Nick:
Interesting comment, and here's why:
I taught during the '80s, doing four or more cooking classes a week. One of the things I found in using all kinds of equipment was that for the home cook, a residential electric range gave results closer to a professional gas range than a residential gas range did.
Burners on a residential electric range at that time had a much higher heat output than those on residential gas ranges. Ovens were generally more even bakers - it takes a very high-quality gas range to overcome the basic problem inherent in gas oven design, which is that there must be airflow through the oven to support the combustion of the gas flame, causing temperature swings. Electric ovens suffer no such limitation.
The cooking school I headed used guest teachers as well, and many of them were professionals. To a man and a woman, they always pouted when they came in for the first time and saw that they'd be expected to cook on a Thermador electric coil cooktop. I would then tell them, "Just crank the burner to High and leave it there - you'll get what you're looking for."
In moments, they'd be happily searing away, mightily impressed that an electric range could perform so well.