UPDATE: All you want and all you really need for a song.

Heat is heat and metal is metal. In a double-blind taste test, you probably wouldn’t be able to discern between an egg fried in the most expensive French-sounding cookware on a $4,000 “epicurean” gas range and one cooked in a Farberware skillet on this Hotpoint. Similarly, the most delicate souffle will most likely come out just as light, just as airy and just as nicely browned from the oven of either.

And yet, there it is for subscribers to see in black and white at www.consumerreports.org. In the most recent tests of gas ranges (December, 2008), this humble Hotpoint incinerates some of the most prestigious brands in overall performance, and scores a tie with its more expensive GE brand sibling while nabbing the exalted “CR Best Buy” mantle.

The Hotpoint RGB745 is the result of years of kitchen appliance evolution. Upscale features like the self-cleaning oven, sealed burners (in a variety of output power) and electronic controls first appeared on only the most expensive top-o’-the-line models. Early adopters happily paid the premium price for the latest and the greatest while competitors were hard at work reverse engineering proprietary technologies. We, the consumers, reap the benefits and that, dear friends, is why you really can get $4,000 performance in a $500 range.

History lesson’s over. Time to get cookin’.

The Hotpoint RGB745’s cooktop is divided into the General Purpose burners on the left and the Special Purpose burners on the right. The General Purpose burners are the ones you’ll use most often for heating up the contents of saucepans and small skillets. They put out 9,500 British thermal units (Btu). The 12,000-Btu right front burner is where you’ll bring your pasta pot to a full boil. Simmer a delicate Hollandaise sauce on the right rear burner where a gentle 600 Btu caresses your culinary creations. The knobs swing a full 270 degrees from Off through Lite, Hi and down to Lo. The Off-Lite-Hi-Lo order is preferred because the flame is less likely to go out when the knob is turned to its lowest setting. The gradations between Hi and Lo are numbered 9 through 1, so you can make a mental note of the perfect numerical setting for each cooking task.

The sealed burners are topped by dishwasher-safe porcelain enamel coated heavy steel grates that match the color of the burner caps and removable drip pans. After a trip through the dishwasher, any really tough discoloration should yield to a fume-free oven cleaner like Easy-Off MAX. The entire cooktop is a single seamless surface with no soil-catching grooves or trim, hemmed in by a substantial upswept rim.

The backsplash houses the intuitive yet precise electronic oven control. When you touch the Bake pad, the display shows the default temperature of 350 degrees F. A pair of + and - slew pads let you set the baking temperature in 5-degree increments with absolute consistency every time you bake. Just TRY that with the temperature control knob on ANY oven at ANY price. Only the 10-digit touchpads on costlier ranges will give you more precise control but, honestly, when was the last time a recipe told you to “Preheat oven to 327 degrees F”? When you touch the Start/On pad, the display changes to “PrE” while the oven preheats. An audible signal and the return of the temperature display tell you it’s time to put the biscuits in the oven. In addition to a clock and kitchen timer, the Hotpoint RGB745 offers two timed baking options: immediate start with automatic shutoff and delayed start with automatic shutoff. The broiler can be set to a Hi sear for beef or a Lo sizzle for thick cuts of pork. And if you should leave the house without turning off the oven, the electronic control will do it for you after 12 hours (3 hours for the broiler). This feature can be disabled for observance of the Jewish Sabbath and holidays.

The self-cleaning oven gives you additional advantages. Since the self-cleaning process uses intense heat, the oven is better insulated and uses less fuel to maintain normal baking temperatures. It also creates a more stable baking environment. To test it, we threw caution to the winds and placed a pair of self-rising frozen pizzas on the same rack, contrary to the package's warning to bake one pizza at a time. Both rose and browned as uniformly as if they had been baked individually.

A separate broiler burner is located at the top of the oven cavity. You broil in the oven and check the progress through the window in the oven door. A storage drawer takes the place of a broiler drawer.

The styling says "I’m here to cook, not just to be looked at and cooed over" while the UPPER-lower case lettering on the touchpads and near the burner knobs (Lite instead of LITE, Bake instead of BAKE) gives it just a touch of Euro flair. If you want a few more frills like a warming drawer, a bigger window and snazzier styling combined with reliability, look higher up in both the Hotpoint and GE lines. Consumer Reports readers rated Hotpoint and GE-branded gas ranges as the two most reliable brands.