What better time to replace your thirty-four year old range than when doing a complete kitchen remodel? That’s what prompted me to buy a Whirlpool RF368. I compared Maytag, Amana and GE, yet none of those offered just the right combination of features at the price. Though a few changes have crept into this model over the year and a half since I bought it, it remains part of the Whirlpool lineup and represents a small step-up from their more popular RF364.

In the past I was leery of smooth-tops. I was always comfortable with the traditional coil-top burner and that’s what I intended to buy. However, after conducting an informal survey among friends, neighbors, cousins (and just about anyone else I could bore with endless questions about what to choose for my new kitchen), I decided to go with the smooth-top -- and I haven’t regretted it.

When I purchased my RF368, it offered one 9” surface unit, plus one 7” and two 6” units -- a slightly different configuration from the very similar RF364, which has the more traditional setup of two 8” and two 6” units. (According to the current Whirlpool website, the RF368 now features two 9” units plus two 6” units). The three-size layout on my range offers lots of versatility. The 9” is great for a small griddle or my Calphalon frying pan, while the remaining units will fit just about any combination of other pans. The 9” unit is extremely fast and puts out lots of heat. The only time I ever use it on “High” is when heating a large pot of water for pasta. For pancakes, chicken breasts and similar tasks I can start things on the 7 setting and then cut back further to 3 or 4 after things start cooking.

The mostly-black cooktop on my range has a gray, pebble-like pattern. It is truly a snap to clean. Most of the time, a damp paper towel is all that’s required. When the surface starts to look dingy, a small blob of the special non-abrasive cooktop cleaner will make it look brand new again. You just smear the cleaner around with a dry paper towel, turn the towel to an unused section and buff the surface until the haze disappears. Burned-on dirt can be scraped off (gently) with a razor blade. I’d never go back to scouring the trim rings and drip bowls of a coil-top range again!

The only downside of a smooth-top (and the thing that almost scared me off in the first place) is the possibility of expensive repairs. If you drop a heavy pot on this surface and cause a crack, you’re probably in for an expensive repair bill. The same would hold true if one of the units malfunctioned; there would be no running to Home Depot for a generic replacement coil that you could install yourself. That said, however, Whirlpool (and most other manufacturers) cover the glass-ceramic smoothtop with a five-year warranty. This implies that the sealed cooking surface should be reasonably trouble-free.

A lot of thought obviously went into the RF368’s cooktop control layout. The burner controls line the top of the backsplash and they make it easy to see which units are turned on, even at a distance. Two power indicator lights show that a surface unit is turned on and a hot-surface indicator illuminates on the cooktop itself whenever one of the units remains too hot to touch. The RF368 features a separate hot-surface indicator for each burner, unlike the lesser models that have just one indicator for all four. The separate indicators are desirable since they eliminate any guesswork. A manual switch for the oven light occupies the top of the backsplash – handy if you want to check the progress of something without opening the door.

The oven controls occupy the center of the backsplash. On earlier Whirlpools (including mine), those controls are less than user-friendly. The selector buttons for oven mode, timed bake and minute timer lie jammed together in a non-intuitive row. To the left of them lies an odd looking hexagonal cluster of indicator lights that shows the mode (bake/broil/clean), plus some status indications (oven heating/cleaning, door locked, etc.). Fortunately, newer versions of this model have a revised control panel that groups the buttons and indicators according to function.

The RF368’s 4.65 cubic foot oven provides all the capacity this bachelor cook could ever need. The two slide-out racks have five positions. When I got my range, the oven design was referred to as “Balanced Bake”. Here again, Whirlpool has made a revision without changing the basic model number: The RF368 shown on their site has the more sophisticated “AccuBake” system, which supposedly provides more precise temperature distribution.

My oven does all jobs well for my admittedly limited repertoire. As a confirmed chocoholic, pans of chocolate chip cookies and brownies constitute my most frequent products. In all cases, things cook up nice and even with no apparent hot spots on either the upper or lower racks. The temperature calibration seems right on the money; I’ve used whatever time the recipe called for and things have come out with just the right degree of brownness and crispness. My other specialties – meat loaf, pork chops, baked potatoes – also come out fine (if I say so myself)!

Broiling performance is a strong point of this range. Whirlpool labels it “Custom Broil”, which means that you can vary the temperature from the default value of 500 degrees. My most frequent uses for the broiler are seafood (haddock filets or salmon steaks and filets). Generally, a lower temperature of 425 works well for those tasks. Again, no complaints – I get consistent results with no bother.

What’s not to like with this range? Just one thing: The self-clean performance leaves something to be desired, in my opinion. My previous range – one of the first self-clean units on the market – would come out spotless after a relatively short two-hour cycle. On Whirlpool’s current lineup, three and a half hours is the default setting. You can shorten it to two and a half, or extend it to four and a half hours. Despite the fact that I don’t get my oven terribly dirty I have found that the default setting is just barely adequate, and it leaves a one inch wide area on the bottom surface near the door that doesn’t get clean. The inside of the glass window also remains pretty dirty, although that can be touched up with a Dobie pad or similar non-abrasive scouring pad.

The exterior surfaces of this range remain remarkably cool during baking operations, although many parts of the cooktop get uncomfortably hot to the touch while broiling. The self-clean operation, as expected, gives off quite a bit of heat and you should ventilate the kitchen well while using it. It makes quite a stench! (Hints: Whirlpool advises against leaving the oven racks in during the self-clean cycle, and this is good advice. On my previous range, the racks would never slide in and out smoothly after getting put through the cleaning cycle so I have avoided doing that with this new range. I’d also suggest removing the plastic liner from the lower storage drawer. It doesn’t get too warm down there, but you never know).

Would I choose the Whirlpool RF368 again? Emphatically, “yes”. I’m hooked on the glass-ceramic cooktop. All things considered, its advantages outweigh any possible negatives. And the RF368’s oven, despite its lackluster self-cleaning, performs admirably. This range represents a solid value from a well-known manufacturer.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 489