But an increasing amount of scientific evidence links the use of gas stoves to environmental and health issues, and today they face potentially significant changes with regard to how they’ll be made and used in the future. Meanwhile, many electric and induction ranges are just as responsive, powerful, and flexible as gas models—and they’re safer, too.
If you prefer cooking with gas, or you need to replace an existing gas range, 30-inch, freestanding models are among the most affordable ones available. All of our recommendations offer particularly good features, functionality, and design. The GE JGB735 is our top pick. This range has a convection oven and an excellent cooktop for the price (occasionally under $1,000), and it comes in multiple finishes.
Our pick
This convection range has an excellent cooktop (with a built-in griddle) for the price, and it comes in five finishes.
The GE JGB735 is a sturdy stove with top-notch cooking and baking features for the price. The cooktop has edge to edge, continuous cast-iron grates with more room to perch a pan. They break down into three sections and are dishwasher-safe, so they’re easier to clean.
The cooktop has five burners, including an 18,000-Btu front power burner (for quickly bringing a pot to a boil) and a smaller back burner for simmering. A large central oval burner has a built-in double-burner griddle (a rarity for a range at this price).
The JGB735 has a convection oven with an air-fry mode—a fan circulates air for faster and more-consistent cooking. This model doesn’t have the largest oven capacity of our picks, but there’s plenty of room for larger feasts, and its two oven racks can be adjusted to five levels. It also has two self-cleaning options (high heat and steam).
The GE JGB735 comes in five finishes.
Also great
This range has a true convection oven and a slightly more-powerful cooktop. But it comes in just two finishes and doesn’t have a built-in griddle.
The Frigidaire Gallery GCRG3060A has most of the same strong features our top pick offers. But frequent bakers will appreciate that this model has a “true convection” oven, with an extra heating element near its fan, for even more-consistent cooking. The oven has a third rack and adjusts to six levels (our pick adjusts to five). It also offers two self-cleaning options (high heat and steam).
This model has continuous cast-iron grates, but they don’t cover the cooktop edge to edge, as those on our top pick do. The GCRG3060A’s cooktop has five burners, including an 18,000-Btu front power burner and a large back burner that’s more powerful than the one on our top pick; this is nice if you prefer to sear or boil at the rear of your stove.
Its central oval burner comes with a separate, double-burner griddle pan, instead of an integrated griddle, like on our top pick.
This Frigidaire Gallery GCRG3060A is available in only two finishes.
Budget pick
For the price, this range has especially good functionality and quality. But its cooktop is less powerful, and it doesn’t have convection.
Compared with our other picks, the Whirlpool WFG320M0M sacrifices some oven performance and cooktop versatility. But it has better features, a more-powerful cooktop, and a better design than most gas stoves at this price.
The WFG320M0M also has continuous cast-iron grates—especially uncommon for a budget stove. However, they’re harder to move than those of our other picks.
This oven doesn’t have convection, self-cleaning modes, or a number pad for inputting oven temperatures and times (our other picks do). The broiler is located in a drawer under the oven, so you’ll have to crouch down to use it (but that’s typical with budget stoves).
The Whirlpool WFG320M0M comes in three finishes.
Upgrade pick
This model has one of the strongest power burners we’ve seen on a gas range (plus a built-in reversible griddle). And it has Wi-Fi connectivity for remote monitoring and feature updates.
The GE Profile PGB935 is a step up from our top and also-great picks. Its sleekly designed, five-element cooktop has the strongest power burner (20,000 Btu) of any stove we’ve considered; it should bring water to a boil and skillets to searing faster than our other picks. The power burner also has three settings, allowing you to adjust it to work with smaller pots.
The PGB935 has a true-convection oven (an extra element by its convection fan helps it to heat faster and more evenly) and three oven racks.
This model’s Wi-Fi connectivity allows for feature upgrades (like downloading a new cooking mode as soon as it’s developed), as well as remote management and alerts for when timers go off.
The GE Profile PGB935 comes in two finishes.
Also great
The double-oven version of our upgrade pick has one of the largest lower ovens we’ve seen in this category.
The GE Profile PGB965 is the double-oven version of the GE Profile PGB935, our upgrade pick. The PGB965 has nearly the same powerful cooktop as the PGB935. Its smaller top oven comes in handy when you need only one rack. Its larger lower oven is bigger than most double-oven models (it should fit a 23-pound turkey). However, with this style, you do give up a lower storage drawer, and you’ll have to stoop slightly to reach the lower oven.
The GE Profile PGB965 comes in two finishes.
