Want to Cook Like a Pro? Skip the Pro-Style Range.

It was once rare for a 30-inch range to come with more than four burners, but you can now find five on every recommended gas range in Consumer Reports’ range ratings. Most electric ranges have a fifth burner, too, or a rangetop warming zone.

On the flip side, only one of the 30-inch pro-style ranges we’ve tested offers a fifth burner, and it doesn't score well enough for us to recommend.

That extra burner space is handy when cooking big meals. Many gas ranges feature an oblong fifth burner in the center of the rangetop and include a drop-in griddle designed to replicate a restaurant flattop—perfect for pancakes or grilled sandwiches.

You generally have to splurge on a 48-inch pro-style range to find a built-in griddle, and even then you’ll have to sacrifice two burners to make room.

Cooking two different foods at two different temperatures simultaneously presents a challenge—unless you have two ovens. That’s a feature you’ll find on traditional gas and electric ranges costing as little as $1,000.

None of the 30-inch pro-style ranges we’ve evaluated offer dual ovens, though some pro-style range manufacturers offer dual side-by-side ovens on ranges 48 inches and wider.

The idea of hand-scrubbing an oven seems dated, but that’s often what you’re signing up for with the purchase of a pro-style range. More than half the models in our ratings lack a self-cleaning setting.

On the other hand, you’ll find the feature on almost every traditional range we’ve evaluated, even on some models that cost less than $500. That makes it harder to justify the $5,000 you could spend on a pro model that requires manual scrubbing.

A simple warming drawer below the main oven will keep dishes, dinner rolls, or just about anything warm until you’re ready to eat.

Some gas and electric ranges even provide dedicated temperature controls for the drawer, allowing you to tackle light baking. And even the most basic models offer a storage drawer for pots and pans below the oven cavity.

Pro-style ranges, on the other hand, choose form over function—none in our ratings feature a warming or storage drawer.

Because pro-style range manufacturers tend to roll out fewer models than mass-market brands, they’re often late to the party with helpful and innovative oven settings.

Though some pro-style ranges now have a built-in meat probe, it’s still hard to find special oven programs such as slow cook, delayed start, or proofing—an especially handy setting that maintains temperatures in the hard-to-hit 80° F range, which is ideal for proofing breads and dough without killing the yeast.

Here, we’ve compiled some of our top-rated pro-style ranges, which can cost $4,000 to $8,000-plus.

We’ve also highlighted some pricier models from bigger brands that provide a pro-style range look with a slightly lower price and plenty of fabulous features to boot.