Viking Range Review – All-Gas Sealed Burner

The Viking Range All Gas units are one of the longest standing lines of ranges on the market today. Very little has changed in regard to how they work or function and therefore very little can go wrong. The units have been slightly updated recently, with the addition of new stainless steel knobs (a nice touch) and a VariSimmer setting for all the burners on the unit.

The range features VSH Pro Sealed 18,500 BTU brass burners with porcelain caps. All the burners now come equipped with the SureSpark Ignition System, which – I can attest from experience – has really changed how fast and consistently these burners light up. They also automatically reignite if they are extinguished at any point in time.

The gas oven features an infrared broiler, and the interesting addition of the ProFlow Convection Baffle system with allows the unit to create an extremely even heat circulation through the oven cavity, making this oven one of the best for baking cakes or bread. The oven also uses an electric ignition system instead of the glowbar you’d find on most other brands (are you listening Wolf?) – allowing for instant oven ignition.

Now, on many of the internet forums, there seems to be some viking range reviews out there currently that are critical of the reliability – specifically, computer board issues. Now, while I can’t attest from my experience to an better than average failure rate on the ranges I’ve sold, I can say that in almost all of the negative reviews online, the models they are criticizing is Viking’s Dual Fuel version of the range.

It should be noted that the models reviewed here, like all gas ranges, are very simple machines. It is when you buy a Dual-Fuel range that you are now moving to a far more complicated machine, because within each Dual Fuel machine is an electric oven, with all the circuit boards and computers that come with it. It is true, there is more to go wrong on these machine – but there are pros and cons to each. However, if reliability is the main concern, these all-gas ranges are built to last, with very few parts that can break in the long run. I have yet to see any underlying trend in Viking Dual Fuel ranges breaking down more than any other brands, so don’t sweat it.

Pros: ProFlow baffle, brand new igniter system, halogen lighting, tons of color choices.

Cons: Isn’t the cheapest range out there (although certainly not the most expensive), charbroiler module needs to be updated to use an infrared burner