Viking Ranges

Aside from that, sometimes the big oven is not deciding that it wants to be use the convection or bake and I don't know what it's doing. I don't want to judge though because the problem might be the person that's running the machine. Also, both the ovens are too hot. If I got them on 350, they would registering 400. So things are not baking even like they did before in my old oven. So, I finally called into Viking and got a tech on the phone. The guy told me to just get a thermostat then put it in there and get my average temperature. So I got two because of that and we want to make sure that if somebody asked me, that the issue was not the thermostat. The low oven was less extreme as the big oven and there was not quite as big of a difference, but it was up to 50 degrees on that big oven. When I called the people that I got it from, they said maybe I could just learn to bake with that. But I said no since I spent $28,000 on my Viking range.

Even when I open the door, if I get it up to temperature, it'll drop 30 degrees. They also said there’s a quick preheat but there's no quickness about it. I also called them about the little left door that is not even. I noticed as well that the easy close thing on the little oven, even though it's not straight, after it gets close to the closing, it does a soft close. But you can hear a really nice solid sound confirming that it is sealed. But my other door didn't and it even if I just touch it, it would move. So I've opened the door and my seals are not right.

Yesterday, when I was doing some baking in the little oven, I had a little cake in and it was maintaining a pretty decent temperature, within about 10 degrees, even though it was hot. So I had to bake with my thermostat. In my right oven, the big one, I had some potatoes in and I was trying to use the convection. So then, I pushed on the door as I was standing there and I was putting pressure on it. And all of a sudden, the temperature started raising and it wasn't sealing. When I would open and shut it, it would shut softly. But it wasn't that nice and there wasn't a solidness to it. I was also having trouble as I couldn't get the temperature to rise. But I didn’t put it up to 450. I only wanted it at 400. I was going over and beyond, and I couldn't get it to kick the preheat back on again or try to move the temperature up. But when I held it shut, it did.

Now, the door appears to be square, not crooked, while the other one seems to be crooked. So I called the dealer today and I told them that we need to get the doors right before we start messing with the temperature. I talked to the guy that took my order back in December of ‘21 and his name was Scott. He's nice but I feel like he just wants to get away. So I'm just waiting patiently in the background, figuring out how to use the range and trying to do my little figuring out. I've got a paper where I write down the temperatures and I've got a notebook where I'm keeping track of things. So that when they do come, I can show that to them.

All in all, I would recommend Viking to a friend because I believe that it's going to be an awesome piece of equipment. I just think we've got to get there yet and I don't know what it's going to take. So I'm not going to bitch and moan about it at all. I just want somebody to work with me and I'm even willing to do some things myself. I’m expecting to be pleased with it. I love how it looks when it came in. The grates things, the handles, the knobs, and everything is just so solid.

The second time was for the motherboard which they had to replace and the tech came out within the same week that I called. And when he came in, he knew it was the motherboard and it took another two weeks to get the material. At this point, we've only had the oven for a year but there was an issue with the motherboard. That didn't cost us anything though because of the warranty, so that was fine. I just hope that we don't have to do that every year. Also, even though it took time, everything was very proactively communicated back to us and it was done very quickly as well. So, I was satisfied.

The range cooks well and we use it almost every day for everything. Compared to the oven we had before, this one is more efficient and it cooks faster. The end results are also better. I was also making cookies in the previous oven and in this oven, the bake is a little crispier. I wouldn't go back to the previous one and we’re going to keep with the upgrade.

But I'm not a huge fan the timer associated with it. There are no dashboards or display, so it's very mechanical and less digital. And so, knowing when the oven is preheated, you need to know that the signal light turns off. The previous oven had a beeping sound when the oven would preheat, whereas here, you have to look at it and be next to it to know that. It's not the end of the world but it is one thing that we have to get used to and it takes a little bit more time to get used to. Aside from that, even though you turn the oven off, the fan will still be on for a minute or two before it turns off. But in the previous oven, it would turn off immediately. But that's not a deal-breaker for us.

I bought the range through an online retailer and they had arranged a delivery and to put it in place, so that all went fine. But the ovens were dead on arrival. Viking was quick about sending a repairman and then, they had to order off parts and boards, and we were without it. So we installed the new one but it was not working. It didn't work for the first four weeks. They put in the new boards. It worked for about two months, and then the ovens broke again. The technician who was the same technician that did it the first time, said that we should just order all the electronics new. So we put in everything new. But the ordering for that took about six weeks. So we've only been using it, effectively, for a little less than two months.

\he defects are all related to global supply chain issues, where they probably are not able to get the quality that they had before and able to get product. So they're having to, in some cases, discount the quality just to be able to get parts. But I still love Viking. We have dishwashers and the exhaust vent range. From an engineering standpoint, it's great.

Viking communicated that they had already fixed the component that was related to the recall and that issue was unrelated and in a different system. But we can't help that maybe somebody shifted some things around and had those in precarious positions. Also, we got the runaround from the VP of consumer services of Viking. We were brushed off. I should have written a couple of follow up notes with some pictures to emphasize that when we're buying a $7,000 piece of equipment and when we have high expectations from word-of-mouth, we hope that it will be a great experience and not present a risk.

Other than that, the oven has very precise heat. We also admire the quality of it. The food tastes better somehow. With foods that we did before and after getting the range, we can really tell that there's a great quality improvement. Also, we really appreciate that we can use all six burners at once and cook a big hearty meal simultaneously. Make sure your Viking range is installed properly and work with a great installer.

There was a problem with the paint inside the oven and it started bubbling and coming off. My wife wasn't using any cleaners and was just wiping it out with regular Dawn soap and letting the self-cleaning do its job. She called Viking and they had somebody from Haggis Appliance Repair come out and look at it. The tech goes, "I don't know why the paint's coming off. But we'll see what Viking wants to do."

Viking was gracious enough to send us another one and the same thing happened. Not only did that happen, but it got stuff in between the glass doors and in the front window when you are looking in. There were all kinds of drip lines going on in there. We're now on our third one. So far, we've had this for about six months or so and it seems to be fine. On the whole, my wife had to spend a lot of time on the phone getting into disagreements. Not seeing this was taken care of very quickly was a little bit frustrating.

The gifts and cash rebates that Viking was offered incentivized our purchase. The salesperson was very convincing. We got two free gifts out of the two purchases. We got the overhead microwave hood and a set of Viking cookware. Also, we applied for the rebates and they accepted, based on our proof of purchase and registration of the appliances.

The installation and delivery went smoothly. The burners are great. The oven preheats quickly. We like that the racks within the range itself are on those rollers and they pull out easily. The older range did not have that feature. That simple thing like rollers made a difference. If my wife was to bake or cook alone, she wouldn't need any assistance.