brass knobs) with my bare hands to check on things inside.
As to the size of the hood, I would recommend that you take the measurements of the range to a high end appliance dealer and tell him what your concerns are. That’s what I did, and I had the exact same concerns. But commercial style hoods come in such a large variety of sizes that for me this didn’t turn out to be a problem. Even if you have to lose or gain an inch, that’s 1/2 inch on either side, and disappears.
Can’t wait to find out what you end up doing.
I want to amend something I said in the previous post. I carelessly reported that the doors of this cooker get hot to the touch. Well, they get warm, not hot. They are very well insulated, as part of the entire design and the reason they don’t have glass windows (for insulative purposes). I was thinking, metal conducts heat ergo, hot, but this was just a mental glitch. As I thought about it I realized, of course they don’t get hot! Please excuse this faux pas!
Thanks for all the wonderful information. I am wondering what color your range is. I saw the blue range at a Williams Sonoma store and thought it looked a bit cheap…but it could have been the lights. I have seen an ivory one as well and it was very pretty. I am starting from scratch, so could do any color. Too many decisions!
Mine is black w stainless and brass accents…you can see it & my kitchen in ‘related links’ to this article under ‘Unnamed Picture by Tundranut’ because I uploaded it wrong. I too thought about the blue, but chickened out, and I’m really happy I chickened out, because the black one is gorgeous and I’ll never get tired of it. This company gives you so many options for trim. I chose the stainless because I was forced to go w the stainless sub zero, and I wanted a just a blending of materials in the kitchen. But I feel ya…it’s hard to make decisions. They all seem so permanent!
Thanks again, I will let you know when I bite the bullet and make my decision. :)