Why You Can Trust CNET GE JB750SJSS review: Sneaky good performance from an unassuming oven
The GE JB750SJSS electric range covers basic cooking tasks well, and only costs $1,000.
Manufacturers have to keep large appliance features to a minimum if they want to keep the price budget-friendly. This means that a range should perform basic cooking tasks well since there are not many bells and whistles to hide behind. GE Appliances has taken this challenge and excelled with the $1,000 GE JB750SJSS, an electric range that cooks food well, is easy to use and is reasonably priced.
GE JB750SJSS
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
GE includes just enough features in this range to help you cook more efficiently, such as a convection fan in the oven and a powerful burner to quickly bring water to a boil. And the JB750SJSS cooks food well -- the oven bakes food evenly, and the convection roast features makes for some of the most delicious chicken to come out of the CNET Appliances test kitchen.
There isn't much in the way of fancy design when it comes to the GE JB750SJSS. And its cook times lag behind similar appliances. But these points barely register as inconveniences when you consider the range's price and performance. The GE JB750SJSS, like the similar GE PB911SJSS we've reviewed, is a solid appliance that is worth consideration the next time you're buying a range.
Basic design in exchange for a bargain
The stainless-steel GE JB750SJSS is a basic large appliance without a lot of frills. The 30-inch wide electric range has a smooth ceramic cooktop with four burners and a warming zone. The oven has 5.3 cubic feet of space, which is a bit smaller than what we've seen from other brands, such as the 5.9-cubic-foot oven on the Samsung NE59J7630SB or the 6.1-cubic-foot oven on the Kenmore 95073.
The GE JB750SJSS has a smaller oven than we've seen with other brands, but it's big enough to comfortably hold three oven racks' worth of food.
Performance is on par (or better) than similar ranges
Like the GE PB911SJSS from the same line of appliances, the GE JB750SJSS has cooking performance that holds up against similar ranges. Though it doesn't break any records in terms of cook times, the range made an admirable showing in our cook tests, especially when you consider that it's only $1,000. Let's look at boil times as an example. The GE JB750SJSS brought 112 ounces of water to boil in an average of 9.52 minutes. This performance becomes more impressive when you compare it to more expensive ranges such as the $3,099 Samsung NE58K9850WG that took more than 13 minutes to perform the same task.
Large-burner boil test (electric models)
The GE JB750SJSS also did an incredible job cooking chicken on the convection roast setting. The skin was golden brown and crispy, and the meat was as juicy as could be. This roast was on par with what we've seen with Dacor ranges, a high-end brand with ranges that cost upward of $5,000.
The convection baking tests showed that the GE JB750SJSS's oven did a pretty good job of baking multiple racks of food evenly. The convection fan located in the back of the oven is surrounded by a heating element (a feature that manufacturers refer to as "true" or "European" convection) that GE designed to distribute heat more evenly in the oven cavity. When I baked two racks of biscuits, they browned to fairly uniform (if slightly too dark) levels. Unfortunately, the range doesn't have an auto-convert feature to lower the temperature to account for the faster baking that comes with a convection fan, so I had to reduce the temperature manually.
The photos on the left show two racks of biscuits I baked with the convection fan in use. As you can see in the color representations on the right, the browning was mostly uniform with the top rack of biscuits being slightly browner (top photos).
The broil tests were a little slower than what we've seen with similar ovens. It took the oven nearly 16 minutes to broil six hamburger patties at a time. However, this oven was still faster than some more expensive ranges we've tested:
Hamburger broiling test (electric models)
Final thoughts
The GE JB750SJSS is a simple appliance that does the most basic cooking functions well. The cook times from this range weren't amazing, but its performance still beat more expensive competitors. For $1,000, this range would be a valuable addition to your kitchen.