Dacor Stove - PGM365 Review

Overall 3.20 of 5 view all 10 reviews

Cat
Charlotte, NC

High End Cooktop with High Maintenance Troubles

married, practical, willing to pay for quality, married to a cooking enthusiast, remodeling our kitchen

Pros

powerful burners, easy to clean burner wells, rubberized grates can double as trivets, fantastic simmer burner capabilities

Cons

grate arrived damaged, Burners had to be adjusted to work right, dial area scratches easily, removing dials for cleaning is risky

NOV

2007

My husband and I bought a lovely house in 2004, but it had a few problems. For one, the previous owners completely skimped on the kitchen. Unable to take fake granite formica and wheezing mediocre appliances any longer, we set out to remodel the kitchen this past summer. Because my husband is the true chef in our household, I left the choice of a new cooktop completely up to him. After visiting several high end appliance stores, Jay decided he wanted the Dacor PGM365 gas cooktop. We chose this cooktop over regular brands (GE, KitchenAid) and higher end brands such as Jenn-Air and Thermador for a couple of reasons: The appliance salesmen in multiple stores said it was a better buy and that it was more reliable. They also pointed out the sand-blasted stainless finish under the burners for its easy-clean finish, and the simmer burners on the Dacor were truly amazing in their capability to put out steady, even, very low heat.

Installation and Issues
Our Dacor PGM365 was installed right after our countertops and we noticed two issues immediately: One of the two larger grates had a slice through it, and one of the burners clicked constantly when lit. We called our appliance company and they sent out a "Dacor authorized" repairman to fix the burner issue, and ordered a new grate to be delivered straight to us.

First, we were visited by a repairman from "Mr. Appliance", a local repair company authorized to fix Dacor appliances. My husband was home to greet the repairman and was instantly put off by him for the simple reason that the repairman kept saying, "I don't know anything about these fancy Dacor cooktops. Not many people have 'em, you know." He looked over our cooktop and started removing knobs at random, while acting befuddled the entire time.

Finally, he said he didn't know what was wrong with the cooktop, and after seeing that the knobs the man had pulled off no longer lit once they were re-installed, my husband shooed him out of the house as quickly as possible. We called a repairman recommended to us by one of our kitchen contractors, and made sure the appliance store would authorize payment to him to fix our Dacor's burner issue and the new issue of two of the knobs not lighting up properly, since the other "repairman" had removed them. This repairman showed up and in fifteen minutes had everything working.

The grate was a different matter, however. It took six weeks after we reported the damaged grate to have a new one shipped to us from Dacor. They claimed their original shipment was lost, and had to reissue it after four weeks.

Finally, after six weeks, we had a fully functioning cooktop.

The Good Parts
We do love the Dacor, even though we both feel that it's a bit fragile and not meant to withstand routine things like removing the knobs for a thorough cleaning. The simmer burners on this cooktop are magnificent, holding the lowest warming temperature you can imagine. At the same time, the ability to blast heat up to 18,000 BTU's is astounding. This cooktop replaced an old GE downdraft cooktop and it heats so much more quickly and evenly that cooking is a dream.

Cat's Bottom Line
For the price we paid, the Dacor cooktop functions well, but is far too fragile for me to heartily recommend. The issue with knobs breaking when pulled off was disturbing, and it took the company far too long to get a replacement grate sent to us. Dacor is a high end cooktop, but with the repair issues we had, it's far too high maintenance for me to recommend. Get it, if the simmer burner and the sandblasted stainless are big priorities for you. If not, look elsewhere.

Last edited on Nov 23, 2007