Cook and Warm

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Hell, the way heat rises up from a gas range, having the electric warming shelf is almost superfluous. All they needed was a shelf with perforations or a grate to use the waste heat from the oven vent or the rear burners.

"Cook & Warm" also applied to the cook and the kitchen with the gas model.
 
In over two decades as an architect specializing in high-end residential work I've never, ever had a client complain about excess heat from a gas cooktop.  I've also never, ever had a client specify an electric cooktop if gas is available, so I've designed many kitchens with gas cooktops. And believe me, I've worked with some very picky clients who would not hesitate to complain about the most minute issues.

 

If there is excess heat then something is maladjusted, venting is inadequate, or the appliance is simply a cheap POS. A quality range correctly installed should not have these problems.
 
You have a lot of clients that don't know any better. If you don't believe me, put a pan of water on an electric element, making sure that the pan covers the element as you are supposed to do. Turn the heat to high to bring the water to a boil. Hold your hands, palms down at the side of the pot then try that with a pan on a gas burner. Nothing I can say about the heat going into the base of a pan on an electric element can demonstrate it better than the scorched palm test. Calrod-type electric elements run around 80% efficient. Induction takes that close to 95% while a gas burner runs between 40 & 60% efficient. Those lovely commercial style gas ranges with the heavy grates often run at low efficiencies because the heavy grates pull so much heat out of the flame before the flame hits the pans and the burners are often set further beneath the cooking surface than in domestic ranges.

As for gas ovens, they have to have a larger vent than an electric oven because there has to be a draft to supply oxygen to the burner. A gas oven is like a chimney with air passing through it and being heated. This air is discharged into the room. An electric oven only has to have a vent of about an inch or two in diameter to carry off excess moisture and to allow for the expansion of the heated air. Kitchens with gas stoves need more air conditioning. Air conditioning contractors used to ask about that for determining capacity. John used to do service for the David Brinkleys. They put a restaurant range in the kitchen and then had to put a big through the wall AC unit in the kitchen. I used to see it when I drove past the house on Friday evenings.
 
My mother is a very accomplished cook. The 1987 built home which my folks bought new originally had a Decor solid surface cooktop, which Mom never liked. That was replaced about 10 years ago by a GE Profile gas cooktop. Mom had not had natural gas cooking anything since the mid 1960s, and she was thrilled to have this - still is.

Tom is absolutely correct though, especially when three or four burners are on simultaneously at a decent heat setting, which is often the case for my Mom on Sunday, the space around the cooktop can get exceptionally warm and uncomfortable, and the cooktop is on island style counter with no walls around it to block airflow. This was not the case with any of the electric cooktops we had before, not the Decor, the Jenn-Air in our last house, or the GE before that which we had in Denver. This is a summer only problem...I'm not sure I've heard her complain during winter time. The problem was such that my Dad took down the flourescent ceiling light fixture and installed a ceiling fan in the kitchen.

Some of this may have to do with east-coast humidity. Steam and heat discharge from cooking out west rapidly discharge into the dry air in the house. That is not so much the case here, so moisture laden heat hangs around our kitchens much more so and thus can make you uncomfortable enough to warrant a kitchen ceiling fan.

Gordon
 
I always wanted one of these, used to stare at them in the Wards catalogs.

We had a gas Universal slide-in range and my grandmother had a Tappan 30" from the early 60's. My mother remarried in '86 and moved to a house with a GE electric cooktop and a Westinhouse 30" oven with side controls. She was instantly sold on electric cooking & baking and has never had any desire for gas again. Me either. I had that Maytag Dutch Oven range here for a while, we had to open the window in the winter it put out so much heat into the room. The oven and couple of burners going at full flame was all it took to bring the electric range back into the kitchen for good. Everyone has their preferences. I would love induction plug-in units for my '57 GE range, but until they make them for replacement, I'll wait patiently with my Calrods, perfectly satisfied.
 
" I'll wait patiently with my Calrods, perfectly sat

Yes, but you don't have to wait long before switching from HI to the necessary setting to finish cooking. And, with the Extra High Speed 6" Calrod you can use "2" and "Lo" to heat only the inner turns of the unit to provide a heating pattern for smaller diameter utensils without wasting heat, much like selecting 4" on the Sensi-Temp units.
 
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