Kitchen cooktops...

johngalt

johngalt

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I've used gas, electric (both the old coils and newer glass tops), and induction cooktops. My take on them...

gas -
Pro: Very responsive. If a pot starts to boil over, turning the flame down will prevent it. Heats up reasonably quickly.
Con: Will smell if it has leaks. Pilot light sometimes goes out. Lots of crud accumulates underneath the burner. Inefficient - a lot of heat is wasted in the air rather than heating up the pot.

Electric (exposed coil) -
Pro: cheap. Probably wastes less heat than gas. Boils water faster than gas.
Con: Not very responsive. Can be slow to heat up. Burners may get TOO hot and warp pans (they can get close to 1000 degrees). Dirty- crud accumulates under burners.

Electric (glass top) -
Pro: easy to clean.
Con: Extremely slow to heat. Extremely slow to cool. The most unresponsive of all cooktops. Glass is far too fragile and vulnerable to scratches if you slide/drop a pot. Unless very thoroughly cleaned, always looks like it has grease smudges.

Induction (Bosch) -
Pro: Almost as responsive as gas, once heated, but takes a while to get there. Easy to clean (similar to glass top electric). Boils water VERY quickly.
Con: Too fragile, similar to electric. With this particular top, it is hard to see exactly where the burners are, so pots are often not centered and heat unevenly. This particular stove has electric controls rather than old school knobs. The controls are maddening, and require excessive fiddling. I guess the one plus is if you leave it on, it eventually shuts off and doesn't burn the house down.

Overall, I prefer gas even though I have actually used it the least. It is simple, heats quickly, controls are simple, and I don't worry about banging pots around.

The regular electric is 2nd, mainly because it has simple controls, is responsive enough, and again I don't worry about banging pots down on it.

3rd - the induction. Mainly because of the fragile top and the digital controls. Replacing the controls with knobs moves it to #2.

4th - glass top electric. This stove simply sucks. I hate it. It has virtually no positive values.

So yet another useless review :)
 
I think the quality of the unit will influence your opinion! I have worked on various range tops for 40 years, and have seen trash in all 4 categories. I also have seen some really good units in those same categories! The resistance coil electric range can be the biggest piece of trash, but still look good and cost a small fortune!

Ivan
 
Gave away my electric coil top for a glass top, I much prefer the glass top. Used to have a CNG on my boat, never used propane.
 
Erich said:
Point of information: Our almost-20-year-old gas built-in doesn't use a pilot light (so there is none to go out) - it has ignitors. I assume they're all that way these days.
Click to expand...

This gas stove was in an apartment over 25 years ago. Yep - a gas stove in an apartment complex. I was surprised too.
 
I have never found any electric stove top that I have encountered, coil or glass, to boil water as quickly as gas.

I much prefer gas. When I remodeled my Oregon condo, when I purchased it a couple of years ago, I wanted gas but the HOA complex, only 13 units in three buildings, is only wired for electric. I did not want the hassle, time and expense of running a new gas line in from the street, and bought a fairly high-end Bosch glass range top.

Looks nice, but compared to gas, it sucks.

So I bought an Iwatani butane gas canister burner for $70 off Amazon. Puts out 15K BTUs. That’s more than most home gas range burners can do. That’s cookin’ with gas!

I set that baby up on the glass stovetop and have at it. (Have an excelllent — 600 CFM — range hood.) Rarely use more than one burner at once anyway. Easy to move out onto my patio to cook a steak in a cast iron pan. Outside, the smoke can scare the neighbors but doesn’t set off my fire alarms.:)

Life is good.
 
johngalt said:
This gas stove was in an apartment over 25 years ago. Yep - a gas stove in an apartment complex. I was surprised too.
Click to expand...

I owned a percentage of one complex and was maintaince director of another that had every unit with gas stove & range. They were built in the early to mid 70's. In Central Ohio, the late 70's and early 80's had a "Gas Moratorium" (No new units with gas heat or cooking) until Columbia gas got larger reserves. So I had some complexes and twin singles that were all electric. When the builders found out a condo or apartment unit was about 5-8% less expensive to build as all electric, they built as few gas units as the market would allow!

Long term, gas units cost more to maintain due to furnace rust out, gas leak repair, and appliance upkeep. I had electric stoves typically last 40 years (color notwithstanding!) Gas were usually trashed around 30.

Coppertone, Pink, Blue, and Avocado colored appliances had to be repainted or replaced or nobody would rent a unit. White. Almond, Bisque (AKA Biscuit) , and Harvest Gold seemed not to matter to the majority of renters. I believe Stainless is a current rage/fad, as is Black, 15 or 20 years will prove me right or wrong, but the premium price will always limit their usage!

Every woman I know (except my wife), wants a gas range for cooking! Somewhere around 10+% of men seem to actually care!

These are my observations from 40 years in rentals. I worked in the worst slums in Central Ohio, all the way up to Executive Rental housing and everything in between. Just a side note or two about people paying rent. The Eviction rate didn't seem to matter how much or what part of town you were in, The eviction rate was the same! (within 2%). Second: BAD CHECKS, it seems that slum properties have fewer bad checks than middle and upper class rentals. My brother's and my theory was; they paid cash or money order, because the didn't use banks at all! (remember the evection rate was the same!) A downturn in the economy, hurts everyone!

One last observation about Gas. The connection to the house is the property of the gas company as is the meter. They go bad at about 35-60 years old (I have no guess how long newer technology will last) But the Gas Companies are doing everything they can to make you pay for the replacements! Watch out for fine print notices that strip you of your protection!

Ivan
 
The reason I was so surprised about a gas stove is the landlords seem to be paranoid about fires - they explicitly state no open flames in the lease agreement. I think they even frown on candles.

Possibly for good reason. The complex where I lived in Cincinnati had 2 fires while I was there. Both times I think an entire 24 unit building was gutted. Much to my surprise they were not completely torn down.

Since I moved away, I think they had a 3rd fire. Yikes!
 
johngalt said:
The reason I was so surprised about a gas stove is the landlords seem to be paranoid about fires - they explicitly state no open flames in the lease agreement. I think they even frown on candles.
Click to expand...

My experience with apartment fires shows 5 serious fires from cooking (2 were same unit using an electric deep fryer), 18 were from smoking in bed or falling asleep while smoking. (12 fatal!) 7 were candle related (the worst was a family making candle for presents! gutted two units (only injury was a pet) and 14 arsons! (3 or 4 fatalities). Gas stoves are the least of the problems!
(some of the deaths still bother me!)

BTW, there were 2 apartment and my own house fire cause by the furnace. My house was Oil heat, the others were 1 electric furnace and one gas furnace! Space heaters didn't seem to be a problem.

Ivan
 
One of the fires happened on a dry windy day in May. Some genius threw his cigarette off the balcony. It landed in the dry bushes, and with the wind the fire took off. Not sure about the other.

Fortunately no fatalities or injuries.
 
After many years lighting and checking gas appliances in commercial kitchens it was very rare to see electric cook tops or ovens. If your food depends on it, most use gas.
 
I really like cooking with gas....

Gas, infinitely variable, best to cook on PERIOD.

Electric - had decent luck with them, cleanup isn't bad if you keep aluminum foil under the eyes.

Glass top. We have a decent unit. The burners are REALLY hard to control. Seems either they are off or full blast.
 
I have a Wolf glass top and as long as you use the proper pots & pans it works fine
 
We have never used anything but gas.

Sent from my LGL52VL using Tapatalk
 
I've used gas and electric. If you cook much, gas is preferable. You'll see electric as very secondary.
 
johngalt said:
One of the fires happened on a dry windy day in May. Some genius threw his cigarette off the balcony. It landed in the dry bushes, and with the wind the fire took off. Not sure about the other.Fortunately no fatalities or injuries.
Click to expand...

I had 20 or 30 of these over the years! Throw a cigarette but in the flower bed before walking in a unit. As smoking became less common these fires have too. One of my smoking in bed fatalities, caused 2 or 3 of these before he took himself and his unit with him (unit downstairs was a total loss due water damage but everybody else was fine, not even smoke smell. Fire/Building codes work!)

Ivan
 
One of my 'hobbies' is fighting fires. I have not seen many incidents caused by gas leaks, but those that I have seen were pretty consuming in nature. I don't think a stove was responsible for any of them. Newer gas stoves tend to use electronic ignition as it is safer and quite a bit more efficient.
My preference (having experience with all options noted by the OP) is gas. Gas and cast iron pans IMHO turn out the best results. I have replaced electric units with gas in several places I have owned because that is what I wanted. My opinion, yes. Your opinion may vary, but my results are what matter most to me.
Funny, I can remember my grandmother replacing a coal cookstove with electric. She tried and tried, but just couldn't feel the love beyond the convenience of having heat at the turn of a knob without having to feed, tend, and dispose of ashes.....
 
i'd prefer gas for no other reason than heating tortillas over open flame.

no gas out here though.

i have an electric glass top and im surprised that anybody thinks these heat slowly. mine gets insanely hot instantly.
 
We have one of those exposed electric coil stoves. I much prefer gas and cast iron but it's not available in our area.
I've been wanting to convert our house to propane for heating and cooking but it's just cost prohibitive.
Of course my preferred way of cooking:
 
I build houses and there is a "get what you pay for" with cook tops. The dirt cheap gas ones will cook just as good as an expensive cook top but nicer ones have stainless steel that is a higher quality and resists scratches and is also much easier to clean.
 
We had electric when we moved in this house, after a couple of years she wanted a glasstop. I hated it, it never cooked evenly, it was a pain to keep clean, and took a long time to cool off. About three years ago I dipped into the savings and had a new gas line installed. Tapped off the same line feeding the water heater and helped the plumber with some of the work so the cost was quite reasonable. Bought a new stove the same week. Never regretted it. It has ignitors so there's no pilots to worry about.

The only drawback is the wife picked it out. Her choice was nice, but I've learned that the oven portion is electronic. When the power goes out, only the stove top works. Have to light it with a match but it works.
 
We have always used gas and when we sold the house a bought the condo for 55 and over, I was surprised it had gas , what we didnt like all 4 burners were the same size, the day we moved in we got rid of the stove and the frig. Sold them on Craigs list, both were gone in 15 minutes.

Sent from my LGL52VL using Tapatalk
 
This house we bought had a glass top Hotpoint in it. It's 14 years old and works great. We use cast iron skillets on it also. We also pop corn on it and we don't have any damage at all. The burners heat evenly and the oven works good too. We have no complaints at all. Just set the cast iron down and do your cooking and it'll be fine. Just lucky I guess
 
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