Whether you want hardwood floors in your kitchen or something more durable and affordable, you’re going to need a range to cook on. Presuming you don’t want a wall oven or a slide-in range, you’re going to want a freestanding range. The bad news is that more and more appliances these days are made with cost-cutting as the priority instead of quality, making it harder than it used to be to find a machine that will last for years without giving you trouble. The good news is that with a little careful shopping, you can get ranges that compete with Viking and Wolf-caliber appliances for a third of the price.

We recently reviewed the Thor Kitchen HRG3080U 30″ freestanding gas range and found it to be one of the best values among professional-grade stainless steel ranges under $2,000. Today we’ll compare it to the Thor Kitchen HRG3026U 30″ Gas Range to find which is the better choice for most homeowners. To sum up our thoughts, the HRG3026U is more powerful, but the HRG3080U is more reliable, which we ultimately find more important. Whichever you choose, we’d use Amazon’s expert installation service for a seamless installation and removal of your old range. Our full review is below, and you can buy the Thor Kitchen HRG3026U here in the United States. If you’re in Canada, you can buy the HRG3026U here.

Pros, cons, and key features of the Thor Kitchen HRG3026U 30″ Gas Range

The HRG3026U is one of several ranges Chino, California-based Thor Kitchen has brought to the US market from China (along with the HRG3080U and LRG3001U). Like their range tops, range hoods, dishwashers, wine coolers, and refrigerators, their gas or liquid propane (LP) ranges come in stainless steel and are designed to compete with high-end professional gear for mid-range, consumer-focused prices. Let’s take a look at how the HRG3026U stacks up on paper.

The HRG3026U includes a 4.2 cubic foot 22,000 BTU convection oven with 2 racks and 5 positions for the racks. Beneath the oven you’ll find a 16,500 BTU infrared broiler and above it you’ll find 4 sealed burners; the two front single burners are tuned toward high heat output, and generate 18,000 BTU each. The two rear dual burners generate up to 15,000 BTU each and include 650 BTU simmer functions for barely-there heating for sauces. The range is powered by natural gas, although you can convert it to use liquid propane with a conversion kit and a few hours of time. For safety, it includes an auto reignition system to avoid gas leaks. The exterior is stainless steel, the cooking grates are made from cast iron, and blue porcelain is used in the oven’s interior. The entire range is covered by Thor Kitchen’s standard 2 year parts and labor warranty.

How easy is it to use, control, and cook with the HRG3026U?

The HRG3026U is a minimal, focused oven. It includes next to no electronic components; aside from the ignitors, nearly every other component is mechanical, as are all of the ways of controlling the range, oven, and boiler. This isn’t a range for techno-lovers; there’s no clock to set, no timer to beep at you, and certainly nothing you can sync or control with your smart phone. Want to clean the oven? You’ll need to do it by hand, as there isn’t a self-cleaning function either.

On the other hand, that also means the odds of the range breaking down due to electronic brain damage are vanishingly small, as there are no circuit boards to prematurely break. You just have five control knobs–four for the burners and one for the oven that also sets the desired temperature and turns the broiler on and off–a light to indicate when the oven is at operating temperature, a switch for the convection fan, and another to turn the internal halogen lights on and off so you can see what you’re baking.

What this creates is a purified, straightforward, and refreshingly simple cooking experience. You place your food on the grates or in the oven and get to work. It won’t turn you into the next Wolfgang Puck or Gordon Ramsay, but you’ll certainly focus on your cooking in a new and, if we may say so, better way. And you’ll need to focus, because the burners light nearly instantaneously and deliver an impressive amount of heat. The oven is just as marvelous, and you’ll need to adjust recipes due to the time you’ll save, whether when boiling water, frying eggs, baking cakes and cookies, or doing just about anything else. It’s a powerful, commercial-grade machine.

What’s the difference between the Thor Kitchen HRG3026U and the HRG3080U?

Externally, both Thor Kitchen ranges look identical; it makes sense, because they’re likely made in the same factory. However, there are some important differences to be aware of: namely, while the HRG3026U is more powerful, the HRG3080U is more reliable. Regarding power, the HRG3026U is the clear winner: it features double front 18,000 BTU burners while the front right burner in the HRG3080U is “only” 15,000 BTU. Behind them, it uses twin 15,000 BTU burners with an ultra low simmer mode; the HRG3080U uses twin 12,000 BTU burners and skips the simmer mode. The HRG3026U uses a 16,500 BTU broiler which is reduced to 13,000 BTU in the HRG3080U. To put it simply, you can cook hotter (which can come in handy with woks and other high-heat cooking styles) and faster with the HRG3026U than you ever can with the HRG3080U.

That said, the HRG3080U is already more powerful than the vast majority of ranges on the market, particularly those most homeowners will be replacing, and it’s also the more reliable of the two ranges. We’re not exactly sure why aside from tighter tolerances and greater quality control during the manufacturing process. Whatever the reason, the HRG3026U appears more prone to failures like knob deterioration (due to an inferior foil coating on select knobs that wears off with heat exposure, making them illegible, and eventually unusable) or ignitor failures (remember, there are still a few electronic parts present in the stove). These won’t occur in the vast majority of HRG3026U units, but if long-term reliability is a priority, we’d suggest investing in the HRG3080U instead for greater security unless you have the patience to wait for replacement parts to come in if anything goes wrong with the HRG3026U.

Is it worth paying extra for Amazon’s professional expert installation service with the HRG3026U or HRG3080U?

Finally, regardless of whether you choose the HRG3080U, which we recommend, or the HRG3026U, we’d strongly suggest using the “include installation” option when you buy it via Amazon in the United States. It’s a few hundred dollars extra for a fast, safe, and error-free expert installation as well as a removal and disposal of your existing range. The only thing you’ll need to do is be home when the new range arrives and let them in to get the new range in and the old one out. Having passed through lots of homes, we can assure you that when dealing with a 200 pound appliance fueled by explosive gases, there are better ways to save money than by installing it yourself if you don’t have to.

You  can buy the Thor Kitchen HRG3080U 30″ freestanding gas range here on Amazon or buy the HRG3026U range here instead.

Canadians can buy the Thor Kitchen HRG3080U 30″ freestanding gas range here on Amazon or buy the HRG3026U range 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.