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  • Introduction

  • Design & Usability

  • Rangetop

  • Oven Broiler & Convection

  • Conclusion

  • Science Introduction

  • Oven Performance

  • Rangetop Performance

  • Introduction
  • Design & Usability
  • Rangetop
  • Oven Broiler & Convection
  • Conclusion
  • Science Introduction
  • Oven Performance
  • Rangetop Performance

Introduction

Unfortunately, poor temperature stability in the oven makes its membership status tenuous, despite impressive boiling and preheating performance.

Design & Usability

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An attractive design, albeit with a quirky backsplash.

The Samsung FX710BGS's five burner rangetop design met our standards. With sturdy continuous grating and front controls—ensuring that your arms don't get burnt as you reach over hot burners—it seems like an excellent compromise between residential practicality and pro-range performance.

The backsplash is home to some of the most ridiculous presets we've ever seen.

In general, the design is an elegant one, and we especially like the brushed, stainless finish. Yet we found the backsplash to be a bit large, and home to some of the most ridiculous presets we've ever seen. A dedicated chicken nuggets setting? Someone at Samsung saw Super Size Me.

Regardless, the 5.8-cubic foot self-cleaning oven has a heated convection fan and tons of space for chicken nuggets (and more) with its three racks—one of which is split, adding appreciated flexibility.

{{photo_gallery "Vanity", "Front Photo", "Rangetop Controls Photo", "Oven Controls Photo", "Burners 1 Photo", "Burners 2 Photo", "Burners Cleaning Photo", "Upper Oven Photo", "Upper Oven Detail Photo", "Oven Detail Photo", "Lower Oven Detail Photo", "Lower Oven Photo", "Drawer Photo", "Broiler Photo",}}

Rangetop

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This typical gas rangetop has great boiling abilities, but its temperature range is narrow.

We were very pleased to see the usual 18,000 and 150,000 BTU/hr burners doing their jobs well, boiling water hastily. Even the other (non-simmer) burner impressed us with its power.

Searing temperatures were not hot enough, and simmering was a struggle.

Less satisfying was the narrow range of temperatures that our test pans recorded. Searing temperatures were not hot enough, and simmering was a struggle, as well. A small silver lining: these burners lock-in superbly on the temperatures they do hit. The results weren't entirely surprising: Gas rangetops often have temperature spectrum issues, where electric rangetops typically have temperature control issues.

Oven Broiler & Convection

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Samsung appears to have stressed preheating time over everything else.

Though we were quite pleased with the FX710BGS's burner performance, we found a few problems in the oven—and no, they had nothing to do with chicken nuggets. The one positive nod we can offer this oven is that it preheated to 350°F very quickly—under six minutes, in fact!

The broiler just couldn't bring itself to heat up.

Now for the criticism. Of all of the standard temperatures we test—keep-warm, 350°F, 550°F, and 350°F with convection—we found the oven either missed the target temperatures (undershooting in every case), or the mercury rose and fell like the fortunes of Soviet premiers in the early '80s. Sometimes both. We also found a washed-up old broiler that just couldn't bring itself to heat up.

Conclusion

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Room for improvement? More like a master suite.

Most cooks need a variety of tools in their kitchen, but this range is a particularly blunt instrument. As far as power numbers go—boiling and preheating—we were extremely satisfied by the pure muscular performance we saw. The Samsung FX710BGS heats up faster than a barfight.

We cannot recommend this to anyone with needs that extend beyond fast preheating and boiling.

When it came time for more nuanced operations, like searing and simmering, it was pretty poor. Across the board, oven temperatures remained jumpy and inaccurate. Clearly we cannot recommend this to anyone with needs that extend beyond fast preheating and boiling.

Science Introduction

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It would be silly to accept our statements without evidence. After all, the oven-buying process is a matter of smart comparisons, not faith. Fortunately, our rigorous testing procedure furnishes extensive data, which we pass on to you.

Oven Performance

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If this were middle school, this range definitely wouldn't get a gold star.

Aside from the quick preheat, we found almost nothing positive here. At settings of 170°F, 350°F, and 550°F, the oven undershot them all. It instead produced temperatures of 149°F, 340°F, and 542°F.

At the 350°F temperatures, we found terrible variance.

Obviously, the miss was small for the higher three, but at the 350°F temperatures, we found terrible variance, with the oven reaching up to 379°F and as low as 317°F—and extremes of 376°F and 319°F in convection mode.

The broiler didn't do much better, timing out after 16 minutes without heating up our sensor to 600°F.

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Rangetop Performance

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In keeping with industry trends, we find a gas range that excels at boiling, but lacks a diverse temperature range.

For a non-pro gas range under $1,500, we found exceptional boiling results. The front two elements managed to boil six cups of water in just 4.5 min and 5.5 min, and the rear non-simmering burner did it in 9.2 min. These are incredible results for a gas rangetop in this price range, and show some serious power.

We did not see the same power in the area of high-temperature performance. The front burners heated our pans to only 386°F and 388°F, the rear two to 410°F and 359°F. This is far from ideal.

Despite the fact that it's a dedicated simmering burner, this element in question only brought the test pan temperature down to 164°F, substantially higher than what most simmer burners land, and certainly higher than the rest of the burners on this range, which were 130°F, 135°F, and 168°F.

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Meet the tester

Richard Baguley

Richard Baguley

Contributor

@@rbaguley

Richard Baguley is a veteran writer who has written about technology ranging from Alphabet to Zip file utilities. He has contributed to pretty much every major tech publication, including Amiga Format Magazine, PC World, Wired, CNET, Toms Guide, Forbes, and many others. He lives in the Boston metro area with his wife, dog, and an indeterminate number of cats.

See all of Richard Baguley's reviews

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