Our Kitchen & ILVE Range Review

Here it is: our kitchen refresh featuring a new ILVE range! This brand has won us over with its stylish features and functionality.

This post includes our honest review of our ILVE range and hood, gifted to us by ILVE. All opinions are our own.

The kitchen is the heart of the home, and no more so than in our house! As professional recipe writers, our kitchen gets splattered and battered on the daily. So Alex and I decided after 9 years of heavy use, it was time for a little kitchen refresh. We’ve teased it on Instagram long enough, so here’s the big reveal! The main innovation? We made space for this 40-inch ILVE Induction Range! Switching from gas to induction is a big deal: here’s why we did it and all the things we love about this beauty.

What is an ILVE range?

What’s ILVE? ILVE (pronounced “il-vay”) is a brand of Italian crafted kitchen appliances, including ranges, ovens, hoods, refrigerators, microwaves and more. The brand was founded in Campodarsego, Italy in 1952 by two Italian friends. The appliances are commercial grade and highly regarded as some of the finest cooking appliances on the market.

Why did we want an ILVE range? First off, the sustainability of induction cooking. After learning that induction is more sustainable than gas, Alex and I decided we were ready to make the switch (gulp!). Second, we wanted a stylish European range that would make our kitchen look like an eclectic French cottage. After some research, we found ILVE! It’s a stylish range that’s offered in both gas and induction.

Why to cook with induction (sustainability and health!)

You’ve probably heard it before: gas stoves are best for cooking! But guess what? That’s not true. In fact, much of the passion around natural gas cooking is due to gas companies persuading us all that gas is better. After some research, here’s what Alex and I learned about gas vs induction cooking:

• Burning natural gas produces nitrogen dioxide, sometimes carbon monoxide, and other pollutants, which can be harmful to people and pets. (Source)
• New efficient electric appliances have lower carbon footprints. So they’re better for the planet! (Source)
• Induction ranges are much higher quality than old-school electric stoves with coils. It’s incredibly easy to control temperature and cook with even heat. (See more below.)
• You can boil water in 2 minutes! It’s an incredible time saver. Everything heats up faster!

Want to read more on induction vs gas? Here are a few resources: Give Up Your Gas Stove to Save the Planet (NPR) and Kill Your Gas Stove (The Atlantic).

Our ILVE Range Review

The ILVE range that we were gifted from the brand was the ILVE Majestic II. We previously had a 30-inch range which was on its last legs (a burner was permanently not working and it had a ton of hard usage). After much deliberation, we decided to remove one kitchen cabinet to make way for a 40-inch range. While this caused a lot of construction (cabinet removal, new backsplash, trim, etc), in the end it was all worth it!

We’ve been cooking on the ILVE Majestic II induction range for a month. The opinion of these two professional home cooks and cookbook authors? We could not love it more. Here are a few particulars:

• Induction cooking is far superior to gas. We are beyond pleased with cooking on induction. While we switched for the health and sustainability reasons, we’ve fallen in love with how it cooks food. It heats up incredibly fast and has much more even heat than gas.
• The range shows you the heat level and boils water in 2 minutes! We love that the cooktop shows the heat level you’re on. You can also use a “Power” mode to boil a huge pot of water in just 2 minutes! On our old gas range it took 10 to 15 minutes.
• The cooktop is very easy to clean. This is actually a huge life-saver. We’re pretty messy cooks, so just a wipe of the top gets it beautifully clean. No removing grates or caked on messes.
• It’s beautiful. (Drop dead gorgeous.) This is subjective, but ILVE ranges are the most beautiful, stylish ranges we’ve seen on the market. The way the brass knobs gleam in the light makes our hearts skip a beat. But in all seriousness: there’s really something to using an appliance that’s functional and beautiful. It’s just more fun.
• The ovens are very reliable (plus, the small one has a rotisserie!). Our model of ILVE range has a large oven and small side oven, which is nice for when you’re wanting to cook things at two temperatures. If we had room, of course we’d want two big ovens! But the side oven is great and even has a rotisserie. We’ve been using it to roast a whole chicken and it comes out incredibly moist! The oven’s baking ability is spot on: we’ve tested a bunch of our recipes and it’s incredibly accurate on bake time with very even heating.
• It’s got lots of other great features. There’s a warming drawer where you can store pans while the oven is off, or keep food warm when it’s on. There are lots of different oven settings depending on what you’re cooking, and it even gets hotter than a standard oven (up to 575 degrees, which is great for pizza!).

Want to know more about ILVE? Here are some of the ILVE Range Models and comparisons between the different features that each one has. Or browse around at ILVE.com.

Note: The larger oven in the 40-inch range is slightly too small to fit a standard half sheet pan. The oven comes with a custom sheet pan that fits perfectly. We also purchased a 16″x12″ pan which is approximately the same surface area.

More about our kitchen refresh

We used our new ILVE range as an opportunity to give our kitchen a little refresh! Eight years ago we did a major renovation of our kitchen when we moved into our 1926 home. Putting in this range required some construction to change from 30-inch to 40-inch, but there was no major re-configuration of walls or structures. Even so, we took it as a chance to update a few things to give it a new French kitchen look. Here’s what we changed:

• Backsplash changed to Zellige tile: Because the range width changed, we had to redo the position of the backsplash. We’d always loved the look of square, handmade Zellige tile so we went with it! We love the irregularity and uniqueness of the look.
• Added a pot rack: There was a theme in all my Pinterest kitchen photos when planning for this reno: a pot rack with copper pots! All of the pots and ladles hanging up are ones we actually use. We did have to buy new pots because of the induction range! Here’s a link to our copper pots that work on induction.
• Brass hardware: To update the look of our kitchen even more, we change out our stainless hardware with vintage-looking brass drawer pulls and handles. We love how unique they make the kitchen look.
• Brass faucet: We changed out the faucet in our island to brass since it was getting very worn. Overall we wanted a mixed metals look, so we went with a stainless ILVE hood and kept our old stainless shelves.
• Wooden bar stools: We swapped out our stainless bar stools for wooden ones with backs, to add more warmth to the room.

We love how it all turned out. Thanks to our designer Tiffany Skilling for helping us choose all these items to bring the look together!

Questions? Comments?

Thinking about an ILVE range? Have questions about switching from gas cooking to induction cooking? Let us know in the comments below!

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