What's in a name!? Why Viking Range should stick to selling Ranges only!

ProSumer Appliances

We were romanced by the idea of using the new class of appliances loosely branded as Prosumer for our Small Kitchen Remodel in Los Gatos. These class of appliances offer features from Commercial kitchens but packaged to fit smaller spaces typical of Single Family Homes.

However, our mistake was to choose Viking D3 line of appliances. We should have know that with a name like Viking Range, they should just stick to making Range and that the rest of their appliances would only carry the Viking logo! And they have proved us right so far where in less than 1 year of service the we had to get repairs completed twice on the Viking D3 Microwave and one time on the Viking D3 Refigrator each time with huge wait times for part orders.

Viking D3 line from Viking Range was intended to deliver additional features such as Control, Power and Easy Clean up. These pro-style appliances offers high-heat range and cooktops , multiple sinks, wall-mounted pot-fillers, deep-fryers, large capacity freezer and refrigerators. Some of the manufacturers are even offers wood-fired Pizza ovens for consumers.

For instance, Viking’s D-3 line offers a Microwave oven that doubles as a convection Oven as well. But as the first batch of these appliances have been rushed to the market to meet the rising demand of consumers, the products don’t meet the quality standards that we have come to expect from these brands. In fact, in our Small Kitchen Remodel for the Los Gatos, we installed Viking D3 appliances including Microwave Oven Model Number: RDNIR206SS ! This Microwave which costs us close to $900, has been subject to 3 service calls in ONE year and the vent/fan is a weak one at best which would has not survive this small kitchen in Los Gatos let alone a commercial kitchen!! And to make matters worse, part orders from Viking take more than 5-6 weeks which is utterly shameful.

And in June 2013, the Viking D3 Refrigerator Model Number: RDDFF23SS02 which developed problems with it’s freezer unit in one year! What was wonderful about this Viking D3 crash was that it came during the massive heat wave with 102-110 degree temperatures in late June 2013. So, we are convinced that during an attempt to pack professional features into these consumer appliances, Viking forgot to include Quality! To add insult to injury the Viking Consumer Manger for the California region was offering to reimburse us for renting a Refrigeration for a week from Rent-A-Center! While we appreciated the gesture, we had no choice but to refuse it since we did NOT want to have a rental White frige to be sticking out from the living room like a soar thumb!!

That’s why we can NOT recommend any of the Viking appliances for your kitchen remodels. Have you installed Viking appliances in your projects!? Let us know.

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