The Frigidaire GCRE3060AF is one of the best ovens for those seeking something up-to-date and innovative. It features air frying as one of its cooking modes, so if you have yet to buy one of the best air fryers, you may find that you don't need to with this freestanding electric range.
This is a convection oven, which means you'll get a more even bake on bread, cakes, and casseroles, and you can cook all this and more at the same time thanks to the multi-rack baking included with the Frigidaire GCRE3060AF.
Frigidaire GCRE3060AF: What you need to know
The Frigidaire GCRE3060AF is 30-inches wide and designed to be freestanding. Its cooktop has space for five cooking elements, thanks to the inclusion of a control backsplash that saves space on the front of the oven itself. Its oven is 5.7 cubic feet in capacity and has three shelves for simultaneously cooking a variety of dishes.
This is a standard size freestanding oven, with a width of 30 inches, a depth of 29 inches, and it's 36 inches tall. The controls on this cooker sit at the back, so you may have to reach over hot dishes to change them. The display is a mix of digital controls that allow you to set timers and change mode, and manual dials to monitor and adjust temperature.
With an RRP of $1,149, this is slightly above average in price for an oven. We do think it delivers on the kind of quality you'd expect for an oven over $1,000 in price. It's got some cutting-edge technology that you're sure to get a lot of use out of, and with a large oven capacity, you won't need to buy a larger one any time soon.
Frigidaire GCRE3060AF: Main features
We're used to seeing dual elements in cooktops, which expand to work with two different sizes of pans. The Frigidaire GCRE3060AF tops this with a triple cooker element. This expands from six inches, to nine, and then to 12, meaning it's perfectly sized for just about any pan. This is a nice touch, but it's by no means essential, as the second element is also dual-sized, covering both nine and 12-inch pans. It also has a Quick Boil setting that uses 3,000 watts of power to get water to the boil for speedy meals.
The Frigidaire GCRE3060AF oven has quick preheat, designed to have the oven ready to cook in minimal time. It's also got convection conversion, which automatically adapts standard temperatures to convection equivalents for consistency, making the transition to convection smoother for new users. With a 5.7 cubic foot capacity, this is one of the largest single ovens we reviewed.
Frigidaire is the first brand to include Air Fry in its electric ranges, and the GCRE3060AF is designed to make crisp and tasty foods healthier. Other smart modes include the "Effortless Temperature Probe", which will alert you when your meat is cooked to the temperature you desire, and will automatically keep it warm when this is reached to prevent overcooking and deliver better results.
Many ovens now feature self-clean modes, which essentially incinerate any spills inside the oven to make them easier to wipe off. While the Frigidaire GCRE3060AF does have-self clean, it's also got a 20-minute steam clean setting. This is exciting for those who want to regularly clean the inside of their oven without chemicals or smoke, and it should effectively loosen up anything baked into the inside of your oven. The regular self-clean is also available in two, three, and four-hour cycles depending on the depth of clean you desire.
Frigidaire GCRE3060AF: User reviews
The Frigidaire GCRE3060AF has 2,000 reviews on Home Depot and 1,700 at Lowe's. It's clearly a popular choice, and averages 4.6 out of five stars on both sites.
Users love the variety of burner sizes, which offer them complete freedom when cooking a variety of dishes at once. The air fry setting is immensely successful, and many claim that it's just as good as the countertop air fryer appliances you can buy. Another favorite feature is the steam clean: "the steam clean feature is a nice addition and makes it easy to clean up sticky messes without smoking everyone out of the house."
The one main complaint people have with the Frigidaire GCRE3060AF is its cooktop, which is hard to clean. This is a common complaint across electric cooktops, because spills can burn onto the surface. Induction cooktops are far easier to clean.
Should you buy the Frigidaire GCRE3060AF?
The Frigidaire GCRE3060AF is one of the smartest ovens you can buy, thanks to its in-built air fry function. You can buy a basket to make the most of this feature, which slides easily into your oven, but it's a shame this doesn't come included with the range itself. We also like that this oven uses convection cooking, which is faster and more even than a traditional range.
With an above-average price (albeit far from outrageous), this is an investment you'll want to consider. The cooktop is hard to clean, but it does come with a fast boil element, warming element, and triple element that expands to just about any pan. Use this correctly, and you'll prevent any spills from being burnt onto the top of your oven.
Alternatively, if you don't want to splash as much cash, check out our GE JB655YKFS review, which we ranked as our favorite oven overall, or our GE Profile PTD9000SNSS review, the perfect oven for keen bakers.