LG gas stoves have been like Zack Morris from the TV show “Saved by the Bell”: popular, attractive and not living up to its potential (never forget that Zack scored a 1502 on his SAT — he could’ve been so much more than the smarmy big man on campus). The ranges from this brand have shown lots of promise with fast boil times and great roasting ability, but fall short in other areas such as baking a trays of biscuits evenly or not burning a frozen pizza.
With the $2,400 LG LSG4513BD slide-in gas stove, the manufacturer has righted some of the wrongs that have plagued its other gas models and doubled down on the performance features that the company has repeatedly gotten right, such as fast-boiling burners and gentle roasting performance. It doesn’t hurt that the stove is also a beauty thanks to its black stainless-steel finish.
The LG LSG4513BD does have some quirks worth mentioning. Like other LG models, you’ll still have to fiddle with your baking times and temperatures to account for baking with the convection fan, which speeds up cooking but puts you in danger of some overcooked dishes. The broiler cooks meat too slowly. LG has insisted on including its mostly useless Smart ThinQ technology in this stove. And its price (though less than that of similar slide-in gas ranges from other companies) is on the expensive side.
Despite its problems, LG has done right be the LSG4513BD. Consider this stove if you’re looking for luxurious looks, a slide-in design and respectable cooking performance.
LG gives oven eye-catching looks
Black stainless steel is a welcome addition to appliance finishes, and I was happy to see that LG tricked out the LSG4513BD with this dark design feature. Not only does it look good, but the finish also hides fingerprints and smudges much better than the stainless steel that has reigned supreme in kitchens.
The black stainless-steel finish hides fingerprints and smudges well.
Chris Monroe/CNETThe color only adds to the LSG4513BD’s commanding presence. Though the stove is the standard 30 inches wide, the hefty knobs and wide curves make it feel larger than it actually is. Same with the continuous grates on the stovetop that cover five burners. The oven cavity has 6.3 cubic feet of space, which makes it among the larger ovens we’ve tested.
In terms of accessories, the LSG4513BD comes with three standard racks for the oven and a griddle for the cooktop’s middle oblong burner. There’s also a storage drawer at the bottom of the range.
Don’t buy this oven for its smarts
LG has also equipped this oven with LG Smart ThinQ, a feature that uses near-field communication (NFC) to let your Android device talk to your LG appliance. Here’s how it works:
- Download the LG Smart ThinQ app on your Android device (it’s not available for iOS).
- Turn the oven mode knob to Tag On.
- Adjust the oven settings, set alerts for the oven’s EasyClean feature and run diagnostics if you have problems with your oven.
Smart ThinQ sounds great in theory, but it puzzles me in practice. Because the oven uses NFC to connect to your device, you have to hold your device right next to the oven for the two to connect. This isn’t as helpful as it would be if the oven was Wi-Fi- or Bluetooth-enabled, which would let you control your oven from further away. You might as well use the control panel on the oven to manually change your settings if you have to be close to it for Smart ThinQ to work.
