Preference of Gas or Electric ranges?

[danemodsandy]

Kevin:

The smell of combustion byproducts from gas is objectionable to many of us.

With all due respect to your canary, one would live through a fart, too. Doesn't mean I want to smell it in my house.

 

[zipdang]

I have to agree with Kevin on this. All of the gas cooking appliances I've used have been of modern origin (1970s onward), and I've never seen any indication of filmy residue or off-putting smells in the air. That may or may not be true of older, vintage gas cookers; I have no experience with them. In my area an "old" house is one that was constructed before 1960 or so, so most of the appliances around here are fairly modern. Once I had neighbors who moved here from New Hampshire, and they laughed when their real estate agent referred to their 1970s house as old, as they'd moved from a house built in the 1700s. On the west coast that kind of history just doesn't exist.

 

[dustin92]

I have to say, there is a definite smell from a gas range, whether working properly or not. I have never noticed any real film on things that would *definitely* be caused by a gas range, but there is a certain "heaviness" in the air when a gas range or oven is being used. That being said, even electric isn't perfect. Not trying to offend anyone, but probably most issues are user error. I was cooking dinner tonight (Spaghetti and garlic bread), and I had the sauce at a perfect low simmer, the spaghetti boiling perfectly, and I put the garlic bread under the broiler to toast. I sat down at the table, picked up a book and completely forgot about the garlic bread... Until I smelled it burning. I managed to salvage most of it, but 2 1/2 slices were cremated and went in the garbage disposal. The sauce and spaghetti were fine, I had set a timer. That would have happened with any fuel, just user error. I personally would have burned the spaghetti sauce on a gas burner, it is just harder to keep an even, low simmer on gas.

 

[e2l-arry]

I've used both.

Our house growing up had electric. So that's what I had experience with early on. Then after college my first 10 years on the places I rented in the late 70's and early 80's had older gas stoves. By that I mean the burners had a pilot but for some reason the oven's didn't. There was a hole in the oven bottom near the front that said "LIGHT HERE" You slowly turned on the gas while you held a lit match until the oven lit. That usually blew out the match. There were old time stories of stoves blowing up with too much gas, to late with the match. Chalk that up to OPERATOR ERROR. But they could be dangerous. Since the oven didn't have a pilot, once the oven reached temp. the oven burner would go down but couldn't shut off or it wouldn't have been able to crank back up when the oven called for more heat. You wouldn't want to use those old gas ovens in the summer. It put our WAY more heat into the kitchen than the electric oven. Does anyone know why they had pilots for the burners but not the ovens until the later 50's or so models? I could never figure that out.

So later I moved to Colorado in the mid 80's and gas stoves were scarce. I was told that was because at the higher altitudes they used to have problems with the pilots going out a lot. So for the last 28 years I've been back to electric. I like to think I can cook equally well on either. And I really don't have a preference. I will say for the self cleaning cycle I feel more comfortable with electric. Just something about 800 degrees around a gas source makes me nervous. KA BOOM!!! But that's just a phobia of mine I guess.

I do think in the "old days" it just depended on where you lived. In the county with no gas lines, people had electric stoves and oil heat. My grandparents in rural upstate New York went from a wood cook stove to an electric Westinghouse in 1952. No gas supply there. In the city people had gas heat and whatever stove they preferred. Gas was touted as cheaper. In Chicago I remember TV commercials with the slogan "Gas does the big jobs better, for less!" And electrics were claimed as "cleaner and more reliable."

 

[laundromat]

I grew up in a small three bedroom house no upstairs,no horsepower. We had a cheap thirty six inch wide Magic Chef gas stove. No panel light,no oven light. Our furnace and water heater were also gas. I hated the smell and the inability to melt anything without burning or scorching it. I'd used electric before but,it wasn't until one of the members here came to visit and brought a gorgeous GE Americana forty inch double oven range in copperyone along with Westinghouse roaster with the base!!!! My apartment had a hopk up (220) and I fell in love with both! Once
I learned.(using thr Sensi-Temp) what to set each burner to for best stove top results. Results I NEVER got from any gas stove.No smells other then the fabulous aroma from what was cookinh. Here , I currently am using a nice Frigidaire thirty i.ch ceramic top model with a self cleaning oven. We have two of the portable induction cooktops and use them more often then not. Im saving up for a twin oven FRIGKDAIRE range with both convection self cleaning ovens and an induction cooktlp. Should e ready for it by 3/20/2014.

 

[whirlcool]

Oh, and others have also said that gas stoves put carbon monoxide into the air too.

I agree with you Kevin on all of the points you made. Sure you may notice a gas odor for a few seconds when you first light a burner up, but that goes away quickly. As for a hot burner, we leave whatever was cooked on that burner after we shut it off until it cools down. Then into the dishwasher the pan goes.

Everything we have here is electronic ignition, even the furnace so we don't have any pilot lights to worry about.

 

[ptcruiser51]

GAS!

Here in SoFL electric ranges are de regeur. If they ran gas mains down my street I would be at THD tomorrow to order a gas range. When it's "on" it's on; when it's "off" it's off. And my gas range in NJ never asphyxiated my cat, my parakeet, me or my guests. Have a nice day.

 

[norgeway]

Re Pilot Lights

I dont want a gas stove UNLESS it has pilot lights....best oven in the world to raise yeast bread in, the perfect temp, and no aggravating click click click!

 

[iheartmaytag]

Have had both

Prefer Electric.

 

[sudsmaster]

Gas vs. electric is a sure fire way to start an argument in some quarters ;-)

As far as broiling, I recall a gas industry ad from decades ago that posited that broiling with gas is cleaner than broiling with electric, because the gas flame tends to incinerate splatter and fumes better than an electric element. The result is supposed to be that the air coming out of the gas broiler is cleaner. I tend to agree, however, I do all the gas broiling here with a propane fired rotisserie out on the covered patio. Both ovens (one wall, one range) here are electric.

 

[lightedcontrols]

Induction.

Once you've used induction, you discover that resistance electric and gas is not even in the running.

 

[jerrod6]

Having used both and even gone back and forth. I still prefer electric and would rather have induction.

The dirt I referred to is not in the air. It seems that gas leaves a film on your cabinets. I never have this film when using electric but with gas there it is.

Even now with my relatively newer gas top, there is this film that coats the cabinets very quickly. I don't fry foods so its not from grease.

As someone mentioned above when the gas burners are off you can still burn yourself and something you put down on it. I have melted a few utensil handles and even burned my hand on the grates.

If i wear loose clothes while cooking there is the chance of them getting into the flame when reaching over the stove, so I have to be careful.

My stove cooks fine but it is slow boiling water as compared to electric. It has powerful burners and a simmer burner. People talk about a learning curve when going from gas to electric but this works both ways as I had a curve too. I like the electric convection in the oven. I still think my next one will be induction. The power line is already there.

 

[danemodsandy]

With All Due Respect....

....And it is most definitely not my intention to belittle anyone's perceptions....

I wonder if those who use gas ranges are accustomed to the odor some of us are describing and just don't smell it any more, due to familiarity? Sort of like smokers who don't sense the odor of cigarette smoke the way non-smokers do.

To me, the smell of a gas range is pretty intense. I know the minute I enter a strange house if a gas range is in the kitchen.

 

[polkanut]

Sandy,

That may be the case.  All of my grandparents, and parents had/have gas appliances.  We have gas appliances, and my in-laws did too.  For the most part my relatives that live in town have gas, and those in rural areas have electric.  I much prefer gas over electric for the same reason as Charlie, "when it's on, it's on, and when it's off, it's off".  I've never had a problem with the stored heat in the grates.

 

P.S.  There hasn't been another GE range (other than the avocado Versatronic) even close to yours on my local CL since finding the one you have.  The stars must have been aligned just right that day. 

 

[danemodsandy]

Tim:

I don't think there are many like the one you found for me anywhere! That is just a schweet range.

You have no idea how much more I cook now that I have it. A really bad range, like I had before, cramps your style so much you end up avoiding it to the maximum possible extent.

Come for meatloaf sometime! After the roads are better, of course....

 

[iheartmaytag]

Sandy

There may be some truth to your theory. Not having gas, and not using gas, I can walk into a house with a gas range and smell it immediately.

I will probably be chased through the village with torches for this comment, but hey, you have to find me first.

Same with gas dryers, to me they stink. Your clothes have an odor from them, and they turn your laundry brown, just like the song "Leader of the Laundromat".

 

[polkanut]

And I'll make the Hash Brown Supreme to go with it. 

 

(Trinity cookbook) 

 

[tomturbomatic]

If you are used to electric resistance cooking and if you use it most economically, you know to turn off the current a couple of minutes before the cooking is finished and let it finish with the heat remaining in the element, like SoftHeat drying. Then the unit is not cooking hot when you take up the food and you do not have to worry about watching pots in the last few minutes of meal preparation. There is enough heat, though, to keep seconds warm. Electric range manuals emphasized that from the 1920s forward. It was partly to dispel the myth that electric cooking was expensive, but it also developed economical habits. When mom was preparing a meal and a pan was taken off a surface unit, plates were inverted over it to warm. Heat was not wasted. The capacity to finish cooking foods with the current off versus the extreme power are the two things I most notice between resistance and induction. With the capability of some induction cookers to self-time and shut themselves off, that can be less important.

When we had a gas stove, the ceiling over it developed discoloration from the cooking vapors being carried upward by all of the waste heat coming up around the pans. When we got the electric range, the ceiling did not have to be washed again because there was very little escaping heat to carry up stuff. Again, I would tell you about the hand test. Try placing your hands, palms down, around the side of a pan over high heat on a gas and then an electric range. With the electric range, the heat is going into the base of the pan and with gas, a lot of the heat is going up the side.

 

[oldskool]

A Balance

I do see benefits and advantages to both electric and gas. Recently I had a gas stove installed that I love! It has 2 "power burners" which are great, but you have to use large pans or the heat runs up the sides as Tom mentioned. As we also have electric double ovens in the wall, I'll likely use them more come summer due to the heat issue. But as for now, in the winter, there's nothing more I like than to come into the kitchen on a cold morning, the oven's on and the whole kitchen feels toasty warm, while the heat is kept lower in the rest of the house. I kept the electric stove and if the heat is too much come summer, I'll switch it out for a few months. Also the gas stove is excellent for frying. My larger cast iron cookware (14inch skillet & 9 quart dutch oven) didn't do so well on a smooth top electric stove. They work beautifully on the gas stove, very even heat - no cool sides as I experienced on the electric. My 2 cents.

 

[sudsmaster]

I've yet to see an induction oven or broiler.

 

[dustin92]

I had never noticed the odor of a gas range before we had an electric range, now I can really smell the fumes when I use the gas range downstairs, especially the oven. It makes the air feel heavy and stuffy. I kind of like the residual heat in electric coils- after I got used to it; scorched or boiled over a few things in the process though. Also nice is the ability to keep things warm, where on gas if it was on it was cooking. I tend to finish things and then just leave them on a burner set to low to keep warm while I finish other things- I will even put things on plates to keep warm, something impossible with gas, as is melting chocolate without a double boiler

 

[sudsmaster]

Until about the 1960's, gas ranges were built with flues that would direct the exhaust from the oven into a chimney. Apparently the gas industry cleaned up its product sufficiently that the flues were no longer deemed necessary. However revelations that some public utilities used PCB laced oils to coat the inside of gas pipes to help prevent corrosion has raised new concerns about indoor contamination.

A measure to help matters is to run the kitchen/range exhaust fan when cooking with a gas appliance.

 

[angus]

hands down electric for my double wall ovens. Having had both gas cooktops and electric I would pick electric. First of all, I don't really believe one is objectively better than another - it is merely what you get used to and like. And what is better for one isn't necessarily for another. So all differences are subjective. That said, and having cooked on all electric for many years (my neighborhood only recently got gas service), I recently had occasion to cook at my cousin's house where he has a full gas range both cooktop and oven - 10 year old GE PRofile. I did notice a faint odor in the kitchen - not choking, but it was there. Also, I made the foolish mistake of leaving a stainless steel spoon in a large pot for a few minutes, turning it into a virtual branding iron. I also thought it took a lot longer to boil a large pot of water than on my 18 year old Thermador electric coil cooktop. Finally, the amount of heat thrown into the room from all four burners and the oven (it was a holiday) was staggering. So no gas for me.

Interesting that now I have to replace my cooktop. In addition to the issue of what to do since it is going into a granite countertop and having to have granite re cut to fit another brand (Thermador no longer makes an electric coil model) my sister and I are locked in a heated debate over gas vs electric. Considering she can't even operate the ice maker on the refrigerator without screwing it up and has never at 59 years old even considered cooking a meal, she is insisting that we must have a gas cooktop since it is considered more " high end" and better for resale. Since I am not planning to move anytime soon that logic is lost on me. But she is a realtor and seems to think we live in some kind of mansion not a mid 50's split level. For those of us that cook, I believe we have every right to debate the merits of gas vs. electric cooking. But what kills me are these pretentious snobs with trophy kitchens that never light a burner but insist that they must have only this brand of appliance or only gas will produce the best cooking results. Really!!! If you don't cook and the only kitchen appliance you really use is the phone to order take out, why would you care in the first place?

Anyway, it is all subjective. My solution is to get what I want since I do all the cooking and when it is time to sell, and if this gas vs electric cooktop issue becomes such an issue, then we can install a gas cooktop and be done with it. Just saying...

 

[norgeway]

I fully intend..

To set a gas range right beside the Norge and have both!!I have room here to do it, really, everyone goes about cooking differently, my Mother thought to sear meat the pan had to smoke before you put in the roast or whatever, then grease splattered all over everything, I would die before I did that, I use lower heat for a longer time, likewise I would absolutely strangle someone who used my oven for broiling, If I want a steak or something, usually I go out to the Outback or Tripps, very rarely because they are too high, but really, about the only things I cook that are messy would be fried chicken or meatloaf, I use a screen over the chicken and I bake the meatloaf low and slow, so you see, the stove that I think is great, you may hate, just as my cooking methods may be totally different.

 

[polkanut]

Allen,

Part of the reason for the elimination of oven flues may be due to the fact that during the 40's, 50's, and 60's is when utilities were switching over from man-made coal gas to natural gas.  Old fashioned coal gas is a distillation of coal and contains a variety of gases including hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane, and to a lesser degree carbon dioxide and nitrogen.  Given the size of oven burners, the fumes given off could be very toxic if not vented properly.

[this post was last edited: 1/11/2014-09:53]

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

My fan on my range hood is NOISY!!!! I just learned to live w/ the heat!

-- Dave

 

[NYCWriter]

I don't notice an odor ..

... or a "film" buildup in my kitchen from using my gas stove.

What are you people doing in your kitchens??

 

[xraytech]

Electric cooking all the way for me.
Have used gas cook tops a few times and found them to be slow and put off a lot of heat
Using the gas oven on a new commercial range was a total joke it was either 150 degrees slow or 300 degrees fast.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Whachu Talkin' 'Bout, Willis????!!!!

Hey, yeah! My ceiling above my stove looks just as crappy, filthy, dirty--I mean CLEAN--as the rest of my ceiling in my kitchen...! Cabinets, too!

The ceiling and cabinetry in my dad's house over his electric stove look worse, compared to mine!

I don't even see any yellow stains on my pans & pots, either...!

-- Dave

 

[DADoES]

 
The two small cabinets at ceiling height over my grandmother's gas range (above the range hood), the handles on them are deteriorated/corroded, rough to the touch, I assume due to effects of the gas ... maybe moisture?  The kitchen was remodeled in 1998, cabinetry refurbished with new hardware.  None of the other cabinets have suffered the effect.