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- Continuous grates
- Large central burner
- Low-profile design
- Safety features
- Poor simmering performance
- Knobs get hot during use
The mid-priced 36-inch Bosch PGL985UC is a five-burner gas cooktop that receives excellent reviews from several owners posting to online retailers, along with a recommendation from ConsumerGuide.com. It has continuous cast-iron grates, a large, high-powered central burner and a low-profile design. Owners compliment its safety features, including a mechanism that shuts off the gas if the flame goes out and child-resistant knobs. However, this cooktop receives below-average scores in professional tests, and its simmering performance is notably lacking compared to other gas cooktops. If safety features are especially important to you, the Bosch may be a good choice; otherwise, consider the better-performing (and less expensive) GE JGP637WEJWW (*Est. $800).
ConsumerReports.org provides the most reliable review for the Bosch PGL985UC. We also found a glowing recommendation for this cooktop at ConsumerGuide.com (though there's no indication that it has been tested) and several owner reviews at AJMadison.com. J.D. Power and Associates includes Bosch in its 2008 survey of cooktop and wall-oven owners, but no specific models are discussed.
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Our Sources
1. ConsumerReports.orgDetails/Subscribe
Consumer Reports has an excellent reputation for unbiased test-based reviews, making it a refreshing alternative to retail review sites. For their report on gas cooktops, editors test the Bosch PGL985 along with 12 other models.
Review: Cooktops and Wall Ovens, Editors of ConsumerReports.org, Nov. 2008
ConsumerGuide.com gives the Bosch PGL985UC a Best Buy award, but there's no indication that the cooktop has been tested, and the accompanying text reads more like a marketing pitch than an appropriately critical review. Still, editors of ConsumerGuide.com do a good job explaining the benefits of this cooktop's features.
Review: Bosch 36-Inch Five-Burner Cooktop PGL985UC, Editors of ConsumerGuide.com, Sept. 11, 2006
Several owner-written reviews at online appliance retailer AJMadison.com give the Bosch PGL985UC a high average rating. Owners seem especially pleased with the cooktop's design and safety features, but there's little mention of how well it performs.
Review: Bosch PGL985UC 36" Gas Cooktop, Contributors to AJMadison.com
Bosch receives average to above-average scores in J.D. Power's 2008 Kitchen Appliances Study, which is based on a large consumer-satisfaction survey of more than 15,000 homeowners. Unfortunately, no specific models are discussed and there is no differentiation between ratings for cooktops and wall ovens.
Review: 2008 Kitchen Appliances Study: Built-In Cooktops and Ovens, Editors of J.D. Power and Associates
