Chef 54cm Cooker CFG517

I had to purchase this oven to fit the narrow space when the old oven was removed. It is very unsatisfactory. It uses cheap materials. The splash back is tiny and wobbles when wiped. The cooktop is made of thin metal and stains easily. The black metal frames that sit above the burners are flimsy. Most annoying is that the oven goes out often when… Read more

I am cooking and close the door after checking a dish. If I forget to double check that the gas is alight, then I can often find the dish has been sitting in a warm oven and not cooking, simply because the act of closing the door makes the gas pilot go out! It has just done it again to trays of biscuits. The wok burner was part of the deal and is unusable as it doesnt generate enough heat to allow the wok to cook properly. Compared to the previous oven, which was a basic no frills job that would have been installed when the apartments were built in the 60/70s, the burners do not give off the same intensity of heat so for example its harder to get a decent boil to cook a large pot of pasta whereas before it was rapidly boiling - or its very unsatisfactroy to try using a wok on the two back burners as they dont generate enough heat. Oh and the seal around the oven has come loose. As I said, there was no other oven that could fit the space i have so I am stuck with this lemon.

Should be recalled – Worst, most dangerous appliance in my house. Gas knobs turned on when I leaned over to wipe tiles behind. Nearly scalded myself down the front and my dog, when a light saucepan of sauce would not balance on the four cover bars because the handle was heavier. I had a similar stove in another brand for years which was great. This one should be recalled. Don't buy it. Show details

Chef Natural gas stove electric grill – Great stove. Was surprised with the electric grill as our last one was all gas. However, am impressed with the ease of starting and the way everything is cooked. Very good stove for the price. Show details

Exellent oven – I purchased this oven about six Months ago and it's been great, cooks evenly and it's so easy to use, My old oven was Chef also and lasted for years. I highly recommend it it's a great buy. I'm happy with it, the thing I like the most about it is that, I can also remove the oven glass and clean it, it's great I keep it clean and shiny all the time after each use, well! I'm a happy Customer!  Show details

Great cooker – Read all the reviews on the various models of this stove. Read the reviews about the splashback been sloppy. Surprised from the time of the reviews the splashback was still sloppy. Looked at a new stove in store last week and splashback still sloppy. UNBELIEVABLE they haven't addressed this issue. Reinforced ours with two 6mm aluminium strips… Read more ·  1

before installation and has been great.

Overall is a good stove and have few issues. Griller tray slide system could be better designed. Importantly oven temperature is accurate and been fan forced heat distribution is good overall. Bake at least four or five times a week and a great oven is essential.

Control of gas burners on top is excellent. Overall very happy with the stove. Great is made in Australia and the reason why I bought the stove. Would happily buy this stove again.

Would have given 5 stars if griller had better designed slide system and splashback wasn't sloppy.

Catastrophic design flaw could easily result in a house fire – The grill light has been placed below the knob, out of sight, and it is extremely easy to accidentally bump the grill on as you don't need to press it in first. You can just tap it and it flicks onto high, which it did, and stayed on high for eight hours before we discovered it. The only reason the house didn't burn down is because the grill was… Read more

clean with no fat or crumbs. This is a catastrophic design error and the units should be pulled immediately.

Impractical design – We bought this brand new after our old Chef cooker was beginning to fail in a couple of areas. We have always like the Chef as a brand, so went with a new one. The grill is most impractical and does not sit properly. The side bars supposedly to hold it in place come out at the slightest touch and are very hard to re-attach. There is a hole at the… Read more

rear of the grill area which you need to feel for - when the grill is cool, mind you, or you would get a nasty burn. . You have to manouver the grill tray in many angles to engage with these bars to (hopefully) make it stay in place and not tip up or drop on the floor when the grill is open. The oven light and fan are turned off as a separate action and may be forgotten and may remain on until you notice while usuing unneccessary power. The fan is very quiet and the knob does not readily let you know if it is at the "on" position, so you have to open the oven door to listen for it if you forget if you turned the fan on or not- great while cooking food. All in all, it is a very strange, impractical design. One would have thought that with years of product design Chef would improve as new products come on to the market.

Dangerously hot – The knobs are insanely hot when the oven is on. Tried the grill, and when I touched a knob I burnt my hand. I've never experienced warm temperature knobs on any oven let alone boiling hot and painful when trying to use them. I don't know how this product passed safety requirements. They should be recalled. Show details

Dangerously hot – Very disappointed and anxious after our oven got installed today.. the knobs and whole top of the stove is scolding hot when the oven is on and with two young kids I know how much anxiety this oven will cause me! I rang Electrolux to see if it was normal and the woman on the phone literally said ‘well hot air rises so open a window’... it gets… Read more

down to 0 degrees where I live and I can’t have open windows every time I have to use the damn oven! So angry and disappointed in this supposedly ‘reputable’ brand..

Disappointing product and customer service – I have been using Chef cookers for over 30 years. My current gas cooker is Model CFG517SA. It was obvious that it was not of the same quality of previous models that I have owned. I complained to Chef about the quality of the knobs that came with the cooker (impossible to clean without removing the silver paint from the underlying black… Read more

plastic) and was offered new knobs. When the new knobs arrived they appeared to be of the same type as the old ones (painted plastic). However, eventually I decided to try them out as the original knobs were in such bad shape. Soon afterwards, I started having trouble lighting the oven of my stove and within a week I could not get the oven to stay lit after releasing the knob. Only the oven was affected by the problem. Unfortunately, I did not realize that the problem started when I replaced the knobs on the stove.

I called the Chef help-line and they referred me to the local Chef-designated service provider (Note: we live in a rural area). After several weeks a repairman came and replaced the thermocouple in the stove. He was able to light the stove, though not consistently, after replacing the thermocouple. As soon as he left I tried to light the oven but was unable to do so. I informed the local service provider and was told that they might need to replace the entire gas feed for the stove. I asked them to give me a price on that as I wasn’t sure that it wouldn’t be more than the stove was worth. They eventually informed me that they had been in touch with Electrolux and had been informed that there was a problem with the shape of the knobs and that I should insert a little ball of aluminium foil in the hole of the knob. This did indeed fix the problem. Chef has refused to cover the cost of the unnecessary repair of the thermocouple even though they had supplied me with defective knobs. I will never buy another Chef/Electrolux/Westinghouse product and I advise you not to do so either.

Knobs here very hot – I purchased this oven on recommendation that Chef are reliable brand. It is a very basic model, but works adequately. However, my biggest concern is the control knobs get very hot when using the oven, even at moderate temperature. This would burn an unsuspecting person. Other reviews have identified same problem so I’m assuming a fault with chef gas ovens. Disappointed. Show details

Poor Technical Support – I have purchased the cfg517wbng oven but have not installed it and am already disappointed with Electrolux's customer service. When discussing with an electrician the power point requirement for this stove, I mentioned it has a gas cook top, gas oven and a seperate electric grill tray. The electrician asked to confirm the power requirements (in… Read more

Watts) of the stove given it has an electric grill. The manual states the Connected Load is 0.05kW, which is the odd part because a typical toaster is 1kW or more. I called Electrolux Technical support and all the help they could provide was read out exactly what I had read myself from the manual. They were not able to provide any information to address my or my electricians concern with connecting this stove to an existing power point without overloading the circuit.

Would not purchase again, weak gas flow on some burners – Was not expecting too much but I would not purchase again. It has weak gas flow on some burners. I previously had an electric stove and surprising it felt as though it heated faster than this on the stove top. The oven works reasonably well for baking and have had some success there however the clicker to ignite has stopped working so you have to… Read more

go in with a gas oven lighter (my partner is not a fan!). Only other plus point is that the enamel is relatively is easy to clean but not much more than most ovens I'd imagine. Had hoped (as an oven should) that this would last some time but I'm feeling doubtful. Not much else to say, will do better research before my next purchase.

Faulty Cooktop Design, avoid – Awful regrettable purchase. From new I have had problems with the burners not staying on the cooktop. It will ignite, flame will start and as I let go the flame goes out. I called and had them replaced once and now the same this has happened. Faulty cooktop thermocouples apparently. With I purchased something else, what's the point of having gas if I can't use a cooktop for 50% of the time?  Show details

"Happy overall" but Grill slider could be better – I have had this chef oven for about 12 months so far. Im very happy with it. Has the Wok gas outlet too. The oven compartment is well lit and is fan forced and makes for speedy meals. When you pull the tray out from the griller its very sqeaky and a bit awkward. Chef could've designed it so its an easy glide.. overall: + Wok burner gas… Read more

outlet-well lit oven with fan force/ modern design.

- Grill slider could be an improvement/Glass oven corner joints for cleaning could be better than snap on as one corner is now a bit loose after cleaning.

Very hot and one burner not working – When we use oven and grill together it's exterior very hot.if someone touch accidently it's definitely burn . especially it's not safe for children.one burner is not working.i called customer care number and explain the situation. They promised to solve the problem. And they will call me back.but customer care center not call me back.the service is terrible.  Show details

Dangerously Hot Exterior When Oven on High Temps – Reading other reviews on this model it would seem this is a fault in not fitting sufficient insulation for the oven. The outer casing gets dangerously hot when cooking over 200 deg Celcius (eg pizza; roast veg) and if a child were to touch it he/she would get burnt. This heat also radiates up to the control knobs. I hate to think of how this fault will raise the temperature of my kitchen in summer.  Show details

Good value for money – We replaced a 10 year old Italian gas/electric. Fed up with replacing elements we went for gas/gas. It has a quiet fan for the oven. The outer sides get warm, but we can live with that. Gas oven might not be quite as hot as an electric, but for 95% of our needs it is fine. We cook bread weekly and it is excellent. The reviews for $2000-4000… Read more

stoves had many negatives, so our thinking was that we would pay less for them. We have not had any with the Chef.

Get a Gas Fitter to check before buying NEW – We spent 3 days looking and researching for a full gas 600mm upright. With very few 600mm uprights we decided to go 540mm as there was more choices. After choosing a Chef to replace the 25yo 600mm Chef brand that we have, we read the reviews and were totally frustrated with not only Chef, but most uprights as far as features and life span. We… Read more

decided to get a gas fitter out to check our stove. It turned out a burnt out thermocouple was the problem which was replaced for $140 which included the call out and labour. My advice is, unless you are positive that the unit cannot be repaired, get a person to check.

It may save you a new stove and possibly $1000 plus for an inferior model to what you already have.

Disappointment is an understatement – My mother recently retired and as a present to herself she used part of her Super to renovate her kitchen. This included purchasing your Chef CFG517SA upright stove. From day one the fan button didn't work (it has since been fixed) the oven turns off mid cook as though it has a mind of it own, and has ruined cakes and resulted in only partly… Read more

cooked meals. The entire exterior of the oven is RIDICULOUSLY hot when in use, which is simply unacceptable considering it is 2016 and there are plenty of other branded ovens out there that do not have this trait. I have a 2.5-year-old son, this is not good enough. Now, to top it off, it appears the cook top itself has tiny little rust like marks developing in the groves! The oven isn't even 2 months old!

How has this product not been recalled by the ACC?

My mother deserves to have the oven she paid for, one that works and isn't a safety issue. I hope Chef intends to make this wrong right.

Dissapointed - dangerously hot when oven on – Stove gets dangerously hot when using oven - much much hotter than 2 older Chef gas stoves we have had experience with. A Chef nominated gas fitter examined stove and recommended that the oven NOT BE USED!!. Thought this might mave been a construction fault but it looks like a design fault - should have read this product review.

Good little unit – Love how it is compact and I do prefer cooking with gas. It's been a great little unit, easy to keep clean and although it doesn't take up much space the stove top and oven are just as big (oven slightly bigger) than what I had which was of average size so I'm really quite happy. I'm enjoying it.

Never Buy One Again – Same complaint as everyone else. The whole cooker gets boiling hot. I thought there was something wrong with mine but obviously that's just the way they are. My oven goes out quite often too and I end up with a half cooked meal. I think they are dangerous and should be recalled. Would not recommend this to anyone.

Knobs too hot! – I bought this upright cooker just 2 weeks ago. With first baking I noticed all knobs were very hot. Later we used a separate grill, which made knobs much hotter.Contacted a shop where we bought this,they arranged Electrolux service guy to come and check it. According to ELECTROLUX knobs could be hot up to 70-80C which is normal and safe. Our knobs… Read more

were only hot 45C without grill on (when temperature taken) and as such there is nothing wrong with this product according to them. I do not believe President and CEO of AB Electrolux [name removed] would be happy to use that kind of product and would request replacement without any additional charges immediately.

The shop where we bought our Chef 540mm upright cooker is working on replacement but we will see how it all going to end up.

My gas oven knob won't turn off – This has been a painful item since we bought it. Turning on top cookers often puts flame out in oven. The grilling tray only pulls out halfway, making flipping rear items near impossible. Now, the oven itself just WILL NOT TURN OFF. This is the last straw, bye bye to junk pile. Never buying chef again

The exterior gets extremely hot when using the oven – th food is cooked well but I feel the oven exterior gets way too hot even he knobs on the stove are extremely hot a safety issue I will be contacting the organisation I purchased this from hoping for a resolution. Basically you can not touch the exterior whilst using the oven

Not good – The oven flame keeps on cutting out so meals are never cooked oven roast or any baking which is frustrating as you have to sit there and watch the oven so when the flame cuts out you can turn the nob off immediately so no gas builds in the house.Wouldnt buy this oven even thou im in a rental property

This oven exploded a fireball from top vent while being used safely – Hi I am writing to warn potential customers that this model of Chef oven, whilst being used safely, exploded a fireball from the top vent. I was cooking with both the oven and grill turned on medium heats. Very dangerous cheaply made stove in my opinion... I was injured and received thermal burns and the kitchen was damaged.

My gas oven knob won't turn off – Even the oven i cannot turn it down low cause it turns off so i always have to watch the temp. cause most of the time it burns my food big mistake buying this from the goodgyuys i had an old chef for over twenty years it was great the new ones are crap and expensive!!!

Not a great product – My owner got this new cooker installed 2 months back. Two days back one of the gas knob got stuck on the ON position. With gas leaking into the kitchen, I had to turn the knob a bit harder to bring it to the OFF position. Once there things seemed to be back to normal. But next day morning, I discovered that the kitchen was filled with gas. The… Read more

burner that got stuck was slowly leaking gas. Unfortunately my owner is out for the weekend, so I called BingLee(where my owner bought the appliance from) and they pushed me to Chef Support. When I called Chef, they said that they can't do anything till my owner comes back. It doesn't matter that this is a dangerous stove that could have exploded or something. For a brand new product this is definitely unacceptable.