When we started planning our kitchen I was trying to decide between a range top with built in ovens or a range. You can read all about that HERE. I love french ranges, but they were out of my price range. When I discovered the ILVE range I was so excited. It had the look I wanted at a much more affordable price. I am so happy with our decision, it is truly is the jewel of the kitchen. Here are all the details.
We went with a ILVE Nostalgie 48″ Dual Fuel Liquid Propane Freestanding Range in a custom color with brass trim. These ranges come in 3 different lines. The Nostalgie is the least expensive and I love it so that is a win. It comes in 6 size options and 10 standard colors. They also have 4 different metal finishes for the trim (knobs & handles). At first I was considering either Stainless Steel or White with brass trim, but when I found out you could do a custom color out of any RAL swatch I was so excited and wanted to go that route. I really wanted a soft grey that stood out, but was timeless.
I got several samples to try to find the perfect grey. I tried 7004 Signal Grey, 7030 Stone Grey and 7035 Light Grey and 7047 Telegrey 4. The winner was 7047 Telegrey 4. It is the perfect soft, light grey.
I seriously could not be happier with the way the stove looks. I think it adds so much to the space.
While sticking to the topic of looks, personally I don’t love the base of the stoves. They come with little metal legs that look kind of like Ikea to me. You can order different feet such as clawfoot looking ones or a metal flat base that goes to the floor, but I didn’t love those options either. I had our cabinet guys build a custom piece for ours that gave it the look I wanted. The board underneath is not attached so we can pull it out in I ever need to get under the range.
Ok, now onto cooking. Let me start by saying I am not a chef by any means. I am pretty much a basic cook. I am not the person to go to for a review on all the things this can do. Also, we have only had it a month so I need to play around with it a lot more. I know it has all kinds of cool features like pizza oven, warmer, rotisserie, etc. I will probably not even use half of the features. I need to spend time reading the manual and learning some of the features that I will use.
I do love the cooktop. It cooks very fast and evenly. There are a 7 burners and it comes with a griddle. Again, there are probably a bunch of cool things you can do with the burners, but I use them for very basic cooking.
I have only used the oven to bake cookies. It worked great. We also have a wall oven that I am very familiar with because we had it in our last home so that is the one I used the most. I really don’t need as many ovens as I have, but like I said in my previous post I went with the range option because it was almost the same price as just a range top and looked better.
There are 2 ovens and a drawer below. The drawer below can also be used as a warming drawer. The smaller oven is small. It does not fit a 9×13 pan. It is better for a loaf pan or smaller dishes. It comes with its own baking sheet that fits about 8 cookies. This oven heats up much quicker so it is great for making something in a smaller corning wear dish or something like that.
So far we are very happy with our decision to go with the ILVE range. It works well, is easy to clean, was more affordable than other European ranges and is so beautiful. We ordered ours directly from ILVE, but there are showrooms around you can go look and order from. Also places like Wayfair sell them if you want to order online. I got asked about servicing them. I have not had to do this yet, but yes, there are local dealers who service them.
I got asked how long it takes for the appliance to arrive. This really depends on where you order it from, what they have in stock, etc. Ever since Covid appliances take way longer than they used to. We also did a custom color, so that took longer. I ordered way in advance and then our build took a lot longer than expected so we had it sitting in our garage for a long time before install. Wayfair is staying only 2-3 weeks for delivery.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions. I think I will do a follow up post after about a year so I can give a more in-depth review after using more of the features.
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This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase I may receive a small commission. Thank you to ILVE for partnering with me. I LOVE your range and am so happy to have it in our home.
MaryBeth Comfort says
So weird. I just went to your old blog posts this morning to see what range you picked and why. I then refreshed your page and you just posted this!! Crazy! I’m glad you like it. I am afraid the smaller oven side will not get efficiently used as stated from a lot of the reviews. It does seem nice for the price. Thanks for the update. We are building a custom home now and I wish I had you as my designer!! LOL
houseofhargrove@gmail.com says
haha too funny! Yes, the smaller oven is not used a lot. Just depends how much space you need. Awe, that is so sweet. Thank you. Good luck with your build!!
Kim @Tidbits&Twine says
Gorgeous!! We’re planning for a kitchen remodel now and I’ve been playing with the RAL colors as well, but I think I’ll end up with their standard white. One question: What did you do with the extra space in the back since these stoves aren’t as deep as standard cabinets in the US? Do you have a sliver of countertop that runs behind it?
houseofhargrove@gmail.com says
That is exciting. The white one is beautiful! We did a piece of our countertop behind it. Then I have some cutting boards stacked behind there.