The Prettiest Mid-Sized Range In The World

     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.