Is gas on its way out as a cooking fuel?

[mavei511]

Just wanted to find out everyones' opinion on this.
Sure seems like it is,with indoor air quality concerns,the increased costs and supply concerns of natural gas and the increased sales of smooth top electrics.And I mean not right away,but maybe in the next 10-20yrs.
Also I found many builders have plumbers that don't have gasfitters' licenses,thus they build lower-income housing all-electric to keep down construction costs.

 

[sikiguya]

I hope not.

I love my gas cooktop and would never go back to an electric if I had a choice. I have electric for my ovens, which I find is better for me.
Here in the suburban Chicago area, we always have had gas. This was my first house with electric ovens. Gas for me, is cheap. It's electricity that ComEd makes so expensive. My 3400 Sq ft house is heated by gas and I have a gas dryer and my cooktop. My highest bill this winter was $143 and that is keeping my house at 68 during the day (sometimes higher depending on the day) and 66 at night. It is very comfortable and I am a cold person.
In Arizona (where I grew up), we only had electric. I never liked it but I never knew better!

 

[DADoES]

I've always had electric, but I seriously doubt gas will disappear. I've always heard that professional chefs prefer gas cooktops (but electric ovens).

 

[~sudsshane]

I have propane

My gas stove runs off propane. as does my fireplace. growing up on NY's LI where most homes have gas, even gas dryers, I couldn't imagine ever being without it.
Long live gas stoves and fireplaces!

 

[58limited]

Not anytime soon. Gas is advertised as more efficient than electricity for heating, cooking, and clothes drying (I'm not sure if this is true) plus look at all the TV chefs: they use gas and more and more people watch them and try to emulate them when they remodel their kitchens. A lot of thehigh end houses being built down here are getting the $5000+ Viking gas ranges put into their kitchens. Also, if you watch outdoor living shows, built in gas grills, outdoor fireplaces, and firepits are gaining in popularity. So, I think gas as a cooking, heating, and recreation fuel is here to stay.

I have a gas stove and I will never go back to an electric stove. This is a personal preference, I know many who prefer electric stoves.

 

[danemodsandy]

Air Quality

I think that the problem for many people will be air quality- houses are being built more tightly all the time and carbon monoxide is becoming more of a concern than formerly. Gas stoves aren't vented (most of them) and so all the byproducts of their combustion end up in the air you breathe indoors. I'm in a very, very tight house, and I am currently forced to use gas (I strongly prefer electric, but everything here is built-in and would cost a bleepin' fortune to change). I would not be comfortable letting something cook while I slept.

 

[polkanut]

Being a 3rd generation gas stove user, I seriously have my doubts also that gas appliances will become extinct in the future. I like the fact that the heat is on and off instantly, and a gas flame is much easier to regulate IMHO!

 

[oxydolfan1]

I really don't care for an electric cooktop and all and dislike cooking on them tremendously, but an electric oven I wouldn't mind so much.

I just can't get used to electric burners.

But, like everything else in life, if you have no choice, you learn to adapt.

 

[pturo]

What is ironic is that natural gas is used to create electricity in many plants across the country. Seems dumb to pay the cost of electricty to heat/cook when it is the more expensive product of gas in the first place. The reason why gas is becoming scarce is our increased electric demand. Last current stats that I read were that it is about 35 cents to run a gas load and about 50 cents to run an electric load in a dryer, or about 45% more per load, based on national averages.(There are anomolies, this is average) That should hold true for water heaters, as well on average, about 45% more. If someone were to offer a savings of 45% off your utility bill, would you be interested? With carbon monoxide detectors, gas cooking/drying should not be a problem, but I do see a day when vented hoods will be required for a gas stove,like gas furnaces and dryers.

 

[toggleswitch]

Dont judge unless you have use both extensively.

The postitive aspects of a smoothtop give it a tremendous edge over older coils or hob type electric cooktop elements.
The cleanliness of electric and the resposiveness and intuitive/visual apsects of gas both have their adherants and enthusiasts.

I have both gas and electric; each has its advantages and disadvantages. My gas cooker has an oven that works during power outages.

(The kitchen pictured is the basment makeshift one that was inteded to be gutted and re-done one day HA! I ran the gas line, the electric cable and the exhaust fan myself.)

 

[toggleswitch]

Now see (LP) propane for me literally stinks like the petrochemical that it is. I'm not a big fan of the yellowish-orange tips that are typical of propane burners that scream CARBON/soot/black-schmootz being released!

I literally get short-of-breath over natural gas, but even more so over propane fumes.

CAUTION: Make sure you have your your gas appliance adjusted when it is made for natural gas (methane) and used on propane. The flames will be twice the size they are supposed to be and it's QUITE dangerous. My sister almost had a huge problem when Sears neglected to adjust her natural gas equipped dryer to the existing LP /Propane service in her home.

 

[oxydolfan1]

Toggle....that looks like an Israeli oven (or I guess maybe Eastern European...)

What brand is that?

 

[neptunebob]

Toggle I like the way all the appliances are so white. Also, are those cabinets from IKEA or a regular cabinet company? I think they could work well in my kitchen.

 

[appnut]

From what I can tell, natural gas is becoming less & less common around here in new houses.

I like my 1984 coil-top Hotpoint slide-in range. The only thinhg approaching gas cooking for me in the future is induction. By the time that's an affordable range option, I'll be old and decreped so that it will be a safety issue for me and won't burn the house down lol.

 

[toggleswitch]

AVANTI. Turkish. (My grandparents are rolling over in their graves)

TOL features on a compact specialty-size appliance:
Sealed burners of varying sizes (slow, medium, fast)
Broiler/grille in oven cavity.

Push in surface burner knobs to start clicker/sparker ignition.

Push in oven knob turning counter-clockwise (anti-clockwise to you Brits) to ignite oven burner and pilot using electonic sparker. HOLD IN for 15 -30 second to "prove" ignition. Then let go of knob and burner self-sustains. Turn clockwise for broler/grille which is IN THE OVEN CAVITY (never before seen here in a 20" gas (50cm) model, IIRC.)

Both burners can be manually lit with a match during a power outage.

A drawback of this system, which has a minimum-bypass flame and a varying size flame with regard to the oven burner, is that you can't get *hold-warm temps (140 to 19*F) as you can on an American glow-bar ignitor system with a cycling burner (full-on, or full-off).

Biggest issue I had:
No keep-warm temps.
When you go from a higher temp (say 450*F) to a much lower temp (say 275*F) BURNER GOES OUT. (You must wait for oven to cool THEN RELIGHT IT.) I am hoping this was a fluke with my particular unit.

http://www.avantiproducts.com/index.php?page=products&cat=39

 

[toggleswitch]

The cabinets are from knocked-down assemble-yourself units from Homo Depot. The faces (meaning doors and drawer fronts) are selectable in terms of various wooden or a white style. The rest of the cabinet is simply avaiable in one wooden or one white type.Notice there is no toe-kick board.

bLowe's had cabinets that were pre-assembeled, which for me was difficult to transport.

They are reasonable in price and for the BOL POS that it
actually is, I'd say it has a nice appearance.

Bob: I'd say gas cooking is WAY too hot for southern climates. Smoothtops further increase the appeal of electric cooking

 

[toggleswitch]

In large aparment building here in NYC, each aparment's gas stove was individually metered. This is a natural extension of when lighting was GAS before electricity and individual metering was necessary even then.

However all that piping was eliminated, I'd say in mid -60' in newer buildngs buildings by using one meter for all gas stoves in the building and having one vertical run pick up all stoves in the same "line" of apartments.

Some very new construction has electric cooking, but this is still relatively rare here in buildings.

Long Island has "spotty" gas sevice. Depends on builder at the time and avaialbilty as well. Many homes cook eletrically and retain electric cooking even when gas became avaiable much later. I believe if three adjacent homes request gas you can get the service instaled for free.

I do beleive that even new homes here with gas heating and domestic hot water often have builders install electric cooking and dryers. Piping and installation is more expensive for them. (and SCREW the environment appears to be their attitude!)

 

[~sudsshane]

Natural Gas or Propane?

Most people here have electric. I agree with Toggleswitch regarding the smooth top ranges. If I had electric, I would much prefer that than the coil top electric ranges.
You know what is so strange?? my neighbors just up the street have natural gas and the gas line stopped 4 houses down. I checked to see how much $$$ it would cost to run a line to our house and was told several thousand dollars. Also, propane is very expensive here. Much more so than natural gas.

 

[oxydolfan1]

I LOVE that little oven and I love some of the other Avanti models even MORE...

Thank you, toggle....there are a few appliance vendors in Chinatown that sell Avanti products, and I will take a closer look at it for future reference (I really never need a standard size range)...

I LOVE appliance shopping, and appliance stores!

 

[volvoguy87]

Gas is great!

Here in Savannah, Electric is all you see. There is gas in some old homes, but when they are renovated/restored, they usually cut corners and go with all electric. Georgia Power even gives a financial incentive to have an all-electric home. I HATE ELECTRIC!!!!! I hope to buy and restore my own home in the forseeable future, and you can bet your a@@ that it will have gas in the kitchen, the laundry room, and maybe a few old fashioned gas lights just to be sure! Give me gas, copper-bottom Revere, and cast iron! If it's not too much trouble, I'll also take a jadite green Chanbers B-model with the high-back and sconce lights, not that I have my heart set on one or anything. I know I'm nuts, but I also want to restore the coal-burning fireplaces that exist in almost every historic home in this city. It pains me to see people putting decorative logs in their coal-baskets, or even worse, gas logs in a coal fireplace. Maybe I have spent too much time around steam locomotives, but I do like being around burning coal.

Burn me up,
Dave

 

[oxydolfan1]

Oh, about gas in general....

I've heard some pretty wild and woolly prognostications regarding the price of gas in the future....

I guess it only makes sense, if you redo your kitchen, to have the facility to switch easily to an electric oven, if you have to.

It's hard to believe that natural gas could become so expensive that we couldn't afford to cook with it, but.....

I hate cooking, but I know that if I COULDN'T, let's just say, bake something I was in the mood for because of the cost, it would really make me nuts. I'm by no means cheap, but I was brought up to be hyper-thrifty energy-wise, and that kind of conditioning is hard to shake (especially when you know it is sensible)....I would have loved to get a solar water heater but was told it would not be effective at this position in North America....

 

[sudsmaster]

I have used coil top and smooth top electric, and I much prefer gas. The only electric I'd consider instead might be induction. Out here gas service is pretty much universal. In older homes gas stoves are more common, but in new construction it's probably about 50/50.

As far as shortages go, normal residential cooking doesn't use that much energy. Home heating and water heating uses a lot more.

 

[lederstiefel1]

electricity or gas? or something else?

I have experiences with electricity (we had at home), gas and coal-burners (my grandma had).
Later I lived in Wiesbaden (near Frankfurt) where I had coal/wood-burner and gas.
At the moment we have electricity with solid plates, which is really stupid, as in Germany the fuel you use for heating is the cheaper one and as we have gas central-heating it not understandable why we have an electric water-heater and an electric stove....
I have also experiences with different electric hot plates: solid plates (even the old massiv ones), coils, ceramic hobs with light burners or coils underneath and induction.
I do not like the massiv and solid plates, as they are too slow and difficult to regulate. Coils are fine - easy to regulate, easy to keep clean (except the very old ones with open wires in a massiv plate of fireclay as they are difficult to keep clean and very delicate to handle, but you only still find them in foreign countries, like Egypt and in antique stoves).
I had a ceramic hob a while ago in my own flat in Wuppertal. I found it better to regulate than solid plates but not as powerful as gas-burners especially those with light-burners.
Induction is very powerful - even stronger than many gas-hobs - but: not suitable for people with pace-makers of any kind!! And we are all getting older and live longer and more and more people will live with these helping apparatus'!
What I liked best: solid-fuel burners and gas! Solid-fuel burners are so super versatile, no others can top that!
But for a quick cooking and especially in summer-time gas is excellent! The problem with the fumes can be handled with an exhauster. Our next home must have a gas-stove definitely and, if possible, a wood/coal-burner, too!
Also, primary energy (gas, wood, coal, turf and oil) are always much more efficient than electricity - 1KW/h of electricity needs 3KW/h of fuel energy to be produced!!
Ralf

 

[toggleswitch]

Just to re-iterate:
1KW/h of electricity needs 3KW/h of fuel energy to be produced!!
So unless you have hydroelectric in your area, GAS is generally better for the environment than electric, when a choice exists.

Odydol/Scotty:
P.C Richard and son sells Avanti brand. There is one on Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills, Queens near where the fag bar *Breadsticks* used to be. Think: west of the fire-house; east of the synagogues, IIRC. Probably east of "Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs" church as well."

http://www.pcrichard.com/home.jsp

 

[mistereric]

I'm under the impression that in the NYC area, electric heating/clothes drying/cooking is much more expensive than gas, due to our insane per-killowathour electrical costs. This makes gas seem much more reasonable and its the reason why gas is more prevalent around here.

My sister in virginia has all electric in her condo, even tho just down the road her inlaws have gas. She is not thrilled!

 

[rp2813]

When my partner and I remodeled our kitchen over 15 years ago we chose a "dual fuel" stove. Gas cooktop but electric oven and broiler. We have the best of both worlds. I grew up with an electric stove and it didn't take me long to appreciate gas. The only thing that would cause me to switch from gas would be induction and I haven't seen much out there on those yet.
As for gas cooktops creating deadly fumes or whatever, isn't that what stove hoods/fans are for? At least the ones that actually vent to outside the house?
I lived in a 1930's home with a big kitchen for a while back in the 80's. It had a beautiful Wedgewood trash & gas stove that was original to the house. If I could accomodate something like that, I would have that stove as my daily driver. Unfortunately my small stamped out 1950's kitchen won't allow for anything other than a 30" range.

 

[oxydolfan1]

Toggle, thanks for the rec...I have business in Union Square tomorrow and will probably check them out on 14th tommorrow...

The sales folks at PCR by me in Jersey are obnoxious and need a good beating (and I don't mean the fun kind, either, LOL...)

They seem to be very reasonably priced, given the big-brand alternatives, and would fit my needs if I invest in a four-family dwelling and rent out the other three...

I believe such a stove would meet my needs.

 

[toggleswitch]

GURRRL I no longer risk breaking a nail cleaning anyone else

~I believe such a stove would meet my needs.

An inexpensive 30" (75cm) self-cleaner with sealed burners can be had for circa $340. (See "White-We-stink-house" badge by Electrolux. (Ducks and runs)).

Smaller sizes are seen as a specialty item and tend to be be more $.

At least with the above-described, the tenants can't get grime under the surface and the oven can be cleaned for the next tenant without you having to be their maid/servant, or having to replace the cooker. I'm all for charging a $200 cleaning deposit and handing out pics of conditon in which apt, was received. If they leave a mess you can hire a service with the deposit they just forfeited.

 

[MrX]

Depending on how your electricity is generated!

If your electricity isn't coming from a very high percentage of renewable and environmentally friendly souces or from nuclear, your humble gas stove is vastly more efficient in terms of carbon output than any electric equivilant.

To get power to your electric stove:
The power co burns gas / oil etc .. (energy lost) --- a % of that boils steam --- more energy lost --- that drives a generator -- more energy lost -- then it runs through the transmission network --- yet more energy lost!
Finally it gets to your stove which looses even more energy heating the oven / stovetop.

So, over all, from a CO2 or fuel usage perspective, gas used directly at point of heating is the best.

Can definitely see why you'd want a vent hood though.

 

[lederstiefel1]

Depending how electricity is generated...

Hi MRX!
You are right to say so even there are two little mistakes...
Nuclear power is the WORST thing mankind has ever used! Nobody - and I mean nobody! - knows where to store the very dangerous nuclear waste-materials really safe! Their half-life period is 24.000 years!!
The second is not really a mistake, better to say you forgot to add the loss of energy during transport via cables and the loss in transformer stations!

Using electricity for heating of any kind should therefor be forbidden actually! But still....who cares??

Ralf