Art Culinaire French Ranges

I am a new owner of a lovely Red(!) Cluny Classique, Reserve 153, of which I have never seen or even cooked on!! My family and friends think I am crazy!! It is due to arrive in April, and it's the only item I have bought for our kitchen redo thus far... so it might sit awhile in the garage!!

I'm glad there is this forum because the venting issue seems to be pretty big and I will need advice from users like you, not salespeople.

Since Ryan at http://www.frenchranges.com thinks I am the only person in St. Louis to own a Cluny, I might become the "showroom" for our town!!

I will post photos of my kitchen as it progresses... will not be your typical kitchen as I aschew upper cabinets and am an artist to boot, so it will be different.


LOVE THAT CLUNY!!!
Au revoir...
christabelle

bonjour christabelle!

I predict that you will be even more in love with your red lacanche once you have actually seen it in person... I am fortunate enough to live within driving distance of the Art Culinaire (AC) showroom and have drooled over all the colors!!!

I ended up selecting the classic black for my non-kitcheny kitchen, but only after gazing at a very large sample of the red (graciously loaned to me by Stan at AC) for at least a month... an agonizing decision!!

Good luck with you remodeling!
au revoir,
gwen

Hi Christabelle,

You are not the only one. I ordered a black cluny 1400 due to be delivered in June, and I too have never seen one. There is just something that draws you to them! Actually I have wanted one for several years, but could not justify the complete remodel it would take to accomodate it in a kitchen that was already very nice and pretty new. Now, I am moving and my one requirement in a kitchen was a Lacanche. Ah, finally. Hope I love it.

Dear Gwen - You are so lucky to be close to Art Culinaire. Would you believe I was in Paris for three days (for work) a week ago and on my drive to the airport my escort mentioned that the Lacanche store was around the corner from the hotel I had just left. I feel sick about missing the opporunity to see what I just bought. Had I only turned left instead of right on the only evening I had a little free time to take a walk. C'est la vie!

Laurie

Christabelle - I think I am going to buy the red Cluny too. And I haven't put my hands on one either. I can't believe I am going to spend this much $$$ without seeing it up close, open the over doors, play with the knobs. But, it looks so great! I only learned about this range recently through a blurb by a decorator (from Portland, ME) in the May issue of House and Garden. I was in Paris three weeks ago and could have seen one there, but no clue at that time! I am concerned about the size of the ovens on the Cluny, but the larger model seems TOO big. I love the burner configuration, the color, and the brass knobs.

My gorgeous Red Cluny arrived Monday...I had the hubby quickly uncrate it so I could finally touch it!
It's a beauty! Doors open just wonderfully, drawers on bottom slide smoothly. The brass accents are kick___! (rhymes with brass!)
I just put my largest turkey pan in to see if it would fit---guess what?? It sure does!! (about 18"X13").

The kitchen rehab won't happen til later this year, so sadly we'll crate the beauty back up to keep it in pristine condition. Red was a great choice---life's too short for black or stainless!

Christabelle

I too bought 'sight unseen', after seeing these stoves featured in my magazines!! I bought a Sully in the Burgundy with Brass accents. However, it is still gathering dust in the garage waiting for the kitchen to be installed in our house, we are living in a large cabin while the entire house is remodelled, a slow process around here as we are doing most of it ourselves. Hubby is so tired of contractors goofing up every job that he decided to do it himself except where necessary, even when we get someone in though, he still has to oversee what they do as they like to cut corners or use cheap products!

He is a bit of a perfectionist, I admit, but has been right so far & everything to date looks beautiful. Now it's winter & everything here is frozen so nothing has been done since Fall, though he promises to have my kitchen done first come the Spring!

Anyways, I can't hardly wait to have my Sully installed, it has 2 Ovens, both electric & 1 is Convection, the stove top is gas (propane). I bought a Heartland Dishwasher to match the Burgundy & my French door Refrigerator was painted to match also, painted by professional Auto Sprayer, it looks terrific, and the new kitchen cabinets are in a 'french cream'.
Will post photos if it ever gets installed!!