Rethinking electric

[ElsieD]

I used to have electric stoves. Since that was all I ever had, I didn't think much about whether they were good or bad, they just were, except that the last one had a glass top, and I hated it. It was slow to heat up and slow to cool down. Then I switched to a gas stove with an electric oven. I much preferred cooking with gas. I now have an induction range and love it. Easy to clean, terrific heat control and, another bonus, my pot handles don't get hot.

Edited February 27, 2011 by ElsieD (log)

[weinoo]

Mitch, when you turn the flame off under a pot on a gas range, what makes you think the burner cools down immediately? Isn't there a hot burner grate under your pot that still radiates and conducts heat? The only burners I've used that actually stop the cooking process when turned off are induction.

This is an area where el cheapo gas stoves (like I've had in past apartments) outperform their fancier high-end brethren: the cheap stoves have thin, crappy prongs supporting the posts. These tend to cool down quite quickly when the flame gets turned down. But you are pretty screwed if you've got those gorgeous cast iron continuous grates that you find on the high end gas stoves: those suckers hold way more heat than even my electric smoothtop, which I think does take a while to cool down. It's something you adapt to in either case, though.

I have a range that's probably somewhere in-between the "el cheapo" and the fancier "high-end brethren." It looks this this:

The grates are porcelain enamel on cast iron. All I know is that when I put a pot of water on the stove, bring it to a boil and then turn the gas off, it stops boiling. In my past experience with electric stoves (not induction) that didn't happen.

[technophile50]

"Just what lengths does one go to to put in propane? "

In my case, about 17 feet - 4 feet down from the regulator on the top of the tank to the hole in the foundation wall to get the copper pipe into the crawl space; 10 feet across and three feet up through a 3/4" diameter hole in the floor to the back of the stove.

When the gas company ran lines to my neighborhood, I converted the stove to natural gas, and replaced my oil furnace and electric water heater with a 100,000 BTU 95% efficient gas water heater that provides infinite amounts of hot water for showers and heats the house.

Converting the stove only required unscrewing a cover and flipping over a spacer/spring that pushes on the regulator diaphragm; adjusting the orifices by unscrewing them a fixed amount from the stop which sets them for propane; and adjusting the air shutters so there's no yellow in the flame.

I ran wire from the original electric stove circuit breaker to an outlet for my arc welder.

[Marlene]

This is an interesting topic, as currently almost all the houses I've seen in Calgary have full gas ranges including gas ovens. I have a dual fuel range at home and an electric smoothtop range at the cottage. Both have pros and cons, but having once been an avid gas fan, I'm more ambivalent about gas these days. I like my smoothtop range just fine at the cottage, and now, when I'm looking at houses, I'm less concerned about whether they have gas cooktops. I am pretty sure I don't want a gas oven though. I really like my convection ovens.

[scubadoo97]

I grew up with an all electric kitchen and until the point that we re-did our kitchen 4 yrs ago I had always cooked on electric. We installed a propane tank and a gas rangetop. Now I love cooking on gas but the first thing I noted was water too longer to boil. I can attest to the fact that the sides of my pots get too hot more often than not but I love the control I didn't have with electric.

[harrysnapperorgans]

I've always liked cooking with gas better - it seems so much more responsive to heat changes. My electric cook top at home is just awful. It never gets hot enough to really sear a steak, it's uneven and it takes a very long time to adjust if you turn the heat down.

[cbread]

Rural gas installations need not be unsightly. My propane tank is buried and only has a small dome above ground for the meter and for fill-ups. It's worthwhile to be ready to insist that the installation be un-intrusive.

Around northern New England propane is common enough that screwed up stove calibration for gas have not been an issue for me.

All that said, had I the need to redo my kitchen, I might consider a hybrid installation with four gas burners and one or two electric - probably induction. Had I to choose only one energy source, it would be gas, no question, not a moment's hesitation.

One more vote for electric ovens here.

Now that I have good beefy cookware with good conductivity all the way up the sides, I never get burnt sides on the pans. When I used cookware with thick bottom and thin sides, the burnt sides were frequent.

Edited February 27, 2011 by cbread (log)

[ruthcooks]

Two more advantages of electric stoves--they don't "stink", and they don't blow up your house. My son-in-law's brother is a fire chief, and he says he's seen too many fires caused by gas stoves and would never have one in his house.

[teapot]

I used to cook on a woodstove too and still miss it. I had a chance to do it again recently and loved the level of interaction with the stove... feeding the fire...sliding pots around too hot or cooler spots.

[Mjx]

You cannot char food with electric, for instance, with peppers and tomatoes to remove the skin.

. . . .

Ah yes, I miss that too, dunking things in boiling water to skin them isn't quite so satisfactory, you don't get that slight surface drying, which I think concentrates the flavour just a bit.

[scubadoo97]

You cannot char food with electric, for instance, with peppers and tomatoes to remove the skin.

dcarch

I did exactly that on my electric range for many years. I would just lay the peppers, or what ever directly on the coil and they blackened quite well

[patrickamory]

I used to cook on a woodstove too and still miss it. I had a chance to do it again recently and loved the level of interaction with the stove... feeding the fire...sliding pots around too hot or cooler spots.

Yes!!! It's incredible. I've cooked on a classic Vermont cast-iron stove - mainly roasting. Took forever to get hot and very complicated to modulate temperature... but boy it turned out an incredible leg of lamb.