Glass ceramic cooktops

[fifi]

I have been meaning to bring this up...

A couple of months ago, my daughter moved into her new condo. It is equipped with a GE Profile kitchen and generally very nice appliances. Her previous apartment had the kitchen from hell but did have a pretty nice little gas range so that was what she was used to. She has now had a few incidents with the new cooktop and I thought I would relate them here. Keep in mind that she is not a kitchen freak like myself and her brother. Her cooktop is one something like this one. Also keep in mind that these observations probably apply to any of these types of cooktops, not just the GE Profile.

The first problem is that she has burned herself a couple of times not knowing what was hot where. She also says that she tends to get forgetful that it isn't just more counterspace and has scorched some things (dishrag?). Her opinion is that the regular cooktops have grates or coils and you don't tend to treat those like just more countertop. Possibly, this is one of those things that you just have to get used to.

The other problem is one I have never heard of. She is using ChefMate cookware that has nice flat bottoms. She had put a saucepan on a burner to heat something. She had rinsed the pan and had not dried it completely before putting it on the burner. She turned to do something else when she heard this odd sound. When she turned back around, the pan was merrily dancing its way toward the edge on a cushion of steam from the water on the outside of the pot. If she had not caught it, it would have probably gone off onto the floor. She now is careful to be sure that the cooktop and the pot are dry. She has now developed a mistrust of the appliance and will probably replace it at her first opportunity. (Or, maybe she will get used to it and just leave it alone.)

She is also paranoid about dropping a pot or lid and breaking it before she is ready to spend the money to replace it. Anyway, it is now lovingly referred to as "that cooktop that is out to get me".

This is one of those things that, to me, seemed like a good idea at the time. In fact, when she told me what she was getting, I thought it was a pretty good idea for her as she is not a serious cook (no fanatic about gas like me), it would be easy to keep clean, and it looks cool (looking cool is important to her). Now I am not so sure.

Opinions... experiences? How hard are those things to break, anyway?

[Marlene]

I have a Thermador Ceramic Cooktop. A couple of the safety features I like on it are: If a pan is removed from the burner, a beep sounds, and if the pan is not replaced with a few minutes, the burner shuts itself off. Also, the burner indicator has an H on it until the burner cools down.

I have dropped a few things on my cooktop and haven't had it break yet, although I don't make a habit of it And I've never heard of the dancing water pot either . My pots have boiled over a couple of times, (usually when boiling pasta or potatoes, but the pot has never danced away.

They are however, a pain to clean. I would have prefered gas, but I had a problem with getting the gas line into the kitchen. I generally like it although it did take some getting used to.

[Gifted Gourmet]

I have had my Whirlpool ceramic flat top range for some four years and love it! Once I got over the idea that I was going to break it and got used to the heat left on the burners after turning them off, I could see the benefits .. information here

and, yes, I know about the "bouncing merrily" thing with water drops on the bottom of a pot .. just got acclimated to it and would definitely purchase the same cooktop without question or doubts...

I like the ease of cleaning it and the look is much more modern in my kitchen ...

Marlene, your comment

They are however, a pain to clean

may not match my experiences with the top because I use a special cleaner which is simple to use, contains some sort of powdered pumice in a cream, and gets rid of any cooked on foods ...product here

[fifi]

Thanks for the link, Melissa. I will probably send her some. She also complained about the cleaning problem.

I am beginning to think that if she would just get used to it all will be OK. That's the ticket... She has to cook more often.

[Marlene]

No, I use a special cleaner as well. It's a pain because you have to use a special cleaner and not a scrubber or soap and water to clean it with. Also, I have a little razor scraper that I have to use to scrape any "bits" off before I can actually clean it with the cleaner, which also takes some elbow grease.

It does look great in the kitchen though

[FL Heat]

I have a Kenmore range with a glass ceramic cooktop. I love it, absolutely love it (no way to get gas into the kitchen). I don't keep anything heavy in the cabinets over the top of it, which helped lighten my fear of dropping anything on the cooktop & breaking it.

Mine has a light on the "control panel" that says when the surface is hot. As a nice bonus, if I set a hot pan from the oven on one of the burners, the light turns on.

I use Soft Scrub to keep mine clean. Most nights, I just spray it with a glass cleaner after I finish the dishes & wipe it down with a paper towel. When something burns on, that's when I use the Soft Scrub. It's just part of the dish-washing routine now.

I've set down a cast iron skillet awfully hard on it more than once (accidentally, of course) and it didn't break. I've dropped lids on it, canned goods, and other normal kitchen things several times. No cracks, no chips. Normal use shouldn't cause it to break.

Diana

[winesonoma]

She is also paranoid about dropping a pot or lid and breaking it before she is ready to spend the money to replace it. Anyway, it is now lovingly referred to as "that cooktop that is out to get me".

This is one of those things that, to me, seemed like a good idea at the time. In fact, when she told me what she was getting, I thought it was a pretty good idea for her as she is not a serious cook (no fanatic about gas like me), it would be easy to keep clean, and it looks cool (looking cool is important to her). Now I am not so sure.

Opinions... experiences? How hard are those things to break, anyway?

If she want's to look cool have her buy a chefs jacket and learn to cook!

[Fat Guy]

Just spent a weekend cooking quite a lot of food in an all-electric kitchen with halogen ceramic cooktops and found them to be quite usable. It had plenty of power, boiled water quickly and was totally sufficient for sauteeing in a 12" skillet even shy of the top setting. I'd certainly prefer these to any other kind of residential electric setup save perhaps for a good induction unit with appropriate cookware, and I think they perform better than a crummy gas range. They're incredibly easy to clean compared to any variant of gas or exposed electric element design, except for restaurant-style flattop and plancha configurations that are impractical for home use because they require so much preheating.

The fact that people use the rangetop as extra counter space isn't what I'd consider a design flaw. Heck I use my gas range as extra counter space when necessary. And you sure can burn yourself on a gas range that has been off even for 10 minutes, if it has dense iron grates like mine. As for the dancing pot phenomenon, that sounds kind of cool, but I can see how it's a disadvantage. Then again I bet ceramic cooktops rarely set towels or potholders on fire the way gas ranges do with alarming frequency.

[Gifted Gourmet]

No, I use a special cleaner as well. It's a pain because you have to use a special cleaner and not a scrubber or soap and water to clean it with. Also, I have a little razor scraper that I have to use to scrape any "bits" off before I can actually clean it with the cleaner, which also takes some elbow grease.

The worst spillovers are the sugary ones which turn to carbon because the surface stays so hot for so long ... and that is rough to clean off, I have to admit ..

the rest of the spillovers are not really as bad to deal with ...

but I still enjoy using it ...

[fifi]

Keep it up, guys. Ya'll are making me feel better. I was getting a little discouraged. The daughter was just starting to get more interested in cooking when she got confronted with this very unfamiliar roadblock. I am getting some ideas to encourage her.

[Marlene]

I do like mine a lot. I have a 36 in cooktop with a bridge burner which gives me 6 and half burners to work with at any given time. The bridge burner is great because I can put a whole roasting pan across the burners to make gravy and reductions etc.

The dancing pot thing facinates me though. I'm going to have to experiment and see if that happens with mine

Where's Dave the Cook? We need a scientific experiment here.

[snowangel]

I hated, absolutely hated, my electric ceramic stove in our old house (it was quite new when we moved). Yes, we went the extra mile to run gas from the laundry/furnace room (DIY) and I couldn't be happier. It was the cleanup that I hated. When the kids helped me cook, something was always boiling over or getting spilled.

I'd never, ever go back.

But, fifi, did I feel it was unsafe? No. I never had the "skittering" pot thing happen. It was just the cleanup that I abhored. Plus, I am really enjoying the instant nature of gas.

[helenjp]

My mother had a ceramic cooktop twice. Kitchen outfitter broke one fitting it into the counter space. Well. Never mind that.

More seriously, she noted that the totally flat cooktop meant that any spills went straight over the cooktop and over the edge onto her feet. She was getting older, so a good percentage of her cooking was jams, jellies, and confectionery for church sales - none of it stuff you want on your feet. She still liked it well enough to get another one the same...she liked the easy cleanup.

Although she SAID she was very careful about what she put on the cooktop, I was constantly taking dishcloths and paper towels off it...

More than that, I can't comment - I've cooked with gas for so long that I am not good with electric cooktops of any kind.

[David94928]

I also have a Kenmore ceramic top range with the bridge burner and a warmer burner which is great for keeping chicken stock warm when preparing risotto.

I've never dropped any heavy kitchenware on the top but just after it was installed I found the need to replace the vent hood so it matched the stove. As I was jockying into place I left the cardboard box it came in on the stove top. Good thing I did as the hood got loose and dropped onto the box. That might have been the end of the ceramic top.

Overall I've been happy with the stoves performance. I had to get used to the way it heats - slow at first and then it gets hot quickly. I burned onions and garlic several times at first. Cleaning with soft scrub or the low abrasion cleanser doesn't take any longer than cleaning a regular stove.

David

[Anna N]

My daughter has a ceramic stove top and when it came time to buy a new stove for myself I knew it would NOT be one of those!

Before I can cook anything at her house I must first clear off the stove since she does treat it as counter space which I think is a major safety issue and has resulted in warped and burned plastic utensils.

I HATE cleaning it even with the special cleaning product especially if milk has boiled over!

I HATE the way it responds heatwise - maybe one can get used to it but I am still trying.

But to each his/her own!

[jsolomon]

For cleaning I've heard that toothpaste works easily as well as the paste they provide, and for less $$. My feeling about the durability of glass-topped stoves is that they'll be remarkably more durable than most people expect. I don't think that the glass they engineered for the task is sufficiently thick and tough to survive some decent knocks. It may also be backed by something like steel/titanium which will also help.

As for the burns/scorches/etc? Mis en place and flow... When she loves the food she cooks and is confident in her abilities, she'll cook...

There are also termperature marking crayons which may assist in the telling of whether an area is hot or not. Hopefully they're not single-use.

Edited August 17, 2004 by jsolomon (log)

[cakes]

We had a ceramic cook top at the last house, don't remember the brand, GE I think. I am a fan of gas over electric but I liked it. It was quick to heat up, had very accurate temp control. It didn't like some of our old favorite pans.

It had a capacity of 1 quart as far as spills, never had anything run on the floor.

As far as cleaning, Soft-Scrub, Barkeepers Friend, or Bon Ami.

Cakes

[fifi]

This is becoming a fascinating glimpse into the field of ergonomics, human factors engineering, man/machine interaction, whatever. To summarize:

Heat response - Now, this could vary quite a bit by model. It could also vary by experience. If you have cooked a lot on electric, it may not be much of a change. If you "grew up" in the kitchen with gas, electric of any design is usually a hard sell. I am not sure that this factor is any different than the gas/electric thing with any other type of cooktop.

Cleaning - This one is interesting. Looking at the glass ceramic, the immediate impression is "Hoo-boy, that has to be a breeze to clean." Yet, that is not entirely true... spills spread and stick, you need a new set of cleaning tools (another new thing to confront). But, objectively thinking, is that really any worse than disassembling grates, drip pans and such? I dunno.

Fear of breakage - This one seems natural to me. We have been conditioned all of our lives to know that glass breaks. Now, I was in materials engineering for many years and know that some of these materials are incredibly tough and durable. I know that intellectually. Instinctively, if I drop that big Le Creuset lid, my tummy is going to lurch. Some of you have gotten over it and the statistics may prove you right. (I can't find any.) I am certainly not, and this audience is not, a scientific survey but I have yet to hear of anyone breaking one under normal useage including typical mishaps.

It's a counter! - This is the duck thing all over again. (You know, looks-quacks-walks) In a kitchen I instinctively know that that burner grate or electric coil is a cooking thing and can get hot and burn you, melt things, and set things on fire. It looks like something that might be hot or could get hot if a button gets pushed. If you have any experience at all in a kitchen, you are going to treat it accordingly. The glass ceramics look like a counter top. You can add all of the lights, big H's, bells, whistles, alarms and whatever. It doesn't instinctively shout "burner". With experience, individual users probably adjust. But I would be wary of the uninitiated visitor. This probably isn't as much of a big deal in a range where it is obviously a stove. May be more of a problem in those sleek looking cook top only installations.

The dancing pot - This probably varies by model and would be determined by rate of heating. The power of steam will not be denied. It can lift a lot more than you would think. If a cooktop heats at a rate where pots can dance, lack of a rail or other obstacle to keep a pot within bounds is a design flaw. The problem should be reported to the manufacturer. (Somehow, the cynic in me says that will do no good. After all, adding a rail would detract from that sleek, countertop look. )

Spills and boil overs - They spread. On most conventional cooktops, the typical boil over is usually restricted to the immediate burner area and its drip pan. In the best case with a glass ceramic, you may have a bigger mess to clean up that could get worse if an adjacent burner is in use and the stuff burns on there, too. But that bigger mess clean up may be easier to accomplish. (See above.) One post up-thread mentioned a case where a boil over can head for the floor and maybe your feet. If this can occur with a typical boil over, this is an inexcuseable design flaw. Hot soup is bad enough. Hot jelly is pretty scary. I don't even want to think of a deep frying mishap. (But then, with gas, you could get a fire.)

This has been an interesting discussion. I am not sure that the perceived problems are any different than when any new thing is introduced. I will bet our great grandmothers had adjustments to make when leaving the old wood stove behind.

[Fat Guy]

I'm not sure gas is the correct baseline for comparison. Presumably, most anybody who has a readily available gas supply already laid in will simply utilize it. There may be some idiosyncratic people out there who just hate gas for whatever reason, but I have yet to meet anybody with a fully functioning gas tap in the correct position in the kitchen who has ever said, eh, let's just seal it up and put in an electric cooktop. The typical electric cooktop owner just doesn't have gas as an immediate option, so chooses electric in order to avoid breaking walls and floors and running gas lines through the house, setting up a propane tank in the absence of municipal gas, running afoul of condo rules, etc. So really the comparison should be between different kinds of electric cooktops.

[fifi]

I'm not sure gas is the correct baseline for comparison. Presumably, most anybody who has a readily available gas supply already laid in will simply utilize it. There may be some idiosyncratic people out there who just hate gas for whatever reason, but I have yet to meet anybody with a fully functioning gas tap in the correct position in the kitchen who has ever said, eh, let's just seal it up and put in an electric cooktop. The typical electric cooktop owner just doesn't have gas as an immediate option, so chooses electric in order to avoid breaking walls and floors and running gas lines through the house, setting up a propane tank in the absence of municipal gas, running afoul of condo rules, etc. So really the comparison should be between different kinds of electric cooktops.

I would agree with that. However, there is so much difference in performance from model to model that could get really complicated so I don't think I would go there. I think the other factors are applicable, though, and apply when leaving gas out of the equation. (Excepting grease fires, maybe.)

In my whole life, I think I have met two people that have chosen to "seal up the gas line". There was some paranoid fear thing going on about explosions, open flame, whatever. In one case, the person was quite proud of the gas logs in the fireplace. Go figure. I think they had other "issues".

[Marlene]

There is no doubt that performance ranges greatly from cooktop to cooktop. Before I ended up with the Thermador, I did a lot of research into the different kinds.

Miele is the only cooktop I know of that makes their cooktop with a ridge around it to contain spills etc. The cooktop only kind I mean. I never did consider a range with cooktop, since my ovens are separate.

I honestly never use mine as another counter top. It never occured to me. Possibly because of it's location, it just doesn't lend itself to countertop use.

Not only do you need a new set of cleaning tools, but you may need a new set of pots and pans. The pots and pans used on a ceramic cooktop must be flat bottomed and many of the older ones are not. I found this out the hard way. , although it was a great excuse to get new pots.

The cleaning is just something you get used to. I hated it at first, but now it's just second nature to let the surface cool down, and then get out the cleaner and wipe it up. I always scrape up sticky bits right away though.

All it all, mine works for me

[David94928]

Presumably, most anybody who has a readily available gas supply already laid in will simply utilize it....The typical electric cooktop owner just doesn't have gas as an immediate option, so chooses electric in order to avoid breaking walls and floors and running gas lines through the house, setting up a propane tank in the absence of municipal gas, running afoul of condo rules, etc.

Exactly my limitation Fat Guy. We live in a condo built in 1980 at the end of the "All Electric House" era and there is no gas piped into the complex anywhere. If we could get gas I'd get this electric range out the door in less than 24 hrs.

David

[shaunchavis]

I have a GE Radiant Cooktop (believe me, my preference would have been gas, but during construction of the condo I'm in, learned there would be no gas to the building). Yesterday morning the cooktop mysteriously cracked - I just heard a loud pop and discovered it cracked across the back left corner. It hadn't been in use since the night before, and there was nothing on it. I'm curious whether that's happened to anyone else.

GE won't replace it because it's 1.5 years old (just beyond warranty) but they're offering me a discount on a replacement. I'm seriously thinking about an induction cooktop. But I'm just wondering if the same thing can happen to an induction cooktop... would love to hear your experiences / opinions / expertise.

Thanks,

Shaun

[ray goud]

I will only recommend a conventional electric-coil cooktop as your replacement, since you cannot have gas. There are too many negatives for me to choose induction, though many other people love them. As for another smooth top becoming cracked, I believe it is only a matter of time, based on my friends and acquaintances' experiences. It may not have even been GE's fault, since a requirement for those things is to have an installation free of stresses.

Ray

Edited October 27, 2009 by ray goud (log)

[dougal]

I happen to be one of those that enthuses over induction.

If you want gas, but can't have it, induction is far and away the closest you'll get.

ADDED - you can check your pan bases with a magnet (like a fridge magnet). If it won't stick, that pan will be invisible to (and not heated at all by) induction.

I don't know what happened to your old unit.

Its highly atypical.

I've never heard of one breaking on its own, when at ambient temperature (12 hours after last use).

Most likely is a manufacturing or installation problem (yes they do need to be evenly supported, flat, all round.

Unless maybe you dropped that cast iron pan on it a while ago and thought you'd got away with it.

Without trauma, they should (and do) last a very long time.

It might even be an eventuality covered (or rather not excluded) under your property (contents) insurance.

The glass ceramic on an induction hob isn't exactly the same as on a 'radiant' hob.

Because it has no need to conduct or transmit heat (or infra red radiation).

But it still needs even, all round support.

And wouldn't welcome trauma.

Perhaps surprisingly, induction hobs require more ventilation of the under-counter space than conventional cooktops. Otherwise you'll cook (and kill) the electronics.

Edited October 27, 2009 by dougal (log)