Why You Can Trust CNET LG LRG3085ST review: This stylish steel range from LG boasts convection but cooks on the slow side
Clad in lovely stainless-steel the LG LRG3085ST gas range is pretty but takes its time to cook.
The $1,649 LG LRG3085ST Free-Standing Gas Oven is built to make a good first impression. Its stainless steel chassis is easy on the eyes while its more tangible attributes, front-mounted controls, easy to operate touch panel, oval center burner, and convection oven are worthy features to have on hand in the kitchen.
LG LRG3085ST
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
Unfortunately this range's sluggish cooking times and lack of any distinctive extras make similarly priced options such as the $1,699 Samsung NX58F5700 and $1,649 KitchenAid KGRS306BSS better appliance deals. Both products are also superior performers, especially Samsung's oven which looks just as pretty yet offers greater space for baking and roasting and is jam-packed with extras.
Design and features
As free-standing ovens go the LG LRG3085ST is actually quite attractive. Sure it relies on the tried-and-true blocky stove shape complete with a back-mounted touch panel, which range manufacturers have used for decades. That said LG also decided to throw in a few snazzy design elements such as shiny stainless steel surfaces contrasted by sober black elements.
Specifically a steel skin covers much of the appliance's front face including the oven door and warming drawer below it, both of which sport sturdy curved metal handles. Likewise the flat touch panel in the rear, beyond the cooktop, is framed by a wide silvery border crafted in iridescent brushed metal.
You'll find a gas cooktop on the LG LRG3085ST's range whose five-burners live beneath a flat cast-iron grate. Both the grate, burners, and range surface are cast in a shade of deep black. The burners themselves range in power from a max of 1,700 BTU down to 5,000 at the low end. One welcome feature is a center oval burner (8,000 BTU) which comes with its own removable griddle pan accessory.
Underneath the cooktop sit five front-facing burner control knobs which while silver in color are actually constructed from plastic. They still feel solid, and turn with satisfying precision, but the metal knobs on the competing Samsung oven make the plastic which LG has used here feel like a shortcut.
The LG LRG3085ST range has a 5.4 cubic foot capacity oven cavity to handle your baking needs. Admittedly that's smaller than many of its competitors such as the KitchenAid KGRS306BSS and Samsung NX58F5700, both of which provide 5.8 cubic feet of oven room to play with.
And if you're expecting much in the way of slick accessories this isn't the oven for you. Outside of the griddle pan and oval center burner, the LRG3085ST only comes with basic flat oven racks (though there are three of them) for use with its seven slots.
What this oven does have at its disposal is a big internal fan linked to its own heating element for European convection (often called true convection) baking and roasting. Euro convection typically offers either faster cooking times or satisfactory results at lower temperatures.
Performance and ease of use
I can't deny that using the LG LRG3085ST is a simple, fun and, at times, an even entertaining process. The oven's back-mounted touch panel is clearly laid out using a minimum of buttons. I also like that instead of the often inscrutable symbols you'll find grafted onto the buttons of many other oven controls, the LRG3085ST's keys are labeled with straightforward English text.
And similar to Samsung and some GE appliances, this LG oven will serenade you with cute electronic tones for basic oven alerts such as a preheat alert and a timer alarm. I admit it's a sappy method to win over customer affection but I prefer these musical warnings to the jarring buzzes and beeps of typical ranges.
But in terms of raw cooking performance, the LG LRG3085ST was a disappointment. Even though LG is quick to hype the boiling power of this range's large 17,000 BTU burner (naming it the Superboil burner in fact), my test results were less than inspiring. On average the range took a very long 15.17 minutes to bring 112 ounces of water to boiling.
Large burner boil test
This is the slowest result we've measured to date with a slew of gas-powered ranges completing this task in much shorter order. For instance the Whirlpool WEG730H0DS . Samsung NX58F5700, KitchenAid KGRS306BSS , and even the LG LSRG309ST (LG's step up model) were much faster.
Small burner boil test
The LRG3085ST faired slightly better on our small burner boil test. That said, the range's average time to complete this test (17.52 minutes) was the second slowest result we've seen from any range yet. Only the LRG3085ST's more expensive sibling, the LG LSRG309ST required more time (17.73 minutes).
Hamburger broil test
Broiling burgers with the LG LRG3085ST was a similar story. While the appliance certainly could get the job done it took its sweet time doing it. The oven's closed-door style broiler took an average of 19.5 minutes to heat six hamburger patties to an internal temperature of 145 degrees. Other stoves such as the Samsung NX58F5700 and LG's own LSRG309ST powered through our burger-cooking test in shorter time.
Thankfully the oven was more adept at baking especially with its convection mode engaged. Subjected to baking two racks of biscuits simultaneously, the LRG3085ST suffered from the usual uneven results which plague conventional ovens, the top rack well-browned and the bottom being underdone. Kicking the oven into convection bake mode solved this issue though with both the top and bottom racks producing ranks of biscuits of near identical brownness.
I also managed to successfully roast a pre-seasoned pork loin with quite tasty results. Though I overshot my intended temp target of 150 degrees by 5 degrees, my roast was tender, juicy and quite delicious.
Conclusion
In world where bare-bones gas ovens can cost as little as $400, any range which is priced more than $1,000 let alone $1,500 had better stand out. The $1,649 LG LRG3085ST does its best to accomplish this by sporting an alluring stainless steel design, thoughtful touch-panel and front-mounted controls and, of course, true European convection.
Still for all its attempts to woo potential customers, the LRG3085ST's sluggish cooking times will be a turn off to all but the most patient home chefs. A classic case of style lacking substance, stove shoppers will be much better served choosing Samsung's $1,699 NX58F5700 which for a mere $50 more boils and broils faster, looks just as lovely and boasts a bigger bag of culinary extras and special cooking modes.