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Glass stovetops--like 'em?


babyluck

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They do look sleek. The house I lived in when I moved to Sitka, Alaska had one and I was in constant fear that I'd drop a heavy pan on the thing. I cooked many meals on it, but can't really sing any praises.

Was a pain to clean when I was making jam and some bubbled over when I was distracted, but that would be a pain to clean on any other stove top as well.... :biggrin:

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Well, I dunno. If you liked the house otherwise, you could probably sell that stove and get one you liked. Some people like glass stovetops very much because of the sleek look and the ease in cleaning, and I'd guess some such person would be pleased to purchase a used glass-top stove in good condition.

I wouldn't be such a buyer, however. I personally wouldn't want a glass stovetop because of maintenance issues and limitations on use:

* It's "easy" to clean IF you do it right away, but I'm not always a clean-right-away kind of person, and I am prone to spilling. An acquaintance had a sugar syrup fuse to her stovetop almost immediately, and it's there to stay. My cousin, who is an excellent cook, has the glass stovetop and has cleaned up such spills. He had to do it IMMEDIATELY, though.

* I just know I'd drop something and break the top, or drag something across and scratch the top, or take a hot pan off the heat and set it elsewhere on the glass top where hot things aren't supposed to go. If I didn't, a guest would. I don't want a major appliance to be so fragile that I worry when company is visiting; I get weekend houseguests who pitch in with the cooking, bless 'em.

* The burners are too small to allow canning in a large kettle. I could get around that by using a propane stove outside or by buying a special small canning kettle, but why accept the limitation?

* IIRC they don't get as hot as standard coil electric stoves.

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
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There was another thread about this recently, but I'm too lazy to search for it.

I had one. I hated it. Absolutely hated it.

I was really glad to move into our new house. The stove was junk (glass top again), and we knew that when we moved in, we'd replace it right away. Upon inspection before we made the offer, one of the things that sold me was a capped off gas line right under where the stove is.

Gas. It's good.

Edited to add: I really should have mentioned why I hated it. A bitch to clean and keep clean. Awful. I always tried to clean the gunk off right away, but I'm not the only person in the house who used the stove. Keeping that bitch clean was worse than keeping the kitchen floor clean!

Edited by snowangel (log)
Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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I have dropped quite a few fairly heavy items on mine without incident. They are "fun" to clean, but then again pretty much everything is.

I would say they are okay at best. I am planning to do major kitchen surgery including bringing in Gas. For the meantime, I use the glass countertop for normal stuff and if I really need high heat I use a portable butane burner.

Never trust a skinny chef

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The thread you are looking for is here.

It really isn't the same topic, though. That thread was a safety discussion.

If the house was right in most other ways, I would just factor in the cost of changing out the cooktop, if at all possible getting gas. And I would change it out... before I moved in... but then, that is just me. :biggrin:

Linda LaRose aka "fifi"

"Having spent most of my life searching for truth in the excitement of science, I am now in search of the perfectly seared foie gras without any sweet glop." Linda LaRose

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The thread you are looking for is here.

It really isn't the same topic, though. That thread was a safety discussion.

If the house was right in most other ways, I would just factor in the cost of changing out the cooktop, if at all possible getting gas. And I would change it out... before I moved in... but then, that is just me. :biggrin:

How difficult is it to change out a glass cooktop set into a granite counter? I saw a house today that I loved, but it has a ceramic cooktop. I already have one of those, and I want gas next time.

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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How difficult is it to change out a glass cooktop set into a granite counter?  I saw a house today that I loved, but it has a ceramic cooktop.  I already have one of those, and I want gas next time.

It'll just be a cut-out in the countertop with the cooktop dropped into it, it's only a problem if there's no gas line anywhere near by. Ya should be able to take one cooktop out and swap it for another as long as you can find one that needs roughly the same size cutout.

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I should have added to my earlier reply, that although I hated the ceramic top, I would never base a decision on buying a house based on appliances. For example, the appliances in our new house were all junk. Garbage. The dishwasher leaked from the TOP! We knew coming in that we would replace them.

Rather, the choice of house should be based on the house, and how it speaks to you, how the space will work in your life.

Sure, the appliances were junk here. But, the space was great. It is even greater now that we've begun putting our touches into it.

It's not so bad to live with an appliance you don't like for a while. It's a lot harder to live with space that doesn't work.

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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Marlene, I second what Melkor said. Look in the basement and see if there is any gas close to where you want to replace the cooktop. If so, it's easy to run a gas line, provided that there are shut off's every so often, if you are doing it yourself. Having gas line work done can be expensive.

If the cooktop you select isn't the same size, call a monument company (the kind of places that do headstones) and have them come out and take a look and see what it would take to make the hold larger. Usually not too big a deal. If the gas cooktop you would select is smaller that the current one, however, that's a whole 'nother story!

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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I would never buy a house based on the appliances. But I did wonder about the difficulty with granite. Whatever you put in has to be the same wiidth and depth as what you've got.

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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I hate them. I taught cooking classes at a cooking school that had them. They were as difficult as electric stoves to adjust heat quickly and were very difficult to clean. In my experience folks that like them are not serious cooks. I saw a white Persian carpet on the floor in front of one at an upscale friends $350,000 home. Nuf said!

It can be pricey replacing appliances so I would do some pricing.

Good Luck

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Marlene, I second what Melkor said.  Look in the basement and see if there is any gas close to where you want to replace the cooktop.  If so, it's easy to run a gas line, provided that there are shut off's every so often, if you are doing it yourself.  Having gas line work done can be expensive.

If the cooktop you select isn't the same size, call a monument company (the kind of places that do headstones) and have them come out and take a look and see what it would take to make the hold larger.  Usually not too big a deal.  If the gas cooktop you would select is smaller that the current one, however, that's a whole 'nother story!

When the granite guys came and installed my counters, they said to just call them back if I ever wanted to put in a larger stove or sink, they would scribe it and punch out the extra stuff. ???

Susan Fahning aka "snowangel"
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I have a ceramic stovetop. I would prefer gas too, but no gas to the house. I have been able to cook anything (haven't tried canning though). I prefer it to electric coils. Mine is 5 years old, heats fast and evenly, can use any kind of cookware, can set pans anywhere, I have no question of breaking it, find it easier to clean if you buy the special cleanser. I disagree that it's a sign of someone not interested in cooking. Julia Child cooked on electric and gas. Having an electric stove with a tapped of gas line right there is just plain weird, though.

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I have one as well, and really enjoy it. I don't worry when things spill (I'm a clean-up-right-away kind of person), there's no gas to the house at all, so gas isn't even an option, and it's a brand new one that we purchased specifically because it's easy to clean (it's easier to KEEP it clean than to clean it, if that makes sense). The kitchen is small, so when I'm prepping things, it's an extra "counter"; and it looks much nicer than any of the coil-thing stoves. The oven underneath works fantastically, too, and because the heat isn't a flame or coil that sits up, my short self is able to reach the controls without getting burned, which was a significant problem the one time I lived with gas burners. Nothing like the smell of burning arm hair to liven up a meal.

It might not be the sign of a serious cook, but that's okay. I'm a fun cook :)

Diana

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Just as I would never decide to buy a house based solely on the state of the appliances, I would never attempt to gauge one's culinary skills or adeptness in the kitchen based only on the equipment they choose to use.

A cooktop can easily be changed out. I would look at the big picture, can I comfortably live in this house, even if it might require making some changes. If it is the kitchen you are most concerned with, does it have good space and layout for the way you cook.

I have a fairly large kitchen and I like the layout of the appliances, I have plenty of cabinet space and a good sized prep area. But, the kitchen is all electric. The cooktop is in an island in the middle of the kitchen and running gas to it would be quite expensive. The original cooktop was a JennAir electric coil, vent in the middle thing that I hated. I looked for something to replace it without having to do a major remodel and decided on the Jennair ceramic top. I have had no problems with the ceramic top, I keep it clean by immediately wiping up spills, and harder messes are cleaned up using the cream designed for this purpose. I use a variety of pots and pans, from aluminum to SS to cast iron to enamel, and have not had a problem. One of the burners doesn't seem to come up to temperature as quickly as the others, but I can work around that.

Sure, I would like to have a professional, commercial-grade gas cook top, but I don't have one so I make do with what I have. And BTW, I consider myself quite 'handy' in the kitchen.

Bob R in OKC

Home Brewer, Beer & Food Lover!

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I had a glass cooktop at my beach house (now sold) and I loved it! It was a JennAir range. It originally had electric coils, which I didn't care for; I found the glass inserts (halogen, I believe) a huge improvement. The unit was on a center island (with a view of the Pacific Ocean) and the floor was concrete slab-and it is against code to run a gas line through them. Also, the house was very modern, and the kitchen was along one wall of the living room/ dining area-so the black glass looked better.

At home I have a Wolf range and honestly, I don't think it is any easier to cook on than this electric one. It's just a little different-the temperature doesn't change as quickly, so you have to turn things down a little sooner. You adapt. I once timed how long it took to boil a huge pot of water on it versus my Wolf stove-and I think the electric one was faster. It certainly got every bit as hot as my 15,000 BTU Wolf burners. I LOVED how easy it was to clean-I had some special cleanser that I bought at Sur La Table-quick wipe of the sponge and it was spotless. It did have a few scratches, but hey, I'm a serious cook :wink: I want my kitchen to look like I use it! My only complaint was that I couldn't use my 14-inch saute pans on it because the downdraft system got in the way (with the coils, the pans sat high enough that this wasn't a problem.)

By far the worst stove I ever cooked on was a cheap gas one-a Modern Maid in old Victorian house that probably had a gas line the size of a straw. I could not saute worth shit on that stove. So, my two cents-if I had to choose between a cheap gas stove and a nice glass cooktop, I'd go for the electric one in a second.

Edited by marie-louise (log)
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Quite a bit depends on what type of glass stovetop it is. If it is just a normal ceramic stovetop much of what the previous repliers say makes sense. However if it is an induction stovetop (operates by causing magnetic field in your cookware) much of what has been said really does not apply. Induction stovetops are super-responsive ( at least as quick as gas ), more energy efficient, and easier to clean since the surface of the stovetop doesn't get hot enough to allow foodspills to burn on. Many of these tops are as powerful as professional gas ranges. Conincidentally Ferran Adria ( rated by many as the world's best chef ) uses this type of top in his cooking studio. If it's good enough for him...

Having said all that surely the price of replacing a cooktop is a very small percentage of a house's price, if you like the house go for it.

Edited by joesan (log)
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All the negative responses... are you all complaining about ceramic that turns red when it's on or induction hobs?

I have recently been cooking on Miele induction "dominos" 3 smaller hobs joined to make one with 6 "burners" and I cannot tell you how fast these things heat up, it's scary fast... not only do they heat up so fast, but they cool down almost immediately when you turn them off - it's making me hate my gas...

Oh... and this is in a professional kitchen...

As for the countertops, any countertop, including marble, granite AND corian can be cut out larger than what you have to insert a bigger stovetop.

Here is the little domino

163.jpg

www.nutropical.com

~Borojo~

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All the negative responses... are you all complaining about ceramic that turns red when it's on or induction hobs?

Yes, mine turned red. I'm assuming that the brand makes a difference. Also, since it was relatively new construction, it would have had it's own circuit and been the higher voltage (what's that-220?)

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All the negative responses... are you all complaining about ceramic that turns red when it's on or induction hobs?

I have recently been cooking on Miele induction "dominos" 3 smaller hobs joined to make one with 6 "burners" and I cannot tell you how fast these things heat up, it's scary fast... not only do they heat up so fast, but they cool down almost immediately when you turn them off -    it's making me hate my gas...

Oh... and this is in a professional kitchen...

As for the countertops, any countertop, including marble, granite AND corian can be cut out larger than what you have to insert a bigger stovetop.

Here is the little domino

163.jpg

Sandra - do you find it easy to maintain a constant temperature on this product e.g. a constant 70 centigrade to boil potatoes for mash a la Heston Blumenthal?

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joesan,

I haven't actually put a thermometer in the pan to check this, but to the naked, er, taste? feel? yes, it keeps it quite constant - also, I can keep it on "1" for a while and it will keep things warm without as much as breaking a simmer...

A stockpot of water for pasta in 5 mins... how can you argue with that?

Sandra - do you find it easy to maintain a constant temperature on this product e.g. a constant 70 centigrade to boil potatoes for mash a la Heston Blumenthal?

www.nutropical.com

~Borojo~

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