Very rarely do the best get better, but we see Wolf achieve that with the new features on their dual fuel ranges. It has been several years since Wolf has updated their line of dual fuel ranges and this is a welcome one. Don’t worry though, the iconic look of the Wolf range, with its Wolf red knobs and professional appearance has been left untouched.
Let’s start off with the range top, where we will look at the differences between their gas burners, their chargrill and their infrared griddle.
The Burners:
Wolf kept the double stacked burner design that they’ve used previously on both their gas and dual fuel ranges. What that means is that the burner really has two elements to it. The top element is your upper range of heat, boiling, searing and sautéing. This is where you will spend most of your time cooking. It is where you will get up to 20,000 BTU’s of heat. The lower part of the stack is perfect for melting and simmering. You can get as little as 300 BTU’s out of this, making this little breath of flame perfect for that gentle sauce, melting chocolate or fragile pudding. These burners are sealed, giving you all of the performance and ease of cleaning you would expect from Wolf. See an example on our website here.
The Griddle:
From the looks, the only difference that you will note, is that you have a little bit more space on the surface of the griddle, as they have reduced the size of the vent at the back of the unit. In this case, it is what you cannot see that matters. Under the griddle, they have upgraded the Infrared unit that heats the griddle, to be adjustable. Now, you are able to cook a wider variety of items, from searing scallops to vegetables and all of your weekend breakfast foods. You have a range of temperatures on the knob that controls the griddle temperature from 200 to 450 degrees. See a griddle top range here.
The Charbroiler:
Wolf’s charbroiler is also adjustable now. You have the same wide variety of temperature ranges as you enjoy on the griddle; this is an amazing tool to use on anything from restaurant quality steaks to delicate whole fish.
Now that we have covered the top of the range and the upgraded options available, let’s move to the front of the unit. There have been a couple of updates here, and luckily, they make the range much more beautiful and easy to use. See a range with a charboriler here.
The Knobs:
While the iconic Wolf red remains, the engineers at Wolf have added a halo light effect to the back of the knob. While it sounds simple enough, they made sure to perfect this lighting so that there are no light or dark spots behind the knob. These lights are triggered only when the burner is on, so it makes it that much easier to catch when you have left a burner on, especially with the low simmering power of the new burners. Because Wolf’s simmer can be so low and precise, simmering burners are much harder to see when they are on the lowest setting. The knobs are available on this range.
Control Panel:
This is one of the biggest updates to the Wolf Dual Fuel Range. Previously, the control panel was quite basic and limited on what you could do, and what you could tell your oven to do. Wolf has added 10 different cooking modes to this update, which are; Bake, Broil, Convection, Convection Roast, Dehydrate, Gourmet, Proof, Roast, Stone, and Warm. Each of these settings will work with the upper and lower burners, as well with the new convection system (more on that in a bit), to give you the most perfect and even temperature for whatever you are cooking. Roasting some crispy pork belly? Then you would choose Convect Roast. Did you just score a deal on a bunch of chantarelles? The Dehydrate setting goes down to 110 degrees to allow you to dehydrate anything from veggies to jerky. How is your sourdough game? The proof setting is great for getting that additional rise in your bread. Don’t forget the Convect Bake setting, that will ensure your baked goods come out evenly brown and crisp. The interface is very intuitive to use and is touch sensitive. See a range with this control panel here.
Gourmet Mode:
One of the most anticipated additions for this update is the gourmet mode option. There are over 50 pre-set conditions for just about everything that you cook, from bread to roast and pie to whole poultry. The process couldn’t be simpler. Say for example you are cooking a prime rib roast. Once you’ve prepared the roast, place the thermometer probe into the center of your roast, and place it in the oven. Then, simply engage Gourmet Mode, select “meat”, choose the type of cut you have prepared and then how well you want it cooked. The oven will perfectly cook your roast for you. It is so easy and all of the modes have been chef tested. Please see the video above for a mixed berry pie and how the process works. Gourmet mode is available on all dual fuel ranges and you can view them on Metropolitan Appliance here.
The Oven:
There are new things going on in the oven as well. The convection portion of the oven is all new. They call this the Dual Verticross Convection System. What it is, is they have put fans on either side of the back of the oven providing cross moving air throughout the oven giving perfect heating when using the Convection mode to bake or roast.
Updating the convection system resulted in an additional 17% larger oven space. So not only does it cook better, but you can also put more in it! View the Wolf range with the most oven space here.
Overall, the new update to Wolf’s Dual Fuel line of ranges really makes them shine more then they already had. In our opinion, this is the top of the line when it comes to dual fuel ranges on the market, and having Wolf add these additional features, really puts them heads above the competition. If you are interested in seeing one of these ranges and would like a walk through with one of our Appliance Specialist, please stop by Metropolitan Appliance, or give us a call or text at 206-623-8811.