@rebasheba Lol, thank you for your input! Yes, this model does meet a lot of the features We are looking for as well! The looks are stunning. I was a little concerned about their quality but you’ve referenced to them nicely. Thank you!

GE has been out of the major appliance business for a few years.

GE Café is well regarded on this forum. Use the search box above to learn more. GE Appliances are a division of Haier - I’m not sure why that would be relevant.

Forum folks who have bought them can tell you if Café appliances are good. Only you can know if they are “worth it.” You know your budget, how important the appliances are to your daily life and how you will use them, how long you are planning to stay in your house, and you know the value of your property.

Buying appliances can be tough - such a big decision. Good luck with your choice.

Cafe and Monogram will no longer carry the GE badge.

Note that GE Appliances often produces virtually the same product under several brands: GE, Profile, Cafe, and Monogram. For example, the Cafe CVM517P4MW2 and Profile PVM9179SKSS appear identical except for appearance. You'd be paying $400 for the fancy cabinet and handle.

There's tremendous duplication among GE Appliances' refrigerator brands.

Bosch dishwashers are more reliable and perform better than any GE Appliance dishwasher according to Consumer Reports surveys and tests.

That's because Haier (a Chinese company) bought out GE a while back. They threw tons of money into the brand. Monogram is the top of the line, and Cafe below that. They wanted to drop the GE name so they could try to make it in the higher end market. They are both great looking appliances and people seem to like them.

@jemimabean haha thank you! I totally understand what you mean. I am in love with the looks of the Cafe products. But today I checked them out in store and noticed scratches a long the top caused by the burner grates and noted how small the first oven was. I would remain paranoid to see those scratches and I want something I can use well. Hopefully down the line there'll be more choices and upgrades in these super pretty appliances.

@Design Girl Ah makes sense, thank you for your response!

@wdccruise very true! what are your thoughts on mixing brands when buying appliances? I think that no brand specializes in everything so mixing up gets the best of everything. My husband refused because of the slight color tint the guy at the store showed him among various products lol.

@eam44 well said! Thank you and thank you for mentioning the things to keep in mind while making the purchase. It is so tough and the scarcity in the supply of the products these days is even more stressful. They are saying it can take months to get them, no guarantees.

@User Thats interesting, thank you for sharing!

Mixing brands is fine when using stainless steel. If using white, most likely the colors will be off. White also can look "off" in a white kitchen, as the white of the appliances is usually very stark in contrast to the cabinet colors. I'd go with stainless because if one breaks down the road, your choices for replacement are easy. With white, much more limited.

@HU-945736712 ah, very good catch on the scratches from the burners! I forgot to mention that, but it is one of the main reasons that we preferred the Dacor (the grates were coated with a softer finish and had better pads). We never experienced scratching on the Dacor, despite moving the grates frequent for cleaning, but we got tons of them right away on the Cafe. Within just a few months, the top front of the range got really scratched up. We decided to just consider it a patina and not stress over it, but it was an unexpected bummer.

You’re wise to have checked them out in person (that’s how we figured out that the double oven wouldn’t work for us, which was disappointing because we loved the concept of it).

"what are your thoughts on mixing brands when buying appliances?"

I would always mix brands because no manufacturer makes the best appliances of all types. There's no hiding the fact that all these similar GE Appliances refrigerators are still just big metal boxes.

We mixed brands. We do have the CAFE range, dishwasher and refrigerator but ultimately decided the standard depth fridge wouldn't work in our plan so we put it in the garage. We got a kitchenaid counter depth fridge for the kitchen. Then we have a bosch microwave. And a Kalamera wine/bev fridge. It all goes together!

According to design girl,” a Chinese company threw tons of money into the brand”, why did a Chinese company have to ”threw” tons of money into existing GE models?

@User - they wanted to "rebrand" the upper end of the line (Cafe and Monogram) to compete with some of the higher end products on the market today. Cafe and Monogram don't even carry the GE logo anymore.

I did research that said the Profile and Cafe are the exact same appliance except for the trim. I actually prefer the look of the Profile. I'm probably all alone in this.

@Rachel You’re not alone! Café seems to be very trendy at the moment, whereas Profile appears more timeless. Virtually 100% of the people I polled in a home builder group on Facebook preferred Café over Profile. I personally like the understated look of the Profile line. My wife and I ordered all-white Profile appliances, although the Fridge will be Café because we wanted the middle drawer.

I found the following comparison, which sums up the aesthetic differences nicely:

Profile Series

Appliances in GE's Profile series show a little more flair than basic appliances. They're designed to be sleek-looking, with gently curved profiles and streamlined door handles, rather than boxy like strictly utilitarian appliances. They're for homeowners looking for appliances that are contemporary but not ultra-modern.

Café Series

Café series appliances are styled after appliances in restaurant kitchens -- solid-looking frames, big control dials, hefty door handles. They're aimed at people who want an industrial look in their kitchen but don't need true professional-grade appliances, such as those in GE's top-of-the-line, commercial-quality Monogram series.

Tim, thank you for sharing! My husband and I are in the process of downsizing. I'm of an age where I really only care what works for me and my family. My taste is a little more contemporary and don't feel the need for the chunky professional look. And I am not afraid to mix and match. Here's what I'm purchasing for my new kitchen, all stainless steel.

Wolf 36" cooktop (splurge)

GE Profile convection double with Advantium on top

Bosch dishwasher

Bosch counter depth refrigerator

@Rachel - May I ask why you are going with the GE/Advantium and not the Bosch with the speed oven? Love the Bosch reputation.

Hi @design girl, and thank you for asking because I did consider the Bosch. After making some inquiries, the input I received was that the GE Advantium, even the 120v was superior to the Bosch and that came from people with first-hand experience. It's so hard to know who to trust and I do hope I made the right decision. FWIW, I shared my list of selections with a few people more in the know than I, and they thought they were good. But who knows! It is still a bit unknown how I'll be using the Adantium. My husband will reheat his coffee in it, but in our current home, I rarely use the microwave. As empty-nesters, I hope to use the Advantium as our primary oven day to day. Currently I roast veggies and chicken in a large oven, and I feel like I am wasting energy and being wasteful. I like the idea of having the smaller Advantium that can perform for me daily. Perhaps go to your appliance store and ask them, which they think is better the Bosch or Advantium. I also looked at consumer reviews online for whatever they are worth and folks do seem to like the GE ovens. I do hope I made the right choice because I could have gone either way. Maybe there is no bad choice here?

GE appliances makes GE appliances still. GE appliances is no longer a subsidiary of the GE conglomerate, but do you really think that GE's aircraft engine division in Cincinnati had a lot to do with the GE appliance park in Louisville? Or maybe you feel that GE appliances really benefited from the expertise of the financial services division in Norwalk?

GE sold NBC five years prior to the appliance division, did all the shows change? GE appliances was always a fully independent subsidiary. The same people make GE appliances, they have the same managers and the same engineers. So far the major change has been the rebranding of GE Cafe and GE Monogram as Cafe and Monogram. Something that is very common in the appliance industry, after all Jenn-Air and Kitchenaid are both subsidiaries of Whirlpool.

Personally, I don't like the doors on the Cafe built in refrigerator, the doors are bulky and the hinge location such that I feel that they are prevented from opening as wide as they should.

I like the look of the white appliances and believe they work in many kitchens. They are much more appealing in person than they are in photos, but I also feel like you either have to go range only or all visible appliances Cafe.

We went with Cafe for everything. Two separate full size wall ovens, stacked next to each other, cafe fridge (all in white), dishwasher, and a cafe induction cooktop. So far, I love everything. They are efficient, quite and get the job done. I have two dishwashers, and decided to get a bosch to change things up, and so far Cafe is performing at a much higher standard than the bosch. Performance wise, great choice. Aesthetic and colour wise, it completely depends on your cabinetry.

I love the looks of the Cafe. It seems to have the look of the higher end appliances like Subzero without the hefty price tag. I prefer it for its' classic look. I know many people who love them. I'm getting Subzero/Wolf, but that's just me.

Recently was in the market for a gas range. Replacing an electric one. Went to a local appliance shop fully expecting to buy the GE profile. I decided to go with the cafe. The features are very similar. The price was about $200 more for free standing stainless steel. Worth it to me. When I replace my dishwasher, I will get a Bosch.

rebasheb

It's eight months since your posting about your matte black, double oven Café range. I am looking for an update. and am wondering if you still like it as well as you did when you originally posted. Plus, I have a few more questions:

You said you are young; I am not. Do you find the low height of the bottom oven really too low? This is one of my major concerns with the double oven model.

I've read that the oven racks don' glide smoothly and observed this myself in the store. Do you find this to be a problem?

You say this color is more of a charcoal than black. In your opinion, would this look okay in a kitchen where everything else is standard stainless? The knobs and handles are large chinks of stainless, and I am thinking perhaps this combo would work. What do you think?

Anyone else who owns a cafe range care to comment on their likes and dislikes about the ranges? I am looking at induction (still not sure about singe vs double oven) but would appreciate hearing about others' experience with the ranges in this line.

I can try and answer some of your questions.

We have a deep drawer beneath our double oven that puts the bottom of the oven 22 inches from the floor. You might consider having one or more drawers installed beneath yours to place the oven at a comfortable height. Our only regret is that we didn’t go with the model that has the French-door at the top. While the bottom oven doesn’t need it, we often find it awkward to insert and remove pots with the standard oven door at the top. But, definitely go with a double oven. You won’t regret it.

The oven racks don’t really glide smoothly, no, but while there is some friction, it really hasn’t been a problem for us.

We love our induction cooktop. It’s durable, very easy to clean, and boils water faster than anything. The pots and pans we already owned were compatible (Tramontina set from Sam’s Club).

Happy to address any other questions you may have.

Tim Sondrup

Thanks for the response. It seems like you really like your Café kitchen. It sounds like you have a wall oven and a separate induction cooktop--I think. I am looking at the all in one range with the double oven. In this situation the bottom oven sits perhaps 4" to 5" above the floor.

@julieste sorry for the wait, hope you see this in time for it to be helpful. I was just thinking the other day that I probably wouldn't recommend the double oven range to somebody over 50! The bottom of the lower oven is really just a few inches off the floor. Imagine pulling trays out at the level of your shins. I put the telescoping rack down there, which helps (just have to reach down, not down and in) but it could easily be very challenging for someone with back or knee issues.

The other thing is that this machine is HEAVY.

Re: the color, Everything else I have (micro, dishwasher) is plain stainless and I think it's nice! You are right about the substantial stainless accents on the range. If you are replacing other appliances I would suggest going with stainless for things from other brands, rather than trying to match different shades of black, and off-black.

Overall, we looooooove cooking with induction! that part alone is worth it for us. The induction plus knob controls (not on-cooktop touch controls) was what led me to this model in the first place.

I do still appreciate the double ovens, as I described before. But I'm not sure I would get the double oven range if I were doing it again, I just don't consider it necessary.

rebasheba--

Thanks so much for the update now that you have lived with the double oven for a while longer. From reading your earlier review, it now seems as though your thoughts have changed after living with the range for a while and putting it through its paces.

No, I haven't made a purchase yet or even made a decision. I've been reading all of the comments of how far back ordered the Café line is and am contemplating whether I should risk ordering or if I should just buy whatever I can get my hands on.

I purchased the new cafe 4 door matte black refrigerator and received it on 31Dec2020- it is beautiful BUT we are on our 6th repair for the freezer and GE will not send us a new refrigerator. The freezer builds up ice on the left side and no one has been able to repair it. Do not buy this refrigerator GE will continue to repair it sadly it is a lemon

I have all ge cafe appliances in my house all 3 years old and this year the microwave broke and now the dishwasher. Not sure ill spend the money again.

@Juliest....I have the matte black in everything and love it. I also have the induction double oven and love it....no fingerprints...easy to clean....I am 72 and my husband 84 and neither of us have a problem with accessing the lower oven..(and believe me, my knees aren't what they used to be!). it calibrates perfectly and we just got a software update so it can now airfry as well... I have had great customer service with GE and I know there will always be lemons and those are the folks who write the most.

Pamela Booth--

Thanks so much for the glowing endorsement of the double induction range. Now I just need to try to find one. The one thing I didn't like about the range is the crummy racks that don't seem to glide well. Do you find them annoying?

I bought matte black Cafe appliances when we built our new house in 2021: counter depth fridge, single oven range with induction cooktop, countertop microwave with trim kit to build into cabinetry, and dishwasher. The appliances look good, but I do not and never will use the app for remote use, so that just seems like an unnecessary add-on and expense. I love the induction top, but I would not recommend the counter depth refrigerator as the loss of interior space makes it impractical (there are only two of us in my household, and I will need to purchase a second refrigerator to put in my pantry to get sufficient space. The dishwasher is super quiet, but the racks are not well-designed and I can only get about half as many dishes in this DW, as opposed to the Bosch that I previously had. Bottom line is that you are paying more for the look than for the functionality. If I could do it over, I would make different choices and mix appliances for their performance.

Becky Goff--

I am contemplating the Café induction with the double oven. Glad to hear you like the oven. When I've looked at the Café, the oven racks seem quite flimsy to me and don't slide easily. Has this been a concern for you?

Your comments on the counter depth fridge reaffirm concerns I have about a counter depth fridge. There are also only two of us, but I don't have room elsewhere for a second fridge. I need to use a counter depth fridge and am thinking Bosch since they have one that seems to be designed so as to maximize interior storage.

There is soooo much written on the GE Cafe appliances. I don’t get it. I have all stainless steel appliances GE fridge, Samsung gas range and LG dishwasher: all with great reviews and I love them all no issues. They all look great together too❣️

We are going with Bosch for our dishwashers and Sharp for our drawer microwave regardless of what we do for the refrigerator, wine refrigerator, cooktop/rangetop, and double wall oven. Sharp makes all drawer microwaves and Bosch is known for their dishwashers.

I am heavily leaning towards thermador for our refrigerator due to look of columns, consumer reporting, and conversations with multiple sales people at various stores. I have only heard one customer complaint first hand: a lighting issue that was resolved by a service call. Thermador's fridge is also unbadged so easy to mix with other brands.

Basement kitchenette and laundry room fridges: more than likely, we're going with Whirpool. We will be supporting a small local business with this decision who has a reputation for incredible service all around (we've bought appliances from them before).

I am in love with the look of Viking french door double wall oven. So many mixed reviews out there that I'm not totally sold. That's why I am looking into Cafe.

Rangetop/cooktop: I have it narrowed down to Wolf, Thermador, and Jenn Air. Wolf has a good reputation for cooktops, Thermador has the star burners, Jenn Air has a specialty vent feature.

@Julieste.... sorry for taking so long to respond to your question on the racks.... One of the ovens has a great slide out rack that locks into place and can handle heavy dishes; however, the other oven has a flimsy rack that could easily end up on the floor. I bit the bullet and bought another of the heavier racks (over $300) -- ridiculous I had to do this when I already spent a fortune on the range, but at this point, I just wanted everything to be "right". And it is.

I guess I will chime in here since six months ago I had been thinking about the Café double oven induction range. I opted against it but did get a Cafe platinum glass regular depth fridge. I've only had the fridge a couple days but so far really like it and think that its handleless look is a plus.

We shopped and compared and shopped hard again. I ended up with the following appliances in stainless, and in my opinion they all look fine together. I was most concerned with function rather than form.

Fisher and Pakel single oven induction range. It's sitting in place, but I haven't used it yet. I found a good deal, and the smooth glide oven racks are so much better than the ones on the Café.

GE Advantium microwave. We're retired, and there are just the two of us. I figured this would give me the functionality of having two ovens if I ever wanted them, or the practicality of using it as a smaller oven for day to day usage.

ASKO dishwasher. A re-purchase of a dishwasher I have been extremely happy with in a different residence.

The fridge is the one Café appliance I did buy. We looked at a lot of fridges and I liked the design of the storage functions in this (especially the third drawer in the freezer). I don't have any space for an extra fridge and knew that I need the storage space that a full depth fridge offers. I also carefully thought about the very similar Profile and would have been okay with that, but I happened to find a discounted Cafe model that has a couple minor scratches on the sides (will never be seen once the surrounding panels are installed).

So, to me, bottom line is that if Café offers the functionality you want, then they are worth it. I know some people are most interested in the appearance, but that isn't me.

We bought all Ge Cafe' Appliances for our new home. They are beautiful BUT....our fridge DIED after 74 days of use. As of today we are at 36 days with no fridge - GE customer service is little to no help. Their service providers are as bad if not worse. No call no show for appointments... I would avoid GE Appliances at all costs! I am hopeful we reach a resolution soon, we are living out of a dorm room fridge and coolers and they don't seem to care.

We had a bad experience. Our dishwasher was broken on arrival. It didn't work right out of the box. It smelled like mold. Repairing it was a nightmare. It took over a month. Here are some warnings/things I wish I had known based on our experience:

1. You may not be able to return your dishwasher due to it being defective or non-operational. If your dishwasher is—like ours was—defective right out of the box, the procedure for resolving that issue is for GE to send out technicians to repair it, often using parts that themselves are not new and may require weeks to arrive. You can only return your faulty dishwasher AFTER the technician declares it unserviceable. How many months of hand-washing your dishes will that take?

2. Cafe’s return policy ONLY applies to dishwashers purchased directly on their website. If you buy it through a designer for a discount, you may be (like we were) completely ineligible for a return. If you do buy it from the website, you are given a 7-day return policy (in which you need to pay for return shipping) or 30 days in which you can return it for store credit minus a 25% restocking and pickup fee. And after 30 days, your dishwasher is unreturnable and unreplaceable. In the event your dishwasher is defective, it could take you (as it took us) 2-4 WEEKS to get a technician to even look at your dishwasher. This means that, BY THE TIME A TECHNICIAN ARRIVES TO TELL YOU YOUR DISHWASHER IS DEFECTIVE, IT MAY ALREADY BE TOO LATE TO RETURN IT. Catch-22.

3. Service quality is disappointing. Cafe uses subcontractors to deal with service calls. If your dishwasher breaks down or is defective, this means that you may be dealing with a company that is slow, unreliable in showing up for appointments, and may have technicians who are not knowledgeable. As was the case with our technician (from RR appliance in Miami), they may have NEVER EVEN SEEN a Cafe dishwasher before. And these are technicians who were scheduled through Cafe’s own customer service department.

4. Cafe ONLY stands by its product for 1 year after purchase. After that, your warranty expires. Given that there seems to be quality control issues, if you aspire to have a working dishwasher for, say 6 years, you will probably want to price into your purchase the cost of an extended warranty. At the time of this review, the cost for a 5-year warranty from Assurant (…it starts after your factory warranty expires) is $457.75.

5. And…while we are on the topic of extra costs, it may be helpful to price in the cost to you of a dishwasher that is non-operational because you are waiting for a technician to arrive or for parts to get shipped in. In our case, we had to hand wash dishes for over a month before we were able to successfully run a single load in our brand-new, right-out-of-the-box dishwasher. That is 1/12 OF THE ENTIRE WARRANTEE LIFE of the product that we spent hand washing dishes because Cafe/GE doesn’t have the infrastructure it needs to provide fast, efficient service for its products.

On the plus side, it is a beautiful-looking dishwasher. And if you (like we did) got it with the matching fridge, range, and microwave, you are pretty much stuck with it.

Most of the things described above are the standard industry policies for dishwashers.

1. Most appliances are not returnable to the manufacturer by the customer. This is not a dress that you don't like, it is a large appliance with significant shipping, storage, and rework costs. Almost all appliance brands require a service technician work on the product before exchanging it. Some large retailers may have a policy that allows the return of uninstalled appliances for a short time.

2. is really the same point. The only reason that they make it returnable for seven days is that a few states have rules about online purchases. Again, if you want a return policy that is generous, you are going to have to find a chain retailer that will allow you to return the appliance without a restocking fee. This is standard for dishwashers.

3. Most appliance companies use third party technicians. I only know of one appliance company that uses full time company employees for service calls and the wait times are no better as a technician may have to service all calls in a several hundred mile radius. This particular complaint is almost irrationally funny... You mention that the appliance technician may have never seen a Cafe dishwasher... Cafe has been around for a bit now. If the technician has no experience servicing Cafe appliances that must mean Cafe is rather reliable. Seriously, which appliance brand would you rather have, the one with a technician that says, "I see these all the time," or one with a technician that says, "I haven't had to work on one of these before."

4. One year is the industry standard dishwasher warranty, GE, Bosch Whirlpool, etc. all have one year warranties. If you want more than one year, buy a factory extended warranty.

5. OK.

You got shipped a bad dishwasher, certainly you have reason to be upset. However, none of the things above are exclusive to Cafe, they are just the industry standard.

I've had this for about 9 months now and have had an appliance repair fellow here 5 times trying to figure out why it makes so much noise. We've replaced the fan, and he's made sure nothing is touching anything else that it shouldn't. The fan is noisey but the main problem is the refridgerant. It rarely stops boiling and bubbling and generally making noise. It isn't supposed to be on all the time, ibut it rarely stops, so the noise rarely stops. In an open concept home with the fridge making this noise all the time, I'm going crazy. GE say won't replace the fridge. The warrantly will be up soon and I'm probably going to have to buy a new fridge even though this one is working for the moment. I'm not sure how long it will work because of the constant refridgerant running. I hate this thing. Further, it isn't really counter depth because you have to leave it a minimum 3 inches from the wall so it sticks out further than the counter. Those huge hinges oon the top make are in the way of opening over the fridge cupboard doors (which isn't necessarily a fault but those things are wasted space). This fridge is exactly the same as the non-cafe model except for the fancy handles, color and shelf liners. I'm pretty sure that isn't worth the extra $1500. it costs. The inside water spout is slow and a pain to use., besides that you have to have the door open the entire time you are filling the glass. I don't use that feature. The only good thing I can say is the ice maker works great, and you can turn it off when you are gone or if you have enough ice for a while. It gets a 2 rating only because of the ice maker, it looks good and keeps the food cold other wise I would give it negative 5 for money value, quality, and design.

armstrol, you didn't cite the model number of your unit. Some refrigerators have variable speed compressors that run nearly 100% of the time (except of course not during defrost), increasing / decreasing in speed to match the cooling load. I have a 2004 GE Arctica that operates as such.

I just bought a whole set of Matt white kitchen appliances and I'm having a discoloration on my dishwasher does anyone have any advice on what to do about this issue before it's too late I haven't even had it a year yet

They may look pretty but they are crab appliances. All my 3 GE Cafe appliances (Fridge, Stove and dishwasher) have service calls within the first 4 years after my purchase. I am so done with GE and it is not funny. I swear I will never buy GE again. My stove cost me $1400 to fix, the dishwasher cost me $300 and now my fridge is not cooling. Hope it is not going to cost me much. All these appliances have only 1 year of warranty unless you buy extended warranty. Who would have thought that these appliance only lasted 3-4 years?