No matter whether you choose hardwood floors for your kitchen or a more traditional tile, vinyl, or laminate option, you’re going to need a range to cook on (or a wall oven, depending on which pros and cons matter most to you). If you’re hooked up to a municipal gas line, it’s easy to find options for both gas ranges and wall ovens–the Kucht KRG3080U 30″ gas range, for example, is a high-end range for mid-range price. However, if you need a range that runs on liquid propane, you’ll either need to buy a liquid propane conversion kit and set aside a few hours of labor or buy a dedicated LP-compatible range.
Today we’ll review one of the best options on the market, the Kucht KRG3080U/LP Professional 30″ 4.2 cu. ft. Propane Gas Grange, and compare it to its natural gas equivalent to see if it’s worth buying the LP version from the start or buying the natural gas version and converting it. Our thoughts in ten seconds are to buy the LP version for a drop-in installation; aside from how they’re powered, the ranges are otherwise identical and both built to professional standards. You can read our full review below and you can buy the Kucht KRG3080U/LP here in the United States. For our Canadian readers, the KRG3080U/LP is available here.
Pros, cons, and key features of the Kucht KRG3080U/LP Propane Gas Range
The Kucht KRG3080U/LP is the liquid propane version of the Clifton, New Jersey-based company’s bestselling natural gas range, the KRG3080U. Designed to offer high-end performance at consumer-friendly prices, it’s clad in stainless steel and includes professional-grade power levels, with a 4.2 cubic foot, 22,000 BTU convection oven, a 4 burner stovetop, and a 13,000 BTU broiler. Three different maximum power outputs are available from the burners; the front left and right burners deliver up to 18,000 and 15,000 BTU respectively while the two twin rear burners can generate up to 12,000 BTU.
What control options are available for the Kucht propane range?
The range is attractive and solid to the touch. The stainless steel grade used isn’t nearly as thick as that in a Wolf or Viking range, but you’ll also pay thousands less to bring home the Kucht than you would for either of the two aforementioned brands. The blue internal enamel finish provides a striking contrast to the cool steel gray exterior and splashes of black throughout, such as on the cast-iron cooking grates. The grates themselves are reassurringly heavy and stable, making it easy to balance heavy pots and pans. We appreciate the central grate that permits a safe and efficient transfer of cookware from one burner to the next without lifting. We can easily see whatever we’re cooking through the clear oven window and bright halogen oven lights; a flick of the left switch, one of only two on the front of the range, allows us to turn the lights on and off easily.
How user-friendly is the KRG3080U/LP to use and cook with?
It’s a pleasure to cook with the KRG3080U/LP; you won’t become the next Wolfgang Puck just by bringing it home, but you’ll certainly bring yourself closer to whatever cooking goals you have by spending hours in front of it. To that end, just as with the natural gas version of the range, we’re pleased to note how simple the range is to operate. There are no digital displays to fuss with, no electronic circuit boards to break down in a year or two, and nothing that needs syncing with your smart phone, tablet, or intelligent house.
The face features five knobs–four for the burners and one for the oven–and two switches–one for the lights and the other for the convection oven fan. The convection feature will come in handy for rapidly cooking dryer foods; you’ll want to turn it off for more humidity-dependent projects like baking bread and cookies. You set the oven temperature by turning the knob to your desired temperature; you can choose between 150 degrees Fahrenheit and 450F, and a light–the only non-tactile indicator on the range–will glow blue when the desired temperature is reached. This is not the range to buy if you want lots of electronic feedback; it’s a straightforward, high quality analog machine that helps you focus on what matters most: your cooking. And we love it.
What’s the difference between the Kucht KRG3080U/LP and the KRG3080U gas version?
The only functional difference between the propane and gas versions of the Kucht KRG3080U range are how they are fueled. The propane version uses liquid propane while the natural gas version runs on natural gas. It’s important to buy the correct version, because neither will naturally run on the alternative fuel source. That said, if there’s any chance at all that you might want to use both fuels (such as if you currently live in a home with natural gas but are contemplating moving to the country where you’d use propane tanks, or vice-versa), you’ll want to get the natural gas (non-LP) version, as you can buy a liquid propane conversion kit to convert it from natural gas to propane, but Kucht doesn’t sell a conversion kit that goes the other way (i.e., from propane to natural gas).
Why buy the Kucht KRG3080U/LP?
In conclusion, if you’re looking for one of the best deals in a pro-grade, stainless steel liquid propane gas range, the Kucht KRG3080U/LP is extremely hard to beat these days. When paired with the impressive level of customer service available, we’d heartily recommend it over any options within several hundred dollars of its price range. Remember that it’s relatively easy to make a cheap gas range today, what with the number of factories in China capable of turning out any kind of brand name clone imaginable. What’s harder is to build a machine to tight specifications so it won’t break down right after the warranty runs out, and what’s even harder is to find a company willing to stand by their products if something goes wrong. Kucht checks both of these boxes with their ranges, and we consider the KRG3080U/LP a solid investment. Our main suggestion would be to buy the non-LP version and the propane conversion kit if you want the flexibility of using natural gas or propane, and to simply buy the LP version if you only ever plan on using propane in your home.
You can buy the Kucht KRG3080U/LP 30″ freestanding liquid propane gas range here on Amazon. If you use natural gas or want the option to go back and forth via a conversion kit, buy the Kucht KRG3080U here instead. To use the natural gas version with propane, you’ll want to buy the liquid propane conversion kit here.
Canadians can buy the Kucht KRG3080U/LP 30″ freestanding liquid propane gas range here on Amazon. If you use natural gas, you can buy the Kucht KRG3080U here instead.
If you find our research on PMC helpful, you can follow our efforts to keep maniacally reviewing home appliances by shopping through our links above. We promise to keep fighting the good fight against every horror children, animals, and grown, yet messy humans can inflict upon a clean home.